Philadelphia Phillies Sign Relief Pitcher With Local Ties to Minor League Deal

The Philadelphia Phillies have added another arm to the mix after signing an intriguing relieve to a minor league deal.

Apr 27, 2021; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Minnesota Twins relief pitcher Cody Stashak (61) delivers in the seventh inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field / David Richard-Imagn Images

With the World Series on the precipice of being over, the Philadelphia Phillies will soon get one of their most important offseasons underway as they search for ways to get this team back into true championship contention after regressing every year since 2022.

The majority of attention is going to be on how they upgrade this lineup after the offense, once again, failed to produce timely hits and runs in big games.

However, there are also things that need to be figured out in the bullpen.

Since Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estevez are both scheduled to hit free agency, it's unlikely both are brought back based on the likely contracts they will command following solid bodies of work the past couple of seasons.

Bracing for that, Matt Gelb of The Athletic reports the Phillies signed reliever Cody Stashak to a minor league deal.

The 30-year-old was taken in the 13th round of the MLB draft in 2015 by the Minnesota Twins. He never cracked their top 30 prospects list during his minor league career, but he still climbed up the pipeline quickly until he made is Major League debut in 2019.

Stashak appeared in 55 games for the Twins from 2019-22, posting a 4.13 ERA across his 72 innings pitched where he struck out 83 batters and only walked 14. His ERA+ during this time was six points above league average and his FIP of 2.98 suggests his overall ERA could have been even lower.

Unfortunately, things went south for the right-hander in 2021 coming off two very solid seasons.

Stashak suffered a disk injury in his back that limited him to just 15 games, and during the next year, he appeared in only 11 contests before undergoing season-ending surgery to repair a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder.

Since then, it's been a struggle.

He signed with the San Francisco Giants on a minor league deal in 2023 where he finished his five Triple-A outings allowing seven earned runs across five frames. That improved this past year with a 5.45 ERA during his 27 appearances, but he wasn't solid enough for the injured Giants to give him a Major League look despite their mutliple pitching injuries.

Still, Philadelphia is giving him a shot, signing the Somers Point, NJ native and Cumberland County College alumnus to minor league deal that could have him in the mix with a good Spring Training showing.