2021 Phillies Major League Regular Season Discussion

[andyb]

It was a bad decision by Girardi to go with Knapp to lead off the 9th last night. You had Quinn on the platoon advantage. I might use Knapp with runners on because of his power, but there was not much reason to think Knapp would have been better in that situation than Quinn. He probably fed into Quinn's destroyed confidence also.

I'd be OK with Herrera or Jankowski instead of Moniak as the left-handed bat there. But I'd also give Quinn a week just to see if he can get his confidence back. Batting 8th probably hurts Quinn more than most options because it takes away his speed to some degree. Not that I would put him at the top of the lineup, but I might vary it a bit with off days. Might be time to see Segura leading off for a little while instead of Cutch also. Maybe in a week or two for that.

[tom81]

Batting 8th probably hurts Quinn more than most options because it takes away his speed to some degree. Not that I would put him at the top of the lineup, but I might vary it a bit with off days.

While I generally hate the idea of hitting the pitcher 8th in the order it may make sense to do so now and bat Quinn 9th until he gets out of this funk.

[Philsmania]

For three straight seasons, the Phillies have had an alarms-wailing, needs to be addressed problem which instead of addressing, they merely hoped for the best with what they had. Two years ago, it was the rotation which subsequently collapsed under the weight of Velasquez and Pivetta being counted on to be 3-4 starters. Last year, it was the bullpen with the basket of deplorables they had out there. This year, it's centerfield. Ultimately, they addressed each a year later. They brought in Wheeler last year, rebuilt the bullpen this year. It will be par for the course for them to bring in a stud centerfielder this coming offseason.

[zambonir]

But each of those years the Phillies spent a significant amount of time in first place, and arguably each of those years their biggest flaw was still not the reason they fell apart.

In 2019 the bullpen injuries were as bad as the rotation, and the line-up w/o Cutch (and the beginning of this CF issue) and a useless Hoskins was also not good.

Last year the late-season collapse was actually because of the rotation and line-up injuries, though if not for the bullpen troubles they would had a cushion.

And this year the team is winning games despite the CF issue, and has bigger issues (far more important offensive players not producing, a starting pitcher who looks worse than Pivetta or Ben Lively right now).

And in all these cases the decisions stemmed from the need to give their young cheap players a chance on the one hand, and not being willing to spend past the CBT on the other. And also lacking depth to trade. A lot of folks here would have been unhappy if the Phillies had traded Moniak or Haseley for a pitcher while signing JBJ, but - even with Bradley Jr. not hitting - it certainly would have solved the two things that appeared to be a problem.

No question, if Moniak's not ready and Kingery doesn't get fixed and Haseley's career is functionally over, they'll need a CF next year... but also a LF.

I want to see Herrera just to end the argument over whether he can play or not. I think the simplest way to characterize the Phillies' feelings about him is that he's just bad enough to not be worth the trouble (or the 40-man spot, back when they couldn't spare one). If he was a better player they wouldn't care about the other stuff; if he had no baggage at all, they'd try him even though he probably also stinks.

[zambonir]

One note here: the Phillies do not yet have enough players missing due to COVID that they can go beyond the 40. If the outbreak or contact-tracing circle gets bigger they could indeed bring up Herrera or Jankowski without actually using that last spot, in addition to arms like Hammer or De Los Santos. But we certainly don't want that to happen!

Disjointed Phillies' roster holes and early issues weighing on 2021 start

[andyb]

They still have the Haseley slot open I guess. And if they do make a Herrera move they can easily pass him through waivers if it does not work. If Kingery ever gets his act together that is another spot they get back on the 40 (for Torreyes).

[zambonir]

They can pass him through waivers or would be just as happy if they couldn't!

I do wonder what the medium-term prognosis is for the Haseley and Muzziotti spots. Surely in the latter case he needs to be back on the 40 soon, or he won't be playing minor league games. Whereas at least for now there seems to be no intent of Haseley coming back, and if he does, he'd presumably be optioned.

I've already seen enough of Maton to prefer him to Torreyes. What they need there is a bat, but they were expecting Kingery to be that.

[Taudawg]

Published today, Kingery is 1 for 26 with 12Ks at alternate site.

The Phillies could be nearing a promotion for Odúbel Herrera | Extra Innings

[zambonir]

They say if you have two starting quarterbacks or two starting goalies you don't even have one and apparently that's also true of having five centerfielders.

[andyb]

I've already seen enough of Maton to prefer him to Torreyes. What they need there is a bat, but they were expecting Kingery to be that.

That is the silver lining. Maton looked like he knew what he was doing up there last night. He is not quite Torreyes defensively at SS, but I think they consider him average back there. They dispensed with the rule 5 guy because I think Maton proved he was just as good. Now there is really little reason to believe Maton is better than Moniak offensively (looking at the big picture since neither had played above AA), but the bar to clear for Maton is Torreyes with the seat being held for Kingery eventually (hopefully).

[andyb]

If this lineup hits then Girardi is a genius.
https://twitter.com/ToddZolecki/status/1384580380183912453

Maton and Moniak still in. Joyce and Miller in for Cutch and Hoskins.

Also transactions. Falter and Rosso up. Jones and Sanchez down. Seems like they are looking at long men in the bullpen and maybe they feel better about Romero.

[zambonir]

Well, Wheeler can hit a little.

Pretty standard night game before day game off-day/platoon advantage choice, but boy, it's bad enough to lose Didi's production.

Presumably the pitcher moves were based on who had last thrown when, and for how long, in Allentown.

[andyb]

Falter could be another option for Moore's start if it came to that. Or a R/L tandem with Velasquez. Why they bothered with Jones is curious, though I guess these are easy moves when they are at home near LHV to switch game to game. No idea if there is a 10 day rule with these moves (probably not).

Probably a good sign Alvarado will be ready soon also.

[zambonir]

It sounds like Vince is already locked in, barring Moore.

I'm just assuming Jones was "up" yesterday so if he was going to throw, and they needed him, there he was. And now someone else is, though they are lot less likely to need them with the next two starting pitchers (we hope).

Who gets on the plane tomorrow could be a whole other group. I would agree the recall rules probably don't apply. All these guys wear tracking devices so it seems unlikely anyone else would be ruled out by contact tracing. Only a positive test. Still hard to figure out what ties the five coaches and three players - or at least the two pitchers - together exactly.

[bkeich]

I really hate that we are once again going to bounce Velasquez between starter and reliever without giving him a real chance to be a reliever. I really hope he doesn’t develop into a 8-12 year solid reliever somewhere else after we are done not understanding how to use him.

[zambonir]

They made that decision on Opening Day though. His relief role is specifically tailored to keeping him stretched out, and we have six relievers who are better than him (when Bradley's healthy), seven if you include Hale (and you probably should).

At the same time, he's still our 6th-best starter (whether Howard can go more than 2-3 innings or not). And possibly our 5th!

At this point it doesn't matter, if he wasn't a free agent he'd be a non-tender, and the alternate reality where he could have been a great single-inning reliever still wouldn't have changed much for the last three Phillies' teams. He still helped us win some games last year. If another team signs him on the cheap as a FA and makes him a reliever, more power to both of them, but I bet he won't be looking for that.

To me the only what-might-have-been is they could have non-tendered him and spent more on a proven reliever (which would have been Watson, as it turns out). But then we might have had to keep Ivan Nova.

And his deadline trade value is still higher as a potential surplus starter, if everyone stays healthy and the Phillies upgrade (or have Howard ready) in July.

[Austinfan]

VV really isn't a great RP candidate, he doesn't get the 3-4 MPH boost that some college starters have gotten in the pen, in fact, he seems to be the type who needs 10 or so pitches to get up to full velocity. So he's best suited as a starter, long relief where he starts the inning.

[andyb]

That is true, though it is also true he never has been truly trained for the relief role. We have seen him in the 96+ range occasionally which would certainly be enough for a reliever with a couple of extra pitches. He just is not there consistently since he was always trained to throw 80-100 pitches.

I am resigned to the fact that we'll never know if there is potential there. I also think his control issues this year are not typical of his last few years, so there may be a better starter/long man in there at least for this season. It might not be better than a 4.50 ERA long man, but at least something that is better than our AAA alternatives. The 4th and 5th starters will probably be mediocre all year. We just need to keep getting 5 IP, 3 run performances out of those slots. If we do that the team has a chance.

[David_Criss]

Segura having an MRI on his quad. Depending on the strain he could miss just a few games to 6 to 8 weeks....
Miller and Maton plays second I guess or this cements the return of Torreyes after his COVID protocol I guess....

[bkox]

Jean Segura to the injured list. #Phillies have recalled Spencer Howard and Scott Kingery from Lehigh Valley site. Ramon Rosso optioned to Lehigh Valley site.

— Scott Lauber ( @ScottLauber ) April 21, 2021