Phillies sign veteran righty Zach Pop to one-year deal

The Phillies announced Monday that they've agreed to a one-year deal with veteran righty Zach Pop.

While the Phillies did not release a dollar figure, they did say that the contract is an MLB deal. 

The 29-year-old righty is from Brampton, Canada, and has previously pitched for the Miami Marlins, Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners and New York Mets. 

Pop split this past season between the Mariners and Mets, struggling over just five MLB appearances with a 14.85 ERA. That followed up a disappointing 2024 in which he posted a 5.59 ERA in 58 games for the Blue Jays. From that perspective, it's a bit surprising to see Pop given an MLB deal, as opposed to a minor-league contract with an invite to Spring Training. 

If you're looking for what may intrigue the Phillies, Pop throws a 96.4 mph sinker, along with a 85.3 slider and 93.4 mph cutter. If you squint a bit, there are some similarities in his profile to that of Jeff Hoffman, and the Phillies missed Hoffman's presence in their bullpen a season ago. 

Pop is out of minor-league options, so that would seem to lock him into an Opening Day bullpen that's likely to also include Jhoan Duran, José Alvarado, Brad Keller, Orion Kerkering, Tanner Banks, Jonathan Bowlan and Zach McCambley. Unless McCambley just really struggles in Spring Training and the Phillies offer him back to the Miami Marlins as a Rule-5 Draft pick, they may not really have a spot up for grabs in Spring Training. That would leave arms like Seth Johnson, Kyle Backhus, Max Lazar and Nolan Hoffman to open the season at Triple-A Lehigh Valley. 

With the addition of Pop, the Phillies have filled 39 spots on their 40-man roster. 

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