Philadelphia Phillies Relievers Urged To ‘Keep Grinding Through It’ Amid Struggles

The Philadelphia Phillies knew they would have their work cut out for them in the bullpen coming into the 2025 MLB regular season.

They lost two incredible talents in the offseason, Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estevez, to the Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals, respectively, in free agency. It was a major blow to their relief staff, given how productive both of them were during their tenures with the franchise.

With those two, Orion Kerkering, Matt Strahm and Jose Alvarado, manager Rob Thomson had five relief pitchers he could trust to call upon at any point in the game to get the job done.

Thus far this season, that same depth and reliabilty has yet to develop.

Alvarado has taken his game to another level, looking like one of the best closers in baseball. Strahm remains a reliable option for Thomson and Kerkering is adjusting to being the top right-handed reliever of the bunch.

Trust in that trio is high for any high-leverage situation, but there are still a few things that need to be ironed out.

Chief among them is figuring out what is wrong with free agent signing, Jordan Romano.

He has struggled mightily out of the gate, not resembling the lights out closer that was amongst the best relief pitchers in baseball from 2021 through 2023 when he made the All-Star team twice with the Blue Jays.

In nine appearances with Philadelphia, he has a 15.26 ERA, being charged with 13 earned runs in 7.2 innings. He has surrendered three home runs and has a ghastly -0.9 WAR.

Earlier, when his velocity was down, the team thought it could have been from being overworked out of the gate. Over the weekend, in his latest meltdown against the Miami Marlins, his velocity returned, but the team said it was his inactivity that led to the poor results.

Whatever the reason may be for his struggles and Kerkering giving up a home run to Javier Sanoja to give away a game against the Marlins, Thomson is not ready to make any changes with his staff.

Right now, he doesn’t see a huge problem to address, believing the sample size is too small for a drastic move.

“I don’t,” Thomson said before Sunday’s loss via Matt Gelb of The Athletic (subscription required). “Because it’s still a small sample size. I know we have really good arms. Really good stuff out there. We just have to keep working at it and keep grinding through it.”

Hopefully, something clicks for the relief staff sooner rather than later. The results have been a mixed bag to this point and if things don’t improve, changes will have to be made.

It was the first time all season they blew a lead after leading through seven innings, so the alarms shouldn’t be sounded yet.

And the members of the staff aren't losing confidence.

“Same mood. Same everything,” Kerkering said. “No one’s really changed their attitude. No one has changed, like, ‘Oh, we have to be this kind of bullpen because Hoffy left or Carlos left.’ It’s the same vibe as it’s always been. It’s always like, ‘All right, let’s keep going. Keep a happy attitude.’ Once it’s bullpen time, we’re ready to go.”

But right now, the bullpen is the shakiest part of the team. The starting rotation is doing its part, eating innings, but the relief staff has to do their part, piggybacking off of them.