The Philadelphia Phillies placed right-handed reliever Brad Keller on the 15-day injured list on Thursday, retroactive to July 13, with a tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow — the kind of injury that usually requires surgery and a long recovery.
Keller had quietly become one of the more dependable arms in the Philadelphia bullpen. He appeared in 32 games this season, posting a 4.02 ERA with 13 holds, three saves and 32 strikeouts over 31 1/3 innings. Those are not headline numbers, but 13 holds is real bullpen mileage, and a contender feels the absence when that kind of reliability disappears from the middle innings. Philadelphia recalled Seth Johnson from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to take the roster spot, and he worked two innings in the second-half opener.
The timing is what stings. With the Aug. 3 trade deadline a little more than two weeks away, the Phillies were already expected to shop for relief help; losing Keller for what is likely the rest of the season turns a want into a need. Philadelphia entered the break at 54-44, second in the NL East and holding a wild-card spot, with a lineup and rotation built to win now. The bullpen is the clearest place the front office still has work to do.
Keller’s injury doesn’t knock the Phillies from contention, but it hands a deep bullpen one more hole to fill before August. It also landed on an already sour day: Philadelphia opened the second half with a 4-1 home loss to the Mets.
In fantasy, Keller can be dropped in every format, as a UCL tear of this type rarely permits an in-season return. The more useful question is where his 13 holds go: managers in holds leagues should track which Philadelphia relievers move into the seventh- and eighth-inning roles over the next week. Seth Johnson is a speculative add in deep leagues only, and only if he holds the roster spot.
