When the Phillies entered spring training this year, it seemed obvious to most that the team’s weakness was in the starting rotation.
You had Aaron Nola, who was coming off a solid 2017 season, as the top arm of the rotation, a top-20 pitcher in baseball, but after that, you had question marks up and down the rotation, with Vince Velasquez, Nick Pivetta, Zach Eflin, and Ben Lively expected to make up the rest of the starting-five.
Many, myself included, called all off-season for the Phils to add another starter.