2019 Phillies Season Discussion

Austinfan 2019-04-09 22:34:48 UTC #57

I think Eflin is the most advanced of the three, he added a good 2 seamer to his repertoire and has a nice changeup.
Pivetta has the most hittable FB, he's almost strictly 4 seamer, and while he has a good curve, his change is meh.
Velasquez has the best 4 seamer (good late break) but no 2 seamer, a potential plus slider but another with a meh change.

Better defense will help them this year, but I think they're keeping a close watch on the Allentown rotation.
De Los Santos throws just as hard, we'll see if the new PC made any adjustments.
Irvin has the junk, can he sustain 91+ velocity? Is Romero ready? Anderson struggled his first couple starts after a strong spring, coming back to earth or bad weather? Suarez and Eickhoff should be in the mix.
Only need one or two out of six to get hot and take the next step.

el-pietro 2019-04-10 16:11:41 UTC #58

Roman Quinn being moved to LHV to continue his rehab. Imagine hes only a few days away from the big league team. What happens when he comes up do we think? Altherr waived? They could send WIlliams down right?

fish 2019-04-10 16:57:33 UTC #59

Altherr stopped looking like a big-leaguer ever since Matt Stairs left town. I'd cut ties and wish him he best. If he's going to become anything again, he needs regular playing time and he's not going to get that here.

andyb 2019-04-10 17:22:43 UTC #60

Most likely outcome is an Altherr trade for a low-level prospect. Not someone in a top 30. Think college reliever with good low minors stats against younger competition.

zambonir 2019-04-10 18:01:47 UTC #61

It will be interesting to see. Some of us overrate Altherr and some of us underrate him. He's young but not that young, cheap but not that cheap. As a bench player he's probably a non-tender next year. So I kind of suspect 29 other teams either don't need him, don't want him or will prefer to get him for nothing - not because the trade price would be high but because he'll cost half as much and they don't have to immediately put him on the 40 if they don't want to.

I guess if a team does feel otherwise the Phillies can pay half his salary in exchange for that low-level guy. Certainly with the perfect combination of playing time, healthy and returning to form he is a useful piece. But I'm not sure that combination will occur. And his career OPS is about the same as Ben Francisco and John Mayberry Jr. at this point. Useful pieces but not valuable pieces once they reached a certain age/salary.

David_Criss 2019-04-10 18:46:40 UTC #62

What maybe best is to send Williams down so he can play everyday and then trade him. I think you'd get a lot more value for Williams. He is better than a bench bat imo. Then again he is insurance for Quinn's next injury. And McCutcheon only signed a 2-year deal right? There are options dumping Altherr, moving Williams, etc. ,

zambonir 2019-04-10 18:52:52 UTC #63

No McCutchen is three years with an option for a fourth. He may not be here (or starting) by Year 3 but it won't be for Williams.

My guess is that Altherr simply isn't good enough/valuable enough to make the team worse by demoting Williams (not to mention it would be hard on Williams). If Quinn gets hurt again you can add Lane Adams (using Altherr's spot on the 40) or one of the utility guys. In an emergency you still have four guys (both corner OFs, Williams, and Kingery) who can actually be out there for a few innings.

Lawman 2019-04-10 19:53:02 UTC #64

Some small sample size, early season issues for Aaron Nola, courtesy of John Stolnis' twitter feed:

Philsmania 2019-04-10 20:00:03 UTC #65

Another perspective on Nola's early woes, with surprising detail, considering the source.

Austinfan 2019-04-11 20:45:44 UTC #66

Just sayin'

julio 2019-04-12 02:01:35 UTC #67

Just found this on the transactions page:

4/11/19: Philadelphia Phillies optioned RHP Edubray Ramos to Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

Reported about 6:30 pm by the beat writers:

ZardozMD 2019-04-12 02:52:47 UTC #68

Came to the thread expecting 'sky is falling' rhetoric with regard to pitching staff over last two losses.

Reassuring to see the Nola article and general levelheadedness of regular posters in the forum.

ZardozMD 2019-04-12 03:01:36 UTC #69

I mean when the Phillies page on the At Bat app goes with this as its main article, one's mind starts to go places:

jimbomill 2019-04-12 10:44:20 UTC #70

picture perfect

andyb 2019-04-12 12:29:45 UTC #71

Now he just needs to come up with a "sore arm" so we can stash him on the DL when Quinn is recalled.

Austinfan 2019-04-12 12:39:48 UTC #72

Or a good slider.

bigegypt0417 2019-04-12 12:49:21 UTC #73

I think this points to some of the points made about Howard...he wasn't always a baseball players and is still learning some of the basic stuff.

Let's just hope for more progress.

Squire 2019-04-12 13:02:57 UTC #74

I mean Jim Salisbury is a very nice and thoughtful man who has said a negative word about a Phillies decisionmaker exactly never in his career. So I'm not sure a puff piece about Spencer Howard with only internal organization quotes patting themselves on the back really is the persuasive piece of journo that Austinfan thinks it is. Since the hook of the story was that Johnny Almaraz was out west to scout Keston Hiura, perhaps a sentence about how much better of a prospect Hiura is then who we took ahead of him (Haseley) would have added some perspective.

bigegypt0417 2019-04-12 13:07:02 UTC #75

So he just picked a player in the minors and wrote a puff piece?

I'm not gonna lie...it really seems as if you are pretty heck bent on everything being negative...the nerve of Salisbury to write an article introducing philly fans to a prospect.

You're in mid season form Squire.

andyb 2019-04-12 13:18:49 UTC #76

Salisbury is writing about a pitching prospect with very good stuff that was a reasonably high draft pick now seen as one of our two best pitching prospects. I am sure he'd write the same thing about Medina.

And each have questions about durability and the ability to get higher level hitters out with any consistency. Howard is a good pitching prospect with much to prove, partially because of his slow promotion path for a top prospect. One can praise him as the article did, note some of the parts of his background that might make for slower development, and still think he has much to prove.

All in all it seems to be a good pick as he has developed more velocity than most scouts thought he would. We are probably both smart and lucky there.