We probably shouldn’t panic. It’s a long season — 162 games, and we’re barely a third of the way through it — but this stretch has laid bare all the concerns that have bugged fans since a disappointing postseason exit in 2024. We know the Phillies are good, but good ain’t good enough in today’s National League. Not with the Dodgers in Beast Mode, Juan Soto on the Mets, and Chicago running the gauntlet with two MVP candidates.
Philadelphia’s bullpen might be the worst in MLB. That needs to change. We know the outfield depth chart is rocky. But now, what was once thought to be the Phillies’ greatest strength — a deep, bulletproof rotation — isn’t look quite so bulletproof, largely due to the sudden demise of their biggest offseason addition.
Jesús Luzardo was a Cy Young frontrunner two weeks ago. Now, he has given up 20 earned runs in a two-start span — in just 5.2 innings. It’s hard to imagine a worse collapse for a pitcher, and it suddenly begs the question: is Luzardo someone the Phillies can truly rely on in the rotation? What about the bullpen?
Jesús Luzardo’s back-to-back meltdowns raises new questions about Phillies rotation
Luzardo hasn’t been bad — he has been historically bad, achieving a feat no other MLB pitcher ever has. It doesn’t help that these two starts came against Toronto and Milwaukee, two teams not exactly known for the potency of their lineups.
Luzardo allowed 16 earned runs total over his first 11 starts this season. So he has more than doubled his runs allowed in a two-game span. One can look at that and think, “it’s two games! A small sample size!” That is fair, even true, but the Phillies also need to monitor the situation closely. Luzardo has been a pitcher of extreme highs and lows throughout his career, with his ERA fluctuating from 6.61 to 3.32 to 3.58 to 5.00 between 2021 and 2024. Consistency has never been the name of the game.
The 27-year-old is way too talented to bench right now, but the Phillies are almost overflowing with depth. The leash gets shorter with each clunker.
Why Phillies fans can’t panic about Jesús Luzardo disaster — yet
While this is certainly not an ideal development, the Phillies are one of the few MLB teams prepared the weather the storm of a top starter losing his touch. Taijuan Walker has a 3.53 ERA through 43.1 innings this season and he’s making $18 million a year. The Phillies paid him to start games and he’s always a candidate to eat innings in a pinch.
Meanwhile, Mick Abel recently made some much more positive history of his own, becoming the first pitcher in MLB history to pitch five-plus innings with zero walks and one run allowed or fewer in each of his first two big-league starts. It’s hard to imagine the 23-year-old sniffing Triple-A again at this rate.
On top of Abel’s breakthrough, Philadelphia has a top-five MLB prospect slicing and dicing his Triple-A competition in Andrew Painter, who has long been expected to debut around July or August. The 22-year-old has all the makings of a future ace and his debut can probably be moved up a few weeks if the Phillies find the need.
With Painter, Abel and Walker all on call, the Phillies can afford to bump Luzardo to a bullpen role if it gets dire. That is obviously not the preference, but it’s an option. The weather ain’t good right now, but Philadelphia is uniquely built to weather the storm.
