Phillies could use six-man rotation and promote Thompson

Jeremy Hellickson is still with the Phillies and that creates a logjam in the starting rotation if the club plans to promote prospect Jake Thompson from triple-A Lehigh Valley.

Thompson, a 22-year-old righthander, has proved that he is ready for the call to the majors by posting a 1.21 ERA in his last 11 starts. To make room for him, the Phillies eventually could go to a six-man rotation, which they employed last September. General manager Matt Klentak said the team is "open-minded to anything."

"The health of our pitchers and making sure we do the right thing developmentally for our young pitchers is definitely important. If at some point we felt a six-man rotation made sense, we would consider it," Klentak said. "If we felt like skipping a start for a certain pitcher made sense, as we've done, we'd consider that, and similarly if we feel that shutting a pitcher down before the end of the regular season makes sense, we'll consider that, too. So we're open to any of those ideas."

The Phillies aligned Thompson's rotation turn last month in triple A to be on the same day that Hellickson was starting with the Phillies. Then he would be ready if the team parted ways with Hellickson before Monday's trade deadline. The move never happened and Thompson is still at Lehigh Valley, where he allowed just 18 walks in his last 741/3 innings.

If Thompson joins the rotation, he will line up with Hellickson, Vince Velasquez, Aaron Nola, Zach Eflin, and Jerad Eickhoff. Last season's six-man rotation featured Nola, Eickhoff, Alec Asher, Adam Morgan, David Buchanan, and Aaron Harang. One year has proved to be quite the difference.

A six-man rotation would not only give the team a chance to see Thompson, it also would ease the burden on the other young starters. Velasquez is roughly 40 innings away from reaching his limit for the season set by the club. Nola has struggled in the second half of his first full major-league season. An extra day of rest would be welcome.

"I don't really get involved much in who we're going to call up and when. I leave that up to them," manager Pete Mackanin said. "That being said, I don't worry about it. But if we have a discussion about it, we'll all put our two cents worth in. I don't know if I'm crazy about the idea or not. We did that a little bit last year."

Luis Garcia joined the Phillies for the third time this season when the team designated righthanded reliever Andrew Bailey for assignment. Garcia, who spent all of last season with the Phillies, was solid in triple-A Lehigh Valley in June and July. The righthander had a 2.33 ERA in his last 18 outings and did not allow a run in his final eight innings in triple A.

"He's had some opportunities in the past and showed some flashes," Mackanin said. "We like his arm, his stuff, and now he's going to get another opportunity to show us that he should be here next year and in the future. I'm happy for that."

Former Inquirer sports columnist Bill Lyon will throw out the first pitch before Wednesday night's game against San Francisco. Lyon wrote a series of columns this summer about his battle with Alzheimer's disease. The Phillies will donate $10 to the Alzheimer's Association from each ticket sold through www.phillies.com/alzheimers. Lyon also will meet readers at a happy hour at McFadden's. That event will begin at 5 p.m. . . . Nola will start Wednesday against Johnny Cueto (13-3, 2.63 ERA).