The Philadelphia Phillies are in danger of missing out on signing a top relief pitcher available as a free agency this offseason.
Initially, on Thursday, fireballer Jordan Hicks signed a four-year, $44 million contract to start for San Francisco. After that, the best of the best, Josh Hader, agreed to a five-year, $95 million contract on Friday with the Houston Astros.
Robert Stephenson’s decision to sign a three-year, $33 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels came just hours after the news about Hader. Why did Phillies supporters find Stephenson’s rumoured signing so disappointing? One of the few players—let alone relievers—that the team had been officially known to be interested in this summer was the gifted right-hander.
The Phillies were among the teams expressing interest in Stephenson, according to MLB Network’s Jon Morosi, who confirmed this on Thursday, the day before Hader and Stephenson signed. Apart than the well reported and unexpected Yoshinobu Yamamoto sweepstakes, the Phillies haven’t released a lot of official information regarding their wintertime plans.
Last season, the Phillies had a chance to add one of the top relievers in the game in Stephenson. He would have been the highest paid player in the Phillies bullpen at $11 million annually. With a projected income of $9.02 million in 2024, José Alvarado is now among the highest paid.
But if the front staff was serious about adding another late-inning weapon to the relief corps, it might have been worth spending the money for a couple of seasons during the team’s window of contention.
Stephenson completed the picture in Tampa Bay the previous year.
Stephenson, a former Cincinnati Reds first-round selection, possesses the skill and background. However, he entered the 2023 season with a 4.90 ERA and 1.41 WHIP after starting his career with seven seasons of pitching in Cincinnati and Colorado, two of the hitter-friendly parks.
However, the right-hander’s luck changed in June when he moved from Pittsburgh to Tampa Bay. Thanks to the Rays, who have a reputation for developing pitchers to their full potential, Stephenson became an unhittable machine.
The 30-year-old hurled 38 1/3 innings for Tampa over the last four months of the previous season, recording a 2.35 ERA and 0.68 WHIP. He recorded a career-best 1.88 BB/9, a career-high 14.09 K/9, and a 42.9 percent strikeout rate. And it’s not like he struck it fortunate. His opponent has a 2.26 xFIP and 1.78 SIERA to go along with their.136 average and.194 BABIP. For four months last year, Stephenson might have been the best reliever in baseball.
Phillies still have choices, but they are no longer in the top tier.
Not that some weapons aren’t accessible anymore. While there are still many of free agents searching for job for the upcoming season, last week may have seen the elite group of relievers go off the market in a matter of days.
The Phillies may still add an arm with players like Aroldis Chapman, Hector Neris, Matt Moore, and Wandy Peralta still available. But since those four are all older than 35, that wouldn’t be a long-term solution. According to MLB.com, only one of the top 10 relievers still available, ranked by 2023 WAR, is younger than 35.
Thus, while the Phillies may be able to add more depth to the bullpen, they have lost out on the greatest high-leverage, late-inning relief options. Stephenson will now probably end up leading the Angels in saves in 2024.
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