Blinksportsnews247On paper, the Philadelphia Phillies have a full five-man rotation entering the 2024 season. President of baseball operations, Dave Dombrowski, has stated he’s comfortable with this group. However, that has not stopped the front office from pursuing other options.
They went after Yoshinobu Yamamoto hard, offering him a very competitive contract, and have been linked with Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery throughout the winter. It seems unlikely the Phillies would offer the types of contracts those two are looking for, but manager Rob Thomson said he would like them to have some more starting options before the offseason ends.
With Philadelphia entering 2024 paying their highest payroll in team history, they will probably look for back-end starters to fill this need. One who could be an option is Michael Lorenzen. The Phillies acquired him in a trade with the Detroit Tigers and he immediately made an impact, throwing the team’s 14th no-hitter against the Washington Nationals in his first home start.
However, Lorenzen struggled after that, and ended his tenure in Philadelphia with an ERA of 5.51 across 11 appearances and seven starts. By the end, the starter was moved into the bullpen, where he appeared in only two playoffs games in 2023.
The right-hander has expressed a desire to be a starter at forward and will look for that opportunity with his next team when he becomes a free agent. At the time, it didn’t look like the Phillies would be a contender. They have a full rotation and won’t necessarily transfer Lorenzen to a full-time position. But with Thomson looking for more options in his rotation and only one starter in the draft who could make the jump, it could be that a reunion is on the way. Lorenzen was a nice fit in the clubhouse when he arrived and may be comfortable returning based on his connections as his market is not as strong as he would have hoped.
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