The Philadelphia Phillies have one of the best starting rotations in baseball, but after the loss of Zack Wheeler for the rest of the year, there was palpable concern about the depth going forward.
Fortunately, Aaron Nola returned, and after his six shutout innings against the New York Mets, along with the performances of Ranger Suarez, Cristopher Sanchez, and Jesus Luzardo, the rotation is still among the best without Wheeler.
Even so, the Phillies pounced when Walker Buehler became available. In a recent article from Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Phillies general manager Preston Mattingly revealed why the team signed Buehler and what their plan is with the former Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers starter.
Why did the Phillies add Walker Buehler?
“Obviously, he got released,” Mattingly said. “and I think just a lot of different conversations between our scouts, a lot of people in our group, and just feeling like, just to protect our starters – and know we were wanting to potentially go to six starters – to give our guys an extra rest.”
The Phillies signed Buehler to a minor-league deal at the end of August, which guaranteed that the Phillies would be able to have Buehler available for the postseason. But as Mattingly reveals, he will also ease the workload of the Phillies pitchers down the stretch run of the season.
Having Buehler, along with Taijuan Walker, eat up some innings in the final weeks of the regular season would be a huge way to ensure the current crop of starters is all well-rested for the postseason.
While Buehler struggled in Boston, with a 5.45 ERA and a 7-7 record in 23 appearances for the Red Sox, his addition to the back-end of the rotation should help the Phillies immensely to close out September.
“We’ve leaned heavily on our starting rotation,” Mattingly said. “No surprise, it’s a tremendous group we have there, and we wanted to make sure we took care of them down the stretch here.”
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This mindset makes the roles of Buehler and Walker all the more important. To alleviate the stress of the normal core starters, both veteran right-handers will eat up innings to close out the regular season, with the hope one emerges as a viable option out of the bullpen this October.
Mattingly also expressed belief in the Phillies staff helping Buehler rediscover his stuff, which helped propel the Dodgers to a World Series win in 2024. Caleb Cotham has been a great pitching coach, and Buehler could benefit from Cotham’s instruction to get right this season.
It’s a low-risk move for the Phillies, and one with incredibly high reward. Buehler was a two-time All-Star with the Dodgers, who was a top Cy Young candidate as well.
To land Buehler for very little cost is well worth it for the Phillies. He’ll likely be called up later in September, where he could get a few starts to help take some pressure off the starting rotation as the team plans for a deep World Series run.
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