2021 Phillies Major League Regular Season Discussion (part 2)

[phillychuck]

Going into next season they have four competent starters (if they are healthy) and arguably 5 if Suarez counts. That is really pretty solid progress.

[Sabin]

Going into next season they have four competent starters (if they are healthy) and arguably 5 if Suarez counts. That is really pretty solid progress.

Well, it is if you're focusing primarily on the starting pitching.

[bkox]

RHPs Cam Bedrosian, Ramon Rosso added to @Phillies as rosters expand to 28.

— Tom Housenick ( @TomHousenick ) September 1, 2021

[andyb]

Looks like they have 43 players on the 40-man list now with 3 COVID exemptions (Knapp, Eflin, Williams). So they will need to remove somebody from the 40 (Hoskins was already put on the 60 so that move is done).

Bonifacio probably gets DFA'd because Vierling is just better. Joyce is still lurking and would require a 40-man spot too. Short answer is that Rosso and Bedrosian while serving a short term need, are both easy to DFA later if they need to.

[zambonir]

Still hard for me to imagine them bringing Joyce back. Velasquez also has to be activated or DFA'ed at some point. I'm hoping Bedrosian wins himself the spot, presumably over De Los Santos. And Rosso could also be optioned (to flip-flop with VV or Seranthony) if they can keep him on the 40.

Eflin could also go on the 60-day.

Vierling may be better but we already have a LH 1B and two LH CFs. The real choice there long-term is probably Bonaficio vs. Williams. Though if Marchan keeps it up he should probably stay, let Knapp PH and play 1B a bit (I know others will chime in and say they should release Knapp, but that's not gonna happen).

[mdougherty12]

Vierling may be better but we already have a LH 1B and two LH CFs.

Vierling is right-handed.

[zambonir]

Oops. So why didn't they bring him up in the first place after having already DFA'ed Bonifacio once? I mean, I guess the answer is they want him playing every day in AAA, in which case he's probably going back to AAA. Jankowski won't be gone long either. But as with Maton and Williams may as well ride these guys until they hit the wall.

[andyb]

Bonifacio was hitting better at AAA (973 vs 690 OPS). But Vieling is better defensively in the OF and can play 1B.

They probably don't need either if Williams were back, though the 28-man roster certainly allows them to carry an extra bat on the bench now (5 or 6) instead of 4 or 5. Bonifacio is just an easy DFA. Sucks for him that he is likely gone in a few days. At least he'll have made some major league money for a couple of weeks.

[zambonir]

Sucked more to be Ruben Tejada

[andyb]

While I am sure the financial terms are not favorable to the players, this MLB offer actually has the seed of a good idea:

MLB makes new service time proposal to players union

The idea is tying free agency to age. Now the age here (29.5) is a year or two too high, but the concept is good. Say the age limit was 28. If you have a 22 year old player who is ready for the majors you then have zero incentive to keep that player in the minors to game service time (assuming free agency would be age 28 OR 6 years of service). Now I would go for 27.5 and 5 years most likely. Then add in more arbitration so the younger players get a larger share of the money. And of course do not cut the luxury tax limits like they are trying to do.

There is a seed of a solution here. Hopefully this is a positive step.

[andyb]

I guess the bot does not do rain makeups.

Nats score 3 on the 3rd off Nola on 2 HRs (Soto and Thomas). Phils batting in top of 5th down 3-0. Harper did have a bases loaded opportunity earlier but did not cash in.

[kikutaro]

I forgot to check what time it started

[zambonir]

There's a human involved?

[bkox]

Didi Gregorius and Travis Jankowski are back with the Phillies tonight. Both had been on paternity leave. Nick Maton and Jorge Bonifacio head back to triple A

— Jim Salisbury ( @JSalisburyNBCS ) September 3, 2021

[andyb]

The Bonifacio transaction is listed as "returned" to AAA while Maton was optioned. I guess this means Bonifacio was up on the COVID exemption so a DFA with waivers was not required here. Roster down to 42 with Williams, Knapp, and Eflin on COVID list.

So they need to clear 2 spots to bring all of them back. Bedrosian and Rosso were the two they just added so they are probably the most vulnerable. Seranthony at least would no longer require a 40-man move since he was moved back onto the roster a few days ago.

[zambonir]

Oh, I wondered about that. I thought maybe since he'd already accepted the assignment to AAA last time maybe they didn't have to go through it again. Though obviously players do get DFA'ed repeatedly.

Eflin may yet go on the 60. And Joyce or VV, while unlikely (as I posted elsewhere) could still be released.

[bkox]

Bryce Harper gets robbed as CJ Cron is named NL player of the month for August

[zambonir]

pretty surprising anyone noticed what Cron did but I wouldn't say he didn't deserve it.

[zambonir]

Some fairly big notes in here:

Sunday will be a bullpen game, with Moore among the available pitchers. Wheeler bumped to Monday, which lines him up to start the last game of the season (as well as once against the Braves).

Vince is expected to rejoin the major league club after another rehab start or two.

“The world that we live in, you can never have too many starters,” manager Joe Girardi said. “So, we’ll try to build him back up.”

Ranger Suárez has slid into the Phillies’ rotation by gaining trust in his...

[el-pietro]

..or we're going to come up against the Phillies inability to beat the Marlins.

Well this proved accurate in the first series in Miami this month. Despite that we've made a little bit of ground on Atlanta but it feels like a bit of a missed opportunity.
The Phillies have two more against the Brewers before facing the Rockies in a 4 game series at home and 3 against the Cubs.
Meanwhile the Braves have 3 at home vs the Nats, Marlins and Rockies. Need to keep our head above water over the next 10 days and hope to make some ground when the Braves go West