Phillies trade for relief help

After acquiring David Hale from the Yankees, the Phillies continue to make some moves to shore up the relief pitching.

Workman provides the team with some exceptional numbers from 2019. He gave the Red Sox a 1.88 ERA in 2019 in 71 ²⁄₃ innings. His strikeout rate was really high, but also so was his walk rate. He didn’t allow hardly any contact last year, almost no home runs (0.13 HR/9) and gives the team an instant helped with Neris.

Hembree has struggled this year. He’s got a 5.59 ERA thus far in 9 ²⁄₃ innings. He’s been a steady arm in the past and hopefully a change of scenery will help him as he comes to Philadelphia.

This closes the door on the Nick Pivetta era in Philadelphia. We’ll never know the damage that the previous pitching coach did to close the door on the potential that Pivetta showed in 2017-18, but it was time for him to go. Saying goodbye to Connor Seabold, some decent pitching depth, also hurts, but if the team wants to make a run at the playoffs this year, the bullpen had to be addressed.

We’ll have more on this.