Archie Bradley doesn’t care when he shoots, but he cares for whoever shoots

Occupation?

Archie Bradley did not want to talk about any stinking paper.

On his first day as the Phillies were closer, all the bearded right-hand wanted to talk about was victory.

Oh yes, and playing for JT Realmuto.

Even though the list on the Phillies’ official website quickly designated him as the closest to the team, Bradley didn’t hear about it when his hiring was announced in a videoconference with reporters on Monday.

“I’m happy to be a Phillie. I’m very excited, ”he said. (As proof, he wore a sweater with Ric Flair’s animated face on the front.) “Any questions about approaching or saving opportunities, I really don’t mind answering today.

“I want to talk about winning. I want to talk about the Phillies getting better and our chance to win a World Series. All of this will resolve itself, believe me. I want to catch the ball in the ninth. I want to take the ball in any situation. “

The Philies had the worst bullpen in the majors in 2020, a fatal flaw that prevented the team from having a winning season for the ninth consecutive year and cost General Manager Matt Klentak his job. Dave Dombrowski is the new leader in baseball operations. He said he would be aggressive when trying to fix the bullpen. Bradley, who is in eighth place at the start (233 1/3) and 14th in the ERA (2.82) among the major league reliever in the past four seasons, is a great addition.

“I think we have significantly improved ourselves,” said Dombrowski, who previously added octane to the bullpen by switching to southpaw Jose Alvarado and powerful Sam Coonrod.

Bradley signed a $ 6 million contract for a year. It may represent the biggest expense the Phillies make in the corral this winter, but it may not be the last.

“We can continue to work to improve ourselves as well,” said Dombrowski. “We are open-minded for future additions as we continue to speak in this free agent market, so we will continue to work on that.”

Phils are also expected to remain active in the market for an initial back-end pitcher and, of course, they remain active in securing potential encounters with free agents Realmuto and Didi Gregorius.

As a Realmuto, Bradley was born in Oklahoma.

“Great guy and I hope he is a Phillie and I hope to be able to play with him this year,” said Bradley, who sent a tweet on Monday that said #SignJT.

Bradley is not the first player to make politics on behalf of Realmuto. Bryce Harper spent much of the summer fighting for his favorite player. Dombrowski understands where they are coming from.

“I don’t blame them,” he said. “We feel the same as they do. We are all on the same page. I think everyone knows that we would like to bring him back. This is no secret. “

Coach Joe Girardi has often talked about his desire to have Realmuto back. The potential landing sites for Realmuto have dried up and other options in the capture market are not so good. Dombrowski said: “There are too many good players on the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team to think about making the transition. We are thinking of winning. That’s what we’re going to try to do ”. Bringing Realmuto back would give the Phillies a much better chance of winning in 2021.

Bradley does that too.

He gives Girardi another option, along with Hector Neris and others, at the end of the games. Neris has gone up and down as the closest to the Phillies. It is not difficult to imagine him working in the seventh or eighth round, helping to get the ball to Bradley in the ninth. Bradley has the closest setup and experience. He finished 32 games for Arizona in 2019 and made 18 saves.

“It definitely has the ability to close,” said Girardi, who prefers a bullpen with defined functions. “But one of the things that excites us about Archie is what he said before and what he said to me three weeks ago: He just wants to release. Let’s just skip spring training. ”

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