Phillies can become trade deadline sellers because the starting rotation just isn’t very good
Unless someone like Dylan Covey really becomes an arm they can trust in the rotation, it’s hard to see how the Phillies can manage through the next few weeks without five legitimate major league starters and stay in contention. A bullpen game every fifth day doesn’t work when your bullpen isn’t even all that great.
The Phillies weren’t built exclusively to win on the backs of their starting pitchers. They’re the kind of ball club that can beat you 2-1 or 10-9 thanks to their mighty offense. The weaknesses of the rotation, more so the lack of options rather than the pitchers they do have, can end up costing the Phillies in a major way. By the time the trade deadline does arrive, could they be so far out that there are no answers for them?
Taijuan Walker needs to show more consistency and the Phillies need Ranger Suarez to be the budding star they thought he’d grow into becoming in 2022. They can get by with four starters living up to expectations even if the fifth spot ends up falling back to someone such as Bailey Falter.
The rotation needs to do more than stay afloat to stop this team from becoming trade deadline sellers. If Nola and Wheeler aren’t aces, Walker looks like a bust, and Suarez is just mediocre, we might expect the Phillies to fall too far behind to justify giving up any of the future.