The Philadelphia Phillies are preparing for their fifth straight postseason appearance, and with that comes all-important roster decisions. One massive domino has already fallen in the form of embattled reliever Orion Kerkering’s demotion to the minor leagues, but what other players might find themselves on the outside looking in when the playoffs start?
Some heads will need to roll if the Phillies want to optimize their playoff roster
Brooks Raley
Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski didn’t do nearly enough to address his dumpster fire of a bullpen at the trade deadline, and the few moves he did make have not paid off. Late-blooming right-hander Caleb Kilian is out for the season after just four appearances, while southpaw Brooks Raley has been completely unusable in almost two months wearing red pinstripes.
The 38-year-old Raley was acquired from the New York Mets to be a situational lefty for a Phillies team that desperately needed one. José Alvarado has struggled all year, while Tanner Banks and Kyle Backhus were so bad that they were exiled to Triple-A for long periods of the season. In fact, the Phillies’ only reliable southpaw has been journeyman Tim Mayza, who entered the year with little fanfare.
Raley was supposed to help alleviate that issue, but instead he’s been the worst of the bunch since coming over. In 15 appearances with the Phils, Raley has posted a moribund 8.71 ERA and has surrendered four home runs over just 10 ⅓ innings of work. The soft-tosser can’t be trusted to get outs even in garbage time, let alone high-leverage spots. The Phils’ paucity of quality lefty options may force them to carry him on the playoff roster, but it wouldn’t be a shock to see him left off in favor of a higher-upside arm.
Rafael Marchán
The Phillies currently employ a pair of ineffective backup catchers behind longtime incumbent J.T. Realmuto in Garrett Stubbs and Rafael Marchán. Neither man is particularly good at any facet of the game and both hardly ever see the field, having appeared in just 34 contests apiece.
With rosters expanded for the final month of the season, the Phillies have opted to carry both reserve catchers, but that luxury will disappear once the Wild Card round begins. Stubbs should have the inside track on a job considering his role in Aaron Nola’s remarkable resurgence and his usefulness as a pinch runner, putting Marchán and his flaccid bat on the chopping block.
Chase Shugart
Right-hander Chase Shugart has provided perfectly cromulent production for what he was meant to be: an optionable depth piece for the Phillies’ bullpen. Unfortunately, the relief corps' horrifying state of affairs has led to Shugart getting a lot more work than was expected, as the 29-year-old has appeared in 44 games to this point.
To his credit, Shugart has posted a decent 4.03 ERA across 51 ⅓ innings in that time, but he’s clearly not a high-leverage arm moving forward. Considering the fact that the best-of-three Wild Card round requires at most three starters, the Phillies may opt to roster an extra bench bat while leaving off an uninspiring reliever like Shugart since they can use Andrew Painter out of the bullpen.
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