Phillies Cannot Repeat Same Mistake With Pitching Staff

The Philadelphia Phillies have a luxury that not many teams can match heading into the MLB offseason; their starting rotation is set.

There aren’t many teams entering the winter that can say they have their starting pitchers ready for 2027. The Phillies can, with Cristopher Sanchez, Jesus Luzardo, Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Andrew Painter all ready to assume roles.

If Nola and Painter can perform near the level they did over the last few weeks of the 2026 regular season, Philadelphia will be in the running for the best starting rotation in baseball. However, there is one aspect of their starting pitching that must be addressed this offseason: Depth.

In each of the last two seasons, the Phillies have had to go outside of the organization to find arms who could help them down the stretch of the season. In 2025, it was Walker Buehler who was signed after being released by the Boston Red Sox to help replace Wheeler, who was sidelined by a blood clot and venous thoracic outlet syndrome.

This past summer, it was Jose Urquidy who was signed after the Chicago White Sox released him to help cover innings following the injury to Luzardo. He made two appearances down the stretch in September.

Philadelphia also had Nestor Cortes signed to a Major League deal in August, and he made three appearances with Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Alas, he didn’t reach the Big Leagues. But it further hammers home the point that the team needs better starting pitching depth heading into the season.

The last two years, they have been fortunate enough to bring aboard veterans who helped down the stretch. That isn’t a sustainable strategy, and President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski knows it has to change heading into the 2027 season.

“It’s not starting pitching. It’s starting-pitching depth,” he said, via Cole Weintraub of NBC Sports Philadelphia. “We’ll get some more starting-pitching depth.”

What the Phillies need is someone who can start games in a pinch. That role was filled by Alan Rangel and Brian Keller, who pitched behind an opener in Tim Mayza.

Philadelphia needs to bring in a pitcher similar to what they did with Spencer Turnbull in 2024. He took the spot of Taijuan Walker when he was injured and returned to the bullpen once he was healthy enough to do so.

That kind of swingman is exactly what the team needs, given how poor the starting pitching depth was at Lehigh Valley. Cortes could certainly fill that role if he is healthy, but expect Dombrowski to bring in at least one or two arms to help address their depth concerns.