PHILADELPHIA – The Phillies continued to strengthen their bullpen on Saturday, acquiring a two-time All-Star Gregory Soto of the Tigers in a five-man contract.
In addition to Soto, Philadelphia will receive an infielder Cody Clemens in exchange for outfielder Matt Vierling, utility player Nick Maton and receiver Donny Sands (the Phillies No. 21 prospects by MLB pipeline).
The Phillies get: LHP Gregory Soto, INF Kody Clemens
Tigers get: UTIL Nick Maton, OF Matt Vierling, C Donny Sands (Phillies prospect No. 21)
Soto, who had a 3.28 ERA and made 30 saves for the Tigers last season, is one of the Majors’ best-throwing lefties. His four-seam fastball averaged 98.7 mph last season, making it the second-fastest qualified throw of any left-hander – behind new teammate José Alvarado’s lead (99.6 mph).
These two flamethrower southpaws will share a bullpen with right-hander Seranthony Domínguez, who averaged 98.2 mph with his lead and 97.6 mph with his four-seam.
The decision to acquire Soto also comes just two days after the club introduced veteran right-hander Craig Kimbrel, who ranks seventh all-time with 394 career saves.
That should give manager Rob Thomson plenty of options to close out games – which bodes well for a skipper who’d rather not get close. President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski acknowledged that one of the club’s goals this offseason is to stock as many relievers with high-leverage experience as possible in the back of the bullpen.
“We feel like we have the makings of a really good bullpen,” Dombrowski said during Kimbrel’s presentation on Thursday. “We have quite a few guys who can shoot with a one-point lead late in the game, which we think is extremely important.”
Soto certainly adds to this group, although he tends to keep things interesting. The 27-year-old, who is under team control through 2025, has averaged 5.3 walks per nine innings over his four-year career, including 5.1 last season. His takedown rate also increased from 29.6% in 2020 and 27.5% in 21 to 22.8% in 22. He also cleared an average exit speed of 91.4 mph, the sixth-highest rating out of 358 qualified pitchers.
Still, Soto thinks he’s helping a Phillies bullpen that — while stepping up in the club’s 2022 NL pennant run — achieved a 3.97 overall ERA last season. This ranked 18th in the Majors, but was a slight step up from 2021 (4.39 ERA, 19th) and a drastic improvement from the disastrous 2020 campaign (5.14, 27th) .
The relief corps shone when Thomson took over after the Phils parted ways with Joe Girardi on June 3. At the time, the Philadelphia bullpen had a 4.10 ERA, which ranked 21st in the major leagues. From then until the end of July, the ‘pen posted a 3.51 ERA, good for the eighth highest rating in MLB. As the team struggled with injuries, the relievers set a 4.99 ERA in August and a 4.62 mark in September.
However, when the Phillies relied more on their high-leverage arms in the playoffs, the pen responded with a 2.62 ERA in 68 2/3 innings.
Although David Robertson (signed with the Mets), Zach Eflin (Rays) and Brad Hand (free agent) are now gone, the Phils have reconstituted the group with Soto, Kimbrel, Matt Strahm and Erich Uelmen, who was acquired from the Cubs Wednesday.
As for the other pieces of the Soto deal, Vierling — despite being the Phillies’ starting center back for a stint last season — was relegated to squad appearances against left-handed pitchers following Trade Deadline’s acquisition of outfielder Brandon Marsh.
Maton, meanwhile, provided valuable innings in August and September as the Phillies navigated key injuries in the final game. A natural infielder, he made 10 appearances at each outfield corner replacing Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos, while also making appearances at second, third and shortstop.
Clemens, the son of seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, offered similar versatility to Detroit last season. The 26-year-old appeared at first base, second base, third base and left field – and even made seven pitching appearances – while slashing .145 / .197 / .308 in 127 plate appearances after his MLB debut in May. 31 last season.
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