On Sunday, the Phillies signed pitcher Spencer Turnbull to a 1 year, $2M contract for the 2024 season. Turnbull does still have 1 minor league option remaining, so there is a possibility he starts the year in Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
Turnbull has spent the entirety of his 6-year career in Detroit with the Tigers where he has started all but one game he has appeared in besides one back in his rookie year in 2018. He had Tommy John surgery in 2022 and missed that entire season, then only pitched in 7 games in 2023 where he pitched to a 7.26 ERA in 31 innings pitched. He dealt with more injuries in 2023 and split time between the Tigers Triple-A and Single-A teams where he posted a 6.23 ERA. Turnbull does have a no-hitter to his name back in May 2021 against the Seattle Mariners.
The Phillies pitchers and catchers are due to report on Wednesday, February 14th, and the starting rotation is expected to remain the same as last year with Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suarez, Taijuan Walker and Cristopher Sanchez as the projected 5 starters. The Phillies have also added other depth pieces like Max Castillo and Kolby Allard, and they kept Dylan Covey and Nick Nelson in the system as well. They also have young pitchers in the minors that they could look to if they need some innings like Mick Abel and Griff McGarry.
Turnbull was pretty solid in 2019, where he made 30 starts with a 4.61 ERA in 148.1 innings pitched. It will be interesting to see if Turnbull can crack the bullpen as a possible long-reliever or possibly eat innings if a starter gets into trouble early in games. He was drafted by the Tigers in the 2nd round of the MLB draft back in 2014 and the man who drafted him happens to be Dave Dombrowski, who is now the President of Baseball Operations for the Phillies.
Many fans have been calling for the Phillies to sign some pitchers for rotation depth, as there looms some uncertainty for the 5th spot in the rotation. Cristopher Sanchez was more than serviceable in that spot last season, posting a 3.44 ERA in 18 starts and nearly 100 innings pitched. Sanchez had 6 K/BB ratio last season, which would have placed him 3rd in the MLB had he pitched enough to qualify. There really shouldn’t be any debate about leaving the starting rotation as it is.
