This is it.
This is the foundation upon which the Phillies have built their team. This is the backbone, the thing they can theoretically count on most days of a week.
Yet it can still be improved. There are ways that it could be better, ways that the team could protect themselves and grab some insurance to make sure they are set for any kind of catastrophe that might befall them. They need to make sure that what happened at the end of the season, where they were using bullpen games and scrap heap pickups
does not happen again.
How to improve the Phillies: Catcher
How to improve the Phillies: Infield
How to improve the Phillies: Outfield
Who they have
You know who they have.
Cristopher Sanchez will finish in the top three in Cy Young voting again this year, Zack Wheeler and Jesus Luzardo maybe both in the top ten. Andrew Painter looked much, much better later in the season after a rough debut and Aaron Nola seemingly found a secret formula to turn back the clock on his year.
After that? Ehh……
The depth that this team possesses is close to a hope and a prayer than it is to actual major league quality starting pitching. Not many teams have pitchers seven and eight deep in their minor league system, but at least others have been able to stockpile something decent in their levels. If we’re talking about some of the elite elite teams, this is what they have.
The Phillies have Gage Wood.
They had a bunch of names here and there, but all of those have gone away as minor league free agents. They have a few minor league options in Moises Chace and Ryan Dromboski, but they are rather unproven at this point. They need to have others.
Free agent options
It is highly unlikely that the team will be spending whatever free agent cash they have on starting pitching that moves the needle. Listing options like Tarik Skubal and Michael King is just an exercise in futility as they will not be options for the Phillies to discuss. If we’re being honest with ourselves, the aisles that the team will be shopping in aren’t going to generate a lot of enthusiasm.
Nestor Cortes – Again, the names I’m going to mention here are going to be the ones that don’t mind pitching for a bit in Lehigh Valley, knowing that they have some assurance their name will be called if an injury were to occur. With Cortes, the team gave him an actual major league deal at the end of the season thanks to their own lack of pitching depth and the hope he’d come back and give them something once he was sufficiently built up following his own surgery. That return never happened and the Phillies punted on that money. At this point, who really cared about the money, but at least there was a recognition that they didn’t have enough and they were trying a dart throw. Maybe bringing him back again, maybe even as a long reliever to start the year, might give them a leg up.
Michael Lorenzen – Speaking of returns. Lorenzen was the crazy guy that said he actually, truly, wanted to pitch in Colorado as a way to challenge himself as a starting pitcher. That experiment went about as well as you could imagine. By the time the carnage was complete, he had moved on to Toronto where he still was bad. It wasn’t long ago when Lorenzen looked like a serviceable member of a rotation, a five and dive guy that at least gave the team a reason not to have a bullpen day. Now, the Phillies could probably get him for a minor league deal and a spring invite.
Trevor Williams – Williams is an interesting choice here. He rehabbed a lot last year after getting internal brace surgery on his elbow and looked decent when he was on the mound. He stayed with Washington for a bit before latching on with Texas at the end of the season, where he performed well there too. He pitched well enough that some pitching starved team is likely to take a shot at him, giving him a guaranteed rotation spot instead of what the Phillies might be able to offer. Yet if he were to linger on the market for a while, he’s someone the team should be looking into.
Trade options
The options that the Phillies could look at to make a deal would probably involve another trade happening a la Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay.
Think about it – why would the Phillies trade someone they have right now? Moving one of Sanchez, Wheeler or Luzardo at this point weakens the top three. Moving Painter is silly since the team can’t keep relying on high priced free agents to fill out the rotation. Moving Nola is probably not in the cards as not very many teams are going to want that contract.
Yet if they did move one of those five names, there could be something coming back. It would likely be of the prospect variety, a way to fill the minor league coffers with young, mold-able arms.
However, would the Phillies actually trade for starting pitching? That seems like a stretch. The place to look is probably at the arbitration eligible players. Making a deal with some of those players that might be higher priced would be the best way to grab someone. There is the chance they make a deal for someone who still has minor league options available, yet is a bit too expensive for a team to roster. That or the team would rather reallocate those resources elsewhere.
Predicted outcome
I’ve seen some people on the internets that have this notion that one of the courses of action the Phillies should be taking this offseason is to move one of their three starters to help shore up other areas of need that exist on the roster.
Why?
The position they are in right now with the rotation is one of strength, arguably one of the strongest units in the game today. They have three Cy Young caliber starters at the top, a young starter that looked to be figuring things out as the season wore on and a grizzled veteran that looked to turn his season around in the final few months. Any team in the game today would take that starting five and run with it. Weakening it for the sake of trying to build up other areas of the roster is not the smartest bit of roster construction.
Instead, what they should be doing is looking for starters that would be willing to bide time at the minor league level at the hopes of cracking a rotation later on. That would involve an injury in all likelihood, something no one should be wishing on this team. Instead, pitchers that are trying to hang on, trying to improve themselves could find that using some time around the Phillies’ pitching development program might do them some good. They’ll likely sign someone who has those coveted minor league options with the hopes of stashing needed depth.
As for a free agent splurge on a top starting pitcher? That seems unlikely.
