Philadelphia Phillies: Dombrowski needs to add a starting pitcher

The Philadelphia Phillies are one solid starter away from having a top five rotation in baseball.

It’s not uncommon for a team’s starting staff to be carried by 2-3 pitchers, but the Phillies are in a position where they could have a top five rotation in the league if they were simply able to get some level of production out of their back-end starters.

The New York Mets for example, who currently rank third in starting pitching fWAR, have gotten fWAR totals of 0.3 or higher from six different starting pitchers. The deep rotation that the Mets possess is the biggest reason they own sole possession of first place in the NL East, with it only set to improve following the return of Noah Snydergaard and/or Carlos Carrasco.

More productive fourth and fifth starters would also have a positive trickle down effect on the Phillies bullpen, as they would (in theory) require a smaller workload over the course of a full week.  Both Moore and Velasquez are barely getting through four innings on a consistent basis, which is putting a ton of stress on the Phillies already bad bullpen to take down huge chunks of game action at a time.

Acquiring an extra starter is easier said than done, and I can’t say I’ve seen the Phillies connected to a whole lot of names as of late. The team of course attended Cole Hamels‘ workout last week, and further trade targets should be made available as we get closer to the trade deadline. Moving someone like Bailey Falter or Christopher Sanchez into the rotation on a full-time basis is another strategy worth exploring, but would also further deplete the team’s bullpen of long-relief arms.

Ultimately speaking, even if Dombrowski is able to swing some sort of miracle trade for a Byron Buxton or a Craig Kimbrel, this roster still feels one starting pitcher away.

How/if the Philadelphia Phillies plan to fill that void? My guess is honestly as good as yours. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯