On the surface, Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson sounds calm. “I know we have really good arms, really good stuff out there,” he said before a recent game. That’s the public face while the Phillies are slogging through some choppy waters early in the 2025 season. But beneath that calm exterior, urgent questions are bubbling up, especially when the bullpen gates swing open. Those late innings are starting to feel a bit shaky for the Philly faithful.
Let’s be blunt: the Phillies’ bullpen has had a rough start. Entering late April, their collective 5.81 ERA ranked second-worst (29th) in all of Major League Baseball. And the WHIP? It can not be worse ranking in the bottom tier(~1.51) in all of MLB. Only the Washington Nationals were worse. They also led the league with six blown saves(most in all of MLB), meaning they failed to hold leads more than any other team. While closer José Alvarado has been solid, the bridge to him has often crumbled. This shaky relief work casts a shadow over the team’s otherwise decent start, hinting that a major potential weakness needs fixing, and fast. The biggest headache? Their key offseason signing – Jordan Romano. His early performances have been alarming, prompting a deeper look from the normally steady manager, Rob Thomson.
Thomson’s strategic approach to bullpen management has evolved to suit the demands of different game situations. In the postseason, he described the approach as “a sprint,” contrasting it with the regular season’s “marathon.” According to Matt Gelb of the Athletics, “Thomson, considered… commissioned a fact-finding mission into whether Romano was tipping his pitches.” But, finding the real problem is not always easy, as Thomson himself admits. “You dig into it and you think you got it,” the manager said. “You think you’ve figured something out. That might not be it. So we got to find out.” That cautious uncertainty highlights the pressure.
Why the deep dive? Romano’s stats tell a grim story. He carries a sky-high 15.26 ERA through his first nine appearances. Hitters are reaching base at a high frequency against him (a 2.22 WHIP). The low point came on April 19th against the Marlins. Asked to protect a comfortable 11-4 lead in the ninth, Romano got hammered. He allowed six runs on six hits, two of them homers, before being taken out. The Phillies barely won 11-10, and Romano heard boos walking off the mound – a tough welcome for the former All-Star closer.
Can the Phillies fix Romano? And what about the rest of the pen?
The current situation is taking us back to the 2020 season when the Phillies’ bullpen was historically poor, posting a 7.06 ERA—the second-highest in MLB history. They led the league with 14 blown saves, a significant factor in their missing the playoffs by just one game.
So this time, eyes are on Romano. What’s going on? The most obvious problem appears to be the velocity of his fastball. Romano averaged close to 97 mph during his successful career. This season, it was sitting lower on the scale, 92-94 mph. Even Romano admitted confusion, saying, “I’m used to being 96… I don’t know what’s going on right now, but I need to figure it out.” Interestingly, he did hit nearly 100 mph right before melting down on April 19th, suggesting the power might still exist, just inconsistently. This decrease seems to stem from his elbow surgery in 2024, even if at this moment, he feels physically fine.
Beyond velocity, Romano has also struggled with the command. In one blown save, he was 15 of 29 pitches in the strike zone. There have been “uncompetitive” misses, especially on early-in-count pitches, according to reports. His walk rate percentile (20th) is poor, and he has allowed damaging hits even when ahead, like a single on a 1-2 count that triggered a rally. Another, Romano, heavily relies on a fastball-slider mix. He connected his velocity issues directly to his secondary pitch’s effectiveness: “I’ve got to get the velo up because when the velo’s right, it helps the slider too. When the velo’s down, it’s easier to take the slider”.
Romano’s issue is under the microscope, but the whole bullpen has to get it right. Outside of Alvarado and lefty Matt Strahm (1.74 ERA), consistency has been lacking. Promising rookie Orion Kerkering (4.50 ERA) recently allowed a big homer. Others, like José Ruiz (6.14 ERA) or Joe Ross (7.45 ERA), haven’t yet provided a reliable innings. Losing reliable arms such as Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estévez from last year’s squad hurts. The bullpen’s overall strikeout rate has also dropped from 2024.
Even with this collateral damage, Manager Thomson has maintained a public air of optimism, trusting the “pieces” he has. “It’s going to happen every once in a while,” he said after a tough weekend loss. “They just have to shake themselves off and go get them tomorrow.” The hope is that Romano finds himself again. There might be a review of pitch data, mechanics, and staff feedback to investigate if Romano is tipping pitches or showing mechanical flaws.
For now, Phillies fans can sit tight and wait, hoping the bullpen tremors calm down before they seriously shake the team’s ambitions.
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