2020 Philadelphia Phillies Season News/Notes/Discussion

[California_Dreamin]

Theo Epstein is a free agent at the end of the year and sure seems to enjoy helping struggling franchises become powerhouses. In my mind, this would be the most important FA the Phils could bring in this off season.

[zambonir]

His deal's not up until the end of 2021. But I doubt we make a change this year anyway, MacPhail is also under contract until then, and Klentak until 2022. And money's tight.

The bigger question is whether our owner would be able to let Theo do his job, or if Theo would even want to work for him.

He'd look real good in Queens too wouldn't he? Might be moot, he could still sign an extension especially after this season. There's also some feeling he just wants to move on and give Hoyer his chance. Or we could just hire Hoyer.

[andyb]

Marchan question (probably for Julio). If JT is OK does the 20-day rule on optional assignments still apply? It is also past when minor league seasons end, so it is impossible for Marchan to spend 20 days in the minors this year on optional assignment.

We were going to protect him anyway this winter, but it would be a shame to lose an option year if JT is back later this week.

[andyb]

Small sample size caveats, but Jean Segura has actually been pretty good defensively this year:

Best defensive infielders in '20? Check here

Hoskins and Bohm and Kingery have all graded pretty poorly so it is clearly not a good infield defense. It does look like Segura came into camp in shape and has played pretty well.

[zambonir]

And changed positions, though we couldn't have known he'd take to 3B as well as he did. But he was always going to be a better 2B than SS. It never made sense to me that they wanted him at 3B instead of Kingery. I guess in a normal season they were hoping they might trade Segura once Bohm came up. Now they might just want to keep everyone (Didi included) and keep Kingery on the bench for another year. He still plugs into CF well enough especially given Quinn's injury odds and more playing time for Haseley likely available in LF too.

[LoneStarPhan]

The series in Miami has moved me into Hot Stove League mode. Yes, the Phillies may well make the post season this year. I think they will and I am rooting for them all the way. However, I think there is work that needs to be done to get a team ready for 2021, which I'm sure we all hope is a normal season.

[bkeich]

Catcher, 1B, 2B, SS, CF and LF, 3 starting pitchers and 6 bullpen arms and we are set for next year.

Yea, I can’t imagine the Hot Stove is going to be good for us this offseason, we just don’t have enough money for all if that.

[andyb]

The lineup has been pretty good this year until everyone got hurt.

And for all the angst, the starting rotation has been above average.

This team needs a bullpen, a starter to replace Arrieta, and some depth. If they can't resign JT and Didi they need a little more of course but this is not really a winter where they would have to add huge sums of money. We are talking JT and a $15-20 million starter and then less expensive pieces. Coming out of this with JT, Didi, Stroman, and a bullpen arm or two would not break the bank.

Bowden: An early ranking of the top 15 free agents this offseason

[allentown]

With #1 and #11, we're likely to lose more than we gain on FA market this winter. When early extensions don't get done, it really reduces the chances of keeping a guy. I think both are guys are gone.

[David_Criss]

Hoskins to IL - good thing Neil Walker is available via free agency. Realmuto out a couple more days.

[zambonir]

I'm not super-negative but I'm not super-positive either.

I think they could have won 87-90 games last year with better health and bullpen luck but they didn't.

I think this team is going to make the playoffs and is/was of about the same quality.

And I think they can easily maintain that same level of quality for the next two seasons.

But even with money to spend I don't see much of a path to 92, 95, 99 wins, or even just to get better than the Dodgers and Braves (while the Padres pass us, and the Mets start writing checks). And we could just as easily swoon again like the Nats this year and the Cubs last year.

We just lack young players who you can say will make the team get better over the next few years. All there really is is Bohm, but like Hoskins before him he's probably more of a solid regular than an all-star (unless he really grows into 3B defensively). Obviously Haseley and Kingery are still not above-average starters (or even starters).

And even if we had more improving young players, they are likely to be balanced out by declining older players. Re-signing both Didi and JT obviously won't change that.

Segura and Cutch and Hoskins have all been pretty good news this year overall, but what about next year?

Heck, it's possible re-signing JT Is not the best way to make this a better team over the next three years, if you can use the money on three different players.

Not everyone has to be an all-star either; if anything our problem is we have too many all-stars. Cutch has been fine but not really that much better than Corey Dickerson; Segura has been fine but Josh Harrison has been better (in limited action). If you're not paying those guys you could sign JT and Didi and then still have money left to improve other areas, even if big $ on the bullpen didn't work any better last year than no $ did this year.

Our lack of young players really comes into focus with the current 40-man roster situation too. Yeah, we are carrying a lot of pitchers and spare parts because of the unique season, but we also don't have a single AAA/AA player left that we'd want to add to the 40 and call up. Moniak and the guy GM thinks is going to be our next 1B would be the closest and neither of them are actually close.

[andyb]

Left ULC injury for Hoskins. Hope it is not torn, though this could be the season even if it is strained. Not his throwing arm so that is good. Wheeler had a good bullpen at least. And Walker apparently elected free agency. Bruce is still the best option of the currently injured.

https://twitter.com/ToddZolecki/status/1305645573257785345

[zambonir]

Walker needs to sign with a new team by tomorrow to be playoff-eligible, he doesn't have to be in the majors though (and every team passed on him already eh?)

The Hoskins injury reminds me of the Cutch injury, it was kind of his teammate's fault. Even if it was freakish overall.

[andyb]

Yes he cleared waivers. MLB has never been that strict on the playoff eligibility of late. In the organization seems enough since there is so much injury substitution. I would not be shocked if he came back to the Phillies if they guaranteed an extra $50K or something like that. There may not be another team interested in him and his stuff could be in a Philly hotel room.

[zambonir]

In the organization is the only criteria at this point I think, but it's still tomorrow. Why even have a deadline at all otherwise?

But come to think of it, can we actuallly re-sign him? He elected free agency, but strictly speaking he was also removed from our 60-man roster.

It's actually surprising how few of the AAAA guys who didn't join a team this year failed to resurface. The Nashville minor league squad never even happened right?

If memory serves, in July Walker said he had no interest in being on the alternate site, he wasn't gonna play if he didn't make the major league team. The money's just not worth it for someone like him, and of course he got his pension. Now we could guarantee him a spot, it seems.

[flyers19rw]

In the end, I’ll be shocked if Realmuto leaves town. Segura is signed through two more seasons so either Kingery or he will handle 2B. Didi will most likely stay in Philly-he’s a Joe guy and there are other FA options out there that teams might want ahead of him. Hasely or Quinn have shown that they can handle CF. McCucheon has another year left on his deal so he’s back for LF.
The SP and BP are areas of need. With Arietta gone there is money for the large part of two mid rotation SPs. BP arms are a guess. The Phillies have some spare change left here to use with guys who are or could be coming off of the books.-Robertson, Alvarez and Neris. IDK how much the Phillies get off of their books when Bruce is gone. There will be some cash available to do some FA patch jobs

[zambonir]

I don't think Haseley and Quinn have shown that at all. I think you give them one more year to do so, and they make a nice pair, but it's not a team strength. They're both nice bench players and promising platoon players with no true body of work. With the DH, and and Cutch getting older, plenty of chances for them to play in LF too, but we'll need another OF/DH to replace Bruce.

Yes, Cutch and Segura are back. But is that good? Obviously it's not a useful sample but Cutch is a negative WAR player they're reluctant to put in the field regularly and Segura is still a below-average offensive player.

If Didi leaves we might be able to sign someone better (and cheaper) at SS. Or would they just put Segura or Kingery back there? Again, the DH gives them more options than they previously would have had.

We don't save any $ with Bruce, other team was paying most of it. They'll probably keep Neris, whether it's for his $7 million option or in arbitration.

It will be a busy, trade-driven off-season is my guess. Nobody's untradeable depending on the market. You don't want to sell low on Kingery but he might still get you more than Segura if you're taking the short view. Signing Didi would also be taking the short view. Keep going for it until 2023 (when Nola's deal is up) and become sellers that year if it's not working (I still think 2022 is an unknown).

[David_Criss]

Anybody else hope Phelps gets DFAed and doesn't pitch again for the Phillies? He and Hembree are not working out. I'd rather go with the kids and get some experience under their belts at this point.

[zambonir]

Nah. Relievers are unpredictable. He was great for Milwaukee for four weeks and he's sucked for us for two weeks, does that mean he's gonna suck for two more weeks or can he figure it out?

Plus he's got a club option for next year. I'd probably still exercise it unless he's hurt, it's not expensive. Hembree will probably be back too. We didn't give up the assets we did for those guys to only have them for four weeks. What are we gonna do, non-tender/non-option them and then spend $10 million on the next Tommy Hunter or David Robertson?

Rumor has it we have a pretty good pitching coach, maybe he should fix them.

[Austinfan]

I think the Phillies really need to take one step backwards or more - they're not a 95 win team that can overpay a veteran or two to get over the top - they're a 80-85 win team that has maxed out the cap and has a lot of starters 30 or older (Cutch, Segura, Didi, JT) next year, a formula for decline. They need to be patient with Kingery, Haseley, Quinn, Stott b/c there aren't a lot of other avenues for improvement, Knapp is hitting but it's partially BABIP, Marchan has a bright future starting in a couple years, maybe Moniak can contribute, who else.

Same way they have to go with Eflin, Howard and Suarez, Jones.
Now we know why Klentak has been drafting RP arms outside the first couple rounds the last two years, safety in numbers and they need numbers of young arms to shine.