PHILADELPHIA -- Phillies general manager Matt Klentak mentioned Wednesday that his team had the best winning percentage in the National League, despite his bullpen not “clicking on all cylinders.”

He considers that a good thing, because he believes it will get better.

“The glass-half-full version of that is that there may be better days ahead, and that’s saying something when you’re 7-3,” Klentak said.

But free-agent closer Craig Kimbrel remains on the market, and every Phillies fan in the Delaware Valley and beyond is asking about him. Nobody questions that Kimbrel would help the Phillies’ bullpen, but a source said recently the Phillies’ stance on him has not changed. The Phillies like Kimbrel, but they like him on a one-year contract, particularly following his late-season struggles in 2018 with the Red Sox.

Klentak declined to discuss Kimbrel on Wednesday or say if he has had any discussions recently with any free agents. But he expressed faith in his bullpen, which entered Wednesday’s series finale against the Nationals with an 18th-ranked 4.63 ERA.

“I feel really good about the construction of our bullpen,” Klentak said. “I am not blind. I know that some of our key guys have had some tough outings so far in the first 10 days. I watched it. I know it. And some of them will have more bad outings. They’re not going to pitch shutouts every single night. But I like the depth that we have.

“I’m very encouraged by the fact that [David] Robertson and Seranthony [Dominguez] have looked much more like themselves in recent outings. [Pat] Neshek and [Adam] Morgan look like they’re back to being the best versions of themselves this year. And I’m encouraged that in Triple-A, we’ve got Victor Arano doing really well right now after a tough strong. Enyel De Los Santos punched out 10 in five innings. I think we’ve got reinforcements to come, if and when we need them. I trust in the track record of our group. They’re not going to be perfect every night. In the best of times, they’re not going to be perfect every night.”

The bullpen has been a hot topic, particularly following Tuesday’s 10-6 loss. The Phillies did not have Robertson, Neshek and Morgan available after pitching three times in the previous four games. Edubray Ramos allowed a game-tying home run with two outs on a 2-2 pitch in the ninth inning, then Jose Alvarez allowed a three-run homer in the 10th.

There are a couple of narratives out there. One, Phillies starters have not pitched deep enough into games, putting too much strain on the bullpen. Two, the Phillies are being too cautious with their relievers.

But Phillies starters are averaging 5.5 innings per start, which is tied with the D-backs and Mariners for seventh in baseball, according to Baseball Reference. The league average is 5.2.

Robertson, Neris, Neshek and Morgan each have appeared in six of the team’s first 10 games, putting them on pace for 97 appearances. Dominguez has made five appearances, putting him on pace for 81. There have been only eight pitchers in baseball history to make 90 or more appearances in a season. There have been only 100 to make 81 or more appearances.

“If you’re not trying to be aggressive and win every game, then you can space them out and you can be careful,” Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said. “But you’re going to have a starter knocked out of the game in the fifth inning and try to win that night’s game. We’re going to be aggressive. If that means using five relievers that night -- five key relievers that night -- we’re not going to let that game slip away to think about what might happen five or six games from now. We try to keep a nice balance there, but the reason we had three key relievers down last night is because we were aggressive in the first part of the season in trying to win baseball games.”

Numbers back up Kapler’s explanation. Phillies relievers have made 30 appearances with the team leading, which ranks fourth in baseball. The Mariners (40), Rays (32) and Dodgers (31) are ahead of them, but the Mariners had played three more games than the Phillies and the Rays and Dodgers had played two more games.

Phillies relievers have made only six appearances when they were trailing, which ranks 26th in the Majors.

“To have five key relievers available every single day, that feels like an enormous challenge,” Kapler said. “We had key relievers down last night, but we had two high-leverage, key relievers up in Neris and Dominguez.”

It might be best to just let the relievers settle in. If changes need to be made, the Phillies can promote somebody from Triple-A or make a trade. And who knows? If Kimbrel is still available, maybe they take a run at him if his asking price has dropped.

“I think the sort of football fan mentality of scrutinizing game by game is probably the wrong way to look at it this year,” Klentak said. “It doesn’t make it less frustrating. I get that. But I think it’s going to be a battle all year.”