Me, too - August, 2034 or so.
To be fair to Walker, if he's healthy and has his normal velocity, he's good for half a season.
Something to watch with Ranger down the stretch, some pitchers just don't have the stamina to maintain a high level of performance over 30 starts.
At this point they probably don't care if they go .300 or .400 in Walker's starts, he'll probably only make three meaningful ones (in August) and 3 or 4 meaningless ones (in September). Turnbull is still a bigger question mark just because of his health, and Phillips, who knows (but one of them would still be in the six-man rotation too).
Far more curious if there is any truth to the report that they are interested in adding a starter. That would at minimum suggest they may not be sure about Sanchez given his road performance, or still want the option of using Suarez in a more limited flex role.
Either way, they will be managing everybody's workload after next week.
One way, I suppose, to improve the bullpen (albeit with two many lefties) is to put Ranger there and then add a starter. There's always the option of managing Ranger's innings so he can be restored to the rotation come playoff time, hopefully at better strength than he's been showing lately as the season slogs along.
A move to acquire a starter also allows the luxury for a team with an 8-game lead to move to a six man rotation, conserving everyone's strength for the playofffs.
The big play, I guess, would be to trade for Crochet and immediately move to a six man rotation. The worry with Crochet is that he'll be spent when the playoffs arrive, and the Phillies have the big advantage here in being in a position to conserve his innings,
Starters are expensive though. There are scenarios, yeah, but it feels like gilding the lily. They already have enough arms to go with a six-man rotation, most of whom are still better than most teams' third starter (not Walker, but Sanchez, and Turnbull if he comes back healthy and Phillips for as long as he can get away with it).
Now, we'd really be talking if they did put Turnbull into another trade, or figured out a way to offload Walker's contract without having to include an extra prospect (just money).
I don't think Ranger or Suarez are really suited to bullpen work. Same with Walker.
Ideal conversion is guy with 1-2 secondaries and a FB that ticks up 2-3 MPH out of the pen.
Wheeler for example would probably be back to 97 out of the pen for one inning, but he's too valuable for that role.
Yes, Ranger is demonstrably suited to bullpen work, as well as to a flex role. It would be curious to limit him in that way given how excellent he was to start the season, let alone squander assets trying to do better, but neither his excellence nor his durability is a sure thing right now.
And Sanchez has also spent most of his MLB career as a reliever. Not a memorable one, but he can do it. And will, unless he's left off the NLDS roster entirely.
Ranger hasn't pitched out of the pen since 2021.
He was effective, but moved into the starting rotation in August.
Most of his relief appearances were with 2-3 days rest.
It was the Postseason but Suarez did pitch out of the bullpen to closeout the 2022 NLCS clincher two days after he started Game 3.
Not sure that Bowden’s views should be given much weight and don’t think he has any sources, but here was a deal he described when asked “what would it take”:
Arozerena and Pete Fairbanks from the Rays
For
Rojas, Caba, Rincones and one of McFarlane/McGowan/other lower level pitching prospect
After this awfu road trip I think we’re going to get another bullpen arm. I guess the first half was too good to be true.
He was literally the closer in 2021 for a while. They also were clearly ready to use him out of the pen in the 2023 playoffs, it just didn't end up lining up that way (in the NLDS because it ended without needing him, in the NLCS because they needed him as a starter).
He's too good to actually convert to relief as things stand today, but if the Phillies were really going to go out and get some of the names mentioned, someone does lose their top four rotation spot.
Bowden's latest suggestion is Robert for Crawford and Abel. More realistic than the last one though I hate trading Abel for a discount (and teams may not want him now anyway).
Well, maybe trading a tarnished top three prospect saves you from trading two other top 10 pitchers instead. But that, on the one hand, still seems like a lot for a player with some flaws, and not enough if other teams want him or the Sox are content to keep him one more season.
I wouldn't worry about it. Just another Bowden fantasy baseball column. Gelb says the Phillies have little interest in trading Crawford, Painter or Miller, which also pretty much means they aren't in the market for an "impact-type" player. Platoon LF and pen remain priority; he dismisses ("according to multiple major league sources") any talk of starting pitchers.
Our two top picks in the draft this year probably do increase the possibility of dealing Crawford. Much depends I think on whether the decision-makers think Rojas will ever hit enough and the book is still very unclear on that. I think Crawford will hit enough to be a starting CF. The question for him is whether he will ever have enough power to be a good starting CF.