{"id":820571,"date":"2026-07-24T09:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T09:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/820571\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T09:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T09:34:12","slug":"latest-on-phillies-rotation-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/820571\/","title":{"rendered":"Latest On Phillies’ Rotation Search"},"content":{"rendered":"

On June 17, the Phillies optioned rookie right-hander Andrew Painter<\/a> to Triple-A. The former top prospect had been tagged for more than seven earned runs per nine over his first 65 big league innings. Philadelphia opened trade talks<\/a> in pursuit of a better fifth starter.<\/p>\n

They haven\u2019t found a deal in the subsequent five weeks. The broader trade market hasn\u2019t heated up. The Mets traded David Peterson<\/a> to the Cubs a week after the Painter demotion. Milwaukee took a flier on Lance McCullers Jr.<\/a> and purchased a depth arm in Colton Gordon<\/a> by taking a portion of McCullers\u2019 salary from Houston. That\u2019s essentially it in terms of rotation moves around the league.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia turned to righty Alan Rangel<\/a> as their fifth starter over the last month. A 28-year-old rookie, Rangel followed an opener (lefty Tim Mayza<\/a>) in his first two appearances. He started his last three times out. Rangel only completed five innings one time. He allowed 13 runs across 20 1\/3 frames, surrendering 22 hits and 12 walks while hitting two batters. The Phils lost all five games; they\u2019d gone 2-12 when Painter was on the mound.<\/p>\n

That clearly wasn\u2019t working, so Philadelphia optioned Rangel back to Triple-A on Monday.\u00a0Cristopher S\u00e1nchez<\/a>,\u00a0Zack Wheeler<\/a> and\u00a0Aaron Nola<\/a> pitched against the Dodgers this week. The Phils were off Thursday and will turn to\u00a0Jes\u00fas Luzardo<\/a> for Friday\u2019s series opener against the Yankees. They\u2019re taking advantage of the rest day and using S\u00e1nchez on five days rest for Sunday\u2019s finale.<\/p>\n

That means they\u2019ll need a bullpen game or a fifth starter on Saturday. Their probable starter is to be determined. Rangel can\u2019t come back up unless replacing an injured pitcher. Painter pitched in Triple-A on Tuesday. If the Phillies were considering recalling him, they would\u2019ve scratched him from that start rather than bring back on three days rest (though they theoretically could move S\u00e1nchez up to Saturday and go to Painter on Sunday). It\u2019s probably pointing to one of Tucker Davidson<\/a> or 32-year-old\u00a0Brian Keller<\/a> if they bring up a starter from Triple-A.<\/p>\n

Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia<\/a> wrote on Monday that the Phils were actively searching for a fifth starter on the trade market. That\u2019s not going to happen in time for Saturday\u2019s game. There\u2019s no indication the Phils are close to a deal, and even if they were to finalize one by Friday, they wouldn\u2019t rush an acquisition out to the mound within 24 hours. They\u2019ll need at least one or two more stopgap turns in that spot before bringing someone else in before the August 3 deadline.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also possible the Phillies pivot away from the search for a fifth starter to take a bigger rotation swing. Matt Gelb of The Athletic<\/a> wrote on Thursday morning that the front office has more recently considered adding a playoff-caliber starter. That\u2019d naturally come at a higher cost in terms or prospects and\/or salary commitments. They\u2019d weigh that against their need for an everyday right fielder and potentially a high-leverage reliever<\/a> to replace Brad Keller<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia\u2019s top three of S\u00e1nchez, Wheeler and Luzardo is as good as any in the league. That\u2019d be the crux of a playoff rotation. That\u2019s all the Phils would need if they play in a three-game Wild Card Series. They could stick to a three-man rotation for a five-game NLDS should they reach that point.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not until a potential seven-game NLCS that they\u2019d probably need a fourth starter, which would be Nola. That\u2019s why the initial plan was for a stabilizing back-end arm to get through the regular season without punting every fifth game at a time when the Phillies are in a tight Wild Card race. A depth arm would move to long relief or be left off the playoff roster entirely.<\/p>\n

Adding a mid-rotation or better starter would hedge for an injury to any of their top three. It might also signal a lack of confidence in Nola, who has an ERA close to 6.00 over 21 appearances. It\u2019s his second consecutive season in that range. He\u2019s certainly not in danger of losing a regular season rotation spot, but he\u2019d be firmly pushed out of a fully healthy playoff rotation if the Phillies trade for a bigger upgrade. Clay Holmes<\/a>,\u00a0Robbie Ray<\/a>,\u00a0Foster Griffin<\/a>,\u00a0Kevin Gausman<\/a>,\u00a0Shane Bieber<\/a>, Tyler Mahle<\/a>,\u00a0Nick Lodolo<\/a> and\u00a0Jack Flaherty<\/a> are some such starters who could be available.<\/p>\n

Nola has eaten a lot of innings with solid strikeout and walk rates, but his already problematic home run rate has spiked to career-worst heights. Only Jeffrey Springs<\/a> has given up more homers than Nola, whose 25 longballs tie him with\u00a0Zack Littell<\/a> for most in the National League. He has given up multiple homers in six of his past eight appearances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On June 17, the Phillies optioned rookie right-hander Andrew Painter to Triple-A. The former top prospect had been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":820572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[16074,395632,64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-820571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-aaron-nola","tag-alan-rangel","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=820571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}