Alex

McFarlane

McFarlane bolsters Philadelphia’s overworked bullpen heading into Tuesday’s game against the Cardinals. The 25-year-old made his big-league debut last month before being shipped back to the minors. He’ll operate in low-leverage spots for the Phillies.

McFarlane tossed a scoreless inning against the Dodgers in his big-league debut earlier this week after being promoted directly from Double-A Reading. The 25-year-old figures to get a more extended look with Philadelphia down the home stretch.

McFarlane has a sparkling 2.06 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, and 47/18 K/BB ratio in 35 innings at Double-A. He’s a former starting pitcher, so even though many of his appearances have just been one inning, he should be able to give the Phillies a bit of length out of the bullpen after they had to use four relievers on Sunday and three other relievers on Saturday.

McFarlane’s stint with the Phillies lasted roughly 24 hours and didn’t include his big-league debut. The 24-year-old will head back to the Double-A where he’s compiled a sparkling 1.42 ERA with a 10/4 K/BB ratio over 6 1/3 innings this season. He’ll be back at some point later this year.

McFarlane will take Taijuan Walker’s roster spot. The 24-year-old had a 1.42 ERA in seven games with Reading, striking out 10 in 6 1/3 innings pitched with one save. It seems likely he’ll assume a bullpen role in Philadelphia for the time being.

Painter is the major headliner here for fantasy purposes as he should enter spring training with a legitimate chance to make Philadelphia’s rotation. The 22-year-old is no longer the consensus top pitching prospect in baseball after a disappointing campaign last year at the Triple-A level, but he still has the raw stuff required to evolve into a top-of-the-rotation arm. There’s clearly some prospect fatigue going on with Painter which makes him an interesting buy-low candidate in dynasty formats.