Ranger Suarez wants to spend his entire career with Phillies

Ranger Suarez looked solid in his spring debut yesterday. A free agent after this season, he spoke after the game about his hopes to stay with the Phillies for his entire career. Meanwhile, the Flyers and Sixers reminded us why we’re excited for baseball season.

Let’s discuss.

In the email today:

• ⚾ Ranger Suarez wants to spend his entire career with Phillies

• 🔥 Flyers scorched by Flames as season-long homestand kicks off

• 🐺 Sixers hang with Wolves before falling hard in fourth

  • 📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

  • 📊 Poll

  • 🔗 Links

  • 📺 Coming Up

Like every other member of the Phillies’ expected five-man rotation, Ranger Suarez tossed two scoreless innings in his 2025 spring debut. Appearing mid-game (Zack Wheeler made the start), the lefty allowed one hit, struck out two and walked none.

Suarez’s velocity was down a tick or two from last season’s averages. But that’s not unusual for March 4, even if several other Phils pitchers are throwing gas early on.

The Phillies signed Suarez as an amateur free agent out of Venezuela in 2012, when he was just 16 years old. But Suarez’s current contract will end after the 2025 season and it’s unclear whether the Phils, loaded with starting pitching, will be able to retain “Mr. Rager” after this year.

Suarez spoke after the game about his desire to play his entire career in red pinstripes.

Zack Wheeler is signed through the 2027 season, Jesus Luzardo is under team control through 2026, and Aaron Nola and Cristopher Sanchez are locked in through 2030.

With minor league phenom Andrew Painter expected to join the rotation sometime this summer, it’s fair to wonder if Suarez factors into the Phillies’ long-term plans.

Dave Dombrowski was asked about Suarez last summer, when Sanchez signed a new deal. Dombrowski said the organization “loves Ranger” and “wants him to be part of the organization for a long, long time,” but didn’t give much away other than that.

There’s a lot of baseball to be played before Suarez’s contract is up. His health and performance, the health and performance of the pitchers around him, and the Phillies’ long-term roster vision will all factor into what happens after that.

Hopefully, even if Suarez departs, he’ll do so wearing a Phillies World Series ring.

The Flyers played the first of seven straight home games last night. Entering play, the Flyers were only four points out of the second wild-card playoff spot. That’s good, right?

Really it was just OK. The Flyers trailed four teams, including the objectively better Rangers and Bruins. Plus, the Senators (who they trailed by three points) had a game in hand.

So the Flyers needed a near-perfect home stand to seriously threaten for a playoff spot. After last night, they might need to win six on the spin.

Last night’s opponent, the Calgary Flames, are playing with the same sort of urgency the Flyers are because like the Flyers, the Flames are on the playoff bubble.

After a slow opening seven minutes, the Flames scored three times in less than two minutes (two from Connor Zary) to seize a lead they’d never relinquish.

The Flyers briefly made a game of it with two unanswered goals from Noah Cates and Andrei Kuzmenko. But the momentum was lost 18 seconds later when Yegor Sharangovich scored the Flames’ fourth.

The second period was quiet, though Travis Konecny had a shot carom off the crossbar. Soon after, MacKenzie Weegar scored on a Flames man advantage to restore the Flames’ three-goal advantage.

The Flames’ socials don’t seem like a very good hang.

Sean Courturier got his tenth goal of the season midway through the third period. A Flames empty-net goal set the final margin.

Things don’t get easier for the Flyers as they host the revenge-minded Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night.

The Sixers should now be on your “do not bet under any circumstances” list.

There are plenty of games night to night in the NBA. There is no shortage of opportunities to win or lose money. Trying to bet on (or against) the Sixers when you don’t know who is going to play in a given game is madness.

Monday night, the Sixers didn’t have Joel Embiid, Paul George or Kelly Oubre Jr. By the end of the night, Tyrese Maxey and Justin Edwards had left the game with injuries.

So last night, the Sixers were a 13.5-point underdog largely because who could say who would start, or play? If anything, that line was a Timberwolves line. Not a mortgage or college savings account bet, but maybe a car payment.

Except, it took the Wolves a half-court prayer just to take a lead into the fourth quarter.

The Sixers stayed in the game so long because Quentin Grimes and Oubre Jr. went off together. Grimes finished with 30 points while Oubre Jr. rode shotgun with 24.

Eventually, though, the wave of healthy bodies the Wolves ran at the Sixers proved too much to overcome. The Wolves won the fourth quarter by 11 points, but with 2:43 left in the game the Wolves led by 23.

The Wolves ended up with seven scorers in double figures including Villanova star Donte DiVincenzo.

And yes, the Wolves covered…by the hook. But it was a needless sweat. As we said above, just steer clear of the Sixers for betting purposes.

Especially as the lines against them (like the one they’re about to face at Boston Thursday night) head for the stratosphere.

📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

On March 5, 2009, the Harlem Globetrotters played the Washington Generals on the roof of the Spectrum. The arena would host its final event (a Pearl Jam concert) later that year, and would be demolished in late 2010/early 2011.

📊 Poll

Results from Tuesday:

🔗 Links

• 📺️ If Bill Belichick does coach the North Carolina Tar Heels, you’ll have to wait for the season to start to see it because they’re not going on “Hard Knocks.”

• ✈️ After the Jets cut ties with Aaron Rodgers, this Davante Adams release seemed preordained.

• 🏀 When it rains it pours for the Dallas Mavericks, who traded Luka Doncic for a bag of magic beans and now have lost Kyrie Irving to a torn ACL.

• 🐅 #22 Texas A &M upset #1 Auburn, 83-72, for their first-ever win over a top-ranked opponent.

📺 Coming Up

No games for the locals tonight.

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.

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