Phillies thoughts: Johan Rojas should stay (for now); Orion Kerkering concerns; evaluating the bullpen hype

We'll know soon enough whether Rojas will stick in the majors. Kerkering is not ready to start the season after a long bout with the flu.1) Orion Kerkering’s late start is a bigger deal than a lot of people realize.

Gregory Soto showed us last season how much disruption a springtime absence can cause. I’m not saying Kerkering won’t emerge as a go-to option in the eighth or ninth inning. I just think it is a mistake to assume it is preordained. He still has a ton to prove, and less time to prove it. Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised to see the Phillies ranked atop FanGraphs’ bullpen WAR projections for the upcoming season. But, hey, fool me once, shame on me. Fool me every single April and I become dead inside.Daffodils, robins, and optimism about the Phillies’ bullpen. Every year we spend the month of March talking ourselves into hypoxia about the improvements they’ve made. And every April we go looking for the fire extinguisher.

Let’s assume the Phillies end up getting what they got last year from Alvarado, Jeff Hoffman, and Matt Strahm. You need a fourth guy, especially with the lack of closing experience from that group. And in an ideal world, Strahm is more of a multiple-innings bridge reliever than a true setup man. Which means you need a fifth guy, too. Even if Kerkering ends up filling one of those two slots, the Phillies are still going to need someone to step up.

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