Best offseason trade not made by Phillies GM

Final cuts:     

One by one, the Phillies faced unanticipated difficulties because of injury and ineffectiveness. Therefore, those events determined the Opening Day pen more than Klentak making gut-wrenching decisions.

Hunter, who didn’t pitch in any games, will be on the injured list due to a grade 1 flexor strain in his right arm. Unfortunately, he became questionable on Feb. 27 for early April.

Based on his demotion to the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Pazos lost the second lefty competition to Alvarez, who is out of options. But if anything happens, the Fightins want Pazos getting regular work to be ready. Acquired in December, Pazos had a 2.88 ERA for 50 frames with the 2018 Seattle Mariners.

While Pazos had three poor outings out of eight, Alvarez had four out of 11. Picked up from the Los Angeles Angels, he had produced a 2.71 ERA for 63 innings last summer and came to the red pinstripes for Luis Garcia.

As for Neshek, the Phils must be happy about not moving him during the Hot Stove season because Klentak now has less-appealing alternatives. Basically, Neshek has been his usual reliable self with only one bad appearance out of seven.

Morgan is another dependable bullpen piece who had only two poor outings out of nine this spring. Yes, he’s the primary southpaw reliever again this year, and the team will count on him to provide four decent performances out of every five.