2021 Phillies Major League Regular Season Discussion

[Austinfan]

Good luck, don't let the screen door hit you on your way out.

[BostonRoss]

Part of the issue with the bullpen is that we have too many high leverage situations. The offense has been below average, and the defense gives away runs. There are a lot of chances to blow saves.

[Philsmania]

Good luck, don't let the screen door hit you on your way out.

Someone will pick him up and he'll be on a ML roster soon enough.

Heck, the Rays or the Athletics would probably find a way to turn him into a shutdown setup man.

I didn't realize until recently that Hale is a Princeton guy. If only he pitched as well as he is smart.

At least it's not looking like we lost much with Addison Russ who got bombed in AAA and was demoted to AA.

[donaldorc]

Part of the issue with the bullpen is that we have too many high leverage situations. The offense has been below average, and the defense gives away runs. There are a lot of chances to blow saves.

This!!

[flyers19rw]

When two of the five starters can't make it through six innings, that creates too much of a load for the BP to carry. Then when one of the top three fall apart early, its a mess.

[bkox]

When two of the five starters can't make it through six innings, that creates too much of a load for the BP to carry. Then when one of the top three fall apart early, its a mess.

Except the Phillies are 10th in MLB in starter innings and every team ahead of them have played 2-5 more games

Phillies starters average 5.37 innings a start. The team with the most starter innings, Oakland, average 5.64. Meaning about just one more out per start.

Phillies relievers have thrown 251 innings. The 3rd least in all of MLB.

The Cubs have the best bullpen statistically in MLB this year and they have thrown 50 more bullpen innings than the phils

[flyers19rw]

True about starter’s innings so far. However as the year goes forward, it’s going to take a greater toll. It’s what has happened here for the last few season and eventually the collapse occurs.

[bkox]

The other surprising stat about our bullpen.. for all the fireballers we added this year.. our k/9 ranks 22nd in MLB.

This means our defense gets more chances to bungle things like we seen this weekend.

[zambonir]

At least it's not looking like we lost much with Addison Russ who got bombed in AAA and was demoted to AA.

It's okay Cole Irvin makes up for him x 10.

[schillingfan]

I’m surprised Cole Irvin is having success. He may that first year miracle we see here occasionally. When I saw him in AAA in 2019 his fastball sat at 89. Once in a while it might reach 91. He needs great location and control to be successful.

[bkox]

Seems going with a 6 man rotation:

Phillies rotation will go Velasquez/Nola/Eflin vs. Marlins and Wheeler/Moore for first two vs. Padres. Spencer Howard starts tonight.

— Matt Gelb ( @MattGelb ) June 28, 2021

[andyb]

No off days this week and they probably are going to pitch in some pretty hot weather with lots of travel (1-game Cincy series).

I am guessing Girardi wants to do this once or twice before making a decision on Howard or Moore or Velasquez.

[zambonir]

Or Howard's turn just might not come up again.

[Philsmania]

I think Tito and Kapler are very different examples, but in both cases they simply had better players and worked for better organizations (and significantly better GMs) the second time, more than improving themselves after failing early. Though that's certainly not unusual either - Bobby Cox, Joe Torre, A.J. Hinch, countless others. Nothing special about the Phillies there.

Tito had a lot more years to "learn" from, and was also an experienced minor league manager. Kapler was not, and yet he has moved on after just two years in Philly without missing a beat. Had he gotten the Dodgers job instead of Roberts he might have thrived there from Day 1.

The question now is was Joe only good because of the Yankees and Cashman or are the Phillies also dragging him down? He did win manager of the year in Florida, but with a 78-84 team.

Or, conversely, was Charlie Manuel in the wrong place at the wrong time in Cleveland (the outstanding Indians team of the '90's running out of steam and getting broken up) or was he just good in Philadelphia thanks to Gillick and a Phillies team which became ascendant when he was here?

[zambonir]

I was just thinking Pete Mackanin might be the best Phillies manager since Charlie. And I don't remember any of us thinking Charlie was a great manager even while he was doing it.

There are certainly some managers who are just bad - Bowa arguably, and certainly Sandberg at the major league level - were just better-suited to other roles. But most managers are probably just good. The great ones have great players, and a handful of truly great ones have great players but also bring a little something extra, whether it is communication, chemistry or (more rarely) tactics.

[Philsmania]

To bad Mackanin had to he the fall guy for the teardown years. They would have been better off with him. Or, perhaps this is a Phillies team which would make any manager they ran out there look stupid.

[zambonir]

They either kept him a year too long or canned him a year too early.

[Philsmania]

I suspect Mackanin would have handled guys like Crawford, Williams and Alfaro better just as he tended to get more out of Herrera even though he and Herrera had occasional dustups. And, maybe he wouldn't have become overly enamored with Kingery after one great spring training.

[flyers19rw]

I just don’t know how Dombrowski can make the moves that it would take to get this club to being respectable. I guess that moving out everyone not named Harper, Realmuto, Wheeler and possibly Nola is a start.
The club is so fundamentally unsound. When you watch them play, they do things that even Little Leaguers know is wrong. It’s as if all that they want to do is hit but they don’t even do a good job at that with their lack of discipline at the plate. Sad.
I actually feel bad for Middleton/Bucks. They’ve invested a lot of money into an organization that gives them little ROI. Attendance is going to fall. Why spend good money to see this act? I’ve heard it already- when does Eagles camp open up?

[Philsmania]

Eagles stink, too.

Truth is, Middleton and the Bucks hired the wrong people and held onto them for too long. Dombrowski and Girardi are good baseball people but not good enough to hold off the inevitable unraveling which is going on now.