Phillies rotation woes remain after trade deadline flop
The Phillies moves at the deadline and an inning in their July 31 loss showed they’ve thrown in the towel on a specific group of players, if not the season.
A deluge of commentary immediately following the Philadelphia Phillies ho-hum trade deadline moves ignored a significant fact about the team revealed July 31 in their 5-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants. The appearance of right-hander Zach Eflin in the ninth inning as a reliever quietly conceded this point: The back end of the Phillies rotation at the start of the season is officially dead.
Put another way, the Phillies have given up on 60 percent of this season’s starting pitchers.
The first three starters numbered three, four and five in 2019 were Nick Pivetta, Zach Eflin and Vince Velasquez. A fourth putative starter, Jerad Eickhoff, was also involved as injuries and management tinkering ensued, beginning Apr. 21, the date of his first start.
But the date of this quadrangular trio’s death was July 31, ironically a date most Phillies fans and observers consider the date the team officially threw in the towel on this year, pro forma declarations about competing for a Wild Card notwithstanding. Eflin was appearing that night in his 21st game of the season and his first in relief.
In other words, other pitchers will probably start most of the back-end games for the Phillies moving forward, whether or not one or more of the four pitchers above start a couple here and there. Eflin, Pivetta, Velasquez, and Eickhoff have now all pitched in relief, and Eickhoff is on the injured list. Again.
For the moment, the back end of the rotation seems to include reclamation project Drew Smyly (who’s actually pitched well – in two games), deadline newcomer Jason Vargas, and Joe Whoever.
Now It’s Up to the Hitters
In other words, another “wait ‘til next year” August slog starts for the Philadelphia Phillies.
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But wait! There’s an offensive side to this game too! Don’t the Phillies have all the firepower they need to go on a tear? There are plenty of games left, and it’s not as though Atlanta and Washington are totally over the horizon in this race.
A seven out of ten-game run coupled with 4-6 or 3-7 performances by the Braves and Nationals, and presto!
GM Matt Klentak: “For this team to accomplish what it wants to accomplish, we’re going to need the stars in that room to carry us. We have the talent. We had a very splashy offseason. We brought in a lot of talent and those guys are going to have to do what they do to push us into October.”
No one needs a reiteration at this point of the big names the Phillies brought into their clubhouse to punch up their offense this past off-season. They led to many predictions of, at minimum, an NL East crown for the team, including by a majority of the writers for this website.
So, since almost all those stars have underperformed – with the exception of Andrew McCutchen, who was badly injured rather early – couldn’t we see a probability-driven surge by the offense?
Maybe.
However, to be realistic, you have to ask yourself if the following baseball commonplace is true: “Good pitching beats good hitting.” A corollary to this is: If you have not committed to a five-deep “opener” system for starters, your starting pitchers are your most important pitchers.
Next. Why the Dodgers are World Series still Favorites. dark
At best, back in February, the Phillies overestimated the majority of their starters; at worst, they knew those starters weren’t all that good and, cynically, just decided “to go cheap” on starting pitching.