PHILADELPHIA — They put Brooks Raley and Caleb Kilian in the same corner of the home clubhouse, and the two new Phillies relievers, who are joining a unit that boasts an all-world closer and many uncertainties around him, arrived around the same time Tuesday afternoon.“How you doing, man?” Raley asked.Kilian reached out his hand.“Caleb,” he said.Monday’s moves weren’t a makeover of the bullpen; Raley and Kilian will usually slot into the middle of games for interim manager Don Mattingly. The Phillies did not replace the injured Brad Keller, signed to a two-year, $22 million deal to be the team’s primary setup man, at the trade deadline. Prices were high; the Phillies instead invested their better prospect chip (Ramon Marquez) into obtaining Luis Arraez.The Phillies could have acquired a starter who would have slotted into a late-inning role come October; several of those types were moved at the deadline. They could not find a match.That means, after Jhoan Duran, the Phillies will spend the next two months searching for the right reliever hierarchy to deploy if they reach October baseball.“I just think we’ve got a lot of guys now that you feel like you can use,” Mattingly said. “So it’s maybe Raley in the sixth. It could be Kilian in the sixth. If guys are (unavailable), everybody slides up.”Who won and lost the MLB trade deadline?Andy McCullough and Johnny SweetThe bullpen always has to be front of mind. In the last two postseasons (eight games), the Phillies have been outscored 31-19 from the sixth inning on.They have allowed 36 runs total in the previous two postseasons. So 86 percent of the runs scored against the Phillies have come in the final four innings of games and, mostly, against relievers. This does not explain everything about why the Phillies haven’t won a series in October since 2023, but it matters a great deal.And it makes their current superpower, the three men atop this rotation, feel vulnerable no matter how good those starters are.Last season, the Phillies carried a trusted bullpen group of Duran, Orion Kerkering, Matt Strahm and David Robertson into October. Robertson retired after the season. Strahm was designated for assignment Tuesday by the Kansas City Royals after a 7.32 ERA in 41 appearances.The Phillies turned Strahm into Jonathan Bowlan, a transaction that right now looks like one of the shrewder ones under president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. Bowlan has emerged as Mattingly’s top right-handed reliever not named Duran. He has struck out 48 and walked nine in 38 2/3 innings.
The Phillies have 2 months to build a better bullpen bridge to Jhoan Duran
Brooks Raley and Caleb Kilian give the Phillies two more options as they seek the right reliever hierarchy to deploy if they reach October.















