Notes on Phillies' Week Ahead: Marsh, Nola, Luzardo, Painter and More

Monday was a rare spring training off-day for the Phillies, one of only two between their Grapefruit League opener on Feb. 21 and their final game in Florida on March 23.

The Phils' week ahead includes a game 100 miles south of Clearwater on Tuesday against the Rays in Port Charlotte, home games Wednesday and Thursday against Team Canada of the World Baseball Classic and then the Red Sox, a trip Friday to Bradenton to face the Pirates, a home game Saturday vs. the Blue Jays and then a trip across the state to Fort Myers for games with the Twins and Red Sox.

Marsh to return Tuesday?

Tuesday could be the day Brandon Marsh returns to the lineup. The Phillies' starting leftfielder played in their second spring game, then injured his hand during sliding practice early last week.

"There's nothing wrong with it, there's just some inflammation, some soreness," manager Rob Thomson said mid-week. "Whenever it's hands and feet, I worry about the swing and guys getting into bad habits. He probably won't play until after the day off, I would think. We're looking at Tuesday to get him back in the lineup even though he's got to go down to Port Charlotte."

Marsh was a popular guy pregame before that lone spring appearance.

POV: you're Brandon Marsh before a Spring Training game pic.twitter.com/UMoB3fcnwp
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) March 2, 2026

Alan Rangel, who will be part of the Triple A rotation, is expected to start Tuesday opposite Rays left-hander Shane McClanahan.

Nola takes on Canada Wednesday

Aaron Nola will try to thwart an entire nation when he pitches for the Phillies against Team Canada in a WBC warm-up game.

Notable position players on Team Canada include Josh and Bo Naylor, Tyler O'Neill, Denzel Clarke, Jared Young, Edouard Julien and Matt Davidson.

The pitching staff includes Jameson Taillon, Cal Quantrill, Logan Allen, Mike Soroka, James Paxton, Rob Zastryzny, former Phillies farmhand Noah Skirrow and former Phillie Phillippe Aumont, who hasn't pitched in the majors in 11 years.

Nola's start Wednesday will be his last in Phils camp before he leaves to pitch for Team Italy. His first WBC start comes against Mexico on March 11. Taijuan Walker and Rangel are pitching for Mexico.

Luzardo debuts Thursday

Jesus Luzardo will make his first Grapefruit League start of the year on Thursday against the Red Sox. He threw a simulated game Saturday in Clearwater when Cristopher Sanchez started against the Blue Jays in Dunedin. Sanchez left camp that night to join the Dominican Republic's stacked squad as its Game 1 starter.

"Just to match 'em up because now Sanchy's going to be gone," Thomson said. "So he just sort of takes Sanchy's spot."

This is a huge year for Luzardo, who decided not to join Team Venezuela as the WBC begins because he's entering a contract year that could end with a $200 million payday.

Luzardo went 15-7 with a 3.92 ERA and 1.22 WHIP in his first season as a Phillie, striking out a career-high 216 in a career-high 183⅔ innings. It was the second time he's made a full 32 starts. A lefty with his velocity, swing-and-miss stuff and growing playoff experience will be highly in demand.

Dylan Cease, a comparable pitcher to Luzardo from the right side, signed for $210 million over seven years this past offseason. Ranger Suarez signed for $130 million over five years with the Red Sox. Luzardo is going to get paid nine figures so long as he stays healthy.

While losing him would be a tough pill to swallow, the Phillies have the entire season to try to work out an extension, and it's also never a bad thing to have a player putting it all on the line during a contract year.

Friday in Bradenton

Right-handed starting pitching prospect Jean Cabrera is scheduled to face the Pirates. Cabrera, 24, will be an important part of the Triple A Lehigh Valley rotation this season after posting a 4.07 ERA in 137 innings at Double A Reading in 2025.

Cabrera is one of the Phillies' few pieces of starting pitching depth. Beyond their Opening Day starting five and rehabbing ace Zack Wheeler, they have Cabrera, Rangel, Bryse Wilson, Tucker Davidson and Connor Gillispie. All of those depth starters except Cabrera are between 28 and 30 years old.

In a perfect world, Cabrera has a solid season at Triple A to put himself in play for spot starting duty in 2026 and on the radar beyond that as a back-end big-league starter.

Painter's follow-up on Saturday

Andrew Painter cruised through two innings against the Yankees on Sunday in his first spring training start in exactly three years. In 2023, he came out of his spring debut with an elbow injury that resulted in two full missed seasons.

Every step of Painter's 2026 journey will be important, beginning with that start Sunday and continuing Saturday against the Blue Jays as he looks to stay on track in his build-up for the regular season.

He needed only 20 pitches vs. the Yankees but flashed all six of his weapons: four-seam fastball, sinker, slider, sweeper, curveball and changeup. Painter won't have all six pitches each outing, but he has many ways to find outs. His heater averaged 97 mph and looked even harder with late life. Hitters' swings usually tell the story.

Long trip to Fort Myers

The Phillies end the weekend against the Twins in a two-day trip to Fort Myers, which is two hours away from Clearwater and a pain with traffic, so plan accordingly if you're down in Florida and making the trip.

Typically, teams must bring three or four big-leaguers to a road spring training game for the sake of competitiveness, but that rule is not in effect this month because of the number of players already gone to the WBC.

New rule for MLB teams this spring. Due to WBC teams taking players away,clubs do not have to send a certain percentage of starting players to away games in the Cactus or Grapefruit league.Teams fined for those infractions in the past.
— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) March 1, 2026