2019 Phillies Season Discussion

[andyb]

Bonus is we have a couple of 40-man slots available when we eventually move on from Gosselin and Rodriguez. Players not on the 40 that might help at some point this season include Grullon, Jan Hernandez, Haseley theoretically, Dohy, and Irvin (a LH long man might be an interesting tandem to all our RH starters). Not counting guys like Romero who need more development but could be more interesting in the second half.

[zambonir]

Altherr will open a 40-man spot too. I suspect we'll be seeing Rodriguez or Gosselin up and down for a while yet. If Altherr moves on and Quinn gets hurt again one of those guys + Kingery is more likely to provide that 5th-OF insurance than Cozens (or Walding).

What about Gilbert?

[teabag259]

It’s just a damn shame that Quinn can’t remain healthy.

[zambonir]

Gotta feel bad for him. Honestly think you have to trade him to a bad team that can afford to ride out his ups and downs for another year or two. He can barely justify the 40-man space on a contender, if not now, than next off-season.

[LoneStarPhan]

Walding does have the unique stat that 100% of his ML hits are home runs. Yes, one home run in 19 at bats gives him a career BA of 0.053 but two walks make his OBP .143 and OPS .353. In his 19 at bats, he has 14 strike outs. I think his future with the Phillies will be in providing an opening on the 40 man roster at some point this season.

[el-pietro]

Cozens is up, Quinn to the IL.

Matt Gelb (MattGelb)

[Squire]

Good to see Roman Quinn back at home.

[el-pietro]

Apparently hes going to be gone for a while. Altherr lives to breath another day.

Matt Gelb (MattGelb)

Not all bad news though

Matt Breen (matt_breen)

[andyb]

I would not be shocked if Rodriguez stays and Cozens goes back down if Segura is healthy. It is not like Cozens will help in CF over Williams so I think we'll see Altherr and Cutch there until either Herrera or Kingery is back.

I will say that in a purely pinch hitting role, Cozens might be a better fit than Williams. HRs and BBs are often what we want in late inning pinch hitting situations.

[donaldorc]

Is our team jinxed or is this a typical IL around the league? I think much of our problem on the recent road trip had to do with some of our stars on the IL, especially Segura.

[zambonir]

I don't think we are even close to being a Top 5 injured team this year (see the Yankees, for instance. And we haven't lost a starting pitcher).

I also think when you have one of the best offensive starting eights in the league, losing 25% of it hurts a lot more. Last year if we'd lost Crawford (which we did) and one of the OFs (Hoskins actually did get hurt in May) it wasn't as big a deal.

But obviously having both back-ups for SS and CF getting hurt at the same time is pretty unusual.

I've lost track of who is actually on the roster/bench now. It's Gosselin, Cozens, Williams, Knapp, with Rodriguez and Altherr technically now starters. So once Segura comes back I would think Cozens stays and Gosselin goes - though Gosselin and Rodriguez are both probably more able to play CF than Cozens (in theory, if you still buy defensive spectrum).

[David_Criss]

I've lost track of who is actually on the roster/bench now. It's Gosselin, Cozens, Williams, Knapp, with Rodriguez and Altherr technically now starters. So once Segura comes back I would think Cozens stays and Gosselin goes - though Gosselin and Rodriguez are both probably more able to play CF than Cozens (in theory, if you still buy defensive spectrum).

Altherr continues to survive. We all had him dumped off the 40-man as soon as Quinn was ready to be activated. He was activated to early IMO, but not to many options when you carry 8 bullpen pitchers. So the question now is does McCutchen move to center and Williams plays in right or do they leave Cutch in left and keep running Altherr out to center for his glove?

Gosselin is here until Segura is activated.
Cozens or Altherr will go when Hererra is activated.
The other is here until or if and when Quinn is activated.
They love Rodriquez, so I would not be surprised to see him survive when Kingery is activated leaving Williams as the 4th and only true bench OFer to go with Rodriquez, Kingery and Knapp

My hope is they move Cutch to CF and play Williams. I can't imagine Altherr gets to many more opportunities to show he doesn't have the bat anymore. He could be designated and Adams or Robinson could be given a shot, too.

[andyb]

My hope is they move Cutch to CF and play Williams. I can't imagine Altherr gets to many more opportunities to show he doesn't have the bat anymore.

Until Herrera is back I can see them doing a L/R platoon with Williams in LF and Altherr in CF. Probably depends on how the defense looks with Cutch in CF. Then when Herrera is back we'll go back to normal. If Quinn is still hurt they might keep Altherr, but if he does not start hitting and they go back to a shorter bench they might keep Rodriguez instead.

[zambonir]

Altherr is cooked but Adams and Robinson are not serious alternatives (let alone upgrades). I think in your scenario above Kingery starts playing back-up CF (if Rodriguez hangs around).

It's a tough stretch. At the end of the day, the injuries are an excuse and wondering about chemistry or slumps or whether they were as good as we thought ignores the obvious. If Segura, Herrera, Kingery, Quinn, Robertson and even Hunter were all out for the season, this would not be a playoff team - or Klentak would have to sacrifice some talent and salary space to trade for at least a couple of replacements.

[andyb]

I was also hoping that Haseley would get to AAA quickly, have 200 decent plate appearances, and might be in the mix in the second half as a quality OF reserve. That scenario is not happening unfortunately.

Quinn will likely be back, but at some point they probably need to make peace with his injuries and the consequences of that are probably going to be an occasional bad CF defender (Cutch) to get more offense in the game. Quinn on the roster probably means keeping 2 OF reserves. Which means a 5-man bench OR relying on Kingery to not get hurt and play everywhere.

I also hope that when Quinn is healthy they give him a full 2 weeks at AAA rather than rushing him. He needs the proper preparation that he missed early in the year. And a longer look will help them evaluate his actual worth. That bunt he got hurt on was great, but the Ks in all those plate appearances before that were concerning for a player who really needs to keep his K rate in the 25% range to be a productive player.

[zambonir]

Philadelphia Phillies (Phillies)

[andyb]

21st round pick out of college last year. Can hit pretty well for a 2B though listed at 3B also. On a slower track (SAL his first full year) so not likely a good prospect. Another utility candidate. Interestingly the Rockies had him catching in instructional league last year.

Hunter Stovall Minor Leagues Statistics & History | Baseball-Reference.com

I was kind of expecting nothing for Pazos, so at least they got someone that at a minimum can bolster the low minors offensive lineups and does not need to be protected for a few years.

[LoneStarPhan]

It looks like the Rockies were considering Stovall as a utility player for an upside. I read somewhere he also has played outfield. If he can be an emergency catcher, play first, second, and third, and outfield, and hit a little, he could work himself into a bench role in a few years. Probably will not happen, but as noted, at least the Phillies get some return for Pazos.

[Austinfan]

That'll make him valuable as minor league roster fodder, freeing up slots for prospects as he fills multiple roles.

Though it also seems a new organizational philosophy, having young players at multiple positions as they move up the ladder instead of playing one spot, it may slow them down slightly offensively, but gives them a better shot at making the big club - if you're not a top prospect, your best bet is to earn a bench role, and the more spots you can play credibly, the better your odds.

[julio]

21st round pick out of college last year. Can hit pretty well for a 2B though listed at 3B also. On a slower track (SAL his first full year) so not likely a good prospect.

This may or may not be a reasonable evaluation. Another college player drafted last year spending first full year (at least so far) in Sally League (you KNOW where I'm going here!)... Alec Bohm. I don't know, one way or another, about Stovall; I just don't think much of falling back on formulaic "truisms" that may or may not apply.