The Phillies opened the second half with a reminder that the rotation still has a hole in it.
Thursday’s 4-1 loss to the Mets at Citizens Bank Park didn’t just snap the post-All-Star break momentum before it could even start. It put Aaron Nola back in the spotlight, and not for the right reasons. Nola allowed the first three runs of the game and got no help from the offense, leaving Philadelphia with a flat start to a crucial stretch.
Nola, once an All-Star in 2018, has been fighting his own season for a while now. After Thursday, he sits at 3-7 with a 5.68 earned run average, and he has given up a National League-high 23 home runs this year. The numbers tell the story: hitters are finding too much success against him, and the Phillies can’t keep pretending that’s not a problem.
A lot of the conversation around this club has centered on the outfield and the need for a right-handed bat. That’s fair. But the loss to New York underscored another issue that can’t be ignored - Philadelphia needs another dependable starter behind Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sanchez.
The trade deadline is Aug. 3, so there’s still time to work the phones and see what’s possible. The harder part is figuring out whether the Phillies have enough to land the kind of pitcher they need. Their farm system hasn’t produced enough appealing young talent, and that could make a meaningful deal difficult.
Tarik Skubal, at least in the way people around the league are talking, feels out of reach for Philadelphia. There’s even chatter that he could wind up with the two-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, a thought that would not sit well with plenty of fans elsewhere.
Joe Ryan is another name that has surfaced. The Minnesota Twins right-hander has made the All-Star Game in each of the last two seasons and owns a 2.85 ERA this year. He would make sense on paper, but his price tag could be just as steep as Skubal’s, and that may put him outside what the Phillies are prepared to pay.
The urgency is obvious. The Dodgers still own the best record in MLB despite injuries to players such as Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Edwin Diaz. The Milwaukee Brewers remain a tough out in the National League, and Ronald Acuña Jr. is set to return to the Braves soon.
For a Phillies team trying to stay in the race, standing still is not really an option. Wheeler, Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber are all getting older, and the window to push now is right in front of them.
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Now there is at least a chance to take a different swing and make the earlier mistake sting a little less. A proposed deal with Milwaukee would send the Mets after a veteran outfielder while asking them to part with two prospects who have real traction of their own, including one whose Dominican Summer League numbers have drawn attention and another who has turned into a dynamic speed-and-contact presence. If New York is looking for a cleaner return on this kind of move, this is the sort of trade that could help balance the ledger. [Read more 🡒]
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He was perfect at the plate, driving in runs and coming through again when the game stretched into extra innings, then delivered the decisive blow with a leadoff homer in the 10th. At third base, though, the same night unraveled in a way that still feels hard to process, with three errors attached to an outing that somehow ended as a win and left Mets fans with a box score they still cant quite explain. [Read more 🡒]
A.J. Minter Sends Emotional Message Mets Fans Wont Want To Ignore
A.J. Minter has spent enough time around the Mets bullpen to know how quickly a season can turn, and he made it clear he feels the weight of not being able to help more because of injury. Even with the team struggling, the veteran reliever pointed to the tight bond in the bullpen as one of the few steady things in a difficult year, a reminder that the clubhouse has not fractured even as the results have gone sideways.
Minter also addressed the reality that his name could surface in trade talk before the deadline, which only adds another layer to a season already defined by uncertainty. Rather than shy away from it, he said he wants to keep pitching well so the Mets can get something useful back if a move does come, a pragmatic mindset from a player who knows his own future may be tied to how he finishes the stretch. [Read more 🡒]