Rob Thomson says Phillies will ‘match up fine’ with Dodgers
There’s been plenty of hand-wringing and foul-crying over another busy Dodgers offseason, which saw Los Angeles take the best roster in the sport, fresh off a championship, and turn it into perhaps, maybe, arguably the best roster of all time. The winter in a nutshell: The Dodgers recently designated for assignment Ryan Brasier to make room for Kirby Yates in a bullpen that already featured Tanner Scott, Michael Kopech and Blake Treinen. Brasier had a 1.89 ERA across two seasons in L.A.
Consider Phillies manager Rob Thomson not among those fussing over a good team investing in its product.
“They’ve done nothing illegal,” Thomson said on Friday’s edition of The Phillies Show with Todd Zolecki, Jim Salisbury and Ruben Amaro Jr. “How they spend their money is how they spend their money. You can’t do anything about it.”
(He is correct.)
“This is Major League Baseball. They’re all big-leaguers. And we got a really good club,” Thomson continued. “They can only [start] nine guys. That’s all they can do. And they can only start one pitcher every night. And we’ve got a really good rotation. We’ve got a really good lineup. We’ve got a really good bullpen. So we’ll match up fine.”
On paper, the Phillies should indeed be able to hold their own against the Dodgers in the regular season and beyond, even setting aside the fact that five- or seven-game playoff series are at least unpredictable, at most purely random.
Fact: The Phillies’ bullpen and lineup are good, but not elite, which means they don’t hold a candle to the Dodgers in depth or top-end skill at either category. Where they do stack up well is in the rotation, especially if Shohei Ohtani’s expected pitching absence to open the season extends much beyond that.
If you’re measuring pure talent, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, Roki Sasaki and Ohtani takes the cake. But if volume is a consideration as well, it’s hard to overlook Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Cristopher Sánchez. And with Ranger Suárez, Jesús Luzardo and (eventually, per the current plan) Andrew Painter behind them, the Phillies might well have the best overall rotation in the National League. That gives them a fighting chance or better against anyone, including the Dodgers, in October should they get there.
A lot can and will play out between now and then — disappointments, injuries, breakouts, whatever. But as things currently stand, the Phillies are an inferior team that has the talent to go toe-to-toe with the defending champion that’s the odds-on favorite to win it all again in 2025.
That applies to a postseason matchup, but also a 162-game regular season, particularly because of the Phillies’ rotation depth. (Not that the Dodgers lack it.) The December acquisition of Jesús Luzardo was a boost in that area.
But Luzardo brings more than depth. He’s another arm — their sixth, counting Painter — who can plausibly pitch like a top-half-of-the-rotation starter when he’s on the mound.
“We just need to keep him healthy. That’s a big arm,” Thomson said. “Just watching him from afar, and from across the diamond, this guy’s got big stuff. And I know he’s got the makeup to pitch in Philadelphia. And that’s a big deal.
“I think he’s tough, and he’s aggressive, and he goes after people and he’s not afraid. Yeah, he was a big pickup.”
As Thomson alluded to, health is the obvious question mark for Luzardo, but the construction of the Phillies’ rotation around him allows for such a gamble. If Luzardo stays healthy and pitches like he did in 2022 or 2023, great. If Luzardo — who said this offseason he’s 100% healthy again — doesn’t, the Phillies should have the arms to handle it, barring aberrations from the reliability Wheeler and Nola have shown in recent years. It’s a gamble well worth taking.
Must-read Phillies content
- Here’s that episode of The Phillies Show, again, with Rob Thomson, Todd Zolecki, Jim Salisbury and Ruben Amaro Jr.
- Three key Phillies are entering walk years. They probably can’t extend all of them. Who would you prioritize? Vote in our fan poll, then see what the PN staff think.
- A slew of 2008 Phillies are going to appear in spring training as guest instructors. Destiny Lugardo tells you who.
- Truck day is less than 24 hours away. Here’s the plan.
- Bailey Digh weighs in on where the team is at as the offseason comes to a close — and the key intangible that’ll decide this group’s fate.
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