By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Games played in May count just the same as games played in March, games played at the July trade deadline, and games played in the hunt for "Red October."
Tuesday's 3-2 loss against the Chicago Cubs stung, with the Phillies' "closer-by-committee" approach failing as RHP Juan Nicasio surrendered two runs en route to a walk-off loss.
The Phillies' back-end of of the bullpen has been either injured or overworked this season; coupled with David Robertson, Tommy Hunter, Edubray Ramos and Victor Arano's injuries, those not injured — like Adam Morgan, Hector Neris and Pat Neshek — have been frequently called upon. Entering Tuesday's game, Phillies starting pitchers are averaging less than six innings per start.
And while the Phillies suffered just their second loss in 28 overall such opportunities when entering the ninth inning with a lead — and having blown only five games, less than the top NL teams in the Los Angeles Dodgers (8) and Cubs (8) — every loss caused by the back-end of the bullpen could come back to haunt the club, with its first postseason berth since 2011 at stake.
So, if Phillies starters are struggling to go deep, and with their back-end relievers overworked, the club has two options to consider — at least in the short-term — in order to maximize on wins and maintain their lead in the National League East: either resort to starting games with "openers" — in games whose would-be starting pitchers have recently struggled to reach the six or seventh inning — or sign seven-time All-Star, 2018 World Series champion and future Hall of Fame closer, Craig Kimbrel.
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Last August, Phillies general manager Matt Klentak told reporters that the club has considered the "opener" strategy, and discussed "whether something like that makes sense."
"There are some things going on around the league that we have considered, most notably in Tampa. … I think the simple conclusion is, we have five starters right now who give us a really good chance to win a baseball game every night that they pitch," Klentak said at the time.
"Does that mean we would never consider an 'opener' or something a little bit different? No, but right now, the guys that we run out there every day, I don't know that we have to consider that."
While Klentak was not as keen on using an opener last season, they are actually more equipped to consider the strategy in 2019, with Opening Day roster starting pitchers Nick Pivetta and Vince Velasquez both available to assume an "opener" role to complement Aaron Nola, Jake Arrieta, Zach Eflin, Cole Irvin and Jerad Eickhoff. "Openers," in essence, flip the script; relievers start the game in lower-leverage situations, allowing starting pitchers to enter later in the action and ideally finish out the rest of the game. Velasquez, especially, could benefit as an "opener" by making the most of his strikeouts and not having to worry about extending his outings.
Nola pitching in the ninth inning, in what would normally be his sixth inning of work, in theory, would create a higher probability to win than a non-experienced reliever throwing in the same inning (e.g., Nicasio against the Cubs on Tuesday).
Signing Kimbrel, 30, will become much more enticing for clubs in the first week of June, as clubs will no longer lose a draft pick by signing him. Because of this, the Phillies "will will be in the mix" to sign him, according to SportsRadio 94 WIP's Howard Eskin. The Phillies had shown interest in the right-hander this past offseason, but were not keen on his high asking price, especially with draft pick compensation in play at the time.
The Phillies have shown under Gabe Kapler that they are not afraid to try something new. If they do not acquire Kimbrel, trying out the "opener" might be the next best option to help negate tough losses caused by the overworked bullpen.
