Ruben Amaro Jr. Says He Has Talked To Other Teams About Acquiring Bullpen Help
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- After winning their last two games against the Reds over the weekend, the Phillies improved to 19-22 and continue to hang around in a tight National League East division. The Phillies bullpen, despite not allowing an earned run in five straight games, has a 4.42 ERA which is the fourth worst bullpen ERA in all of baseball. Phillies general manager, Ruben Amaro Jr., admitted on the WIP Morning Show Tuesday that he has talked to other teams about adding bullpen help.
"I have several pieces of dialogue with a lot of GM's [general managers] already," Amaro Jr. admitted. "We're looking to try to add to our bullpen if we can, and we've been out there kind of talking to some clubs."
LISTEN: Ruben Amaro Jr. on the WIP Morning Show
Amaro Jr. explained dialogue with other teams have been difficult because of the parity across the league. In the injury-riddled National League East, the Phillies are only four games behind the first place Braves, despite sitting three games under .500. Amaro Jr. thinks the Phillies have a chance to win the division.
"So many teams are in it, there's so much parity right now," Amaro Jr. said. "Some of the separation of these divisions is uncanny and there's no great, great teams out there---some teams are having very good years, but there's not a multitude of great teams that are separating themselves. Since everybody is kind of still in it and their fans want their team to be in it, it's very difficult for guys to start selling, including the Phillies, because we have a chance to win the division. I mean we're, what, three and a half games back and we're in---we're not even in June."
The Phillies begin a three game series in Miami against the Marlins on Tuesday night, the start of 20 games in 20 days.
