The Philadelphia Phillies are in desperate need of bullpen help, and they have very little in their system to get excited about. One young arm worth watching is Alex McFarlane, who has dominated the minor leagues en route to a call-up on Monday. Unfortunately, the tantalizing right-hander may be in store for just a cup of coffee.
The Phillies’ bullpen is in rough shape. Free agent acquisition Brad Keller stunk before tearing his ulnar collateral ligament, and previously trustworthy arms like Tanner Banks and José Alvarado have completely wet the bed this season. Aside from Jhoan Duran and (to a lesser degree) Orion Kerkering and Jonathan Bowlan, the Phils have a dearth of lockdown options to hand the ball to.
President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski will need to address the problem at the trade deadline, but it remains to be seen whether that will take the form of a dominant late-inning arm, or lower quality middle-relief options. Either way, those upgrades won’t come for a few weeks, seeing as most teams will hold out as long as they can until the Aug. 3 deadline to start selling off pieces.
Until then, Dombrowski and the Phillies will need to muddle through with the internal options they have at their disposal. Red-hot prospect Gage Wood could become an option down the stretch, but the organization is developing him as a starting pitcher at the moment and may hesitate to throw him into the fire of a pennant race.
Hopefully Alex McFarlane can help fix the Phillies' bullpen (if they give him the chance)
First up to make his big league debut out of the bullpen is fireballer Alex McFarlane, a 25-year-old who made mincemeat out of Double-A hitters with a 2.06 ERA across 35 innings this season, punching out 47. This technically is McFarlane’s second stint with the major league club, as he received a one-day promotion back in April, but didn’t appear in a game before being sent back down.
It was curious to see the U.S. Virgin Islands native languish in the minors for so long, given the sorry state of affairs for the parent club. Speculation abounded that the Phils may be holding him down in order to preserve his trade value ahead of a possible deadline deal, and that may still be the case given that beat writer Matt Gelb reported that McFarlane is only up for the time being as an “emergency arm,” and could be sent back down soon to make room for another hurler.
It’s very, very possible the Phillies skip the No. 5 starter spot this week with Thursday’s off day. Don Mattingly wouldn’t commit either way. Alex McFarlane is here as an emergency arm in the bullpen; Phillies could swap him for another lefty later this week.
— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) July 20, 2026
The yoyoing of McFarlane is enough to drive any Phillies fan crazy, considering he’s ranked among the club’s top 30 prospects and has clearly demonstrated he’s ready for a shot at the big time. What’s the sense in holding him down in the hopes of flipping him for a reliever when he could turn out to be one of the solid relievers the Phillies so desperately need?
In fairness to the Phillies, plans change all the time and a solid first outing or two could alter the team’s thinking and earn him a longer look in the majors. Still, for a team that has been horrendous at developing prospects in recent years, it’s incredibly aggravating to see one of their more intriguing youngsters continually placed in a holding pattern.
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