Phillies fans absolutely roast front office after latest surprising reliever signing

The Philadelphia Phillies, like most teams, use the offseason to stock up on pitching depth and this offseason has been no different. While fans are waiting for a move that affects the big league roster, the Phillies front office has just continually added arms to the minor league ranks. One move in particular garnered a lot of attention when they chose to sign right-hander Bryse Wilson.

While the Toronto Blue Jays were out there signing submariner Tyler Rogers on Friday evening, the news broke that the Phillies had signed Wilson. Posted by the New York Post's Jon Heyman, the news came without any clarification whether it was a major- or minor-league contract.

With one of the biggest MLB insider names breaking the news, some fans may have thought it was a signing for the big league roster. And that, understandably, was an alarming thought.

Thankfully, the deal was finally clarified to be a minor-league contract.

Phillies fans don't go easy on the front office after signing Bryse Wilson

But thanks to the nature of how the news of the signing was broken, Phillies fans didn't hesitate to go off on the front office's move. And there were some instant classics in the comment section.

Despite once being a dominant force for the Atlanta Braves in a 2020 NLCS start versus the Los Angeles Dodgers, as a rookie no less, the now 27-year-old has fallen on hard times over the past few seasons.

One X user, @Distant_MirrorX, certainly wasn't impressed with the signing, exclaiming that "This moves the needle…backwards."

It's hard to blame fans for reactions similar to this. Since debuting with Atlanta in 2018, Wilson has a 4.82 ERA in 163 appearances (57 starts). He had an impressive 2.58 ERA in 76 2/3 innings with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2023. But apart from that, he has posted an ERA higher than 4.00 in every other season.

This year he posted a 6.65 ERA in 47 1/3 innings with the Chicago White Sox and that's what fans are going to look at first, like X user @Philsbirdsthrow, who noted that in his sarcastic reply: "6 ERA ! Sounds like a Phillies reliever already."

The Phillies' bullpen fell on hard times in 2025, and fans aren't going to easily forget how rough it was. The relief corps finished the year with the 10th-highest ERA (4.27). Although, that was slightly better than their 23rd-ranked first-half mark of 4.38.

The 2025 bullpen featured some entirely forgettable, yet emotionally scarring, performances from Jordan Romano (8.23 ERA, 42 2/3 innings), José Ruiz (8.16 ERA, 14 1/3 innings), Carlos Hernández (5.26 ERA, 25 2/3 innings) and Joe Ross (5.14 ERA, 49 innings).

And finally, X user @hungriestdog didn't mince words, simply posting a screenshot of Wilson's Baseball Savant sliders from the 2025 season. You may want to look away if you have a weak stomach.

Oh my, that's a lot of short, blue bars in a lot of significant pitching stats and metrics. Whether the Phillies can help Wilson figure things out in 2026 remains to be seen.

But even if he does regain some semblance of his 2023 season with the Brewers and makes it to the big leagues again, he'll have Phillies fans anxiously awaiting an implosion. Despite his 2.58 ERA for the Brew Crew that year, he ran a 4.00 xERA and a 4.13 FIP. He's never had high strikeout numbers, with a career 6.50 K/99, and in Milwaukee he struck out only 7.16 batters per nine innings.

Wilson will function as bullpen depth, with the ability to slide into a rotation spot if things get desperate (he made five starts for the White Sox this season). But Phillies fans aren't holding out much hope.