Zack Wheeler’s Next Outing Will Determine Phillies Deadline Plans

“Just one of those games,” said Wheeler, via Matt Gelb of The Athletic (subscription required). “One of these days. It just wasn’t coming out. I don’t know. No excuse, just a bad game.”

Miami scored five runs off the veteran in three innings, constantly hitting him hard. The lack of stuff and command had interim manager Don Mattingly, pitching coach Caleb Cotham and head athletic trainer Paul Buchheit discussing what the course of action should be with their star.

If there were signs of him being injured, they wouldn’t have allowed him to keep pitching. Clearly, something was off, but nothing felt physically wrong.

“He said he felt physically fine,” Mattingly said. “Just the ball wasn’t coming out.”

The interim manager noted that Wheeler, who flew out ahead of the team on Sunday evening, felt some nausea after the outing. Still, he wasn’t going to use that as an excuse for his inability to execute on the mound during the game.

“I mean, that didn’t really affect me out there,” Wheeler said. “The ball just wasn’t coming out like I wanted it to. My body wasn’t moving like I wanted it to. I was trying to get through it. Some games I can. Just today, I couldn’t.”

Everyone has bad days on the field, but this one from their star pitcher could not have come at a worse time. The team has now lost seven out of 10 games to start the second half and is now 5.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League East race.

Everyone is hopeful this was a one-off issue for Wheeler, just a tough day at the office. They will know for sure when he takes the mound for his next start, which is scheduled for Aug. 2 against the Baltimore Orioles.

That outing could play a part in how Dave Dombrowski handles the trade deadline. If there is something wrong with Wheeler physically and his velocity remains diminished, it is hard to sell this team as one that can make noise in October.

A Wheeler injury would be a massive blow. There are too many other veterans on this squad to do a complete 180-degree turn and start selling off some parts, but this is a roster with a lot of flaws that cannot handle losing someone of Wheeler’s caliber with the starting rotation already featuring two troublesome spots.

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