With about nine days left until opening day, what is The Phillies biggest weak spot?
~Kevin
Believe it or not, Opening Day is just next week when the Phillies take on the Texas Rangers on Thursday. The Phillies made a couple more moves yesterday, optioning reliever Nolan Hoffman and outfielder Pedro Leon to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The roster is coming together.
I usually put the roster into four categories: offense, bench, starting pitching, relief pitching.
Really strong: the relief corps and the starting staff. I say this even with Zack Wheeler beginning the season on the injured list.  Taijuan Walker, who pitched well in the World Baseball Classic, will begin in a starting role, and Andrew Painter has pitched well in Grapefruit League play, as well. We will get to Aaron Nola in a minute.
The bullpen, though the last few spots are not necessarily a slam dunk, is going to be a strength.  The Phillies have five strong relievers: Jhoan Duran, Jose Alvarado, Brad Keller, Tanner Banks, and Orion Kerkering, who should pitch today in a minor league game.
The bench should be decent enough. Edmundo Sosa is a bench piece many teams would love to have. He probably will play every game against a tough lefty and likely make some pinch hitting appearances late in games when he’s not hitting, too.
Otto Kemp is looking good as a platoon piece and I think Dylan Moore will be a play-anywhere last player on the bench. Consider the bench a strength.
The offense should be good enough to win a lot of games. But we keep coming back to the lack of a true number four hitting during prime time. I think that will be on their mind at the trade deadline.
It could be that Adolis Garcia shows up and fills that role. But he might not. So keep an eye on this position in the lineup this season. That’s the biggest weakness for me right now.
Is the Aaron Nola we saw in the World Baseball Classic a sign of what is to come in 2026?
~Jason
Phillies starter Aaron Nola appeared in two games for Team Italy in the 2026 World Baseball classic. Nola allowed just one earned run over nine innings. He scattered eight hits, with the one run taking place on a solo home run in the fourth inning of last night’s game against Venezuela.
Those numbers are pretty good.
I think that they are a good sign. Typically, Nola would have been stretching out to four and five innings during those two starts in Phillies game. In the WBC, he arguably faced better competition than if he stayed back in Clearwater.
But before he left Clearwater, Nola had increased velocity compared to usual and was said to have arrived in camp in great shape.
So I am going to take the optimistic side here. Nola may not be what he was in his premier season of 2018, but I expect him to be above average in 2026. 2025 was the first time of his career he had to deal with an injury.
Nola seems to have taken it seriously and seems to have a bit of his old self back.
Do you think that the World Baseball Classic is good for baseball or negative?
~Drew
While I suppose I once held some skepticism when this tournament started, I have definitely come to not just appreciate it, but really enjoy it.  The story of the World Baseball Classic goes back to 2004, when the MLB Players Association petitioned MLB for an international tournament after the Summer Olympic games ended baseball as a competitive sport.
The tournament first took place in 2006, with another in 2009, followed by 2013 and 2017 before settling on every third year. The 2020 contest did not happen due to COVID-19.
I think the momentum was regained after the pandemic and for many baseball fans and for me personally, this tournament is taken hold. According to Yahoo Sports, viewership in the World Baseball Classic is up 183% from 2023.
I would argue that this moment should be a moment in which baseball considers if there is a more prominent way to discuss this.
Last week on the Run it Back Podcast (shameless plug), I mentioned I wish this was a mid-season event where pitchers are in midseason form.  The Athletic’s Jayson Stark proposed it as part of the All-Star break and part of those activities.
That would give the tournament even more eyes from the baseball (and around the) world.
The only negative I ever hear is the potential for injury.  Edwin Diaz in 2023 is one of the prominent injuries in WBC play. Diaz suffered a torn patellar tendon in his right knee and missed the entire 2023 season for the New York Mets.
Seiya Suzuki suffered an injury on Sunday and is getting checked out.
But injuries happen. They happen in Spring Training. They happen during the regular season. They happen during the postseason.
Should baseball operate out of fear? I am not a fan of that.
I think with the proper physical training and preparation, the risk is low.
So let’s see what the ratings are tonight as Team USA faces Venezuela for the championship. That might tell us that this is bigger than we might have originally thought and set the course for the future.