The Phillies had a bit of an injury scare on Tuesday, as left-hander Cristopher Sánchez departed his start against the Mets after two innings. Sánchez was working with diminished velocity, and the club announced postgame that he’d dealt with forearm soreness.
Despite that ominous initial word, the Phillies downplayed concern on Wednesday. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told reporters (including Lochlahn March of The Philadelphia Inquirer) that Sánchez felt normal this morning. While the southpaw will hold off on playing catch until Friday, the Phillies don’t plan to send him for imaging. They’ll wait to see how he feels when he resumes throwing in a couple days.
Sánchez made his first All-Star Game and finished 10th in NL Cy Young voting a season ago. He worked 183 1/3 innings of 3.32 ERA ball in his first full season as a starter. He’s pitching just as well this year, allowing 3.42 earned runs per nine over 26 1/3 frames. He’s getting grounders at a typically excellent 55.1% clip while striking out 29.2% of opponents. The start before yesterday was one of his best. He recorded a career-high 12 punchouts across seven innings of three-run against the Giants.
The Phils have had the same five starters all season: Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Jesús Luzardo, Taijuan Walker and Sánchez. Nola has had a rough start, allowing a 6.43 ERA on nearly two home runs per nine while working with diminished velocity. Nola’s fastball tends to pick up life over the course of the season, and he’s obviously going to get a long leash based on his track record. The other four starters have ERA’s comfortably below 4.00.
Ranger Suárez has been out all season after experiencing back stiffness late in Spring Training. He has made a trio of minor league rehab appearances, including five scoreless frames at Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Tuesday. Matt Gelb of The Athletic writes that Suárez is expected to make one more start for the IronPigs on Sunday before returning to the big league rotation next week.
If Sánchez avoids the injured list, the Phils will need to decide between a six-man rotation or bumping someone to the bullpen. Walker, who would have begun the season in long relief if Suárez were healthy, would presumably be the odd man out. The veteran righty is pitching well, though, turning in a 2.29 ERA over 19 2/3 innings through his first four starts. His 19.3% strikeout rate is still a couple points below league average, but he has added a tick of velocity after last year’s dismal season.
One pitcher who is definitely making that role change: Seth Johnson. Dombrowski told reporters (including The Philly Inquirer’s Scott Lauber) that the righty is moving to the bullpen in Triple-A. Johnson has been a starting pitcher through his five seasons in the minors. He also started his lone major league appearance, a 2 1/3 inning start last September. Philadelphia acquired Johnson from the Orioles in last summer’s deadline deal that sent Gregory Soto to Baltimore.
A former top 40 draft choice, Johnson ranks as the #6 prospect in the Phils’ system at Baseball America. His fastball is averaging north of 95 MPH in Triple-A. That could tick up in shorter stints, while Johnson draws praise for his cutter and curveball. His subpar command always pointed to a possible bullpen future that has now come to pass. Jonson carries a 3.98 ERA over 20 1/3 innings in Lehigh Valley this year. He has punched out 27% of opponents while issuing walks nearly 15% of the time.
Sanchez may not be out of the woods yet.
This is an old team with a bullpen problem, poor plate discipline and so many overpriced contracts DD has tied his own hands. They’ve enjoyed remarkably good health in the starting rotation, which had to end eventually. I’m not optimistic.
Their plate discipline is actually excellent. They have one of the best chase rates in the league so far. They just have no power. Part of that is certainly age. Another part is quite simply bad luck. It’s April.
Their plate discipline WAS excellent, against the Marlins and Nationals. But in the Mets series — facing a playoff caliber team — Castellanos and Turner reverted, which explains Castys precipitous BA drop. Against good pitching it’s the same old song.
They faced plenty of good pitchers before the Mets series. The Mets are good and spanked the Phillies. These things happen. A number of other Phillies (Bohm, Stott, Rojas, Kepler) actually had some success in the Mets series. The Phillies are an old, flawed team with a terrible bullpen. They got swept, but 2 of the 3 losses came in the 8th inning or later. They were competitive games.
This is the right take, The games were competitive and could have gone either way . The Phillies ran into Alonso who appears on a mission to get his big contract and Lindor who is in mid-to-late season form in April. Plus the Mets pitching is just unbelievable right now and with the expection of Diaz, the bullpen is magnificent. And your right about the Phillies bullpen; it’s awful.
Let’s see what happens in a few months when they meet again. It’s still way too early to come to any definitive conclusions. Last year’s Mets in May easily lost to them.
phillies only have 3 long term contracts(harper,turner,nola) all the other contracts expire in 1 to 3 years this might be a down year but all they need is a big bat behind haper (tucker, bregman, etc ) and 1-2 solid bullpen arm the rotation is one of the best and tied up for the next 2-3 years(wheeler,nola,sanchez,luzardo,painter)
They have needed 1-2 solid bullpen arms for years. Not sure why I’d think they would find them now. And the rotation is questionable in terms of future performance in terms of durability. Have to wait on Painter and actually see what he will be. Wheeler has thrown a lot of innings and is getting older. Nola has always had a long ball issue and is diminishing. I’ve seen this movie before. Phillies 2012. It might just be the next sequel to 2022 will be released in 2032….
Harper Turner and Nola will be declining in 3 years. They are not ageless wonders.
They’re declining now.
That’s a decent point but DD tied his own hands this year. I guess ending the long term contracts held by Schwarber and JT will help, but we lack in house replacements. And the long term Castellanos contract — which no team has touched — still has another year.
Why is it important to include the name of the Philly Inquirer reporter in the story? For me, at least, it doesn’t add anything.
Blue Karen.
Major League Baseball Fan: And who pissed in your cornflakes, Karen?
A swing and a miss Blue Karen.
How about those Mets, philliesphan77? I know you love being in the rear view mirror.
Journalism ethics. Give credit to your source when you publish information you got from somebody else.
AHH-Rox: But the source in this case is Dave Dombrowski, who “told reporters (including Lochlahn March of The Philadelphia Inquirer) that Sánchez felt normal this morning.”
Unless Anthony Franco was there listening to Dombrowski, he still needs to credit the reporter from whom he learned it.
Also, journalism ethics: If there is a mistake in the story, you know who made it — the writer, by name.
I bet the Phillies are regretting not bringing Hoffman back in favor of signing Romano. He has been lights out for the Blue Jays, while Romano looks cooked.
It came out yesterday that DD offered Hoffman a contract similar to the one he eventually got in Toronto, but Hoffman rejected it at the time thinking he was going to get a lot more. I don’t know if that makes losing Hoffman more or less painful.
Given that it’s in the past, I’m not sure it matters.
Right, but it shows that DD wasn’t just sitting on his hands.
I call BS on this coming out. DD always pats himself on the back about keeping negotiations private. That should include after they’re completed, even if the guy went elsewhere. I think it shows how worried DD is about the current bullpen. Besides, if Hoffman rejected it with the false assumption he’d get another offer, why didn’t the same genius GM who signed underwhelming Trea Turner to a 30-year contract stay after Hoffman, the way Toronto apparently did?
Conspiracy theories are fun, but 99% of the time total bunk. I don’t have a hard time that the guy who has no problems spending money wanted to spend money on Hoffman. I don’t understand why anyone would doubt that. Especially when Hoffman can easily deny it (he didn’t.) Hoffman wanted a mega contract. The Orioles gave him one, but he failed medicals. Same with Atlanta. Hoffman settled on a contract in Toronto for pretty much what the Phils offered him. He didn’t want to sign her for nothing less than a mega deal. I don’t blame him. Get paid.
Why not get imaging? Weird.
Yeah not just running him through the MRI machine as a precaution is really weird. Phillies trying to save on medical overhead? Also leave the medical staff open to huge liability if there actually is structural damage in the elbow and they just didn’t bother to look.
He’s not getting imaging because he probably doesn’t need it. He threw 60 pitches in two innings and had some tightness from overworking. He got examined by a licensed doctor and my guess is he had zero symptoms the next morning. Glad you have more inside knowledge than them.
So glad your PHD in narcissism is getting good use and you know his physiology so well. The test is fast, non-evasive and can rule out worst case scenarios right away. Oh, btw those docs have never been wrong, have they?
He doesn’t want anyone to discover his adamantium-laced bones. He won’t be a weapon. He’s a man!
Is Dombrowski’s prospect-to-reliever pivot the secret to Philly’s October edge?
Everyone seems so surprised by the Phils lackluster play thus far in 2025. No one seems to recall that their first half of the 2024 season was against weak teams who the Phils bullied. The second half was a different story in which the Phils conclusively proved they can’t hit good pitching and can’t come through in the clutch. Nothing has changed. This is basically the same team. Schwarber is off to one of the best starts in his career, but he still can’t hit in clutch situations. In 25 games, he has left 48 runners on base and struck out 24 times. Castellanos who is off to a good start and Bohm who is just starting to turn around a lousy start have also left a lot of runners on base. If past is prologue, both of these players will return to form and continue to be major run producers for the Phils, while Schwarber will probably start showing his inconsistency and only stun the crowd with tape-measure homers when no one is on base or the game is not on the line. Other than the Phils inability to hit good pitching especially in clutch situations, their bullpen has been terrible. A lot can be made of the importance of a dominant starting rotation, but starters usually only pitch 6 or 7 innings these days, and teams that can keep games close have a good chance of getting to the Phils’ bullpen and winning close games. It’s too late to cry over the Phils inability to retain Hoffman or not sign Alonso this off-season, but it’s still not too late to improve this team and squeak into the playoffs. To do so, the Phils should promote Justin Crawford from AAA and have him platoon with Rojas in centerfield. Rojas has played very well and is a much better centerfield option, with Crawford, than trading for Luis Robert Jr who hasn’t been able to hit his won weight this season. Rojas and Crawford could become one of the most exciting platoons in baseball. Next, the Phils should trade soon-to-be free agents Schwarber and Suarez to the Cardinals for Arenado and closer Helsley. Arenado, Bohm and Harper can become a tandem with all three sharing time between 1B and DH, and Arenado and Bohm taking turns at 3B. At the same time, Helsley could become the closer the Phils desperately need. Insofar as the Phils and Schwarber were unable to come to any extension agreement this past off-season, it’s unlikely Schwarber will give the Phils a hometown discount after this season, especially if the Phils don’t win the world series. Despite rhetoric to the contrary, Schwarber will probably follow the money and sign with another team for more money than the Phils are willing to pay a player who is limited by his inability to do anything but DH. The same can be said for Suarez who is destined to secure big bucks before he resumes his run at stardom. The trick to making this plan work is bringing Crawford up now to give him time to adjust to life in the show, and trading Schwarber and Suarez now while Schwarber has maximum trade value. Closer to the trade deadline, Schwarber may have already reverted to the mean and stopped showing flashes of offensive brilliance, thereby significantly lowering his trade value. If the Phils don’t make these changes soon, they may not even be able to grab one of this year’s wild card berths. They wouldn’t if the wild cards were awarded today. These moves may seem extreme, but consider the options, especially the one that starts “…. the Phils plan to be aggressive this off-season and spend whatever it takes to win a championship!”
There’s a lot of incorrect messaging here. The Phillies had a winning record against .500 teams last year. They did not feast on bad teams early. The Phillies were one of the best teams in baseball late last year as well. They had a horrific July. After that they got good again. Then they stunk against the surging Mets in the playoffs. These things happen. There’s this idea that the Phillies played .500 ball after the ASB. If you look at the totals, it’s really one bad month in July that did this. They had a winning record every month after that.
Now, you make some other points about roster construction, and I particularly agree when it comes to the bullpen. I didn’t love the bullpen coming in. I was hoping the Romano would pay off. It looks like a disaster.
Lastly, it’s April. I’ve seen so many Phillies teams stink it up in the first month of the season. Some of those teams went on to have success. Some of those teams stunk. It’s the nature of the game. If you think the April Phillies are the real Phillies, well, I don’t think so. Does this mean the Phillies won’t have problems? Of course not. But baseball is a looooong season. We’ll see what happens. Did they just get swept by the Mets? Absolutely. Two of those losses were essentially coin flips. Are the Mets very good? Absolutely. I had them finishing ahead of the Phillies anyway. No surprises here.
von, The only incorrect messaging is yours. The Phils bullied weak teams last season. The fact that several of these teams had .500 records doesn’t change the fact that they were still weak. What you need to realize is, in a season when there are so many weak teams, a few of the weak teams will still finish with .500 records. It’s a case of weak fish feasting on weaker fish. However, I agree with you about the Mets. I also have them finishing ahead of the Phils because, unlike the Phils, they improved an already solid 2024 club. The Phils have to start realizing that filling Citizens Bank Park every game is not enough to win a world series. The Phils have more than their share of popular players, but popularity doesn’t win championships – neither does friendships between players nor media propaganda.
I mean you can look at the stats. I did before my comment. It isn’t true.
They had a winning record against the top 4 playoff teams, including the Mets and Dodgers. Sorry that doesn’t fit your narrative. You cant just say things you feel when stats exist.
von, Stats can be misleading. The Phils did have a winning record against the Dodgers in 2024. However, when they played, the Dodgers had 15 players on the IL. And what about the 2024 playoffs? Who did the Phils have a winning record against? Certainly not the Mets. So, your narrative doesn’t fit the reality of the situation.
Playoffs is a different animal and you know it.
You said the Phillies beat up on bad teams in 24. That’s false. I’ve proven it false. That’s my only point.
von, Teams play the entire regular season with one goal in mind – to get to the playoffs and, hopefully, the world series. So, you’re right. The playoffs are a different animal, and I know it. However, the outcome of the playoffs is what determines the success of an entire season. So, the Phils being unsuccessful in the playoffs should alarm you more than you are delighted by the fact the Phils were able to beat a Dodgers team that had 15 players on the IL in the regular season. What’s more, you have not disproven my contention that the Phils bullied weaker teams in 2024. Just because a team had a .500 season doesn’t mean it wasn’t a weak team. It only means it won as many games as it lost in a league that had more than its usual number of weak teams.
Of course. I’m not proclaiming the Phillies to be the best team in baseball. I’m simply dismissing the fact that the Phillies feasted on bad teams last year. That’s completely false. In fact, they did better against winning teams than the Mets did, and that includes games late in the season. You basically said something that you felt was true, but facts show us it’s completely false. Now, if you want to say the Phillies have a serious bullpen problem and they don’t seem to be hitting for power and that’s a serious concern, I’m totally with you. But that’s not what you said.
Seth Johnson is a fine starting pitching prospect, just shows how desperate the Phillies are for a fresh bullpen arm. Still think a Twins trade makes a lot of sense, with the abundance of arms they have in the pen. They could use a young OF prospect, maybe Rincones Jr. would appeal to them.
The Phillies have been slightly better than .500 since the London series with the Mets 2024. They have not really improved the team.