PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The Spencer Turnbull report remains in the Philadelphia Phillies The rotation is on hold for now.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson denied reports that Turnbull will remain in the rotation after his start Tuesday, insisting he has not made a decision on the rotation after this weekend’s all-out series with the San Francisco Giants.
“Yeah, I’m not sure who made that report,” Thomson said Friday before the series opener with the Giants at Citizens Bank Park. “They are not accurate.”
Turnbull has been one of the best starters in baseball since the start of the season in the rotation in place of Taijuan Walker, posting a 1.67 ERA with 36 strikeouts and 10 walks in six starts. He is fifth in the National League in ERA, third in WHIP (0.84) and second in batting average against (.148).
So why the decision to remove Turnbull from the rotation? The Phillies are paying Walker $18 million per season as a starter and Walker is back from the injured list after missing most of the first month of the year due to soreness in his right shoulder. Turnbull has also thrown 63.1 innings over the past three seasons and has already thrown 32.1 innings this season (1.1 more innings than he threw in 2023).
Walker has made starts since returning, but the Phillies went with a six-man rotation this week with Turnbull to break up the club’s successive left-handers. Ranger Suarez and Cristopher Sanchez and to give the starters an extra day of rest.
The decision on whether Turnbull or Walker moves to the bullpen will come Saturday. Or something completely different.
“It makes for a very, very difficult decision,” Thomson said. “As tough as the decision was that I had to make actually… We try to put guys in the right place that can be successful and the same goes here. You never know how someone is going to react, whether it’s a starter or in the bullpen .”
“So we’ll just have to wait and see how it goes,” he said.
Whatever the Phillies decide, the pitcher they keep in the rotation won’t be in trouble anytime soon. Turnbull or Walker will be given plenty of opportunity to stick around.
“We’ll just have to wait and play it out,” Thomson said. “Find out what I’m looking at.”
The decision on Turnbull and Walker is coming, but Turnbull made this decision much more difficult than what the decision would have been when spring training started. Based on his performance, Turnbull will be an asset to the pitching staff regardless of where the Phillies have him in the future.
