2017-18 Phillies Off-Season News/Notes/Discussion

[andyb]

Houston did draft very well. Half the value of the draft is in the first round or supplemental rounds and you just listed 5 really good picks in a 5-year period. Since half of first round picks fail, it seems that track record is a pretty good one. Most good teams have luck also, but Houston hit on a bunch of high picks in a row. When we are looking at guys like Randolph and Moniak not being stars, that feat is harder to do than it looks. We need Gowdy to be our McCullers and that is not progressing well at the moment.

[zambonir]

For all that Wade did wrong as a GM in both Philadelphia and Houston, he did at least partly enable his successors to get the team to baseball's mountaintop.

Ditto Amaro, we can only hope we read that sentence about Nola, Herrera, Crawford and Hoskins in a World Series story. I don't think Wade did much in Houston tbh, but as with Amaro he and his owner were late to realize they couldn't win anymore.

[julio]

Well, the mlb.com transaction page has started to report the obvious:

11/02/17:
* 3B Andres Blanco elected free agency.
* RHP Clay Buchholz elected free agency.
* RF Hyun Soo Kim elected free agency.
* LF Daniel Nava elected free agency.
* Philadelphia Phillies activated RHP Jesen Therrien from the 60-day disabled list.
* Philadelphia Phillies activated CF Pedro Florimon from the 60-day disabled list.

More to come soon, presumably (additional activations from the 60-day DL).

[bkeich]

I would certainly hope that Therrien and Florimon do not hold on to 40 man slots. They are dime-a-dozen type AAAA players.

With this manager, who seems very high strung I am very interested in who fills Blanco's spot. It isnt so much the utility player as the Spanish speaking leader (maybe Galvis fills in), because we have a fair number of spanish players and the one that I really think needs a go-between is Herrera. He is a different guy, we all know that, but I have a feeling that a high strung manager may not take some of his idiosyncrasies very well. Going to be interesting to see who the Bench Manager is.

We already lost out on getting in early with coaches and may have to take what is left. Losing Stairs to me is a shame, but we will see.

[zambonir]

I think Therrien is still a debate (one that likely ends w/ being willing to risk losing him, and probably not losing him) but these are all paper moves for now.

FWIW I believe I read that Kapler has passable Spanish skills. How could you not dealing with so many minor leaguers?

I'm not too worried about the coaches because I think they are still going to draw on a combination of internal options and people who are in the minors (be it Phillies, Dodgers or otherwise) more than they were going to go after the big-name veteran hitting or pitching coaches. There are still a few of those out there though.

[Philsmania]

There is the 40 man roster thread where a number of these guys have been debated...

2018 40 man/Rule 5 Draft

[julio]

I would certainly hope that Therrien and Florimon do not hold on to 40 man slots. They are dime-a-dozen type AAAA players.

The first off-season step is to get through the routine, mandatory "just after the World Series" stuff - all players on 60-day DL are re-instated, all eligible players (major and minor league) "elect" free agency (it's automatic - if they're not under contract, they become free agents), contract options must be exercised or declined. After all this - after Monday afternoon, November 6th - then the discretionary (and important) stuff begins. Outrights. Releases of minor-leaguers. All directed toward November 20th, when reserve lists (major-league and minor league) must be filed. Two weeks, beginning Monday at 5 pm.

[flyers19rw]

With this manager, who seems very high strung I am very interested in who fills Blanco's spot. It isnt so much the utility player as the Spanish speaking leader (maybe Galvis fills in), because we have a fair number of spanish players and the one that I really think needs a go-between is Herrera. He is a different guy, we all know that, but I have a feeling that a high strung manager may not take some of his idiosyncrasies very well. Going to be interesting to see who the Bench Manager is.

These are my concerns as well. A good portion of the prospects on this team are Latinos. If GK is too intense for them, and it becomes a problem, he is going to fail as a manager and set this organization back quite a few years. My hope is that GK has observed the way that the Dodgers have dealt with Puig. The Dodgers-Puig relationship has seemed rocky over the last three seasons. Hopefully GK can come up with a better way to interact with LA players than that. We'll probably see how this will work out by GK's interaction with Herrera and Franco.

[julio]

I would certainly hope that Therrien and Florimon do not hold on to 40 man slots. They are dime-a-dozen type AAAA players.

With this manager, who seems very high strung I am very interested in who fills Blanco's spot. It isnt so much the utility player as the Spanish speaking leader (maybe Galvis fills in), because we have a fair number of spanish players and the one that I really think needs a go-between is Herrera. He is a different guy, we all know that, but I have a feeling that a high strung manager may not take some of his idiosyncrasies very well. Going to be interesting to see who the Bench Manager is.

A lot will depend on who is acquired between now and April 1st.

Given the current roster, though...

I don't see Freddy Galvis in the Blanco role. If Galvis stays on the roster (e.g., is not traded), then he's the shortstop. I don't see how Kapler can relegate Freddy to bench status (established starter, heading into his free agent off-season, fan favorite). That's a ridiculous burden to dump on a rookie manager. Given that, I pretty much expect Galvis to be traded this winter.

So who fills that utility niche in 2018? Pedro Florimon, perhaps, if he opts to stay in the organization after a probable outright assignment in the next couple of weeks (he'll become a minor-league free agent if/when outrighted)? Jes Valentin? Eliezer Alvarez? Somebody not currently in the organization?

[Philsmania]

With this manager, who seems very high strung I am very interested in who fills Blanco's spot. It isnt so much the utility player as the Spanish speaking leader (maybe Galvis fills in), because we have a fair number of spanish players and the one that I really think needs a go-between is Herrera. He is a different guy, we all know that, but I have a feeling that a high strung manager may not take some of his idiosyncrasies very well. Going to be interesting to see who the Bench Manager is.

These are my concerns as well. A good portion of the prospects on this team are Latinos. If GK is too intense for them, and it becomes a problem, he is going to fail as a manager and set this organization back quite a few years. My hope is that GK has observed the way that the Dodgers have dealt with Puig. The Dodgers-Puig relationship has seemed rocky over the last three seasons. Hopefully GK can come up with a better way to interact with LA players than that. We'll probably see how this will work out by GK's interaction with Herrera and Franco.

That sort of sounds like you are making some assumptions about Latinos. Yeah, there are some divas from that demographic (Puig, Herrara, for example) but I wouln't say they are necessarily representative of the whole demographic.

[andyb]

I prefer the strategy of trading Cesar Hernandez this offseason instead of Freddy, and then installing Freddy as the starting second baseman. While not ideal for Freddy, it is still a starting job and could also lead to a trade mid-season if they want to elevate Kingery who probably should have a couple more months in AAA. With this arrangement you would still sign a Blanco/Floriman type to be the utility infielder and I don't really care who that is since they are easily found on the AAAA shelf (like Floriman).

This is strategic. Hernandez has more value potentially. He is the one that should be traded. Freddy will get you a very minor prospect (top 30 for us) while Cesar could get you someone that will fit in the top 10 or is a young roster piece moving forward.

Regardless I just think they have to send a strong signal that Crawford is the shortstop. If they keep Freddy around it will need to be in a different role. If they can't make that happen then I guess they trade him for very little to avoid a potentially messy problem.

[DougLindsay]

Hired Sam Fuld as Major League Player Information Coordinator and Ben Werthan Minor League Player Information Coordinator.

[andyb]

Hired Sam Fuld as Major League Player Information Coordinator and Ben Werthan Minor League Player Information Coordinator.

I wonder if those are new positions. Sounds like a job that would serve as a go-between perhaps between the front office analytics people and the various coaches or field coordinators. Sounds like Klentak is continuing to reshape the organizational employee responsibilities. It is not the worst idea to have a former player like Fuld serve in that type of role.

[julio]

It took me a minute to realize that DougLindsay wasn't proposing something, but reporting something - that's what happens to old eyes like mine when there's no link or backup, I guess!

Phillies (Phillies)

[Austinfan]

If Kapler was in player development for 3 years, he interacted with a lot of young Latin players. So I'm not too worried.

[zambonir]

Regardless of ethnicity Kapler strikes me as a great fit for guys like Herrera (or a Puig). He's kind of a goofball. He reveres the unconventional. If he wasn't the manager I suspect he'd be chest-bumping guys after a bat flip.

[zambonir]

Fuld's another Tampa guy and Werthan was fairly high up in Baltimore. Agreed, Fuld's job will be a hybrid coaching/front office gig.

[tom81]

I don't see Freddy Galvis in the Blanco role. If Galvis stays on the roster (e.g., is not traded), then he's the shortstop. I don't see how Kapler can relegate Freddy to bench status (established starter, heading into his free agent off-season, fan favorite). That's a ridiculous burden to dump on a rookie manager. Given that, I pretty much expect Galvis to be traded this winter.

I think there is s strong possibility that Galvis is the starting SS and Crawford the starting 3B next April. I think they keep both Galvis and Hernandez unless they get a primium return, which I don’t think will happen. I think it more probable that they trade one or both close to the trade deadline if they are out of the race by then. I think Franco needs a good spring OPS > .900 for him to start next year.

[bkeich]

Strange statement Julio. My assumption is that Crawford is our starting SS. Galvis most likely moves to the utility role unless he us traded.

[zambonir]

I don't think it's strange to assume that if Freddy is on the roster, and making more than $7 million, then he's the starting shortstop. While it seems unlikely that Crawford would be sent back down to AAA (even for service time reasons) he (Crawford) could just as easily be asked to play a utility role for three months. I am not in favor of this, but I don't think the managerial change automatically means Freddy is out. As julio notes the simplest way to make sure Crawford is the SS is to trade Freddy, and if the new regime does not rate Freddy as highly as Mackanin, Bowa and the media do, that's what they'll do, even for a minimal return.

But trading Cesar/Freddy as 2B still makes a lot of sense too.