2019 Phillies Season Discussion (part 2)

Taudawg 2019-08-13 20:50:31 UTC #23

Crawford is hitting .179 with 0 HRs since the All-Star break. His defensive WAR is 0. Other defensive metrics are average to below average, although range is solid. I think this story may be a little premature.

zambonir 2019-08-13 21:05:22 UTC #24

Above probably belonged in ex-Phillies or non-Phillies thread. Of course we (myself included) are now back to having the Mallee discussion here as well as in the dedicated thread.

julio 2019-08-13 21:27:57 UTC #25

Apparently the concept of "thread topics" is too much for some of us... We'll keep trying, though...

Austinfan 2019-08-13 21:44:02 UTC #26

Keep fighting the good phight, Julio.

zambonir 2019-08-13 22:15:22 UTC #27

Not only does it belong in the other thread, it was already there!

nycphils 2019-08-14 02:13:54 UTC #28

I read it for its relevance for the Phillies instruction and player development. My deepest, most sincere apologies to the thread police for not being intelligent enough to put it in a different thread because it mentions a former player. I am ashamed.

phillychuck 2019-08-14 15:52:58 UTC #29

We all try to get things in the "right" thread. No need for apologies.

julio 2019-08-14 17:07:36 UTC #30

Yeah. And we all get caught up in things at times, responding off-topic to posts that are already off-topic (or posts that are complex, with aspects that pertain to a thread topic and aspects that go somewhere else). It's not a big deal.

But we do need to continue to try. To employ a little reductio ad absurdem, at the extreme we could just have a single, ongoing blog post... which would rapidly get completely impossible to navigate or peruse, unless you were literally reading it several times a day for new content. (Was it Crashburn Alley that put up a single, "have at it" blog post when they stopped being actively moderated, that went on for months? Absolute mess.)

A few common-sense guidelines:

Game Day threads are just that. If you want to discuss today's game, and there's no GDT (the 'bot is on holiday) - create one. Don't sweat the precise title structure - we can fix that if needed. Don't worry if the 'bot belatedly creates its own thread later - we can (probably!) fix that too. If the 'bot goes goofy, and tries to post today's game events in a prior thread... well, if I see it, I'll intervene.
Major news items get their own thread, with a thread title that conveys the news, without any attempt at silliness. Users should be able to see when something major happens, without having to delve into an ongoing "season" thread. This is just basic courtesy to our users. So if a major story breaks, create a thread to report it! Don't just bury it as the 1,400th post in the "season" thread. The Mallee firing is major news. Trades are major news. Serious injuries to key players (McCutchen gone for the season) are major news. On the other hand, Austin Davis being optioned to AAA for the fourth time is not major news. (This isn't rocket science.)
Thread titles should indicate what the thread is about - and should be written to make that clear to all comers - e.g., they should not be phrased in ways that only longtime members here can understand. We're not running a private club here.

andyb 2019-08-14 17:32:28 UTC #31

Dickerson xrays are negative. Day to day. LH starter tonight in Hamels so I guess we get Rodriguez one more time (though Haseley is kind of absent and I would not mind seeing the good defensive outfield tonight).

julio 2019-08-14 17:55:25 UTC #32

Adam Haseley should either be in AAA, or in the lineup. This seems obvious to me. Having him sitting on the major-league bench is just pointless.

Patchmk88 2019-08-14 18:00:27 UTC #33

Agree 100% Julio.

andyb 2019-08-14 18:03:42 UTC #34

They have been platooning him and I am OK with that. We have just seen a run of LHP. Dickerson was probably a better option when healthy than Haseley (better offense, defense not too far apart). Without Dickerson though the question is Rodriguez vs Haseley where Rodriguez theoretically offers more offense but much less defense. I would probably alternate them without Dickerson, and have Haseley play CF all the time against RHP (or LF if Quinn is in the lineup).

I understand the moves they have made. It has just left Haseley on the bench a bit much since we have seen mostly LHP of late. It was also a little weird to see Haseley be the last pinch hitting off the bench often.

Austinfan 2019-08-14 18:24:31 UTC #35

Rodriquez is an AAAA hitter who had a SSS of success against LH pitching, but just isn't a ML hitter.
Haseley has to learn to hit LH pitching at some point. Why not now?

bkeich 2019-08-14 18:29:45 UTC #36

The other argument would be that we are fading very fast from contention and the pitching staff is looking even worse with Arrieta possibly done.

If that is true then there is no reason to play Dickerson as he is clearly not in the plan after this season. I would rather just let Haseley play with or without success on the idea that he is learning faster at the ML level.

andyb 2019-08-14 18:35:06 UTC #37

I am sorry but teams do not just give up when they are 2 games out of the wild card. Maybe if we are 5 out at the beginning of September trailing 4 teams, but not now. That is part of the mindset of the last few years that we need to get away from.

The fact is that Haseley has a platoon difference and it is perfectly reasonable to sit him against left-handed pitching. Rodriguez has an OPS 300 points higher and in large samples it would likely be at least 100 points higher based on his track record. Haseley should start 70%-80% of the time if he starts against all RHP. That is plenty. We have just had a stretch of a bunch of LH starters and that means they should not let him sit 4 days in a row.

zambonir 2019-08-14 18:35:58 UTC #38

It's just ironic they started the season lacking lefty pop and now they have too much of it (with Bruce on IL and an extra guy in the minors in Logan Morrison too). But if you really think Haseley should face LHP just because, why not play him in CF?

The team just fired its hitting coach, that's not a move for next year. They are two games out of the WC with many games left against the Mets and Nats (and losing Arrieta won't be that big a loss given his performance). They are trying to win the game tonight, not develop players. If it truly gets to be white flag time, sure, may as well waive Dickerson and start playing for the draft pick. But they are hardly there yet.

zambonir 2019-08-14 18:39:40 UTC #39

Speak of the devil:

(this either means Haseley is going down or Miller to waivers)

julio 2019-08-14 18:41:30 UTC #40

This is pretty much where I am. Haseley needs reps against LHP, or he's not going to get better. We need him to get better (or at least to have the chance to get better). He was called up prematurely, due to need, and he's done OK. But he's not here now because of "need," or he wouldn't be on the bench so much.

Yeah, I understand. Kapler is running out the lineups that he thinks give him the best chance to win each game. But the reality here is that "winning each game" is rapidly becoming irrelevant - the club is falling out of contention, because they don't have enough pitching. (We're nine games back in the division; we're only two back in the WC race, but frankly, mortgaging the future even a little bit for the chance to win/lose in a one-game play-in appeals to me not at all). If not right now, then very soon, continuing to give playing time priority to older players who will be free agents in a few weeks (Miller, Rodriguez, Dickerson) rapidly becomes not only pointless, but counter to the organization's best interests.

Patchmk88 2019-08-14 18:47:00 UTC #41

I’m assuming he is just a bench bat. Can he play anywhere other than 1st?

zambonir 2019-08-14 18:49:03 UTC #42

I see it a little differently - Haseley and Quinn need to play because they need to figure out if either/both of them are next year's starting CF. But that's still not a certainty, IMO.

But it's also not time to talk about "mortgaging" the future. The games still matter. We have a fairly favorable schedule between now and September 9, and before the White Sox we had won or split five series in a row, including one on the road. I'd like to see a 4-2 homestand, a split in Boston, and series wins against the Marlins and the Pirates. If they crater before the Mets series we can call it a season but not yet. And if they don't crater before the Mets series they will have every chance to make a run in September.

Winkelman joked that the Phillies could put Hoskins back into LF.