After deadline, Phils still saddled with broken rotation
PHILADELPHIA » When 3:59 became 4 o’clock Wednesday afternoon, Matt Klentak was stuck. He was stuck with a pitching rotation. He was stuck with a philosophy.
Correctly or not, and that can only be made clear in early October, the Phillies’ general manager had been committed to a plan for at least a year. So with only a marginal deadline-week deal for a pitcher, it would not change. The idea: Employ one dominating pitcher and one aging former star, then turn the other four rotation spots into a law-of-averages play. Use Aaron Nola, hope that Jake Arrieta pitches at his best once in a while, then try to throw something together with minor trades, minor-league salvage hunts and that crowd of once-promising starters ever likely to disappoint.
For a franchise with a bigtalking owner and a fan base thirsty for postseason baseball for the first time since 2011, it has been a timid and, so far, failing play. Even Thursday, during a 10-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants, it was subject again to question.
Though Arrieta pitched well early, he never made it through the fifth inning and thus would not toil long enough to be the winning pitcher. And because he has a bone spur in his elbow, he’s not going to pitch often beyond the fifth for the rest of the season. With that, it’s going to be difficult for the Phillies to contend for much, if anything.
A night earlier, it was much of the same, with Five-InnyVinny Velasquez rolling nicely into the sixth before the inevitable collapse began with a two-run Buster Posey home run. He never recorded another out and the Phillies lost.
“There were a lot of foul balls,” Gabe Kapler reasoned. “And I think it took a lot of energy for him to get through those first five. And then as he went out for the sixth, the ball started to creep down a lit
tle bit. He made one pitch that Posey punished him on. That was it.”
The excuses vary in tone, but never by much.
“I think this one,” Kapler said, “was more he may have run out of gas.” Yeah, that was it. While not Klentak’s fault that Arrieta is semi-injured, the general manager must be held responsible for his reluctance to spend some of John Middleton’s stupid money on an upper-level starting pitcher. Dallas Keuchel was a free agent, but Klentak allowed him to leak to Atlanta, where he has gone 3-4 with a 3.86 ERA. He would have been a strong No. 2 behind Nola.
At the deadline, the Astros spent four prospects for Zack Greinke, who still has $80 million owed for the next two-plus years. That was too pricey for Klentak. That no one traded for Robbie Ray of the Diamondbacks or the Tigers’ Matthew Boyd, a couple of valued left-handers said to be available, was proof that the asking fee was outrageous. But whatever it was, Klentak didn’t spend it.
So into the final two months of the season the Phillies spin, with Klentak adding only Jason Vargas, a soft-throwing lefthander the Mets no longer wanted, and Drew Smyly, fished by Klentak from the Brewers’ farm system.
“We definitely made some adjustments,” Klentak said. “Smyly and Vargas are 40 percent of the rotation right here. That has shifted Nick Pivetta and now Zach Eflin into the bullpen, so there’s a ripple effect to adding to the rotation. It makes our bullpen stronger and deeper.
“We have more depth than we had a couple of weeks ago, and I think that lends itself to perhaps some more creative pitching moves.”
The season was young when it started to show that Klentak’s trust in Velasquez, Pivetta and the everinjured Jerad Eickhoff was anything but creative. Eflin flashed a couple of early complete games to generate some All-Star-candidacy noise, but he has been reduced to some weird long-relief piggyback-starter for Arrieta or Velasquez.
Nola is a legitimate ace. Vargas has a chance to help with his change-of-pace rhythm, a change of scenery and his pedigree as a pitcher who won 18 games for the Royals two years ago. Smyly has had two strong starts. But after that, Kapler will almost have to invent ways to survive with 40 percent of his starting rotation ever unlikely to see a seventh-inning stretch.
“It’s certainly our responsibility and my responsibility specifically, to plan effectively for that,” Kapler said “That’s exactly what we’ll do.”
It was the general manager’s responsibility to make sure that his manager didn’t have to be so inventive, particularly with a playoff spot so available. Yet Wednesday became Thursday, and there the Phillies were, stuck with one reliable starter, a couple of cheap, late pick-ups, and two right-handers who can’t deliver length.
Arrieta insists he will remain in the rotation. But even that will not be possible without between-innings physical therapy.
“I think there will be multiple occasions where I can give us six-plus,” Arrieta said. “So I’m going to keep it moving, especially with having a guy like Pivetta back there who can throw two plus, and with Eflin, who is capable of doing the exact same thing.
“So during my starts, that’s kind of what it’s probably going to look like in close games. We’re pretty confident that is going to be a solution that is going to help us out.”
It’s not a solution. It’s a gamble. But that’s what happens when a general manager leaves himself stuck.