2021 Phillies Major League Regular Season Discussion (part 2)

[bkox]

In 2021, Realmuto has been Salvy Perez, but with good defense

[Philsmania]

Our bench has pretty much been a "hot hand" situation this season. At one point, Williams was the hot hand we stuck with. Now, it's Vierling.

[zambonir]

If Bohm does get to play 3B that might also suggest Freddy is still struggling with his never-healed injury.

OR, perhaps Freddy will play a little SS.

Who knows, maybe Fuld and Dombrowski have even nudged Girardi a little bit on this stuff. Certainly when you do a move like this you get on the same page about what the roles will be.

[andyb]

If all Bohm does is pinch hit that is OK. He was not a good pinch hitter a few months ago because his playing time was so sporadic. Even though he had the injury in AAA, he at least was playing every day of late and had a good weekend a few days ago.

Even if he never sees the field, he should improve our pinch hitting options over the course of the game. Braves LHPs will need to face 3 batters.

[flyers19rw]

For a RH bat at 1B, I’d take Bohm. Vierling can go into the OF when that happens. Miller against RHPs is ok but his play at 1B is an adventure.

[David_Criss]

I'd rather see Bohm starting at first over Miller.
Hated to see Williams go, but he needs to play more.

[zambonir]

phillies dot com article said Bohm won't start at 3B, 1B didn't even come up. But tomorrow would be the game.

[Lucky_Beagle]

Might as well start him at third every game now

[zambonir]

Or at least in Miami.

[Sabin]

Bryce Harper Didn’t Need Luck For An MVP-Level Season

Well, I don't think the team would complain with a little luck over the next five games...

[andyb]

No Bohm in the lineup tonight. Vierling at 1B. Playing Herrera and Didi against Fried, the LHP.

I'd probably sit Didi for Bohm, moving Torreyes to SS. Nola has a high K rate and Didi is 0-7 with 4 Ks against Fried. Small sample, but it is not as if he is good against other LHP.

[BostonRoss]

It’s hard to imagine any of us defending the move to play Didi tonight.

[LoneStarPhan]

Didi did have a hit tonight, but frankly, having him starting most games at short was not a recipe for winning.

Another interesting season where they come up short. Hate seeing them lose this important series in Atlanta.

[zambonir]

I could see Didi bouncing back at the plate if he gets healthy, even as he's also headed for age decline, but you can't start to talk about transitioning him to different positions/roles until the manager is on board. And it also depends what the rest of the infield (and distribution of DH time) looks like.

I don't read anything into Bohm's usage (as discussed in the game thread) but that doesn't mean he's future is set, or that he won't come up in trade talk. Because everyone will.

[flyers19rw]

I’m hearing some criticism of Girardi’s work this season. Like with every manager, some of it is deserved. However he steered this club to a slightly above .500 season. With what he had to work with this year, that deserves some respect. The roster is terribly flawed mostly made up of what should be platoon and bench players. There are vets who have had their seasons fall off of cliffs. Only a few bright spots are to be found here- MVP and Cy Young candidates; the emergence of a possible left handed starter; potentially two young BP arms; perhaps a future position player in Vierling, and that’s it.
Rather than bemoaning the loss of the division, a reality check would show that really isn’t much separating the Phillies from last place in the NL East. Dombrowski has his work cut out for him this winter to create a respectable team in ‘22. It’s not going to be easy.

[Philsmania]

Agreed. All the people on social media firing Girardi really annoy me. These people learned nothing with what's happened with Kapler who they also ran out of town.

[Austinfan]

The key to next season is the guys in AAA ball at the end of this season, because they're the only talent a year away from helping the team. If you let Cutch, Herrera, Bradley and a couple others walk, you might have $40M or so to add players, but more holes to fill as well. So you're not going to fix this team in FA.

There is more talent coming in high A, J Garcia, Rojas, Torres, and low A, Painter, Abel, Y Garcia, etc. But these guys are 3-4 years away if ever.

So either you turn players like Moniak, Haseley, Stott, Bohm, Marchan, O'Hoppe into starters or top reserves and find a couple more young pitchers or blow it up after 2022. Because there's nothing at Reading next year, the action on the farm will be at Jersey Shore and Clearwater.

[zambonir]

For sure, the main reason not to fire Girardi is that they shouldn't have fired Kapler. You can't change managers every two years and succeed. In both cases, they were supposed to add marginal value, and didn't, but maybe that's because few managers really do. They all make really dumb line-up and reliever choices, Manuel certainly did. I'm sure Pete Mackanin could have managed this team to 82 wins as well.

I think there is almost zero chance Joe is going anywhere unless his relationship with Dombrowski is not what it appears. More likely he gets his option picked up.

You can't get this team to 90 wins with FA or what we have in AAA, is the problem. The only options are winning some trades, finding at least one overlooked gem (a Vic or Werth or Herrera) or really embracing platoons (a la '93?) with a mix of young players and cheap vets.

[bkox]

For sure, the main reason not to fire Girardi is that they shouldn't have fired Kapler. You can't change managers every two years and succeed.

Two words.. George Steinbrenner

[zambonir]

So how do we get Kapler to come back?