In the past week, the Philadelphia Phillies have upgraded their bullpen in a massive way.
Since coming within two wins of a World Series championship, Craig Kimbrel came aboard with his 394 career saves.
President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski then traded for two-time All-Star Gregory Soto in a five-player deal with the Detroit Tigers.
Despite being one of the most active franchises in free agency, Dombrowski hasn’t relaxed at all.
That should say everything to a passionate fan base.
“Having pitching depth, you can never have enough of it,” Dombrowski told reporters. “Talked to (manager) Rob Thomson a lot about it before we made the deal, pros and cons, and again, even though he liked the players that we traded, he thought that having the ability to rest some of his hard-throwers or back-end-type guys and still having other types of individuals who can do that the next day was very important to him.”
It had to be difficult to part with Nick Maton, Matt Vierling and Donny Sands, but the Phillies clearly got value in a hard-throwing left-hander who had 30 saves last season.
“He was thrilled to join us. I think when people look at our ballclub now, and they look at the arms that we have out there, they’re happy to contribute at the back end,” Dombrowski told reporters. “He’s going to pitch meaningful innings in meaningful games.”
With Seranthony Dominguez, Jose Alvarado, Matt Strahm, Kimbrel and Soto among others, the Phillies will enter the 2023 regular season with one of their deepest bullpens in some time.
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