The Phillies could deploy Michael Lorenzen out of the bullpen down the stretch, writes Matt Gelb of the Athletic. Manager Rob Thomson said Tuesday that the Phils had yet to make a final decision but suggested they were likely to move back to a five-man rotation after today’s off day.
Philadelphia’s front four is locked in. They’ll go with Aaron Nola, Ranger Suárez, Taijuan Walker and Zack Wheeler over their next few appearances. If they go back to a five-man staff, they’ll need to decide between Cristopher Sánchez or Lorenzen for next Tuesday’s start in Atlanta.
Sánchez has been the more effective for the Phils. The 26-year-old southpaw owns a 3.40 ERA over 87 1/3 innings on the season. After striking out 10 Braves hitters in 7 1/3 frames last night, he has a quality 23.6% strikeout percentage to go with a huge 56.4% grounder rate. He has demonstrated excellent control, cutting his walk rate below the 4% mark.
Lorenzen hasn’t found the same level of success overall in Philadelphia. He started his tenure brilliantly, rattling off eight innings of two-run ball during his team debut in Miami and no-hitting the Nationals at home in his second start. Things have spiraled in the few weeks since that historic outing. Lorenzen has allowed four-plus runs in each of his last five appearances, topping out at six innings. Since the no-hitter, he has a 7.96 ERA with a minuscule 11% strikeout rate.
The 31-year-old’s overall production is still solid. Including his strong first half with the Tigers, he owned a 3.23 ERA across 122 2/3 innings a month ago. Even after the rough few weeks, he’s allowing 4.06 earned runs per nine altogether. Yet he’s also in uncharted territory from a workload perspective, with his 148 2/3 frames easily topping his previous career high of 113 1/3 innings as a rookie back in 2015.
Lorenzen had worked almost exclusively out of relief for the Reds from his second season onward. Upon reaching free agency in the 2021-22 offseason, he prioritized a rotation spot and signed a one-year pact with the Angels. He logged 97 2/3 innings a season ago, with injuries capping him at 18 starts. That was still a heavier load than he’d shouldered during his time in the bullpen but fell shy of a typical starter’s capacity.
The righty hasn’t shown obvious signs of physical decline. His velocity this month is in line with his early-season level. The results have fallen off sharply, though, perhaps reflecting a more subtle dip in Lorenzen’s execution.
Gelb suggests the Phils have given some thought to deploying Sánchez and Lorenzen as a tandem duo in the fifth starter’s spot. That’d allow them to keep an eye on the workload for each, though it’s arguable they’d be better served acting more definitively. Both pitchers have handled themselves well when turning a lineup over, so there’s not a pressing need to mitigate either’s ’times through the order’ splits. They each have experience working as relievers, with Lorenzen particularly familiar with a high-leverage short relief role from his time in Cincinnati.
The Phils occupy the top Wild Card spot in the National League and are in strong position to secure a playoff spot. Both Sánchez and Lorenzen would likely play relief roles in October, at least in the opening three-game Wild Card series. They’ll conclude the regular season with 16 games in 17 days, starting tomorrow.
Lorenzen is headed back to free agency in the offseason. Even if he’s kicked to the bullpen for the last couple weeks, he’s in position for a much stronger pact than the $8.5MM guarantee he received from Detroit a year ago. He’s going into his age-32 campaign and could find three- or four-year offers this time around.
No hitter aside, Sanchez has been the better pitcher.
Based on yesterday’s showing vs. ATL, it needs to be him. Despite a few mistakes, he missed a lot of bats. However, ATL likes southpaws.
I know the Braves took it to the Phillies, and the Braves are definitely the better team, but that was a pretty fun series. It was a lot closer than the results tell us. Braves have been excellent for the majority of my life, but this is a pretty historic season for them. The Phillies also showed they could hang with them. These are two scary lineups.
Yeah, not a fun series from my perspective. BP continued to not hold early leads and they slowly chipped away at it. 1-4 was like a steamroller at a point. Really don’t trust Iglesias. If they do meet again in the playoffs, I want to be a fair fight unlike last year when Morton left early (comebacker), Fried was ill (lost something like 15 lbs), Strider first start since injury.
Honestly, I fear PHI more than LAD at this point.
I would say I fear them about the same, I like the Dodgers offense a little better but I like the Phillies Rotation better for sure. Sanchez did a damn good job yesterday and gave Philadelphia some length! He deserves a post season start IMO. It was a really tight series that the Phillies could have easily won had a couple small things gone their way.
I don’t think the Braves should really fear anyone, but I do get what you mean.
Even if he can pitch 2-3 good (emphasis on the good) innings, he could a VERY useful weapon in the postseason
Agreed, a deep bullpen can be more important than a 4th or 5th starter in the playoffs
And no one has even mentioned how Lorenzen can be used as a pinch hitter. I don’t know when he last batted in a game, but the guy has better hitting skills than 75% of the catchers in MLB for sure. If they’re moving him to the pen, they should have him participate in BP on a regular basis going forward.
Try him in the outfield
The Reds occasionally moved Lorenzen into the OF as a LIDR after he pitched in relief. Not sure how that works now with the DH rules.
He might be better option in LF than Jake Cave
Jake Cave and Rodolfo Castro are probably fine human beings, but they should not be on this team right now…..
Does the bullpen role weigh enough for him?
He was a beast out of the pen in cincy ! Clutch, never baking down from a matchup. Problem is he’s just not an elite pitcher. So he’s gonna get hit
They benignly gave him that extended time off after the no-hitter, pitchers are all about routine.
becuase he threw 120+ pitches in that no hitter…and threw 100+ pitches in the start before that.
If anyone has insight into throwing recovery programs in-between starts, the floor is yours.
The general framework for 1 day on, 4 days off cycle. Most starters won’t throw a baseball the day after a start (some do but most don’t). However, starters usually have some form of conditioning in the form of running/sprinting every single non start day, They usually throw a bullpen session mid way through the 4 days off cycle(about 25-35 pitches that would simulate an inning). And the other days are filled with loosing up and playing long toss or shorter flat ground tossing to make sure that nothing “feels off”. Not every pitcher has the exact same routine but towards the middle and back portion of the season, to save themselves these numbers shrink to preserve their arm for the full season.
Normal starters get between 4-5 days rest, 3 or 6 in circumstances where there is a double header or an extra day off. Lorenzen pitched the no-no on the 9th, then didn’t start again until the 18th. That is 8 days between starts. And yes, guys do side-work, but that’s an abnormally long tome between starts.
First two games he throws 101 and then 124 pitches in the no-no. Five starts since then…not so good. I’m an old guy and remember four man rotations and high pitch counts, but it doesn’t seem the modern pitcher is trained for this–so maybe the modern manager/pitching coach should take it into consideration.
I still think that insane layoff after the no-no threw him off.
Pitchers that throw a no hitter are usually terrible after throwing a no hitter. They just don’t recover. Lorenzen‘s threw 124 and now his arm is paying the price.
I recently joked (not funny) about the Angels curse following all the waived pitchers to Cleveland. Someone asked me pointedly ” what about Lorenzen then?” right after his no hitter….
Well, what about him? What i’m reading here doesn’t sound like he is doing well.
The Angels didn’t keep him. That says an awful lot to begin with.
Piggyback!
Each can go through the order twice. That’ll be 36 batters faced which will finish a lot of games giving the arm barn the day off.
Plus, they are opposite handed so it creates platoon issues for the offense
Do it
I don’t think Nola has it. He has to be on a leash now. Too many deep counts, foul balls, he strikes out a lot of guys but his pitch counts are death. Plus it’s a slog watching him.
Nola is horrible right now…….maybe some BP might help him awaken