Injured List Stints for Bryce Harper, Aaron Nola Could Actually Benefit Phillies

During this short championship window the Philadelphia Phillies have found themselves in since the summer of 2022, they have remained relatively healthy.

Not losing key players for extended periods of time -- except for Rhys Hoskins' torn ACL -- that has allowed them to be one of the best teams in Major League Baseball, reaching the World Series in 2022, the NLCS in 2023 and winning their division in 2024.

However, the other shoe was bound to drop at some point, and the Phillies have now found themselves without Aaron Nola and Bryce Harper for what is expected to be a while.

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Nola, following being placed on the injured list with a sprained ankle, is now expected to be on the shelf until after the All-Star break due to a stress reaction in his right rib.

Harper's timeline to return when it comes to his wrist injury is murky, with no rough estimate being given right now since he has been dealing with this issue since last year.

While this feels ominous -- especially considering how this offense has looked without Harper -- the fact that both key players are missing time at this point in the season could actually benefit Philadelphia in the long run.

Nola has been an ironman.

Prior to this stint on the IL, the last time he missed a start for a non-COVID reason was in 2017, back when the injured list was still called the disabled list.

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The right-hander has a lot of mileage on his arm.

Coming into this year, he had 236 regular season starts, 1,619 innings pitched and 25,556 pitches thrown, numbers that only increase when factoring in his 10 playoff starts where he pitched 53 2/3 innings and threw 850 pitches.

In this day and age where pitchers pick up long-term arm injuries or are placed on the shelf almost every season, the fact that Nola has taken the ball every fifth day for this long is a testament to his longevity.

All of that is to say a break might not be the worst thing in the world for the veteran starter.

Of course, the stress reaction to his ribs is concerning, especially because it's not a given that he'll be at the top of his game when he does recover from that issue. But the rising home run totals that he's given up and the 6.16 ERA he had through nine starts this season could point to the fact that his arm just needed some time off.

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As for Harper, while he has missed time coming off his Tommy John surgery and has also had some other stints on the injured list, he is going to play when he's available.

Because of that, he likely didn't give his wrist the requisite time to recover when he should have.

The Phillies certainly appear like they need their superstar in the lineup, so not having him right now hurts when they are going through a tough stretch on offense and have seen their deficit in the division increase.

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However, Philadelphia isn't playing for regular season success.

They need Harper to be Harper when it matters most; in October.

If these stints on the injured list allow both Nola and Harper to get their bodies healthy, then that is going to help the Phillies out more in the long run than if they were still trying to fight through their ailments.

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