The Philadelphia Phillies are continuing to show interest in adding to their bullpen ahead of the MLB trade deadline as they were recently linked to another closer.
Bruce Levine of “670 The Score” reported that Philadelphia, the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals are all among the teams that have shown interest in Chicago White Sox reliever Michael Kopech
After struggling as a starter last season, Kopech was moved back to the bullpen for the first time since 2021. Though he’s not having the best year, he has flashed enough for teams to be willing to trade for him.
“I don’t want to leave the White Sox, but I understand where the team is at and what they are trying to accomplish,” said Kopech to “670 The Score.”
The 28-year-old has a 4.91 ERA and 1.50 WHIP through 29 appearances in this campaign. He’s under team control through the end of the 2025 season, which adds to his attractiveness as a trade piece.
“There is a business side to this that I don’t have any control over. If I am moved, I will try to take it in stride and prepare my family for the next chapter of our lives as a professional pitcher,” the Texas native continued later.
Kopech is known as a flamethrower as he averages around 99 MPH on his fastball, one of the fastest in the league.
He’s striking out batters at his highest rate since 2021, but has gotten some bad luck leading to higher numbers. Batters have a .317 BABIP against him, which is the highest since his rookie season. Both his xERA and xFIP are a bit lower than his actual numbers, which means his struggles could be exaggerated.
The contact rate against him is lower than normal and hard-hit rate is the lowest in his career, but he is getting barreled up more often which could be responsible for the hits falling more often.
The Philadelphia bullpen is currently underwhelming in terms of strikeouts, taking 18th among MLB staffs. They’ve been one of the best groups in baseball over the past month, but it would make sense to add another flamethrower to the group.
They also still don’t have a full-time closer with Jose Alvarado taking the role over almost just by default. Bringing in Kopech could allow Alvarado to return to the role that he found so much success in for the past few seasons, pitching ahead of the closer
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