3 Phillies players on the September roster who don't deserve to play this postseason

Phillies who won't play this postseason, No. 1: Dylan Covey

With the Phillies lacking pitching depth, the club claimed Dylan Covey off of waivers after he was DFA'd by the Dodgers. Covey has had his ups and downs but has remained with the club since they claimed him because he's out of options and they simply can't afford to lose more depth.

Options don't matter come postseason time, so the Phillies can leave Covey off the roster and have him in the organization as an emergency depth option. With that in mind, it's hard to see Covey making the roster over the arms they currently have.

The Phillies have been using a six-man rotation since they acquired Michael Lorenzen at the trade deadline (when Ranger Suarez is healthy) and will presumably run with that the remainder of the regular season. When the playoffs come around, that rotation will shrink to four, meaning two starters would either move to the bullpen or be removed.

It's unclear as of this moment how the Phillies plan on lining up their rotation, but all six starters will make the postseason roster in some capacity. They're too good not to. Covey has been somewhat of a long-man for Philadelphia, completing two innings in seven of his 19 appearances with the club. With two starters moving to the bullpen, they won't be needing a long man.

While he's pitched better of late (2.45 ERA in his last nine appearances), most of those have come in games completely out of reach or when the Phillies simply ran out of arms. In other words, he's Rob Thomson's last choice in what's a solid bullpen overall. Not everyone can make the roster, and Covey feels like he'd be the odd man out in a stacked group of pitchers.