The decision is coming quickly.
Listen, we are all aware that the Phillies are going to need arms in the bullpen. Last night’s rough outing from Taijuan Walker reinforced this idea with his surrendering the lead on last night’s game almost right away. It’s not a stretch to say that they will probably need two arms for the bullpen. We can probably already surmise that someone from the rotation will be going there in the future if the team continues to proceed with their plan to bring up Andrew Painter for the rotation.
But at some point, some questions have to be asked about who is currently there now. Assuming that the team makes a deal soon to bring in a new reliever, they’ll probably have to let go of someone to make that roster fit work. There are some obvious candidates to let go without much remorse, but that brings us to our question of the day: who is the option the team should be looking to discard from the bullpen if and when the time comes? We’ve already seen Jose Ruiz and Carlos Hernandez let go in the name of making the bullpen better.
Likely most will think Walker right away, but what exactly has Joe Ross done to deserve longer leash with the team? What does Max Lazar provide to the team? There are players that can be let go with ease, but if we’re talking about not taking contracts into account, who is most likely to go?