Jun 11, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Dennis Santana (60) delivers the ball to the Miami Marlins at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Philip G. Pavely-Imagn Images
On Friday, the Phillies lost to the Reds 9-6. Jesus Luzardo gave up six of those runs, long man Joe Ross gave up the next three, and then the combination of Tanner Banks, Daniel Robert, Jordan Romano and Max Lazar combined to throw 4 1/3 hitless innings as the Phillies tried to get back into the game.
They didn't, but the bullpen gave them a chance to do so.
On Saturday, with Ranger Suarez on a pitch limit, the bullpen needed to do a job again against the Reds. This time, Romano, Banks, Orion Kerkering and Matt Strahm combined for four more scoreless innings, preserving a 5-1 Phillies win.
It was enough for former G.M. and current Phillies analyst Ruben Amaro, Jr. to try to convince everyone that everything is O.K.
Everybody ok? Alec, Bullpen, everyone ok again or is the sky still falling. Go @Phillies
Now, you only need two eyes and have them trained on the Phillies with some semblance of regularity to know that this is a bit of a gaslight by Ruben.
The Phillies bullpen, as a whole, has underperformed all season. Losing Jose Alvarado to an 80-game suspension made what was a shaky collection of arms even worse. Just because they had a couple of nice days in a row in early July doesn't mean that everything is hunky dory.
No, the Phillies need to address the bullpen before the trade deadline at the end of the month, or else they wouldn't be serious about contending for a World Series crown.
It's a must on President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski's to-do list.
Because the Phillies are among the best six teams in the sport - and they all have flaws. Every last one of them. But just because every team has flaws doesn't mean as a baseball executive you should settle for the status quo and just hope your flaws are less impactful negatively than those of the teams who will be playing October baseball with you.
Which is why Dombrowski is scouring the trade market for upgrades to his team. He could use fixes elsewhere as well, but the bullpen is where things are the most precarious.
It's no wonder then that rumors are already starting to crop up about where Dombrowski is poking around.
Take this one for example:
The #Phillies have expressed interest in #Pirates RHPs David Bednar and Dennis Santana, per @_NoahHiles
Hiles notes that Santana seems to be PHI’s primary interest, but PHI’s interest in Bednar “has received a notable uptick as of late.” pic.twitter.com/mbC3u7OBzl
You can read the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story here.
It's an intriguing combination of players who could bolster the Phillies bullpen significantly.
Santana is the more intriguing of the two, although Bednar is no slouch. It's just that Santana has shown steady improvement with each season in the Big Leagues, while Bednar has been a little more hit or miss.
Breaking into the majors back in 2018 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Santana bounced around for several seasons with several teams, unable to really find his footing. He went from the Dodgers to the Texas Rangers to both New York teams before finally landing in Pittsburgh in June of 2024 after the Pirates claimed him off waivers from the Yankees.
Santana's issue at his previous stops had always been control. He had a very high walk rate every season until he got to Pittsburgh - where he's been able to harness his pitches, and pound the strike zone.
In 44 1/3 innings in 2024 with the Bucs he posted a 2.44 ERA and a 0.925 WHIP - both career bests to that point. He also had an ERA+ of 175 (League average is always 100, meaning he was 75% better than the average reliever) and his FIP (fielding independent pitching) was also 2.44, which is very good.
In 2025, he's been even better.
So far this season Santana has thrown 38 innings and has a 1.42 ERA and a WHIP of 0.763. His ERA+ is an astounding 302. His FIP has remained close to where it was in 2024 (2.51). His walk rate is at a career-low 1.7 per nine innings. He's only allowed one home run.
It's the kind of late inning leverage arm the Phillies are sorely missing from the right side aside from Kerkering.
Dennis Santana, Nasty 89mph Changeup. 👌 pic.twitter.com/cru6HwYpsm
You may remember Santana was suspended for a couple games after an interaction with a fan in Detroit earlier this season, but by all accounts he's a good teammate and would be a big boost to the Phillies bullpen.
Live from comerica park🤣 dennis santana swings on a fan with a tigers hat and pirates jersey lmfao@woodwardsports @barstoolsports @mlb @Pirates @DennisSantanaRD pic.twitter.com/ulPd2YuqsM
As for Bednar, the Pittsburgh native burst onto the scene in 2021 and received some Rookie of the Year votes, and then was an All-Star closer for the Pirates in both 2022 and 2023.
But he took a huge step backwards in 2024, finishing with a 5.77 ERA and a 1.422 WHIP, unable to locate his pitches and finishing with an ERA+ of just 75, and even lost the closer's role for a bit.
Now 30, Bednar has had a nice bounce back in 2025. It may not be All-Star worthy again, but his numbers are in line with what he was posting in both All-Star seasons. In 29 2/3 innings, he has a 2.73 ERA and a 1.146 WHIP. He has 12 saves and an ERA+ of 158. Most impressive is his career-best strikeouts per nine innings at 12.7.
David Bednar, Painted 79mph Curveball. 🖌️🎨 pic.twitter.com/sZNn21lbQB
Bednar has not allowed an earned run since May 23 - a span of 15 appearances - and was named N.L. Reliever of the Month in June.
It's impossible to speculate on what a trade for one or both of these guys might cost the Phillies. Both have one year of arbitration eligibility remaining, so they will cost more than a rental with no control beyond this season, but if past is prologue, the Phillies had to give up two intriguing pitching prospects to the Anaheim Angels last season for the rental of Carlos Estevez. Could the Phillies get both guys if the prospects in the deal were on the higher end? Or would they have to gut the lower levels of the farm system to trade off, say, four names to get these two? Could they land just one of them for a little bit less? Maybe Santana, who despite having five saves, isn't considered a traditional closer - like Estevez was - and wouldn't command as high a price tag.
Either way, consider the Phillies intrigued enough to be exploring this in more than a cursory way. And who knows, maybe you'll see Santana pitching in red-pinstriped baseball "shorts" soon:
Have you ever seen this style of baseball pants?? 😭
Dennis Santana’s “pants” had the Rays broadcast in disarray pic.twitter.com/3daKAKlBzI
