Categories: Phillies Nuggets with Tim Kelly

Michael Lorenzen should do well in second wave of free agency

Philadelphia Phillies’ Michael Lorenzen pitches during the first inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Michael Lorenzen may have had a disappointing finish to his brief tenure with the Philadelphia Phillies, but the veteran righty is still set up to do relatively well in free agency now that Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Nola, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and some of the bigger fish in free agency are off the board.

Lorenzen pitched a career-high 153 innings a season ago, during a campaign that he split between the Detroit Tigers and Phillies.

In 18 starts for the Tigers, Lorenzen went 5-7 with a 3.58 ERA and 3.86 FIP, actually getting picked to appear in the All-Star Game for a team without an obvious selection.

The Phillies acquired Lorenzen in a trade with the Tigers prior to the trade deadline, hoping to bolster their starting rotation. And in the very short term, that’s exactly what happened.

Lorenzen allowed two runs across eight innings in his Phillies debut on Aug. 3, helping the Phillies to get a matinee victory over the Miami Marlins. He followed that up by tossing the 14th no-hitter in Phillies history in his first home start with the team on Aug. 9 against the Washington Nationals.

“It’s unbelievable to be honest,” Lorenzen said to a swarm of reporters after completing the no-hitter. “I’ve always dreamt about being able to throw a no-hitter and having the opportunity. Skip [Rob Thomson] gave me that opportunity to go 120+ pitches and man, it was incredible.”

However, Lorenzen’s workload — both in terms of throwing 124 pitches in the no-hitter and throwing 153 innings on the season after not throwing more than 100 in a campaign since his rookie season of 2015 — caught up to him. At the conclusion of his no-hitter, Lorenzen’s ERA was down to 3.23. He would finish the regular season with a 4.18 ERA. By the end of the season, he was pitching out of the bullpen, and altogether left off the NLWCS roster. Lorenzen would return to the roster for the remainder of the postseason, but ultimately pitched in garbage time situations of just two playoff games.

Despite providing one of the greatest nights in Citizens Bank Park history, Lorenzen probably won’t be returning to the Phillies in 2024. He posted a 5.51 ERA in 47 1/3 regular season innings with the Phillies. While the Phillies may have flirted with Yamamoto, their starting rotation is probably set barring a major addition. Cristopher Sánchez is out of minor league options, and isn’t going to be moved to the bullpen to accommodate a return for Lorenzen.

Still, it can probably be acknowledged that the giant innings jump — Lorenzen pitched 55 1/3 innings more in 2023 than 2022 — and workload in the no-hitter strongly contributed to Lorenzen running out of gas down the stretch. There will likely be multiple pitching-needy teams that convince themselves that if they manage Lorenzen’s innings better, there won’t be a late-season collapse like there was for him in 2023.

Lorenzen doesn’t provide the upside of someone like Jack Flaherty — who signed a one-year/$14 million deal with the Detroit Tigers — or Lucas Giolito, but his floor might be higher. MLB Trade Rumors projected at the outset of the offseason that Lorenzen would land a two-year/$22 million deal. Based on how the offseason has played out we would opine that such a deal is probably the baseline for Lorenzen — he’ll get two years, and may very well top $22 million total.

An interesting wild card for Lorenzen would be if he’s interested in resuming his career as a two-way player. First and foremost, Lorenzen wants to be a starting pitcher, but if there’s a team that’s willing to allow him to also get at-bats — he has seven career home runs and a .710 OPS in 147 career plate appearances — he’s never closed that door.

“I would love to do it,” Lorenzen told Phillies Nation of being a two-way player shortly after being acquired. “But I would much rather be a starting pitcher than be a bullpen guy and get a few at-bats. So I think when I went to Anaheim last year, they were concerned with maybe having two guys doing it [being two-way players] at once. And then maybe both of you go down, and you lose two starting pitchers, and the injuries didn’t even have anything to do with pitching.

“So I assume that’s why they shut it down for me. And then in Detroit, I think on a one-year deal, it just didn’t make sense for them to get me any at-bats. But I made sure to bring some bats to Philly.”

Lorenzen never got an opportunity to use those bats with the Phillies, but perhaps the 31-year-old will at his next stop.