With much of the Phillies contingent down in Florida for the Winter Meetings, there was still some activity around Citizens Bank Park. Three times a week, Zack Wheeler comes in to work with head trainer Paul Buchheit on his recovery from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery.

Phillies President of Baseball Operations, Dave Dombrowski told reporters in Orlando that Wheeler is spending the offseason in Philadelphia and that the Phillies ace started throwing last week and continues the regimen with Buchheit. The two are also working on exercises to strengthen his shoulder and other muscles that Wheeler has been unable to use since since being shut down in August because of the injury.

The initial prognosis was six to eight months from surgery until Wheeler would be ready to return to competition. While Dombrowski wasn’t willing to make any predictions on when Wheeler would return, he stressed that the Phillies need to be patient.

“We will not push him to be ready other than what the doctors tell us to do,” said Dombrowski.

Wheeler is one of the question marks in the Phillies rotation. Aaron Nola and Andrew Painter are other question marks. Nola is coming off the worst season of his career which has raised doubts as to what type of season the Phillies can expect from him in 2026. Painter is being penciled into the rotation, but he too had a rough 2025 season. The Phillies hope that he will rediscover the control that caused issues for him last season. Painter had Tommy John surgery in July of 2023 and pitchers who undergo the procedure have usually found that control is the last part of their game to return to where it was prior to the surgery. Right now, Painter and Taijuan Walker – another guy with question marks surrounding him – would be competing for the fifth spot in the rotation. Of course, the Phillies may need someone to take Wheeler’s spot temporarily if he is not available to start the season on time.

Cristopher Sanchez, who is coming off a season that saw him be the runner-up for the Cy Young Award in the National League, has established himself as a top of the rotation starter. Jesus Luzardo enters his second season with the Phillies, which is also the final season of his contract.

In a worst case scenario, the Phillies could consider Zach McCambley for a temporary spot in the rotation. The Phillies acquired McCambley in the Rule 5 Draft out of the Miami Marlins organization. They also made a minor league trade with Tampa for a young starter, Yoniel Curet, who has also had some injury issues in the past couple of seasons.

THE READ-IN: Rule 5 Draft Scouting Report: Zach McCambley

Besides Painter the Phillies do not have any minor league pitchers who could be considered for even a temporary spot in the rotation, if needed.

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