PHILADELPHIA – The Phillies added additional depth to one of many strongest rotations in baseball on Sunday, buying left-handed starter Jesús Luzardo and Minor League catcher/outfielder Paul McIntosh from the Marlins in alternate for 2 prospects.
Shortstop Starlyn Caba (Phillies’ No. 4 prospect) and outfielder Emaarion Boyd (Phillies’ No. 23 prospect) are heading to Miami, and Philadelphia designated left-handed pitcher Tyler Gilbert for task to clear a spot for Luzardo on the 40-man roster.
TRADE DETAILSPhillies get: LHP Jesús Luzardo, Minor League C/OF Paul McIntoshMarlins get: SS Starlyn Caba (PHI No. 4 prospect), OF Emaarion Boyd (PHI No. 23)
Luzardo, who’s arbitration-eligible and below group management by means of 2026, joins a rotation that already options Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suárez and Cristopher Sánchez. The Phillies have additionally mentioned they anticipate prime pitching prospect Andrew Painter to be a part of the rotation sooner or later in 2025.
Till Painter is prepared, that leaves Luzardo and Taijuan Walker to fill that closing rotation spot. Walker is getting into the third season of his four-year, $72 million deal, however he’s coming off a disastrous 2024 marketing campaign by which he had a 7.10 ERA and struggled to ever acquire a really feel for his splitter. He was moved to the bullpen down the stretch, and that’s seemingly the place he’ll start the season following the addition of Luzardo.
The 27-year-old Luzardo had his personal struggles final season, recording a 5.00 ERA over 12 begins in 2024 earlier than his season got here to an finish as a consequence of a lumbar stress response. He missed time with left elbow tightness as effectively. A former prime prospect, Luzardo has battled accidents all through his profession, tossing simply 512 innings in elements of six seasons for the A’s and Marlins.
Nonetheless, the southpaw confirmed his upside in 2022-23, posting a 3.48 ERA (129 ERA+) with a ten.6 Ok/9 in 50 begins over these two seasons, which additionally included a begin in opposition to the Phillies in Recreation 1 of the 2023 NL Wild Card Sequence. Luzardo’s finest season got here in 2023, when he made 32 begins and notched a 3.58 ERA with 208 strikeouts over 178 2/3 innings for Miami.
That’s the model of Luzardo the Phillies are hoping to get as they proceed to place extra emphasis on run prevention.
The lone addition to the lineup thus far within the offseason is outfielder Max Kepler, who signed a one-year deal on Friday. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski mentioned following that deal that he doesn’t anticipate the membership to make every other important strikes on the offensive facet, however he was nonetheless hoping the Phils might bolster their pitching depth – they usually did precisely that simply two days later.
Philadelphia is aware of its rotation might be its largest power.
It’s led by Wheeler, who has completed because the NL Cy Younger runner-up in two of the previous 4 seasons. Together with being among the best pitchers within the Majors, he’s additionally established himself as probably the most dominant postseason pitchers of all time.
Nola, in the meantime, has been probably the most sturdy arms within the Majors for the previous seven seasons, main all pitchers in begins and innings since 2018, whereas rating second in strikeouts (1,406) and fourth in wins (80). Toss in Suárez and Sánchez, who have been every first-time All-Stars final season, and the Phillies already had arguably the highest one by means of 4 of any rotation in baseball.
The addition of Luzardo not solely has the potential to enhance that group even additional, however it additionally offers flexibility with Suárez getting into the ultimate 12 months of his contract. He’ll seemingly be in line for a large deal subsequent offseason, and whereas that would make him a possible commerce candidate, the Phils have mentioned they’d prefer to preserve him within the group.
