Bailey Falter
It wasn’t too long ago that Bailey Falter looked like a viable depth piece for the Phillies’ rotation. Taking a regular turn during the second half of the 2022 season, Falter ended up authoring a 3.86 ERA over 84 innings, and it seemed like he could be useful going forward. Then came the playoffs, and his lone start, where he was waxed by the Padres in Game 4 of the NLCS, surrendering four runs in less than an inning in a game that the Phillies would rally to win.
When the curtain came up on 2023, Andrew Painter’s injury essentially locked Falter into the rotation once again to start the season as he attempted to build on the glimpses of promise from 2022 and put his lone postseason blemish behind him.
He did not do that.
After seven starts, his record sat at 0-6, accompanied by an ugly 5.75 ERA. Then, on May 13, the Phillies used the "opener" strategy, with Falter relieving Connor Brogdon five hitters into the game. That didn’t work either, and it would turn out to be his last appearance as a Phil.
He was demoted and later traded to the Pirates for the aforementioned Castro. Falter eventually collected a couple of wins for the Bucs, going 2-2 with a 5.58 ERA over 10 appearances (seven starts) for them. Best of luck to Falter resurrecting his career on the other side of the state, because it was a mighty quick flameout for him in Philadelphia.