Phillies finally admit their mistake with long-awaited bullpen roster cut

The Philadelphia Phillies' bullpen is a mess. There's no way to sugar coat it. With fans panicking and the team in the midst of a 2-10 run, the front office finally made a move that we could all see coming a mile away.

Ahead of Wednesday's series finale with the Chicago Cubs, the Phillies designated right-hander Carlos Hernández for assignment. In his place, they recalled right-hander Michael Mercado from Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The move comes just 10 days after the Phillies DFA'd fellow reliever José Ruiz.

Phillies finally admit that Carlos Hernandez wasn't helping the mess in the bullpen

Let's be honest, Phillies fans have been waiting for this move for a while now.

The breaking point came on Tuesday as the bullpen collapsed again, per NBC Sports Philadelphia's Corey Seidman. Hernández entered the game in the eighth inning with two runners on, courtesy of Joe Ross. With the score still within reach at 6-4 for the visitors, he allowed the Cubs to score both of Ross' runs. Even though his line looked clean in the box score, with both runs charged to his teammate, the Phillies had finally seen enough.

Phillies fans won't shed a tear for Hernández, who, despite his upper 90s velocity, just didn't have enough command to make it work out of the bullpen. The 28-year-old appeared in 25 games for the Phillies this season after being claimed off waivers from the Kansas City Royals before Opening Day. He finishes his time in Philadelphia with a 5.26 ERA, 1.75 WHIP, 23 strikeouts and 13 walks in 25 2/3 innings.

The Phillies were obviously enamored with Hernández's 95th percentile 97.8 mph fastball that can touch 100. Unfortunately, it didn't lead to the strikeouts you'd like to see from a big 6-foot-4 bullpen arm. He registered just a 29th percentile 22.3 percent whiff rate and a 28th percentile 18.7 percent strikeout rate. His walk rate was even worse, ranked in the 22nd percentile at 10.6 percent. And when batters did make contact, they made contact, with Hernández running a 2nd percentile 15.3 percent barrel rate.

All that to say, this roster move was a long time coming for a bullpen that ranks 24th in the majors with a 4.58 ERA.

Michael Mercado rejoins Phillies after a strong run in Triple-A

Mercado, 26, has completed his transition from starter back to full-time reliever in Triple-A this season. Pitching exclusively out of the IronPigs' bullpen, the team's No. 23 prospect has a 5.31 ERA and a 1.62 WHIP in 20 1/3 innings.

After a tough start to the season, that saw him go on the temporary inactive list, Mercado has come into his own recently. With a 2.08 ERA over his last 13 innings, he has given up just three earned runs with 12 strikeouts and two walks since May 11. His 23.5 percent strikeout rate and 3.9 percent walk rate over that stretch will be much-welcomed in the Phillies' bullpen.

Mercado made his MLB debut last year with a clean inning of relief in Detroit on June 24. He made a couple of trips back and forth between the big club and Triple-A, but never put it together at the major league level. He finished with an 11.08 ERA in 13 innings that included a couple of starts.

Despite his relative inexperience, Mercado joins a beat-up bullpen that will rely on him to be a serviceable reliever as the Phillies try to dig themselves out of the hole they've been excavating for a couple of weeks now.

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