Competition Galore In The Bullpen This Spring Training

There will be a lot of competition in this bullpen during
Phillies Spring Training this year.

The Phillies bullpen was just okay last year as they had several young players step up and help contribute through some injuries to main pieces.  This year, who knows what it is going to look like as they have a few key bullpen pieces returning along with a good amount of prospects and some free agent sign-ees as well.

Spring Training will be a very competitive one for the bullpen pitchers this year.  The Phillies will likely keep 12 pitchers on the roster this year, allowing for 7 bullpen pitchers.  Let's see who will be competing for those spots.

In my belief the locks for making this Phillies team are Jonathan Papelbon, Antonio Bastardo, Jose Contreras (if healthy), Michael Stutes and Kyle Kendrick.  This could change depending on injury and how they pitch in Spring Training, but this leaves just two spots open.  Prospects wise competing for a spot are Phillippe Aumont, Justin De Fratus, Jake Diekman, Joe Savery and Michael Schwimer.  Then you also have David Herndon, Chad Qualls, Dontrelle Willis and Jeremy Horst.  Now that is a lot of competition.  There will be a lot of people competing for a spot, which is a good thing to have as it usually brings the best out in everyone.

The good thing is the Phillies have a lot of options to choose from.  Injuries happen, so they know they have a lot of capable pitchers to replace someone as well as keep pressure on others who might be looking for a call-up.

This spring should be interesting though, there are a lot of capable pitchers and it is going to be a tough decision for the Phillies staff to make.  It looks like they won't have to make a decision on pitchers they really wouldn't like being on the roster which is a good thing as well.  The main competition will be in the bullpen this spring and it is exciting to see that the Phillies have some quality competition this year.  The pen will be competing with each other all year and this competition will be good.  The bullpen hasn't been a strength for most of the Phillies team, but this year should be different with so many quality players.