Drew Smyly to the Phillies: My Reaction

The Philadelphia Phillies are in the process of signing 30 year old lefty starter Drew Smyly. Now obviously this isn’t the big move for a pitcher that we’ve all been hoping for, but this is a really solid move from Matt Klentak in my opinion. It’s low risk with the potential for very high reward. Here are my quick reactions to the acquisition.

The Stats

Drew Smyly has sucked this year, I physically can’t sugarcoat that. He’s has started 9 games for the Texas Rangers in 2019 and in those 9 games he’s 1-5 with a 8.42 ERA and 1.91 WHIP. Yes you read that correctly, he has an ERA of 8.42. Drew has been plagued by the long ball (19 HRs allowed) and allows a lot of base hits (.299 opponent batting average). With numbers like these how could this possibly be a good move? Well, if we exclude 2019 for just a second, Drew has actually been a very above average pitcher throughout his career. From 2012 through 2015 he kept his ERA under 4.00, in both a starting role and reliever role, and in 2013 he finished the season with an astounding 2.37 ERA. Throw in the fact that his WHIP hovered around the 1.10-1.20 range that whole time, that’s some pretty solid production.

The “Fit”

Smyly provides two really good things for the 2019 Phillies. First, he adds a much needed lefty to the rotation. After the Cole Irvin experiment failed, the Phils have been without a left handed presence in the rotation all season long. This gives Gabe Kapler some legit flexibility to play the matchup game against certain teams. Second, this allows Vince Velasquez to go back to the pen. Vince just isn’t a starter, no matter how hard we try to make him one, he just isn’t. Vince has a way higher chance of thriving in the bullpen then he does in the rotation.

Drew Smyly could pitch as soon as Sunday for Phillies. That would mean Vince Velasquez back to pen.

— Jim Salisbury (@JSalisburyNBCS) July 19, 2019

Conclusion

When analyzing this move we have to keep things in perspective. This is an extremely minor move that cost us nothing, at the end of the day if he sucks we can just DFA him and send him right back to free agency. However, on that small chance that he can replicate his 2012-2015 form, this is 100% worth it. Vince wasn’t getting it done and Smyly probably won’t do any worse. Despite all he shit I’ve given Klentak and the front office this season, small moves like these are what build a championship winning roster at the end of the day. 

Twitter: @phillyinsider99

-David Esser via Philly Sports Insider

~stats taken from MLB.com~

~image taken from sports.yahoo.com~