Phillies Notes: Hicks, Pitching Depth, Kilambi

Before Jordan Hicks signed with the Giants last week, the right-hander and the Phillies shared some “mutual interest,” according to The Athletic’s Matt Gelb.  The extent of the talks between the two sides isn’t known, or if the Phils offered Hicks anything in the ballpark of the four years and $44MM he received from San Francisco.  However, Gelb notes that “the Phillies viewed Hicks as a reliever,” which might have been a difference-maker since the Giants plan to give Hicks a chance to stick as a starting pitcher.

The hard-throwing Hicks might have stepped right into the closer’s job in Philly, or at least joined Jose Alvarado, Gregory Soto and Jeff Hoffman in the late-game mix now that Craig Kimbrel has left for the Orioles in free agency.  It isn’t a secret that Philadelphia has been looking for bullpen help, and while president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has stated that further offseason additions would come “more around the edges” of the roster, the Phils’ pursuits of Hicks and (before he joined the Angels) Robert Stephenson indicate that the club is still prepared to make a significant financial outlay on a possible upgrade.

As much as the Phillies would like to more options to both the rotation and relief corps, however, they’re in something of a Catch-22 situation of having too much pitching depth to acquire more pitching depth.  Philadelphia’s starting five of Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suarez, Taijuan Walker, and Cristopher Sanchez is set, and while the Phillies might want to add a more experienced depth arm in front of Dylan Covey or Nick Nelson, such available pitchers might seek out a team with a more clear-cut opportunity for innings.

“I’ve got a list of names and all that,” Dombrowski told Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer.  “Once they get done with [holding out for] the promised spot in the rotation with another club, then they can start looking and say, ’Hey, maybe they don’t have a lot of depth over there, so maybe that’s an opportunity to go to Triple-A and be in that spot.’ “

Lauber’s broader piece focuses on the Phillies’ efforts to keep their pitchers healthy, including some changes to the front office and organizational structure during Dombrowski’s three-plus years as PBO.  These changes included the hiring of Brian Kaplan as the Phils’ director of pitching in 2022, some new hires on the strength and conditioning staff, and a more streamlined training and communication process between players, coaches, and trainers at both the Major League and minor league levels.

The results were apparent last season, as the Phillies enjoyed an unusual amount of both quality and good health from their rotation.  Philadelphia starters ranked first in baseball in fWAR (17.7) and third (899) in innings thrown by starting pitchers, despite something of a revolving door with the fifth starter position before Sanchez stabilized things.  Of course, durability is no guarantee from one season to the next, so the Phillies want to be prepared in the likely event that the rotation simply won’t be as healthy as it was in 2023.

There is also an analytical element to the Phillies’ success in both keeping pitchers on the mound and in helping them achieve new levels of success, and this is the department of assistant GM Ani Kilambi.  The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Alex Coffey recently profiled the 29-year-old Kilambi, who was hired just over two years ago out of the Rays’ front office to bolster and modernize the Phillies’ rather understaffed research and development team.

“[Kilambi has] done a fantastic job of providing resources to understand how we get the most out of our players,” pitching coach Caleb Cotham said.  “It could be pitch usage, it could be biomechanics, it could be how they think.  It’s about giving us, as coaches, more tools to make a connection with a pitcher.”