It’s Going to be Hard to Take Spencer Turnbull Out of the Rotation – Philadelphia Sports Nation

The Phillies starting rotation over the last week against the Colorado Rockies and the Chicago White Sox allowed just three earned runs.

While the Rockies and White Sox have a case to be the two worst teams in the majors, three earned runs by the starters in 6 games is pretty incredible. 

A big highlight of the past week was Spencer Turnbull taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning on Friday night against Chicago. Turnbull, who threw a no-hitter in 2021, looked absolutely dominant in what could be his final start for the foreseeable future. 

With Taijuan Walker set to make his return, it seems that Turnbull is going to be the odd man out. Walker opened the season on the Injured List with a right shoulder injury, so he needed quite the ramp up period before rejoining the major league club. Walker has worked his way up to 103 pitches in his final rehab start for Lehigh Valley on Sunday, allowing 3 earned runs in 6.1 innings pitched against the Yankees AAA affiliate. 

Turnbull was a $2 million investment by the Phillies this offseason with ties to Dave Dombrowski’s time in Detroit where he came up. In four starts, the 31 year old righty has pitched to a 1.23 ERA across 22 innings and just a .773 WHIP. 

The conversation of whether or not the Phillies should remove Turnbull for Walker has been a hotly contested debate in Philadelphia over the last week, and Turnbull certainly did not make it any easier in his last start. 

Right now, Turnbull gives the Phillies the best chance to win every fifth day his spot in the rotation takes the mound. While the majority of Phillies fans believe Turnbull should not lose his spot, the truth of the matter is that he probably will. Walker has a hefty price tag following him around and the Phillies are not going to let him sit in the bullpen or worse yet in AAA.

The Phillies however owe it to themselves and the fan base to do the right thing and make it Turnbull’s spot to lose. Turnbull has done everything the team has asked him to do and has done it very well and just because Walker has a big contract should not guarantee his spot back in the rotation. 

The good news is, the Phillies front office has made it clear that winning is the number one priority. They left Walker off the playoff roster just last year and the team cut ties with Didi Gregorius who was owed a bit of money when Bryston Stott was ready to take over at shortstop. 

Whatever the front office decides to do should be done to help the Phillies win baseball games, not justify a contract that probably shouldn’t have been done. One thing is certain though, the Phillies have a lot of thinking to do before Turnbull’s next start scheduled for Wednesday night in Cincinnati.

Photo via AP Photo – Matt Slocum