Phillies (finally) adapt a six-man rotation, while the NFL refused to be Trump-ed on slogan use

The Phillies will employ a six-man rotation for at least one turn through the rotation. It’s about time. And it is a strategy they should continue to use.

In April, as the Phillies anticipated the return of Ranger Suarez from his latest injury, I advocated for the team to adapt a six-man rotation when Suarez returned. At the time, ace Zack Wheeler, then 34, had pitched the second-most innings of anyone since 2020. Aaron Nola, then 31, had pitched the most.

» READ MORE: Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola won’t like it, but the Phillies should use a six-man rotation when Ranger Suárez returns

Since then, Nola landed on the IL for three months.

Wheeler, who had his last start pushed back two days due to shoulder soreness, averaged 2 mph slower when he pitched Sunday. His ERA through 18 starts was 2.17; it is 4.71 in his last five outings.

Suarez’s ERA in his first 13 starts was 2.15. It’s 6.59 in his five starts since.

All six of Jesus Luzardo’s starts in which he allowed four or more earned runs (all six of which were Phillies losses) have come since May 31, three of them since July 4. Luzardo arrived in Philadelphia this season with a worrisome injury history, including back and elbow injuries that limited him to just 12 games in 2024.

Would a six-man rotation alter any of these developments? Perhaps.

» READ MORE: Scott Lauber: The Phillies ask their starting pitchers to do a lot. Can it last through the playoffs?

Would a six-man rotation have even been possible for the season’s first 4 1/2 months? Almost.

Suarez missed April, so the Phillies used Taijuan Walker as their fifth starter. Walker, a failed starter the past two seasons, had been slated as a reliever exiting spring training. He’s been very good as a starter this season, with a 3.31 ERA in 14 starts, which, if his season ended today, would be better than any season in his career in which he’s started at least 12 games.

Suarez’s return pushed Walker into the bullpen. However, when Nola hit the IL in mid-May, the Phillies promoted prospect Mick Abel from the minors for one start and left Walker in the bullpen. But then Abel pitched well enough in the minors to warrant more major-league time, and the Phillies also wanted to showcase him as a trade chip, so he got five more big-league appearances and put Walker back in the bullpen. When Abel began to struggle they sent him back to the minors.

Essentially, the Phillies could have had Walker as their sixth starter during Abel’s second stint. Who knows: Maybe Abel’s second stint would have gone better with a little extra rest.

Abel was traded at the deadline two weeks ago. Assuming the Phillies would have chosen to not promote a triple-A starter — apparently, top prospect Andrew Painter is still not ready for prime time — that would have meant two weeks with a five-man rotation.

All of which means the Phillies could have had a six-man rotation for three of the 4 1/2 months of this season, and that, assuming everyone stayed healthy through September, they would have had a six-man rotation for 4 1/2 months of the six-month season. That would have been a godsend for Wheeler, who also has pitched the second-most postseason innings of any pitcher in baseball.

Hopefully, the Phillies will use the six-man rotation for the rest of the season, though it might cost them bullpen flexibility. The return of Nola on Sunday likely means a demotion for reliever Max Lazar. They get suspended closer Jose Alvarado back on Tuesday, which could mean the departure of disappointing free agents Jordan Romano or Joe Ross, or perhaps a sudden, mysterious injury to one of them.

» READ MORE: Most Phillies fans want to forget the 1964 season. This Facebook group is dedicated to remembering it.

Wheeler, a creature of every-fifth-day habit, probably won’t like it. Neither will Suarez, who, in a massively important contract year, and with injury and conditioning issues in his past, is desperate to be cast as fresh and durable.

Which is ironic, since a six-man rotation logically would make Suarez considerably fresher and more durable.

There was concern among progressives in the NFL universe (not as much of an oxymoronic phrase as it used to be) when, according to a highly placed NFL source, the pressure from DEI opponent, freshly elected president, and Super Bowl LIX attendee Donald Trump led to the erasure of the “End Racism” message in the end zone at the big game. The concern was that Trump’s rampage against racial equality also would completely erase that sort of on-field and on-equipment messaging at future NFL events.

It was replaced with “Choose Love” for that game. The standard “It Takes All Of Us” message was in the other end zone.

On Thursday, NFL social responsibility (?) vice-president Anna Isaacson told the Associated Press that the slogans will return and that “End Racism” will indeed be among the slogans available for stenciling, along with “Stop Hate,” “Choose Love” and “Inspire Change.” Players also can wear the slogans on the lower portion of the back of their helmets.

The NFL adopted the messaging in 2020 in response to national social unrest and upheaval in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, which was caught on video, and in the wake of blackballed former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s protests against police violence on Black men.

Kaepernick’s kneeling protests happened in 2016, when Trump was first elected president. About a year later, Trump, while campaigning for a Republican senatorial candidate from Alabama, lobbied for NFL owners to tell all such protesters they would be banned from the NFL: “ ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!’ ”

Kaepernick, who was 29 in 2016, has not played in an NFL game since Trump’s outburst, which was a clear message to NFL owners. Kaepernick and former 49ers teammate Eric Reid, who took a knee throughout the 2018 season, sued the NFL for collusion and won a settlement in 2019, which was Reid’s last season in the NFL. He was 28 that year, and ranked second on the Panthers with 130 tackles.

Notably, the Eagles used “End Racism” in the NFC championship game in January. Just as notably, the reigning Super Bowl champs — who did not boycott their White House invitation from Trump this time after threatening to do so after their win seven years ago — will use “Choose Love” for their season opener Sept. 4 against the Cowboys. Also notably, the Cowboys’ owner, Jerry Jones, is a longtime Trump supporter and toady.