Grading Dave Dombrowski’s First Phillies Offseason: the Bullpen
When the Phillies hired Dave Dombrowski to be the President of Baseball Operations in December 2020, there were many questions about how Dombrowski was going to fill out the roster to finally start to turn the Phillies organization around.
Now that we are over two months into the season with over 65 games played, it’s time to evaluate the moves Dombrowski has made.
We’ve looked at the starting rotation and the bench, so it’s time to look at the bullpen.
Hector Neris, Phillies Closer
After having one of the worst bullpens of all time, Dombrowski had no choice but to revamp the entire pen. Dombrowski only kept a couple of guys, including their closer, Hector Neris.
Neris has a 3.04 ERA over 26 2/3 innings this season, a significant improvement from his 4.57 ERA over 21 2/3 innings in 2020. There might be some worries with their veteran closer lately, as he gave up three earned runs to the Yankees on June 12, but overall, he has still significantly helped the roster.
Connor Brogdon
Dombrowski also kept Connor Brogdon, a rookie righty who made his debut with the club in August of 2020.
The 26-year-old Brogdon has had an up and down season so far, posting a 4.44 ERA and a 4.46 FIP over 28 appearances. Brogdon made his debut in 2020, and appeared in nine games for the Phillies, posting a 3.97 ERA over 11 1/3 innings.
However, Brogdon’s stat line for the season can be misleading. He held opponents scoreless in his first six appearances, before giving up six earned runs on five hits to the Giants on April 20. But overall this season, 22 of his 28 appearances have been scoreless, and that six-run debacle was the only time he’s allowed more than two runs.
So far in June, Brogdon has kept opposing batters scoreless in six of seven appearances, including four scoreless appearances dating back to June 13. He’s also only walked one batter this month.
Overall, Brogdon is having a much stronger season than his stat line would indicate, far from the dreaded sophomore slump.
David Hale
Hale is a career 4.36 ERA pitcher who currently has a 5.68 ERA in 25 1/3 innings this season. Hale began the 2020 season with the Yankees, and ended it with the Phillies, posting a 4.09 ERA over 11 innings with his new team.
The former Princeton baseball star has given up at least one earned run in five of nine appearances dating back to the beginning of May. He might have written his thesis on pitching, but he’s struggling to do so in real life this season.
Jose Alvarado
The Phillies took the approach of adding more upside to the bullpen and acquired flamethrowers Jose Alvarado and Sam Coonrod.
Alvarado has a high difference between his ERA and FIP. His ERA is 2.92 and his FIP is 4.71. Why? Because he has 33 strikeouts in 24 2/3 innings, but he’s also walked 22 batters. The 26-year-old lefty has improved his stats in many categories, but his walks/nine is up from 6.0 in 2020 to 8.0 this year.
If the Phillies pitching coaches can figure out how to help Alvarado limit his walks, he’s an absolutely dominant addition.
Sam Coonrod
Coonrod is another high upside arm the Phillies brought in.
Unlike Alvarado, Coonrod has just 7 walks in 27 1/3 innings pitched along with 28 strikeouts. This is a good sign for the future of Coonrod and despite struggling at the end of May, he has a 3.29 ERA and has only allowed one earned run over five appearances in June.
It is concerning to note that the majority of Coonrod’s walks issued have come in the last few weeks. He only walked two batters in 11 appearances in April, but walked five batters in seven appearances between May 25 and June 12.
Brandon Kintzler
The 36-year-old Kintzler was brought in to give the Phillies a little more depth and veteran experience coming out of the pen, but so far, he hasn’t done that.
Kintzler – a career 3.51 ERA man over 12 seasons – has an 8.50 ERA and a 6.06 FIP in 18 innings pitched this season.
It makes sense that Dombrowski would give him a shot; he posted a 2.22 ERA over 24 1/3 innings for the Marlins in 2020, only slightly worse than his 2.68 ERA for the Cubs over 57 innings in 2019. But at this point, Kintzler might just be done. Unless a drastic change happens for him, Kintzler won’t be a Phillie for much longer.
Archie Bradley
Dombrowski’s final offseason addition was Archie Bradley.
Bradley, who was traded by the Diamondbacks to the Reds during the 2020 season, finished the year with a 2.95 ERA over 18 1/3 innings. His time with the Reds was impressive, a 1.17 ERA over six games.
Bradley was going to give them a definite late-inning arm, but things haven’t worked out well.
Due to injury, he did not appear in a game between April 11 and May 17, so he has only pitched 13 1/3 innings over 16 games this season. His ERA is 4.05, but he has had a strong June, only allowing one earned run on four hits dating back to May 29. In that time, his ERA is 1.23 over nine games. It’s encouraging, but overall, it is just too early to evaluate this pickup.
Dombrowski deserves some credit but he also made some moves he will regret. As things stand currently the Phillies are 31-31 after a 28-32 season.
light. Related Story. Grading Dave Dombrowski's First Phillies Offseason: the Bench