The Philadelphia Phillies Have A Bailey Falter Problem
Monday Night, the Phillies opened up a West Coast series with the San Francisco Giants in what is the team’s first game since having the full attention of the city turned on them in the post-Sixers wake. If you’re just tuning in on the Phils for the summer, what you saw in Game 1 against the Giants is not a one-off. Starting pitching has been the Achilles heel for Rob Thomson’s team this season, and the inconsistencies in the rotation need to be corrected quickly if the Phillies are going to spend some time this season over .500. The good news is that it seems like most of the rotation is starting to settle in. Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, and Taijuan Walker have strung together some solid starts, and Ranger Suarez has returned from injury to help the cause. Bailey Falter, though, has been brutally bad so far this season, and it’s time for the Phillies to find a different solution for the final rotation spot.
Falter is currently the 5th starter on the Major League roster, but he has struggled significantly this year. After taking the loss on Monday Night in San Fran, his record stands at 0-7 this season with a 5.13 ERA. That is what we in the business call “Not good”. On Monday, Rob Thomson tried a different strategy for Falter, who has struggled in 1st innings this year. The Phillies used Connor Brogdon as an opener, and then planned to bring Falter in to start the 2nd inning. Unfortunately, Brogdon loaded up the bases while only recording 2 outs, forcing Falter to enter the game in the 1st inning in a high-pressure situation. Luckily Falter worked out of the jam, but the 2nd inning saw 6 runs allowed due to bad pitching and worse defense. Falter has looked non-competitive at points this year, and that’s being kind. With the aspirations that the Phillies have, they can’t have non-competitive arms in their rotation.
So, what’s the solution? It’s easy to say: “Move Falter out of the rotation”, but that spot needs to be filled by somebody else. Right now, it doesn’t look like the Phillies have a great option. If you’re thinking about trading for a starting pitcher in mid-May, you’re going to get price gouged by any GM with two brain cells. It would most likely have to be an in-house option, and those are few and far between. Andrew Painter is still rehabbing from a UCL strain, and hasn’t even started throwing off a mound yet. He might be an option later on in June or July, but certainly not right now. Cristopher Sanchez, who has made spot starts for the Phillies in the past, is equally unusable right now:
In case you’re curious, Cristopher Sánchez’s last three starts in triple A:
4 IP, 6 H, 7 R/ER, 1 HR, 5 BB, 3 K
5.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R/ER, 2 HR, 2 BB, 4 K
4 IP, 5 H, 5 R/ER, 0 HR, 7 BB, 5 K— Scott Lauber (@ScottLauber) May 16, 2023
Those numbers do not constitute a promotion to the Major League rotation. There seems to be one current solution that makes any sense whatsoever, and that would be to move Falter to the bullpen in favor of Matt Strahm. Strahm isn’t a long-term solution, but in his time in the rotation covering for Ranger Suarez, he was at least better than what Falter is putting together right now. The Phillies are still in fine shape as a team right now, and they haven’t remotely touched their ceiling yet, but certain deficiencies are unacceptable for championship contending teams. Bailey Falter has been one of those deficiencies this season, and it’s time to make some kind of change, even if there’s not a perfect solution.
More:
Ranking The Starting Phillies' Walk-Up Songs
