Philadelphia Phillies: A trade for a starting pitcher solves 2 areas

Slowly but surely, it feels like the Philadelphia Phillies can actually become trade deadline buyers instead of sellers. The team has turned things around in the last week while minus Joe Girardi. Has something sparked with them?

As they may look to improve the roster, an area they should think about is the starting pitching staff. Although they have five big league arms there and each is good in his own way, an upgrade is quite obvious.

Better yet, adding to the starting rotation would also allow them to upgrade the bullpen by simply moving Ranger Suarez back into a relief role.

The Philadelphia Phillies need to trade for a starting pitcher and move Ranger Suarez to a relief role.

Suarez has gone 4-3 in 11 starts this year. His 4.42 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, and other poor numbers make it clear: this isn’t his year.

Under certain circumstances, it would be fine to let him continue taking the mound every fifth day. When you’re reaching for one of the final playoff spots, the circumstances change.

Last year was Suarez’s first in the big leagues going over 100 innings. He only got there because he converted from a relief role to a starter. We’d have to suspect at some point there may be a limit as to how many innings he logs. Hypothetically, another 11 starts would then give him twice the number of innings he has right now, bringing the total to 110—only 4 more than he had last year.

The Phillies would want to push him a little more this season. At some point, maybe even in late August, those innings totals may begin to weigh heavily on his abilities.

One thing the Phillies are in dire need of is pitching depth. Specifically, starters. They just don’t have enough good arms on the farm or even a long man in the bullpen to enter and give them an emergency start. Well, if they acquired someone else and moved Suarez there, they arm themselves a little bit better.

What happens to the Phillies in September when they lose a starting pitcher or two? Any fighting back in the standings they may have done will go to waste. Suarez may not be stretched out perfectly well but with an average of only 5 innings per start right now, it’s not so unreasonable to ask him to give them 3 or 4 on short notice. The Phillies could even keep him as a multi-inning reliever similar to the way Terry Francona made Andrew Miller a threat with Cleveland years ago. Some semi-planned relief appearances with 2 or 3 innings every 3 or 4 days could be one way to keep other arms fresh.

Most importantly, the Phillies get a better starting pitcher in their rotation. Suarez just hasn’t been all that great for them this year. Any shift to the bullpen could be temporary anyway. And even if it’s not, Suarez showed in 2021 that he can get outs consistently in both roles.