The Phillies continued to bolster their pitching depth on Monday, signing veteran right-hander Joe Ross to a one-year deal.
The move comes just one day after the club acquired acquired Jesús Luzardo in a trade with the Marlins. While Luzardo now has the inside track to Philadelphia’s final rotation spot, Ross provides the team with yet another potential starter to bridge the gap until top pitching prospect Andrew Painter is ready.
As far as when that might be, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said on Monday evening that the organization has put together its tentative pitching plan for Painter in 2025 — one that does not include pitching in Spring Training.
Though Painter looked fully healthy while dominating in the Arizona Fall League — he went 2-0 with a 2.30 ERA over 15 2/3 innings across six starts — Dombrowski said the plan is to essentially save Painter’s innings so he’s available down the stretch.
“We think it’s a good plan,” Dombrowski said. “He’ll build up at some point through the Minors, but we’re going to save a lot of his innings until we get to July-ish for the big league level. It might be June, it might be August, but you can’t use too many of them at the Minor League level.”
The recent additions of Luzardo and Ross will help the Phillies navigate the first half of the season until Painter is ready. Luzardo will slot into the rotation behind Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suárez and Cristopher Sánchez, while Ross will provide length out of the bullpen and be available for spot starts — essentially the Spencer Turnbull role from a season ago.
The Ross and Luzardo deals both came together so quickly that there was a brief time at the end of last week when Dombrowski believed Ross would be the club’s fifth starter. Veteran right-hander Taijuan Walker will have to earn a role after his rocky 2024 season.
“We were looking for somebody else to take the fifth spot and have the flexibility to go into the rotation or into the bullpen, which would fit the Joe Ross description,” Dombrowski said. “But then when we talked about Luzardo’s scenario and he was available, it just, for us, we talked about trying to get our team better in any way we possibly can.”
The 31-year-old Ross posted a 3.77 ERA across 10 starts and 15 relief appearances for the Brewers last season. He began the year in the rotation, where he had a 4.50 ERA over nine starts before landing on the injured list due to a lower back strain.
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Upon returning more than two months later, Ross made just one start before making a seamless transition to the bullpen. He became one of Milwaukee’s most reliable arms down the stretch, putting up a 1.67 ERA over 15 relief outings. He had 27 strikeouts in 27 innings as a reliever after striking out 39 in 47 innings as a starter.
The addition of Ross comes two weeks after the club signed reliever Jordan Romano. That duo should help offset the expected departures of free agents Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estévez.
As it stands now, the Phillies’ bullpen consists of four right-handers (Ross, Romano, Orion Kerkering and José Ruiz) and three left-handers (José Alvarado, Matt Strahm and Tanner Banks). That leaves one available spot that will likely go to Walker — or someone else who emerges in Spring Training.
“I think it’s pretty well set at this time,” Dombrowski said of the bullpen.
