Phillies news & links — Aaron Nola reveals his secret

We’ve got a doozy of a news & links for you this morning, so let’s dive in.

Aaron Nola reveals his secret

This season (or at least since he returned from the disabled list in late May after a back strain), Aaron Nola has been really, really good. He’s been the Aaron Nola we saw in 2016’s first half, with the high quality stuff and unshakable manner. Matt Gelb did some digging and discovered what improvements Nola made to help him reach this high plateau: he’s been using his legs more. Using his legs more has taken the strain off his arm, and it’s changed so much. Here’s what he had to say about how the mechanical changes have affected how he approaches pitching.

“I’m trying to command the ball and not throw every pitch hard,” Nola said. “The beginning of the year, I was trying to throw hard more than I am now. So that’s why I was a little more spotty.”

Read the whole article, because it’s great.

Trade season burblings and murmurings

There haven’t been any real concrete rumors in the past few days, but there have been some random murmurings and such. My Yahoo Sports colleague, Jeff Passan, had some Phillies tidbits in the notes bonanza he published early this morning. No rumors, but he echoed what many other national writers (and writers on this website) have said: the Phillies have a lot of money and a lot of options, no matter how this season turns out. Passan also talks about the Rangers trading Yu Darvish, if that kind of thing gets you turned on. (I know it gets me going.)

Todd Zolecki didn’t have any new rumors to report either, but he did a round-up of who the Phillies might trade at the deadline. I know many of us are worried it might be a quiet deadline again, and he doesn’t do anything to refute that, but he does reveal that the Phillies are willing to eat salary in a deal. That at the very least means that there’s a better chance Hellickson is traded, since he’s the highest paid player on the Phillies this year. (That’s still a weird sentence to type.)

And speaking of trade rumors...

John Stolnis has released the latest episode of the Felske Files podcast, and it’s chock full of trade stuff! Well, mostly how no one is talking about Phillies players being traded (except for Phillies writers). But he breaks down the Giancarlo Stanton/Christian Yelich rumors, talks to CSN Philly’s Marshall Harris, and a whole lot more. Check it out, subscribe, rate, and review!

Hey, the Phillies have some pitching prospects!

Boy, do they ever. Keith Law finally went to see Sixto Sanchez, and his report was positive if not as glowing as others had been. (I want every Sixto review to be glowing, dammit!)

Matt Breen wrote up a few of the Phillies’ left-handed pitching prospects, JoJo Romero and Ranger Suarez, and holy crap do the Phillies have some great names in the minors. Sixto, Ranger, and JoJo? I love it. Uh, but back to the actual dudes (and not just their names), Breen and the Phillies people he talked to were very positive about Suarez and Romero, which is nothing but good news.

We interrupt this links post for the latest J.P. Crawford update

And now, back to your regularly scheduled links post.

Mike Trout wants LeBron James to trust the process

This is not about Mike Trout coming to the Phillies. I repeat: this is not about Mike Trout coming to the Phillies. This is just about Mike Trout being the same kind of Philly sports fan (Phillies excepted) that we all are. WIP tweeted this:

Personally, Howard Eskin saying something isn’t going to happen actually gives me hope that it will. And perhaps Mike Trout knows that, because he responded to that tweet with this.

I love you, Mike Trout, you normal Jersey phenom, you.