Philadelphia Phillies Can Solve Huge Issue by Signing Dodgers Star in Free Agency

The Philadelphia Phillies could bolster their bullpen with this star relief pitcher

Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

While there were a number of reasons why the Philadelphia Phillies ultimately fell miserably short of expectations in the postseason and were embarrassed by their rival New York Mets, a lack of a reliable bullpen to shut games down was right near the top of the list.

Ironically, it was one of the last things that would have been expected to be an issue after a very solid regular season from the group saw a sub-4.0 ERA and conversion on close to 70 percent of their save opportunities. But in the postseason, not only did the bullpen go 0 for 3 in save opportunities in the four game NLDS defeat, but a putrid 11.37 ERA from the unit never gave Philadelphia a chance.

These are not numbers that give you a chance to win games in the postseason, let alone make another deep run and try to win a World Series title. With Carlos Estévez and Jeff Hoffman both due to hit free agency as well after extremely strong tenures with the team and a likely inability to keep both, the team will have to look to the open market to plug holes. It just so happens that one of the best in the game is available in Dodgers righty Blake Treinen, and Edward Eng of FanSided sees the former All-Star as someone the Phillies should pursue on the heels of an incredibly strong performance during the Los Angeles World Series run.

"More importantly, he has been one of the Dodgers’ most trusted arms this postseason," Eng wrote about Treinen's huge 2024 season. "That was exactly what the Phillies were missing during their postseason run this year: a reliever coming up huge in the biggest moments of the game. What better way to rectify their problem than to get one of the best at it in free agency?"

Treinen does have a concerning injury history along with the fact that by next summer he will be 37 years old, but these factors will likely keep his price down into affordable range on a shorter term deal. After missing most of the 2022 season and the entire 2023 season, Treinen came back in 2024 and gave the Dodgers one of the best seasons of his career.

Over 50 appearances in 2024, Treinen put up a blazing 1.93 ERA and a 0.943 WHIP with 56 strikeouts in 46.2 innings thrown. He is absolutely a name that the Philadelphia needs to look into as they look to solve their problems and get better this winter.