The Phillies entered the season shorthanded in the rotation. That’s in large part because of an injury to Andrew Painter, a top pitching prospect who entered camp in a battle for the final starting spot. That was put on hold when Painter was diagnosed with a sprain of the UCL in his throwing elbow in mid-March.
Philadelphia predictably shut the highly-touted righty down. He spent around five weeks on a no-throw program before playing catch for the first time today, tweets Matt Gelb of the Athletic. It’s the first step in Painter’s throwing program, which the Phils will assuredly take with plenty of caution. There’s still not much clarity on the 20-year-old’s overall recovery timetable but it’s notable that he’s again begun throwing.
Painter is on the minor league injured list and not yet on the 40-man roster. He still hasn’t thrown a pitch at Triple-A, with five Double-A starts late in the 2022 season representing his only regular season action in the upper minors. While he was in consideration for an MLB job out of camp, he’ll almost certainly spend some time in the minors to build his pitch count once he’s ready for game action down the line.
Losing Painter all but assured Bailey Falter of a rotation spot. The Phils then lost Ranger Suárez to the IL, pushing Matt Strahm from the bullpen into the rotation. Southpaw Cristopher Sánchez might have gotten the nod over Strahm had he not also gotten hurt in Spring Training. Sánchez has been battling triceps soreness and opened the year on the IL. His injury doesn’t seem especially serious, as he’s been throwing bullpen sessions in recent days.
Sánchez will report to Triple-A Lehigh Valley tomorrow for a rehab assignment, according to the MLB.com injury tracker. He’s expected to log three innings for the IronPigs. Sánchez working in a multi-inning capacity will give the Phils some needed depth behind their current starting five of Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, Taijuan Walker, Falter and Strahm.
Of course, the spring injuries weren’t limited to the pitching staff. The toughest blow the Phils were dealt this spring came when they lost slugger Rhys Hoskins to an ACL tear in his left knee. That seems likely to cost him the entire 2023 season but the Phillies have refrained from officially declaring him out for the year.
Hoskins met with reporters today, the first time he’d addressed the media since the injury. The 30-year-old first baseman expressed continued hope he could play a part in a potential postseason run (link via Dan Gelston of the Associated Press). “I’m going to do everything in my power to give myself an opportunity that if and when we are playing in late October, I have a chance to contribute to that.”
The injury opened a season-opening path to playing time at first base for Darick Hall. That audition proved unfortunately brief, as Hall suffered a thumb injury last week and will soon undergo surgery. The Phils now have a loose platoon arrangement between Kody Clemens and Alec Bohm (with Edmundo Sosa taking third base when Bohm slides across the diamond) at the position.
Strangely enough Strahm and Falter have been the best starters so far this year while the Phillies Day Care group of Bohm, Stott and Marsh have led the hitters.
You are spot on here. Baseball is such a great sport. You never know who is going to contribute.
The Padres offered Trea even more than his contract with the Phillies, but Trea rejected it because he understandably has no respect for west coast baseball.
Okay okay, we’re going to have to ask you to take it outside, buddy.
Or Cali taxes scare him
New Jersey’s ain’t much better.
This is a mess for the Phillies. Huge payroll, not much for pitching.
DD spent money upgrading the bullpen (something he typically doesn’t do) but did seem to sit out the starting pitching market after signing Taijuan Walker. I have to find it hard to believe the Phillies couldn’t have worked out a deal for Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Wacha or even Ross Stripling just to add some depth. They have recently been linked to Dallas Keuchel which can’t possibly be a good sign…
Phillies pitching will be the Achilles heel all year. Can the offense produce enough to carry them?
The Phillies pitching is fine.
Strong, deep bullpen. Two elite starters for the playoffs. They’ll find / develop the rest of the starters as the season moves on….same as last year.
I actually think their pitching is solid. Nola and Wheeler got rocked in their first starts. That won’t continue. Strahm, Falter, Walker, Suarez rounds out a very good rotation. Pen is deep too. Some hiccups early, but that’ll settle down.
D D didn’t sign another veteran starter after the Walker signing, because with Painter/Falter, he had 6 starters. Sanchez was penciled in as the #7 starter. If all went well, D D was expecting Painter to come north, as the #5 starter, with Falter in long relief, and “waiting in the wings”. With this plan in place, D D concentrated on enhancing the bullpen. As long as Suarez comes back sometime soon, the rotation will be in good shape. He is the key to the Phillies success this year. Walker is no more than an ok #4 starter. Straham has been a savior so far in the early going.
Strahm was even signed as a potential spot starter too. Phillies had Walker, Ranger, Nola, wheeler pencilled in as starters. Sanchez, falter, Strahm, painter were depth and 5th starter material. They needed one starter in Walker but can’t fault DD for not getting another guy when he was for the youth movement had 8 guys for 5 spots but 3 guys went down.
I never was expecting much from Painter this season because he only threw 102 innings last year. With that in mind I was hoping he might throw 140 innings or so this year. Had he started the year healthy and made the club he was probably only going to make 25-27 starts at the most and not be available for the postseason. at least that was my expectation.
I think Painter should just giving up.
Open up a Dali and sell Rubens.
Painter seems incredibly rushed. He has 109 innings in professional baseball and no college experience. Seems like a great way to blow that kids elbow out….Alex Reyes 2.0
That’s why I think they’re taking it slow. His injury is pretty minor, but the Phillies took it as a Stop sign and slowed him down.
Philadelphia is NOT a playoff team.
@Very Barry I’d take that bet. Baseball is a long season, and after the horrendous start, the Phillies played pretty well. It’s super early. My main concern right now is Kimbrel (I hated that signing in the first place) and the 1B situation, but neither of those things will hamper the talent this team has. I expect them to be above .500 in the next week or so. Definitely a playoff team in my eyes. It’s possible two teams from the central make it, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
I absolutely hated the Kimbrel signing. He’s another year older and wasn’t very good last year. I really like Sosa and hope he gets most of the playing time with Rhys out. Put Bohm at first and they’re a much better defensive team now with Sosa at third. Unless Rhys returns this year his career as a Phillie may be over. It will be interesting to see if they resign him because I’m figuring they like the future of Bohm and Stott better and they can only pay so many guys.
Phillies problem is they have to play the Mets and Braves, whereas the Cards and Brewers have an easy division to sneak into the playoffs as a wild card. Same can be said for the west as well.
If they can hover around .500 they have a legit shot. harper can carry them in sept
And in June, July, and August as well. Maybe even some of May.
Quite honestly would anyone really want Rhys Hoskins back for a postseason run after missing the entire season. He may go on one of his torrid 0-30 streaks, just what they need in the postseason
He also hit 6 homers in his only post season appearance. Sign me up. Hoskins playoff return is unrealistic, but his replacements have done absolutely nothing. So having him on the bench instead of someone like Clemens? That’s a nice fantasy. Really though, the Phillies have to focus on right now. Just try to get back to winning on a good clip. There’s no guarantee they make the playoffs in a very tough division.
Hoskins needs to retire and go into the sporting goods business. Specialize in groin protective wear and market his Rhys Cups.
Injuries have certainly been tough so far, and it has been a tough start, but there have been a lot of guys stepping up who weren’t expected to do much with the bat.
The baserunning will likely be rough the entire year, but it won’t stay as awful as it has been.
I think they’ll end up targeting a rental they can put at first around the deadline if they can stick around .500 – which I think is pretty likely.