Nola has not pitched since May 14th and with his newest injury (right rib stress fracture) it looks like he may not return to the Phillies pitching staff until August. Abel took Nola’s spot in the rotation and has certainly outperformed expectations, which has given the Phillies a problem for when Nola returns.

Since the Phillies are expecting Andrew Painter to join the rotation after the All-Star break, plus Mick Abel already being in the rotation would mean they have a 6 man rotation, then once Nola is no longer injured it would be a 7 man rotation, which is unheard of and extremely uncommon.

And that leads to the question of what you do with the surplus of starting pitchers the Phillies have. Andrew Painter almost certainly won’t go to the bullpen if called up because it could kick him out of his routine which could be very risky for a pitcher coming off of Tommy John Surgery.

It would also be very difficult to send Abel down after the way he has handled taking over Nola’s spot in the rotation.

So does that mean Nola goes to the bullpen, does it mean Suarez goes to the bullpen, we will see come August.