Both the Phillies and the Blue Jays are hoping to strengthen their starting rotation by recovering from the All-Star right-handed from the injured roster later this month. Aaron Nola He hasn’t pitched for Philadelphia since mid-May when he sprained an IL. Although he was initially expected in June, he suffered a stress response in the rib cage, which extended my IL. He is finally close to his return now. Earlier this month, MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki reported that Nola could rejoin the Phillies after three games of recovery. Since then, his first two have hit six innings in a total of 6 2/3 innings in Triple-A Lehigh Valley, giving up seven hits. Philadelphia Inquirer’s Lochlahn Parade, Nora is expected to begin his next (and perhaps the last) recovery this Tuesday.
at the same time, Shane Bieber He has been recovering from Tommy John’s surgery since last April. He is a free agent who re-signed with the guardian throughout the winter, but Cleveland flipped him to Toronto before last month’s trade deadline. He has already started his rehabilitation mission in the Guardian system, taking it off where he left with his new team, throwing five innings for the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons last weekend, and yesterday at 5 2/3pm. Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters (including Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi) that Bieber is likely to need another recovery before he is ready to make his debut in 2025.
When Nola and Bieber return, their team will have to figure out how to integrate them into a rotation that runs well in absence. Since Nola’s last pitch, the Phillies starter is second in ERA’s MLB, but ranked first in FIP, XFIP, Siera, strikeout to walk ratio, innings per innings and Fangraphs War. Their current five include Cy Young competitors Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sánchez; Ranger Suárezif he didn’t miss the first five weeks of the season, he himself might be a candidate for one season; Jesús Luzardoeven though his era reappeared after a hot start, their peripherals remained strong. and Taiwan Walkerhe rebounded from the terrible 2024 campaign, releasing an era as a starter and reliefist in the mid-3.00s.
The Phillies’ most direct action was to move Walker back to the bullpen. Although he reached 3.48 ERA in 13 games, his 4.64 Siera is less promising from the rotation. His struggle as a starter last season produced 7.18 ERA and 5.11 Siera in 15 starts, which is also impossible to forget. However, the Phillies may also want to take advantage of the fact that Walker is throwing good now. After all, most teams don’t have the luxury of six healthy MLB caliber starters.
Luzardo missed a lot of time in 2022 and 24 years of injury, with only once he pitched a full, qualified season. Suarez never qualified for the ERA title and hit 155 1/3 innings in 2022. Wheeler’s health is also something he can monitor after receiving an MRI shoulder soreness earlier this month (according to Matt Gelb of Track and Field). It’s back clean and the team doesn’t seem to be worried, but Wheeler, 35, is crucial to his team’s World Series aspirations. Finally, Sánchez hasn’t given any reason to the Phillies so far, but a punch or two from Wheeler and Sánchez is crucial to success in 2025. Keep both of them going all out.
So it’s not hard to see why the six-man rotation attracts manager Rob Thomson, especially his club just started 24 games in 25 days. Indeed, Charlotte Varnes of Sports Report reported that when Nola sets out from Illinois, the captain will consider switching to a six-man cycle at least.
It is worth noting that the Phillies also considered the reasons for using the six-player spin earlier this season, only ending up sticking to the traditional five-player setup. When Suárez returned from IL in May, Thomson raised questions about adding Suárez to a group that already includes Wheeler, Sánchez, Nola, Luzardo and Walker. Will it happen? “Maybe,” he said at the time. “We’re a little bit walking for a while now” (by Noah Levick Per of NBC Sports Philadelphia). However, Gelb suggested that the Phillies “extremely unlikely” to make a six-player spin, and he turned out to be right. There is no doubt that things are different in August than in May, but it is very likely that the same result will prevail, and the Phillies will return to the five-man spin they have been planning to use before the injury is stuck.
Toronto’s rotation isn’t as strong as Philadelphia this year, but the Blue Jays are in much better shape Eric Lauer Force him to enter the starting spin. Max Shezer Return from the injured list and join the stable and reliable three Kevin Gausman,,,,, José Berríosand Chris Bassitt. Dating back to the week when Scherzer returned, the Blue Jays starter had 4.00 ERA in 41 games. They are ranked tenth in Siera (3.93) and Fangraphs War (3.1). This is a significant improvement from their performance three months ago, when they scored 4.65 ERA (26th in MLB), 4.16 Siera (18th), and only 2.7 FWAR (27th) in almost double the game.
Just like the Phillies, if the Blue Jays wanted to keep the five-man spinning, there was really only one solution when Bieber joined the team: move Raul to the bullpen. But Lauer is more than just a Toronto parking space. Southpaw has 2.59 ERA and 3.62 Siera in 18 games (12 games). He has not allowed more than 3 runs or seven hits in the year this year. His medium stuff and impressive record are a valid reason for concern, but there is no denying how he performed. Since he officially joined the starter in mid-June, it’s hard to say that he’s no better than his more established rotation partner.
So, Schneider told Davidi that for at least “10 days or two weeks,” the six-player spin is “definite possibility.” Needless to say, this arrangement is great for Raul. Considering that he never had a full, qualified season, he not only could keep working longer during the rotation, but he would have some extra rest. The extra rest will also benefit Scherzer, a 41-year-old who is vulnerable to injury, and Bieber, who returns. On the other hand, this may not please the workhorses Gausman, Berríos and Bassitt, who have pitched nearly every five games since he arrived in Toronto. Unlike the Phillies, the Blue Jays have a few days to come, so the six-man rotation may mean that sometimes their starters will be playing a week between outings. If the extra time negatively affects any veteran’s weapon, any potential benefits of the six-man rotation will be cancelled. The Blue Jays also have to consider the fact that their bullpen is a bullpen that has been working to reach 8.48 ERA over the past two weeks and he will throw one person down.
Images in the picture are courtesy of Reggie Hildred, Imagn Images (NOLA) and Ross Cameron of Bieber.
