Author: Lochlahn March

It’s not unusual for a pitcher’s velocity to increase a little after transitioning from starting to relieving. But when Brad Keller moved to the Chicago Cubs bullpen last season, his fastball jumped over 3 miles per hour.

The increased zing — an average of 93.7 mph in 2024 became 97.1 mph last year — was followed by a career season. Keller posted a 2.07 ERA and 0.962 WHIP in 69⅔ innings with the Cubs, primarily pitching in a setup role. And he parlayed that into a two-year, $22 million contract with the Phillies last week.

“There’s nothing like the adrenaline spike when the phone rings and your name’s called,” Keller said on Monday. “So I really grew into that.”

Behind closer Jhoan Duran, Keller is set to become one of the Phillies’ top right-handed relief options along with Orion Kerkering. The Phillies also added righty Jonathan Bowlan to the mix last week in a trade for Matt Strahm. Another righty in competition for a bullpen spot will be Zach Pop, whom the Phillies signed to a major league deal on Monday. Pop, 29, has a 4.88 ERA in 162⅓ career innings, and spent most of last season in triple A in the Mariners and Mets organizations.

“We love Keller. We think he’s one of the best in the business, the way he stepped up last year as a reliever with the Cubs,” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said. “So we really like the way the bullpen now shapes up.”

It wasn’t just the move to the bullpen that led to Keller’s velocity increase last year. He also made some key mechanical adjustments, focusing on using his lower body more. And most important, Keller felt completely healthy.

The right-hander had thoracic outlet decompression surgery during the 2023 offseason, a procedure that Phillies ace Zack Wheeler also underwent on Sept. 23. Before his diagnosis with thoracic outlet syndrome, Keller’s hand would swell up so much because of the lack of blood flow that he couldn’t grip a baseball.

Keller returned to the mound in the spring of 2024 after signing with the Chicago White Sox. He said he didn’t quite feel like himself until the All-Star break.

“Granted, I kind of rushed my rehab because I had surgery in the offseason,” he said. “And I was a free agent that year, and I really tried to be with the team and finish rehab with the team, and then kind of roll through there.”

Keller was designated for assignment by the White Sox in May 2024 and spent the rest of that season in the Red Sox organization.

“I just carried that second half into last year, where it’s like, ‘All right, that’s in the rearview. I feel good. I don’t have to worry about that stuff anymore,’” Keller said.

When Keller signed with the Cubs last January, it was to be a starter. But after the deal came together late in the offseason, and the Cubs underwent an accelerated spring training before the Tokyo Series, he wasn’t fully built up. Chicago tried him out in the bullpen. And not only did Keller find success there, he also enjoyed the new role.

The Phillies believe the 97-mph version of Keller is here to stay.

“All of our scouting work, our analytical work, our pitching people that have taken a look at him, between [pitching coach] Caleb [Cotham] and the rest of the group,” Dombrowski said, “people that we’ve talked to feel like, ‘OK, this is him now.’ I mean, he’s a legit back-end-type guy.”

Keller still has a starter’s arsenal, using a five-pitch mix of four-seam, sinker, slider, changeup, and sweeper, which he introduced last season. He and Cotham have already discussed ways he could improve the newest offering.

“He thinks very similar to how I think about things,” said Keller, 30. “And he brought up some ideas of things that we feel like would be fun things to try, like throwing sweepers to lefties, changeups to righties, things like that that’s kind of a little unorthodox.”

This winter, other teams inquired about Keller’s willingness to return to a starting role. He said he was open to it, but he had more fun coming out of the bullpen.

Most fun of all, though, was experiencing the playoffs for the first time in his career. Keller had a 1.59 ERA in five postseason appearances with the Cubs in 2025, recording two saves and one hold. One of his biggest priorities in free agency this winter was joining a contender.

“Once you get a taste of that,” Keller said, “that’s what you crave every single year.”

With the addition of Adolis García, the Phillies’ outfield picture for 2026 has come into focus.

García, who signed a one-year, $10 million deal with the Phillies on Tuesday, will get the opportunity to be the Phillies’ everyday right fielder. And now the outfield is “pretty well set,” according to president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.

Their top priority now becomes the catcher position, and bringing back J.T. Realmuto is the main focus.

“We just continue to grind along and see if we can come up with a solution,” Dombrowski said. “We’ve talked consistently about trying to sign J.T., and we remain that way. But we haven’t been able to get it done so far.”

As it stands, García will slot into right field, with Brandon Marsh in left — likely in a platoon role with Otto Kemp — and Justin Crawford will get an opportunity to be the everyday center fielder. The Phillies have already made clear their intention of cutting ties with Nick Castellanos this offseason.

Dombrowski pointed to Johan Rojas and prospect Gabriel Rincones Jr. as backup outfield options.

“We like the players,” Dombrowski said. “We think Brandon Marsh is a good player. He hasn’t taken the next step vs. left-handed pitching. We’ve talked about that. Will he do it? I’m not sure, but we do like Otto Kemp. We think when we look at ourselves, that that’s one of the best combos in left field, if you look at the two of them. Adolis, we think, helps us in right field. It gives us an improvement there. And we think Justin is going to be a good player.”

By committing to this configuration, the Phillies are taking a few gambles. First, they’re betting on García returning to his 2023 form, when he hit .245 with an .836 OPS and helped power the Texas Rangers to the World Series title.

Since then, García has seen a drop-off in his performance at the plate. Last season, the righty slashed .227/.271/.394 with a 93 OPS+, and he was non-tendered by the Rangers in November. Underlying those numbers, García’s chase rate of 29.3% in 2023 increased to 35.7% in 2025.

Defensively, though, he remained reliable, recording +1 outs above average and +16 defensive runs saved in right field.

It’s a familiar bet for Dombrowski, who took a similar risk on Max Kepler a year ago on another one-year, $10 million contract.

“He needs to be more under control with the swing,” Dombrowski said. “We don’t need him to hit the ball out of the ballpark on every swing or every at-bat. We think he can do that. And our hitting coaches, to me, that’s one of the things that they do very well with working with individuals. It’s a matter of not trying to do too much. …

“The tools are there. The ball jumps off his bat, still. Bat speed is still there. Exit velocity is very good. So those are all things that we feel encouraged about.”

García’s average exit velocity of 92.1 mph in 2025 was the same as his 2023 marker. His bat speed of 72.1 mph dipped slightly from 73.6 mph in 2023.

The Phillies plan to send hitting coach Kevin Long or assistant hitting coach Edwar Gonzalez to meet with García where he’s training in Tampa to start working.

“I want to be able to focus on being a better version of myself, to add a piece to this winning team,” García said through an interpreter. “There’s a great team involved. I just want to go and play my defense, and hopefully my bat will be there. And I just want to be a piece that contributes to this good team.”

Phillies manager Rob Thomson said he has made no decisions on where García might hit in the lineup, but he could potentially be protection for the Phillies’ left-handed bats.

The other gamble the Phillies are making with their 2026 outfield is handing the keys in center field to Crawford, who has yet to make his major league debut.

The Phillies repeatedly said that they felt Crawford was ready for the majors last season, when he hit .334 and stole 46 bases in triple A, but he did not have a path to regular playing time. In 2026, the road will be wide-open.

“If you’re going to give Crawford an opportunity, you’ve got to give it to him,” Dombrowski said. “And that’s where we are. We’re going to give him the opportunity to go out there and have a chance to play a lot.”

Thomson said he called Crawford, who turns 22 in January, on Monday night.

“I knew that he was going to hear about the Adolis deal and being a young kid, I just wanted to reiterate the fact that he’s coming into camp to win a job, and signing a Adolis does not affect Justin at all,” Thomson said. “Again, I want him to come into camp, be himself, and if he is himself, he’ll make this club.”

ORLANDO — To close out this year’s winter meetings, the Phillies selected right-handed pitcher Zach McCambley in the Rule 5 draft.

McCambley, 26, was in the Miami Marlins organization, and had a 2.90 ERA and 1.097 WHIP in 62 innings between double A and triple A. According to draft regulations, McCambley was assigned directly to the Phillies’ 26-man roster.

To be removed from the roster, he must be placed on outright waivers and offered back to Miami. But the Phillies think McCambley has a chance of impacting their club in 2026.

“When we drafted him, we had the feeling that he could make the team,” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said. “And one of the things that we’ve talked about looking to have over the last few years is a right-handed person in the bullpen that dominates right-handed hitters. So we think he has a chance to do that.”

To further bolster their relief depth, the Phillies acquired reliever Yoniel Curet in exchange for minor league pitcher Tommy McCollum in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday. Curet had a 3.90 ERA in 55⅓ innings across rookie ball, double A, and triple A this year but missed some time because of a shoulder injury. He had been designated for assignment by the Rays.

Curet made 14 starts last season, but the Phillies are viewing him as a reliever.

“He has options available. He has an arm that we really like,” Dombrowski said. “He’s really been successful at the minor league level; plus-plus fastball. … We have roster spots, so we’re going to start building some depth and take advantage of it.”

The Phillies lost right-hander Griff McGarry in the draft after opting to leave him unprotected for the second straight year. The 26-year-old was selected by the Washington Nationals with the third overall pick. McGarry has been unable to establish himself in triple A but had a bounce back season in 2025 with a 3.44 ERA. He won the Paul Owens Award as the Phillies’ top minor league pitcher.

“We liked him,” Dombrowski said. “We just think that he’d have a hard time staying with the big league club. We like his arm strength and like a lot of things about him. … It was just a risk that we took, figuring that we’d rather have the roster spot at that time. Wish him nothing but the best.”

It’s possible McGarry returns to the Phillies if he doesn’t make the Nationals out of camp. Last year, the Minnesota Twins selected Eiberson Castellano in the Rule 5 draft, but he was returned to the Phillies in March.

In the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft, in which there aren’t any roster restrictions for selections, the Phillies took infielder Austin Murr from the Detroit Tigers and right-handed pitcher Evan Gates from the San Francisco Giants. First baseman Carson Taylor was selected from the Phillies by the Seattle Mariners.