Phillies Must Begin to Worry About Nola's Poor Performance as Trade Deadline Looms

The Philadelphia Phillies are playing some very good baseball of late, but the team does have a concern in an area of strength.

While the National League is shaping up to be every bit as difficult as predicted coming into the season, the Phillies are keeping pace in the NL East with the New York Mets for first place.

There is a lot to like once again about this Philadelphia team, who hope to be contenders.

Coming into the campaign, the Phillies were projected to have one of the best starting rotations in baseball. With multiple All-Star pitchers, Philadelphia having the best starting five was a reality.

So far, the unit is proving to be extremely good. Even though All-Star Ranger Suarez missed the entire first month of the season, the Phillies seemingly didn’t miss a beat.

Taijuan Walker was able to move back into the rotation and has performed very well this year. Even though he was ousted from the rotation when they traded for Jesus Luzardo, Walker stayed ready for the opportunity and has made the most of it.

Excluding Suarez, who just came off the injured list, four starters for Philadelphia have ERAs under 3.00.

However, the one who doesn’t is the talented right-hander Aaron Nola, who is struggling quite a bit this year.

So far in nine starts, he has totaled a 1-7 record and 6.16 ERA.

Will Aaron Nola Turn It Around?

These numbers so far this campaign are nowhere near what he has usually done in his career, but it is a major concern.

While it appeared like he was turning a corner after a great start against the Chicago Cubs to end the month of April, followed by another good outing against the Arizona Diamondbacks, he has since regressed.

In his last two starts, he has allowed a combined 13 earned runs in 8.2 innings of work.

With just three quality starts of nine starts overall this season, the numbers don’t look great for him.

Fortunately, despite him performing poorly, the Phillies are still one of the best teams in the league with one of the best rotations.

However, with Walker moving back to the bullpen for the time being and top prospect Andrew Painter likely getting called up at some point, Nola is going to have to be better.

The veteran certainly deserves some time to figure things out, and the team is heavily invested in him to bounce back.

However, for a team that also wants to win now with a closing title window, tough decisions might have to be made if it doesn’t improve. Including potential decisions at this year's MLB trade deadline.