2020 Phillies Spring Training News, Notes & Discussion

[andyb]

Mostly good news. Kingery is the only key player that is behind a bit. Hunter would probably have made the team, but it is no great loss if he is a week or two late. Might even give them a little roster flexibility around the 30-man initial limit.

[LoneStarPhan]

Update on Kingery

[zambonir]

It's quite the read.

Hunter has a guaranteed major league contract so him being behind (if memory serves he was still hurt in spring training too) just adds flexibility. He won't ever not be on either the active roster or the IL though (at least not without waivers or him accepting assignment).

[zambonir]

This article says our strength of schedule is pretty much the same as it was with the normal schedule (.507 SOS before, .510 SOS now). Also Arizona's is tougher than ours. It is the 10th-toughest schedule now and was tied for 8th (with several teams) before.

How baseball's revised, unbalanced schedule affects teams...

Some assumed the NL East, in getting stuck with the AL East as an interleague partner, would face the sternest task moving forward. But although the schedules have gotten tougher in the division, the increase is relatively negligible. Washington’s schedule actually got easier — an even higher percentage of its season is against Baltimore — while the Mets’ stayed the same in terms of difficulty. The NL East was slated to have the most difficult collective schedule in the sport over 162. Now it’s third, behind both the AL and NL West.

Indeed, the NL East is hurt the most by how much easier the schedules are for some teams in the NL Central — potentially the chief competition for wild-card spots.

[andyb]

AL East is not that great overall with Baltimore being awful and Boston off a bad year. The NL East was also pretty average last year. The schedule feels worse when it is really close to being the same.

Baltimore on the other hand is going to challenge the Mets potentially for worst modern winning percent. They will need to go 15-45 and that might be tough unless COVID and injuries level the playing field for them. Baltimore is just awful.

[zambonir]

Well, you don't hire Jeff Luhnow's protege to win anything but the draft in your first three years. Amazing they had to settle for #2 this year.

[zambonir]

Bryce Harper celebrates J.T. Realmuto homer by shouting, 'Sign him!'

I hope this doesn't turn into a distraction. Because there is probably not any real rush.

[el-pietro]

MLB has released the 2021 scheduled (which seems optimistic to me). Looks like its AL East again, which means we've missed the chance to see Trout and potentially Ohtani at CBP. I was really looking forward to that series in 2020.

[LoneStarPhan]

Looks like they are trying to minimize travel. Sad to not see the normal rotation of AL teams on the schedule. Maybe 2022.

[andyb]

This makes one wonder if they are going to revise some of those radical realignment plans that would get rid of the AL and NL and just make regionalized divisions.

I do think the travel as an excuse is a little over blown when we get beyond COVID. It probably will take longer this year for the team to bus up to NYC than it would to fly to Chicago or even Denver. Teams have direct charter flights out of executive terminals. They do not have the same travel headaches that the rest of us do.

[zambonir]

More travel still costs more money though. But are we sure this isn't just the normal interleague rotation that was already planned for 2021, i.e. they simply skipped/cancelled 2020?

I'm losing my games in Seattle, which would have been last weekend.

I would imagine the Phillies can still take the train to DC and NY. A fully private trip might be costly but socially distanced private cars would be doable. I would think that Amtrak needs the business. They'd need multiple buses (as many as 3) to distance properly too.

(Okay, I see they are straight-up repeating this year's interleague concept - but we still have to play the NL West.)

[andyb]

I can't see the Phillies going on Amtrak in this environment. Remember that interaction with the general public outside their bubble is probably more dangerous that with teammates on a bus. Was just assuming the short charter flights were also too much trouble. A bus with one person per row is probably the easiest to pull off (though seeing them all drive their $200,000 Lamborghinis to NYC would be fun).

[zambonir]

I'm just thinking they could buy out a whole train, or "X" number of cars, and would have a private boarding process. I imagine that's already how they do it in non-COVID times, they're not just buying 50 tickets on the Acela.

I think to truly distance on the bus it would have be one person every two rows, alternating sides. But that would also be true on the train, and bus is presumably cheaper. Plus you can go directly to and from the ballparks (and presumably keep the bus there to take them to hotel as well). Normally players would be on their own for all those things. And they must typically send an equipment bus separately.

[zambonir]

It's weird that there's actually baseball but nothing to really or see or talk about. Less than week until real (exhibition) games though. Arrieta through 48 pitches yesterday. Hopes to be at 85 for first start.

Jake Arrieta confident in 'strict' protocols, sees unique opportunity

[LoneStarPhan]

It certainly does not seem like "spring" training going on now. As noted, little news and most of that has been about COVID. I am afraid this is going to be a disappointing season but maybe if we can see games or listen to a radio broadcast, it will seem like they really are playing baseball for real.

A short season is a great opportunity for a team to grab a championship. I hope the Phillies can get off to a great start.

[flyers19rw]

We’ll have to see how things progress but I have my doubts of players staying COVID free when they go through some of these hot spot cities. The Phillies needing to play series in Atlanta and Miami poses a tough situation. There are so many variables with the problem of keeping the players healthy as they travel. The guys can be doing everything that they should to stay well but the virus can still get at them. The NHL and NBA May be the safest with their bubble venues.

[zambonir]

Basically the news is a daily Zoom interview and a few photos.

Bubble doesn't seem to be helping MLS so far. But it seems pretty clear - and always has been, with the 60-man player pool and COVID-IL not counting against the 40 - that MLB is going to be willing to tolerate teams missing 5-10 players, and also forfeited games up to a certain point. But what is that point? Owners obviously desperate to have playoffs but the whole thing could so easily fall apart by September 1, if not long before.

[andyb]

The NHL might have the best shot at pulling this off with their choice to be in Canada exclusively. Toronto, their biggest and most international city has had 14,000 total cases since March, or slightly less than what Florida reported this morning for the past 24 hours.

[allentown]

It will require an almost super-human amount of collective self-control on the part of almost all the players, umpires, and staff over 4 months to make this work: avoiding local watering holes, hook-ups, going to the beach, and always wearing masks. We're talking about over 2000 individuals, many very wealthy and very used to doing what they want to do, keeping up the necessary self-discipline, without fail. Has any work group succeeded on this, spending the majority of time away from home? How many share the Joe West attitude? Can a nonplayer with that attitude, publicly expressed, really be allowed to participate? A few Joe Wests and the season is toast. One guy can infect one player on a team and on a road trip, the togetherness can bring down half a team, just like that

[zambonir]

It's actually a fascinating test of chemistry and discipline as the thing that might win you a championship - more so than talent, payroll or managerial decisions.

The exposure/contact tracing protocol seems like the biggest x-factor. Let's say a Phillies player tests positive the day after the first exhibition game, but the results aren't in until he's already played in the second one. Is every player who appeared in both games, from three teams total, now on 7-day quarantine?

They are really counting on the players not infecting each other both on and off the field, even more so than counting on them to maintain isolation (because really, they are not required to have their family at the same level of lockdown). And even just this week I've seen players fist-bump, and read about an accidental handshake, and they are still going to be taking meals together on the road, even if they are all supposed to be distanced.