Phillies bullpen blow up a bad omen heading into Opening Day (Video)

The Phillies made significant additions to their bullpen after a record-setting, awful 2020 season in that department. Let’s hope Monday wasn’t a preview of things to come.

The Phillies pushed the reset button on their bullpen this offseason, with Dave Dombrowski leading the helm. The back-end of Joe Girardi’s staff actually looks decent for a change, with Héctor Neris, Archie Bradley, José Alvarado, Connor Brogdon and JoJo Romero all available. Even Brandon Kintzler, a former All-Star who recently overcame anxiety issues, is expected to make the major league roster.

So, ideally, this group should be better than the one that finished the 2020 season with an ERA near 7.00, technically one of the worst ever assembled in baseball history (the worst was actually the Phillies…in 1930).

Phillies fans should look away at the disaster that was Monday’s spring training game

Monday afternoon’s spring training game gave Phillies fans a sense of deja vu they were at least hoping to avoid until Thursday.

https://twitter.com/BlueJays/status/1376624805655511045

Included in that implosion was Alvarado, who suffered a loss and a blown save. He recorded just two outs, and gave up four runs. That’s double, neat!

Of course, spring training is just that, and this should all be taken with a grain of salt. However, the Phillies bullpen could be what keeps them closer to the cellar of the NL East, rather than in the MLB postseason where Girardi and Dombrowski believe they belong.