Philadelphia Phillies
Remember when the Phillies were included in all these articles over the winter? Well, a few months doesn’t change the fact that they remain interested in being aggressive. While the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals (two teams we’ll be talking about momentarily) have passed by them in the National League East standings, they’re still very much in the wild-card race.
When looking at Philly’s roster, the starting rotation isn’t exactly a strength — their 3.6 cumulative fWAR is among the bottom third in baseball entering Thursday’s action. Aaron Nola has turned things around, but there are a lot of question marks behind him.
The biggest question mark of all is Jake Arrieta, who is pitching through a bone spur in his throwing elbow. Opting for surgery would be of the season-ending variety, yet he hasn’t exactly been a sparkling version of consistency when on the mound (4.54 ERA in 113 innings).
If the Phillies are serious about making a run for the postseason and avoiding a second consecutive late-season slide, they’ll need to fortify their rotation. Playing in a hitter-friendly park like Citizens Bank makes Stroman’s skillset that much more attractive. Plus, his contract situation would certainly fit into Philly’s current attempted window at contention.
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