Philadelphia Phillies Will Lean on Starting Rotation Next Season

If the Philadelphia Phillies are going to make waves next season, it will be because of their starting rotation.

Jun 11, 2024; New York City, New York, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo (44) pitches against the New York Mets during the first inning at Citi Field. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies entered the winter looking to shake things up after a disappointing early exit in the playoffs. 

It was another outstanding regular season for the Phillies in 2024. They looked like one of the best teams in baseball for most of the year, but unfortunately fell well short of their expectations in October. 

So far, Philadelphia might not have made the major splash that some were hoping for, but they did add some new faces. 

One of the needs for the Phillies was to add another starter, and they recently accomplished that with a trade to bring in Jesus Luzardo from the Miami Marlins.

The starting rotation was a strength for Philadelphia, but adding another arm was certainly a need. 

David Schoenfield of ESPN.com recently spoke about one number for each National League team. For the Phillies, the number was 16.0, which was the WAR for their starting rotation last season. 

“The Phillies ranked third in FanGraphs' WAR for starting pitching, behind only the Braves and Royals. And they did that even though Taijuan Walker, Tyler Phillips, Kolby Allard and a couple of others combined for a 7.65 ERA across 30 starts at the back end (although somehow managed to go 10-11). So Dave Dombrowki pulled out the back of the envelope, did some calculus and figured, 'Hey, why not add a fifth starter?'"

Seeing Philadelphia still being ranked so highly as a starting rotation despite Taijuan Walker having an awful showing is very impressive since he totaled a 3-7 record, a 7.10 ERA, and a -1.6 WAR last year.

It was a dreadful year for the right-hander, and while he didn’t impact the team in the postseason, he was a liability throughout the campaign. 

The addition of Luzardo should push Walker out of the rotation.

The Phillies will have to figure out what their plan is for him, but adding Luzardo makes the strength of this team even stronger. 

While the southpaw missed a lot of time last campaign, he did have a breakout season in 2023 when he posted 10-10 record, 3.58 ERA, and WAR of 4.0. 

At just 27 years old, Luzardo could potentially be in the long-term plans for Philadelphia with Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola getting older, but in the short-term, he is a massive upgrade for a rotation that already has a ton of talent. 

The Phillies will now be entering the 2025 campaign with arguably the best rotation in the league.

With a lot of competition to win the World Series, they will certainly be relying heavily on their starting rotation to make that happen.