The Phillies have long been known to be keeping an eye out for starting pitching depth in order to fortify their rotation, particularly given that Zack Wheeler is expected to open the year on the injured list. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski spoke to reporters (including Todd Zolecki of MLB.com) earlier today about the team’s pursuits, and Zolecki reports that despite the team’s desire for pitching help, they were not involved in the market for future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer before he returned to the Blue Jays on a one-year, $3MM guarantee. Dombrowski went on to indicate that the remaining top starts available, Lucas Giolito and Zack Littell, are “not a fit” for what the Phillies are looking for either.
That might seem like a surprise on the surface, but it’s fairly understandable. All three hurlers are major league quality starters who figure to have the expectation of getting the opportunity to make a full slate of starts, health permitting. That’s not something the Phillies can offer, given that any addition would come in behind at minimum Wheeler, Jesus Luzardo, Cristopher Sanchez, and Aaron Nola on the team’s depth chart. That theoretically leaves one spot open at the back of the rotation even when Wheeler is healthy, but the team has not made it a secret that they hope to give Andrew Painter a significant opportunity in the rotation this year, perhaps as soon as Opening Day. If the rest of the rotation is healthy and another regular was added to the mix, pushing Painter in would either force the club to go to a six-man rotation or demote someone to the bullpen.
Given that, it’s perhaps not too surprising that Dombrowski indicated players like Giolito, Littell, and Scherzer aren’t fits for what they’re looking for. There’s a number of veterans left who seem likely to have to settle for minor league deals such as Patrick Corbin, Tyler Anderson, and Marcus Stroman, but outside of that group the pickings are rather slim. Even if one of those players were open to joining Philadelphia, it might not be an ideal fit. Dombrowski highlighted in his comments to Zolecki that the club’s preference is to add arms that can be optioned to the minors, given that Wheeler could return from the injured list as soon as early April.
It’s not impossible to find optionable starters on the free agent market, as shown by the teams recent minor league deal with right-hander Connor Gillispie. Dombrowski’s comments about their continued search for pitching came after the Gillispie deal, however, suggesting the team is still on the hunt for more talent. That’s not exactly a shock, given that Gillispie has just 34 big league innings under his belt and struggled badly in six starts with the Marlins last year. Fringe big leaguers like Gillispie are par for the course when it comes to free agents available who can still be optioned to the minors, however, and that makes it easy to understand why Dombrowski has indicated in his previous comments that he’s interested in swinging a trade for rotation depth.
Looking around the league, there’s certainly a handful of teams with an excess of optionable starters who could fit the Phillies needs. The Cubs (Javier Assad), Dodgers (Landon Knack), Tigers (Keider Montero) and Giants (Hayden Birdsong) are among the teams with optionable starters who have notable big league experience but are likely to be squeezed out of the club’s rotation entering the year. It’s not easy to get clubs to part with optionable rotation depth given the value of that resource, but if the Phillies are sufficiently motivated those teams could be better equipped to part with the sort of arm Dombrowski seems to be looking for than most. Failing that sort of trade, a non-roster invitee to Spring Training like Bryse Wilson, Tucker Davidson, or perhaps Gillispie (if he received a big league camp invite as part of his deal) seems likely to be where the Phillies turn as they look to give Painter competition for the vacant Opening Day rotation job.
Assad is a useful piece for Cubs themselves
You can never have enough pitching
Especially these days, when pitchers go down with injuries every day
Im not a phils fan by any means but if you’re a team expecting to compete, ruling out a quality SP like littell or giolito is silly. Its funny how teams operate. Ranger suarez got $130mil. Cease got $210mil. Littell & giolito cant even sniff a deal
It’s debatable whether Littell and Giolito are quality SPs, at least in the opinion of teams. Comparing them to pitchers like Ranger and Cease isn’t quite apt, since they are regarded by teams as quality SPs.
Not saying Littell and Giolito can’t be useful, but the expectations for each pair aren’t the same. And perhaps many teams may feel they can get similar production from their in-house options.
That’s what’s so odd. Giolito was worth 2+ bWAR last season; Littell was 3+ bWAR. Both are in their early thirties. Giolito has a bit of scary injury history but also has received down-ballot Cy votes 3 different years. Both have higher bWAR than Cease did last year!
It just seems like someone would have signed him. *Scherzer* got a deal. Maybe I’m missing something.
Giolito and the Littel aren’t signing with a team that can only guarantee 10 starts.
Well they’re clearly back end starters. Maybe they’ve overestimated their markets to this point but the Phillies back end starters with Wheeler out to start the year – Walker and Painter – are far from sure things themselves. And after that there’s not much at all. Plus Nola struggled himself but they just have to hope for a rebound there.
All that said the need for added depth – even optionable depth – was obvious in November. But perhaps a guy like Corbin, Jon Gray, or Ian Gibaut can be had on a cheap minors deal still to perhaps bridge the depth gap. There’s really no one in the system or on the 40 man to step up if the need gets more acute.
John Gray seemed to be leaning toward retiring after being diagnosed w/TOS last August. That ended his season, and he was quoted as being “noncommittal” about playing beyond 2025. Injuries forced him to the pen in 2025. Maybe he’s decided to fade away.
Should have traded for Ryan Weathers or Reid Detmers.
Fire Dombrowski. This is his constant mantra, we can’t promise the player enough playing time. How are other teams loading up on depth? They have the same damn issues. The game has passed Dombrowski and the Phillies need to wake up and hand over the reigns to Mattingly.
You funny!
Sign up here for a free pitchfork and torch Bart. Join Cambo in his quest.
The Phillies are so cooked this season
foolish to count a team with that much talent out
Which of the four elements of cooking are we talking about here – salt, fat, acid, or heat?
Tough division but they’ll be straight
At some point, they are going to get together with Brewers on some form of a deal, right? The Brewers have a few pitchers who must fill their need of pitchers with minor league options. Coleman Crow, Shane Drohan, Kyle Harrison, Chad Patrick may not have enough options, but one of them must fit the bill, and can’t cost a kings ransom, right? A Phillies prospect that is somewhere between #10-15 range and one in the #20 and lower, has to get that done, right?
None of those guys (maybe Crow or Carlos Rodriguez) could be had with prospects in the Phils system in that range. Milwaukee values its depth.
But are those guys ready to plug in?
Cubs have a couple young guys but it’s gonna cost you
Stroman. Phils need a workhouse
A workhouse? Is that anything like a toolshed?
No. Read almost anything written by Charles Dickens.
Thanks, Dunsel. I hope Big whiffa meant a workhorse instead of a home for the destitute who are required to serve hard labor.
Surprised that the Phillies where not in on Quintana
Truth is Dombrowski got his feelings hurt when he couldn’t land Bichette (which I think would have been a mistake anyway) and he has been pouting ever since. Get the guy out of here and let him work on the expansion Nashville team.
The negative talk about The Phillies and Dave Dombrowski in the comments is ridiculous, they have won the division the last 2 years with one of the best records in baseball each year. What are they suppose to do a total over-haul because they lose a 5 game series to The Dodgers?? Wheeler could very well be back by May and only miss a few weeks. When Wheeler is back they will have 1 of the best starting rotations in baseball!