Phils add lefty Backhus in trade with D-backs for OF prospect

PHILADELPHIA – The Phillies have reshaped their bullpen the past couple days.

Thursday, they signed right-handed setup man Brad Keller to a two-year, $22 million contract. Friday, they traded All-Star reliever Matt Strahm to the Royals for right-hander Jonathan Bowlan. A short time later, they sent Minor League outfielder Avery Owusu-Asiedu to the Diamondbacks for left-hander Kyle Backhus.

“We have six guys that are pretty well set at this time that I would think would be part of our bullpen,” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said on Friday afternoon.

Those six relievers include closer Jhoan Duran; right-handers Keller, Bowlan and Orion Kerkering; and left-handers José Alvarado and Tanner Banks.

Backhus will compete for a bullpen job in the spring alongside Rule 5 Draft pick Zach McCambley, recently acquired right-hander Yoniel Curet and returnees Nolan Hoffman, Seth Johnson, Max Lazar and others.

Backhus, Curet, Hoffman, Johnson and Lazar each have options remaining. McCambley must make the Opening Day roster and remain on the 26-man roster the entire season or he must be offered back to the Marlins.

“We do have some people that we think can blend into the big leagues from the Minor League system,” Dombrowski said. “There’s quite a few guys on our Major League roster that fall into that category already. … We also have some younger arms that we like that we’ll invite to big league camp.

“It’ll be interesting to see who steps up and does it in the spring.”

Backhus, 27, is a sidearming lefty who throws a low-90s sinker and upper-70s sweeper and changeup. He made his MLB debut this season, posting a 4.62 ERA with two saves in 32 relief appearances. He struck out 22 and walked eight in 25 1/3 innings.

Backhus held left-handed hitters to a .139 batting average and .503 OPS, while right-handed hitters batted .365 with a .988 OPS against him.

Backhus will give hitters a much different look. He had the eighth-lowest release point (third-lowest among lefties) out of 523 pitchers to throw 400 pitches this season at 4.32 feet.

The Phillies have 38 players on the 40-man roster.

EXTRA BASES

The Phillies remain optimistic they will hire Don Mattingly as bench coach, but they are still working through details, Dombrowski said. … Former Phillies assistant general manager Ani Kilambi was hired by the Nationals to be GM. Kilambi had spearheaded the Phillies’ analytics efforts. “We will look to fill that [position],” Dombrowski said. “It could be internal. It could be external. We have a list of candidates at this time.” It’s unclear if the Phils will split Kilambi’s responsibilities by hiring more than one person. Those efforts will begin in earnest following the New Year.

“This happened really, really fast,” Kilambi said. “My first reaction was that I wasn’t dying to leave the Phillies. The Phillies have a tremendous organization; they’ve been really good to me and are building something great. But at the same time, as I learned more about the Nationals organization, and as I got the opportunity to speak both with folks within the organization and with folks I know in the industry who know folks who work here, I became drawn to the vision that Paul has proposed and to the group of folks that has been assembled here.

“Over the last two weeks, I had the opportunity to have a ton of conversations, do a ton of vetting, and that made me super excited about the trajectory of the organization and the challenge ahead.”