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The discourse surrounding Aaron Nola last night was dizzying. I personally did not venture into the gamethread because I’m almost certain I know what they were like, so I just wanted to put my opinion here.
Trading Nola does have some merit. John Stolnis talks alot about the Big Loser Energy this team exudes and it’s pretty clear that the source is Nola. Last night’s performance against the Pirates was a typical Nola start in September. He hasn’t been good all year and trading him now might be the shakeup this team needs to show that no one is safe if it means improving the team.
However, trading him would mean creating another hole in the rotation. Right now, we can assume that its going to be Wheeler-Nola-Suarez-Gibson-Eflin (in some order) to begin the season if Eflin is healthy. Outside of that, who else can be used as depth? Bailey Falter? Who else? The dearth of talent in the upper minors means that they’d have to go out and buy another starter on the free agent market, money that should be spent improving other holes on the roster that are more pressing (SS, 3B, CF, LF). It’s possible that Nola can be fixed, that he’s having a season reminiscent of Cole Hamels’ 2009 where he just was bad all year, then came back to be a solid top of the rotation pitcher. Personally, I’d rather just roll the dice that it’s a bad season that needs a do over and he’ll be back next season better than this year.
On to the links.
Phillies news:
- Matt Moore went on the injured list yesterday with a back issue, days before the team needs another bullpen game.
- As the Phillies continue to steam towards a showdown with Atlanta, their pitchers are running out of gas.
- Pretty neat little story about Archie Bradley donating some puppies bound to be K-9 police officers.
- The Phillies better make Zack Wheeler’s last two starts count. He’s been phenomenal this season for them.
MLB news:
- Now I really hope the Red Sox miss the playoffs.
- In the final weeks of the Triple-A season, MLB is going to experiment with a new, tackier baseball to see if some middle ground can be found.
- The Blue Jays plunked Kevin Kiermaier for doing exactly what anyone on the Blue Jays would have done in Kiermaier’s situation.
- The scouting and player development departments are still undergoing a lot of change in San Diego.