The Philadelphia Phillies’ starting rotation has been one of the best in baseball over the last handful of years. It still remains the team’s biggest strength, employing current and former All-Stars in Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sánchez and Ranger Suárez. That’s not even to mention their breakout stud Jesús Luzardo and MLB Pipeline top-10-prospect Andrew Painter.
When everybody’s healthy and clicking at once, it’s truly an embarrassment of riches. But the truth is that it’s inevitable over the course of a 162-game season that players, often pitchers, will get hurt. That’s why it’s important to load up on depth arms for a pitching staff, as the Phillies did last year with Spencer Turnbull.
Signing a one-year, $2 million deal for the 2024 season, Turnbull began the year in the Phillies’ rotation in place of an injured Taijuan Walker. He pitched tremendously between the rotation and bullpen, before a lat strain suffered in June sidelined him for the remainder of the year. So it was a surprise seeing Turnbull remain on the open market through the start of the 2025 season, until finally getting picked up by one of the most pitching-hungry teams in the league.
After a stellar 2024 with the Phillies, Spencer Turnbull finally finds a home with the Toronto Blue Jays
Turnbull pitched to a 2.65 ERA and 3.85 FIP in 17 games for the Phillies, seven of which were starts. After Walker was activated off the injured list, Turnbull was demoted to the bullpen in a controversial move to many Phillies fans, given his performance and Walker’s lack thereof. It was Turnbull’s 2024 performance that caught the eyes of the Toronto Blue Jays, who reached an agreement with the right-hander on a contract for 2025, per Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith.
Blue Jays have agreed to sign right-hander Spencer Turnbull to a big-league deal pending physical, source tells me and @ShiDavidi
Turnbull posted a 2.65 ERA in 54.1 innings with the Phillies last year (7 starts, 10 relief appearances)
https://twitter.com/bnicholsonsmith/status/1918645059513098342?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The Blue Jays are struggling with pitching depth and production, so it makes sense why they see Turnbull as a fit for their team. As of May 5, Toronto’s pitching ranks 19th in ERA at 4.24, and they’re dealing with an injury to one of their key starters. Future hall-of-famer Max Scherzer has been out since March 30 with a right thumb injury and the Blue Jays have struggled to get solid production from the back end of their rotation ever since.
Turnbull figures to fill in as rotation depth for the Blue Jays, while also pitching in relief as needed, similar to his role with Philadelphia. It remains unclear why the Phillies weren’t more interested in bringing Turnbull back, given his success and familarity with the team, as well as his low price tag.
They opted to sign Joe Ross in free agency to be their long reliever in the bullpen with starting pitching experience, if needed. Ross has performed well as of late, with six straight scoreless outings after a horrible start. Thankfully, the Phillies have experienced only one key injury to their rotation with Suárez, and Walker has surprisingly been pretty serviceable in six starts in Suárez’s place, which is just what the Blue Jays are trying to emulate with Turnbull.
