Phillies’ biggest trade acquisition settling in after a shaky start in the bullpen

For a little while, the Philadelphia Phillies were probably worried that one of their biggest trade deadline acquisitions could actually be blowing up in their faces. After all, closer Carlos Estévez appeared to be struggling at the start of his tenure with the Phillies.

Having not yielded a single run since May 21, Estévez uncharacteristically gave up five runs in his first eight appearances after joining his new club. During that stretch, he posted a 3.12 ERA with a .242 opponents batting average, leading to one loss and a blown save in the process.

Carlos Estévez, the Phillies’ biggest trade acquisition, settling in after a shaky start in the bullpen

However, Estévez seems to have turned a corner and has since settled in nicely now after the adjustment period with the Phillies. In his last six outings before Monday's bad-luck blown save, he had held his opponents scoreless on just two hits, with two walks and six strikeouts over seven innings of work, en route to one win and three converted saves.

For a Phillies’ bullpen that had veteran José Alvarado also struggle earlier in the closer’s role, the shakiness to Estévez’s start with the team no doubt presented a cause for concern at the time. But now that he has begun reverting to his dominant form seen with the Los Angeles Angels, it has made things a lot more reassuring for both the Phillies and their faithful.

After all, they gave up perhaps two of their most promising and fastest-rising prospects this season in Samuel Aldegheri, who has already made his MLB debut, and George Klassen in the trade, with both becoming a part of the Angels’ top 10 prospects in their organization. As a result, it was crucial that the Phillies got back full value with the pieces that they had given up.

On the season, Estévez is now 4-4 with 24 saves, along with compiling a stellar 2.31 ERA and 0.81 WHIP with 48 strikeouts in 50 2/3 innings pitched over 49 appearances split between Los Angeles and Philadelphia. The Phillies will hope to ride that consistency and steadiness of Estévez right into the postseason and put away any lingering Craig Kimbrel memories from last season for good.