Veteran Free Agent Pitcher Not Predicted to Return to Philadelphia Phillies in FA

The Phillies are not expected to bring back this veteran.

Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies enter the offseason following an earlier elimination than they expected at the hands of their NL East rival New York Mets in four games.

After winning the division for the first time since 2011, hopes were high for another deep playoff run in Philadelphia, but a Mets team that has gotten hot at the right time was able to dispatch the team and end their winningest regular season since 2010 without a playoff series victory. Decisions will have to be made this offseason on how the team can re-tool and try to make another run next season which will include where to spend money with regards to current players on expiring deals.

One of those players who will be a major question mark is right handed pitcher Spencer Turnbull. Last year, the team brought Turnbull on a 1-year, $2 million deal, and while he was solid when he was able to pitch, his injury history is probably too concerning to commit any sort of long-term money to him. Zach Pressnell of FanSided sees Turnbull as a player who will not be back next season, and for good reason.

"He can be expected to regress from the pitcher that sat with an ERA in the two's all season and for that reason, the Phillies will be comfortable in letting him walk," Pressnell wrote. "He's not a bad pitcher, but the Phillies will look for a better piece for their roster."

Over the last two seasons, Turnbull has made just 24 total appearances between Detroit and Philadelphia, and this was all all on the heels of missing the entire 2022 season with another injury. To his credit however, he was putting up arguably the best season of his career before another injury in June effectively ended his season once again. Still at just 32, he is relatively young and certainly capable of contributing to a major league bullpen.

But Philadelphia is not in a position where they can commit anything significant to Turnbull and simply hope that his strong trend of missing time due to injury just reverses course. In order to upgrade the staff, the Phillies must bring in someone of at least similar caliber to Turnbull, but with significantly higher reliability to be on the field.