Phillies sign veteran reliever Matt Strahm to shore up their bullpen

SAN DIEGO — Just about an hour after the Phillies and right-handed starter Taijuan Walker agreed to a four-year, $72 million deal, the team addressed another pressing need — their bullpen — reaching a deal with left-handed reliever Matt Strahm on a two-year, $15 million contract, a source confirmed Tuesday night.

Strahm has a 3.81 ERA over seven seasons with the Kansas City Royals, San Diego Padres, and Boston Red Sox. He went to the postseason in 2020 with the Padres, allowing three earned runs over 2⅓ innings. Strahm gives the Phillies a second left-handed reliever, alongside José Alvarado.

Strahm, 31, could be used in a swingman-type role. He’s pitched 108 innings as a starter, and 196⅔ innings as a reliever. But Strahm fared much better out of the bullpen in his career. He has a 3.11 ERA over 182 games, with a 2.82 strikeout-to-walk ratio, compared to a 5.08 career ERA over 25 starts, with a 5.05 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He’s started just one game — in 2021 — over the last three seasons.

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Because of his experience as a starter, Strahm has a five-pitch mix, which plays well out of the bullpen. He throws a four-seam fastball, a slider, a curveball, a sinker, and a changeup.

The left-handed pitcher is coming off of a bounce-back 2022 season with the Red Sox, where he threw 44⅔ innings to the tune of a 3.83 ERA with 52 strikeouts and 17 walks. He has a 3.32 career strikeout-to-walk rate and a 8.0 career hits-per-nine innings. Last season, he was used primarily in the seventh and eighth innings, but he did finish 10 games.

The Phillies’ front office had plenty of work ahead of them before arriving in San Diego for baseball’s winter meetings but has so far made the most of their time on the West Coast. With Zach Eflin, Kyle Gibson, Brad Hand, Noah Syndergaard, Corey Knebel, and David Robertson departing in free agency, the club had to replace 411 innings pitched in 2022. But with the additions of Walker and Strahm, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski significantly chipped away at his to-do list.

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While the bullpen performed far better in 2022 than it did in previous years, the Phillies’ three free-agent reliever acquisitions last offseason turned out to be largely disappointing. Hand posted a 2.80 ERA but struggled down the stretch, posting an 8.44 ERA over the final month of the regular season. Knebel, who initially was the closer, was placed on the 60-day injured list in August after suffering a right lat strain. And Jeurys Familia, who signed a one-year, $6 million deal in March, was designated for assignment halfway through the season.

It goes without saying that the Phillies will need this potential group of free-agent relievers to perform better than last year’s did. But internally, there is optimism that Strahm is a step in the right direction.

When asked on Monday about what qualities the Phillies were looking for in a reliever, Dombrowski said he wasn’t necessarily looking for a closer — because the Phillies don’t have an assigned closer — but a pitcher who could pitch late in games, to complement Connor Brogdon, Seranthony Domínguez, and Alvarado. Strahm appears to fit that profile.