July 08, 2025
After seven one-run innings from should-be All-star Cris Sánchez last night, the Phillies turned things over to the bullpen and you can guess what happened next.
Orion Kerkering surrendered a pair of runs, retiring just one hitter, and the Phillies lost 3-1 to the Giants in San Francisco. The Phillies' bullpen has now blown five quality starts, and has suffered defeat 11 times after a starting pitcher exited the game with the Phillies in a good position to win.
The bullpen is a problem.
A few days ago, a report surfaced out of Pittsburgh from Noah Hiles of the Post-Gazette, noting that the Phillies were actively kicking the tires on a pair of Pirates relievers, Dennis Santana and David Bednar. Hiles goes on to mention that the interest has been there in Santana “for quite some time.”
The Pirates have the 5th worst record in the majors and are a likely candidate to sell as the trade deadline approaches in late July.
We'll start with Santana, who is 29 and under team control through 2026 via arbitration. In his first six seasons in the majors he was on the struggle bus pretty consistently, with a cumulative 5.17 ERA during stints with the Yankees, Dodgers, Rangers and Mets.
Last year, splitting time between the Yankees and Pirates, he posted a respectable 3.89 ERA over 71.2 innings. In 2025, he figured something out. He has a 1.42 ERA and five saves so far this season through 38 innings. Due to his prior struggles and journeyman status, Santana is quite cheap, making $1.44 million this season.
Bednar is nearly an opposite case from Santana. The 30-year-old is a two-time All-Star already and is paid more like it — $5.9 million this year before being arbitration eligible next season. He has a career 3.29 ERA and led the NL in saves in 2023. He's collected 93 of them over his last four seasons in fact.
He looked stellar against the Phillies earlier this season, and our Geoff Mosher even wrote about him as a potential trade target.
Both hurlers would be huge upgrades for a Phillies bullpen unit that contains three reliable arms at best. Expect to see more chatter and connections between the Phils and veteran relievers over the next few weeks.
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