CLEARWATER, Fla. — The Phillies can get through the first five games of the regular season with just four starting pitchers. Cole Hamels will start the opener against Boston a week from Monday and come back and pitch five days later against Washington at Citizens Bank Park.
In between, the Phillies will send Aaron Harang, Jerome Williams and David Buchanan to the mound.
Who will be the fifth starter when the Phillies need one on April 12 in the sixth game of the season?
Manager Ryne Sandberg on Wednesday indicated that it’s down to three candidates: Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez, Kevin Slowey and Sean O’Sullivan.
It’s difficult to see Gonzalez being the guy.
The 28-year-old right-hander did nothing to help his chances with his performance on Wednesday. He was torched for eight hits, including back-to-back home runs, and four runs in four innings of work in a 7-1 loss to the Houston Astros.
Gonzalez threw his full repertoire of pitches.
MLB
“They hit them all,” he said.
Carlos Correa, the Astros' 20-year-old top prospect, smacked a flat, 2-2 curveball for a long homer to left in the fourth inning. Correa was the top pick in the 2012 draft. He is projected to open the season at Double A.
Gonzalez's spring ERA is a plump 7.53. He has allowed 25 hits, including five home runs, in 14 1/3 innings.
Location continues to be a problem for Gonzalez, who is in the second year of a three-year, $12 million contract. He throws too many elevated pitches over the heart of the plate.
“When he misses over the plate, he gets hit,” Sandberg said.
Slowey was used as a starter early in camp, but his last four outings have come in relief, including Wednesday's when he gave up three hits and three runs (two earned). It’s possible the Phillies could use Slowey as a long reliever the first week of the season and plug him into the fifth spot on April 12. It’s also possible that he goes to Triple A and Jeanmar Gomez makes the team as the long man.
There’s still a lot of sorting out to do as the Phils enter their final week in Florida.
O’Sullivan remains a quiet possibility. Interestingly, he has been pitching on the same day as Gonzalez in minor-league camp. (He got an inning of work in a minor-league intrasquad game Wednesday.) O’Sullivan made two starts for the Phillies last season. It’s possible he could get the call for the April 12 start.
The Phillies might need to plug the fifth spot only twice before Chad Billingsley is ready to go. He has been pitching in minor-league games as he works his way back from two elbow surgeries.
Sandberg said Billingsley could be ready two or three weeks into the season.
“We need to hold the fort until then,” Sandberg said.
Gonzalez is holding out hope he’ll be the guy to hold the fort, even though his spring performances haven’t been good.
“The decision is out of my hands,” he said. “I’m here to do my best. Whatever decision management makes, I can live with.”
Health check
Domonic Brown, who hasn’t played since Thursday because of tendinitis in his left Achilles tendon, was able to hit in the batting cage on Wednesday. He will test his leg with some running on Thursday. It’s unclear whether Brown will need to start the season on the disabled list. He hopes to avoid that.
In the minors
Jeff Francoeur, Grady Sizemore and Cesar Hernandez all played in minor-league games to get extra at-bats.
Up next
Hamels pitches in Dunedin against the Blue Jays on Thursday.