2019 Phillies Season Discussion

[BostonRoss]

Sometimes Auto Correct is smarter than we realize

Too "smart" for its (or our) own good sometimes! I have a hunch we'll see this one a few more times...

Your experience caused me to double check my last post!

[Austinfan]

Mike Morin

Interesting pitcher:

Mike Morin Has Baseball’s Silliest Changeup

Also has a slider which is inconsistent, good in 2014, bad in 2015, average in 2016.

Velocity fell off from 93.1 in 2015 to 90.9 in 2017 (injury?), back up to 91.8 the last two years.
Has added a 2 seamer to go with his 4 seamer. Changeup is his out pitch.

Back of the bullpen guy, but should allow young RPs to stay in Lehigh and grow up.

[andyb]

Seems like a nothing acquisition that acknowledges our AAAA guys like Garcia are just not ready for the majors at this time.

Mediocre stuff. Looks like he was a little lucky this year with the low K rate. And why would the Twins who are actually leading their division get rid of a potentially useful pitcher?

If our moves are Morin and Smyly and other similar things and we miss the wild card by a game or two, one should rightly criticize the GM. He still has 11 days to use $15 million of cash to make this team better. These two moves do not appear to do so.

[Austinfan]

Those moves add depth and allow them to keep young pitchers at Reading and Lehigh until they're ready, instead of rushing them and potentially slowing their development. Given the cost (basically nothing), that has value.

I'm all in favor of spending Middleton's money to improve this team, but not our handful of top prospects.

[BostonRoss]

I don’t think that Klentak believes that Smyly and Morin are enough. If he doesn’t add more substantial pieces, it will likely be because they aren’t available or the price in prospects is too high.

[zambonir]

I think these moves are a mere precursor. They are going to trade for a controllable pitcher.

MLBTR mentions Morin's peripherals are not great but that he has been good at shutting down loft. For a team with a HR problem maybe a good thing.

The Twins just had more relievers than they could fit, with guys coming off the IL (presumably the 60?). If the back of their bullpen is better than the middle of our bullpen right now that's not surprising. Agreed, he's not exciting (and neither is Pivetta) but it means less Garcia or Davis.

Supposedly we're interested in Diekman too, who is signed through next year.

[andyb]

Not sure I buy the loft argument. His HR stats are not awful but that still does not make him a great pitcher. Now if they intend this guy to be our 12th reliever and rarely pitch that is one thing. If he is on the major league roster automatically I just don't see it making the major league roster any better. AAAA is AAAA. We need major league quality.

I realize these were nothing moves. But we are playing them immediately and that just seems like we are not serious about this season for whatever reason.

[bkeich]

Lets keep the perspective of what we want from Morin. Is he better than Austin Davis? Yes, almost certainly. Hopefully that is the guy he is replacing.

He isnt being brought in to save the team, just be one of the last relievers. Acquired for cash, since I would rather not see Davis in Philadelphia again this year, he can fill that role.

[EDmuch]

I just do not see how we are going to acquire a significant, controllable pitcher at the deadline unless Haseley is on the table. I just don't see how we can make a competitive offer for a Bauer, Boyd, Stroman, MInor, Ray type without including Haseley. The rest of our trade package is pretty much pedestrian. Maybe some teams might see Williams as valuable and maybe Medina. But when it comes to competing against the Yanks, the Astros, the Twins or Dodgers for top pitching talent, it does not seem like we have the horses to get it done.

[zambonir]

Obviously if they are not upgrades, even marginally, it is not much good. But what is the point of sending them to AAA for two weeks? We need wins - and to stay in the tight WC race - now. I don't think this is an alternative to other moves, and Morin has to be on the 25. Obviously all dumpster dives don't work but Phils have a good bullpen history there.

We gotta keep Haseley for THIS season, never mind the future!

[California_Dreamin]

I am opposed to moving Haseley, he could solve an awful lot of our outfield ills IF he makes it. To me, he simply looks like a ball player, not flashy but solid, which was the reputation he came with. It also is worth noting that for all the criticism Alvaraz has received about his drafts [though they certainly are subsiding] his year by year list includes Kingery, Moniak, Haseley, Bohm and Stott.

I still have hope for Moniak but if the Phils had picked Senzel instead of Moniak we would be toasting Alvaraz on a nightly basis. And I absolutely loved his draft this year. Phils have a lot of warts but I don't believe their drafting choices are one of them.

[allentown]

I also oppose moving Haseley, who can man an OF spot for the remainder of this injury-plagued season and be a legit starter next season, to solve this season's problem. He can be ours for over 6 years. Our system has had an unbelievable time producing OFs over the years, including half-finished OFs we traded for from other teams.

[BostonRoss]

But we are playing them immediately and that just seems like we are not serious about this season for whatever reason.

Who would you play immediately that would show that we are taking the season seriously?

[bkox]

Is he better than Austin Davis? Yes, almost certainly. Hopefully that is the guy he is replacing.

Nope... JD Hammer going to LHV

Philadelphia Phillies (Phillies)

[David_Criss]

Davis was already sent down wasn't he? You know the here today gone tomorrow Austin Davis. Hammer should have been in AAA this year, get the walks thing straightened out and he will be a decent bullpen arm.

[zambonir]

Yeah Davis and Garcia were already down. Don't forget we are giving Salas another look too, while Irvin technically replaced Davis. There are literally five guys in the current bullpen who Morin may or may not be better than, absolutely no harm in seeing him.

And Hammer will be back.

As for Haseley it seems to me that teams almost never trade the first two guys every team asks for. Ed's argument, and it may not be wrong, is that the every other team's third-best guy is probably so much better than our third-best guy that we'd have to do better. But it's not necessarily the case.

And the better Haseley looks the easier it is to trade Moniak. While his stock might not still be super-high at the end of the day he's having a great year and he's a 1-1, he has real value.

[David_Criss]

and Nick Williams sits again tonight

[Austinfan]

Hammer and Garcia should have spent the whole season in Lehigh and competed for a job next spring, but the cameos won't hurt them (I hope) and may have given them a better feel for what they need to work on at Lehigh.

I'm not trading Haseley or Moniak until we develop a few more prospects, Cutch is gone in 3 years, Bruce in 2, Kingery might move back to the IF, so who are your OFs in 2020, 2021 and 2022? Quinn is a long long shot, Cozens, Hernandez are AAA players, not much else right now.

[Lucky_Beagle]

I was more surprised Irvin wasn't sent down since he may be unavailable tonight after throwing 2 innings last evening.

[zambonir]

yeah I think that suggest they actually want him in the pen for a bit, not just as the Mike Williams Expressway pitcher of the week. Though there were probably also limited options to replace him who aren't already on the 10-day clock themselves.