The Philadelphia Phillies are going to need to make a few crucial roster decisions over the next few weeks.

They’ve found themselves in the middle of a wild-card and division race at this point. With these circumstances, the Phillies are going to need to cut some of the fat off the roster.

Zachary Rotman of FanSided recently predicted the Phillies would cut ties with pitcher Joe Ross ahead of this year’s MLB trade deadline. Ross signed a $4 million deal with Philadelphia in the offseason.

“This is the controversial one. Joe Ross signed a one-year, $4 million deal with the Phillies, coming off a solid season with the Milwaukee Brewers,” Rotman wrote. “He was supposed to provide the Phillies with quality length coming out of the bullpen, but his tenure in Philadelphia hasn’t gotten off to the best of starts, and has only been getting worse.

“We’ve already seen the Phillies part with a pitcher they badly wanted to see thrive in Philadelphia in Carlos Hernandez. It wouldn’t be surprising if they did the same with Ross sooner rather than later.”

Ross hasn’t been a great pitcher for the Phillies this season, but he hasn’t necessarily been bad. The righty has given the Phillies some solid innings on the year, but he’s not the high-leverage arm that most contending teams are looking for.

Still, cutting him or parting ways with him wouldn’t make much sense unless he took a turn for the worse in the next few weeks. As of now, Ross’ spot on the roster should be safe, but it wouldn’t be absurd to suggest his seat is warming a bit.