The Phillies made a swap in their bullpen on Tuesday, trading for right-hander Michael Rucker from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for cash considerations and subsequently designating Andrew Bellatti for assignment.
Rucker, who turns 30 toward the end of April, has a 4.96 career ERA in 123 1/3 innings in the majors, spread across the last three seasons. However, the worst of the damage came in his debut 2021 season; he posted a 3.95 mark the following year and 4.91 last season.
He struck out 8.9 batters per nine innings in 2023 but walked 4.2, with respective marks of 8.8 and 3.6 in his career. He averaged 94.6 mph last year with his fastball — which he threw nearly 40% of the time, his cutter and slider rounding out the bulk of his six-pitch arsenal.
Bellatti’s DFA ends a two-season tenure with the Phillies, who nonetheless got a solid return on their November 2021 minor-league-deal investment. Bellatti posted a 3.31 ERA across 54 1/3 regular-season innings in 2022, then scattered one run and two hits in seven innings that postseason.
He wasn’t the same, though, last year, accumulating a 5.11 ERA in 24 2/3 major-league innings and doing the majority of his work in the minors. He didn’t make any of the Phillies’ 2023 postseason rosters. A decreased strikeout rate — from an MLB-11th-best 12.92 in his first season with the club to 9.12 last year — along with an increased walk rate played a role in his declining production.
More than anything, though, the move increases bullpen flexibility for a Phillies team that might be, well, in “option hell” this season, as Phillies Nation‘s Tim Kelly put it. Bellatti doesn’t have any minor-league options remaining — meaning he can’t be sent to Triple-A without clearing waivers, which probably wouldn’t happen.
Rucker does have an option remaining, so the Phillies can send him back and forth to the minors this season without risking waivers. And given the somewhat lateral nature of the Rucker-to-Bellatti move — and the fact that Rucker probably won’t be taking down many high-leverage innings this year unless the Phillies strike gold the way they did in 2022 with Bellatti — that seems to be impetus No. 1 for Tuesday’s moves.
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