The Phillies are shaking up their bullpen following Sunday’s drubbing by the Mets, as the team will option southpaws Cristopher Sánchez and Damon Jones to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Both southpaws are in their rookie years after receiving brief cups of coffee in 2021.
Sánchez, a 25-year-old native of Venezuela, was acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays in November of 2019 in exchange for rising infield prospect Curtis Mead. Sanchez has shown lots of strikeout upside in the big leagues, fanning 23 batters over 22.2 innings, but has struggled to keep runs off the board to the tune of a 5.16 ERA. However, his 4.10 FIP shows that he has run into a bit of bad luck, and hopefully he can turn things around at the Triple-A level.
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Jones is a bit older of a rookie, as he’s in the midst of his age-27 season. An 18th round pick in the 2017 draft, Jones made his major league debut last august, retiring one better while walking two and surrendering one hit in his only appearance of 2021. This year hasn’t been a huge success thus far, as Jones has allowed four hits, five walks and five earned runs over 4.2 innings.
With any luck the decision to option Cristopher Sánchez and Damon Jones will allow both lefties to get back on track, and the yet to be reported corresponding moves will add a bit of bullpen depth.