Philadelphia Phillies Named Ideal Landing Spot for Former World Series Champion

Should the Philadelphia Phillies trade for some bullpen help?

Apr 13, 2025; West Sacramento, California, USA; Athletics pitcher Jose Leclerc (37) throws a pitch against the New York Mets during the seventh inning at Sutter Health Park. / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies are off to a strong start, but the roster currently has one major issue.

Even though it has been a good beginning to the season for the Phillies, some concerns about the roster from in years past are still ongoing.

In the playoffs last year, Philadelphia had a couple of weaknesses exposed in both their batting order and bullpen.

This winter, the team made some nice moves on paper to address these needs, but one move in particular was a failure.

The signing of Jordan Romano has emerged as one of the worst signings in the early part of the campaign. The two-time All-Star was slated to be the closer for the Phillies, but has seemingly already lost his job.

In 2025, he has totaled a 15.26 ERA and saved just one game.

Fortunately, some other members of the bullpen have stepped up and pitched well, but the 32-year-old was expected to be a shutdown closer for them in the ninth inning.

Now, with their newest addition not being able to be trusted to get outs, Philadelphia must once again be thinking about ways to improve the bullpen.

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently wrote about the Phillies being an ideal destination for Athletics relief pitcher José Leclerc.

 “To put it lightly, the Jordan Romano experiment has not gone well, and the Phillies are eventually going to need arms aside from José Alvarado, Matt Strahm and Orion Kerkering, who they can trust at least a little bit.”

While help is needed in the bullpen, Leclerc isn't a slam dunk answer for Philadelphia, but could be a viable option for a few reasons.

So far in 2025, he hasn’t pitched great, totaling a 6.23 ERA through 8.2 innings so far. However, he does have a proven track record of being a very good relief pitcher in the Majors.

In 2023, the right-hander was a significant part of the bullpen for the Texas Rangers, who won the World Series. In the postseason, he totaled a 3.29 ERA and saved four games in 13.2 innings of work in October.

While he did see his ERA jump to 4.32 during the regular season in 2024, his underlying numbers were better with a FIP of 3.48.

Even though it has been a slow start, the 31-year-old could be a solid option for the Phillies to pursue. He will be a free agent at the end of the campaign, so there aren’t any commitments past this year, and he had excellent success in the playoffs.

While he might not be the shutdown closer that they desire, he could provide some much-needed depth to the unit. Overall, he could be a solid option for Philadelphia.

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