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Phillies' Rob Thomson Makes Major Announcement on Bullpen

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Sam Bernardi | Last updated Apr 21, 2025 1:06 PM ET

The Philadelphia Phillies are off to a fine start to the 2025 season. They have a 13-9 record and sit just two games back of the New York Mets for the National League East lead.

However, despite a loaded lineup and talented starting rotation, the Phillies have been plagued by bullpen issues. Philadelphia has the second-worst team bullpen ERA in the Majors at 5.81 and leads all teams with six blown saves (two by Orion Kerkering and Joe Ross, one by Matt Strahm and Jordan Romano).

Here is what manager Rob Thomson told reporters when asked if he had a bullpen problem:

"I don't," Thomson said. "Because it's still a small sample size. I know we have really good arms, really good stuff out there. We've just got to keep working at it, keep grinding through it."

While José Alvarado (2.53 ERA, 2.00 FIP, five saves), Strahm (1.74 ERA, 1.10 FIP), and Tanner Banks (3.00 ERA, 4.03 FIP) have all been reliable, there are serious concerns outside of that trust circle.

Romano, who was brought in to alleviate previous bullpen deficiencies, has gotten off to a horrific start. He carries a 15.26 ERA, an 8.25 FIP, and already has a -0.9 WAR, through just seven and 2/3 innings.

Even during his most dominant stretches with the Toronto Blue Jays, Romano tended to allow hard-hit balls and struggled with control (career average of 3.5 walks/nine). This year has been a far cry from his consecutive all-star appearances in 2022 and 2023.

As Thomson said, it is still early in the season, and Phillies fans do not yet need to sound the alarm.

Contrarily, this is an aging core that will not have a World Series window for long, and they need to do everything in their power to capitalize on the final prime years of guys like Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Zack Wheeler, and Aaron Nola.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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