2021 Phillies Major League Regular Season Discussion

[andyb]

Kingery is back. Of course not the way we wanted him to be back on the heels of a 1-26 streak. Curious if this means Maton stays when Torreyes is eligible again. Not sure we can trust Kingery's offense at 2B and how much faith would we have in Miller's defense there these days. Might be best to keep Maton as a good defensive option that can hit more than Torreyes.

[gmwannabe]

i would certainly keep Maton. looks like he has an idea about hitting, in the small sample i have seen.
gm

[David_Criss]

So is Howard a BB or starter option this year? They may need a few innings from someone today.

[andyb]

If we move on from Moore or Anderson or have other injuries I assume Howard will be an option. Part of the long reliever strategy for him was just acknowledging that he was on an innings limit. Once we get to July I could easily see him stretched out to be in the rotation, but that might be after we exhaust Velasquez and maybe one or two other options. If he throws 20 major league innings in the first half (plus another 20-30 in alternate site games), the team might think better of giving him 80-90 regular rotation innings in the second half of the season.

Depending on today, I assume Howard or Falter will be backing up VV in the thin air on Friday. Can't imagine they want Vince over like 60-70 pitches no matter how well he pitches.

[Philsmania]

Some guy named Hamels is unsigned.

[allentown]

Some guy named Hamels is unsigned.

He was good in 2019, but lost all of 2020 to a shoulder injury. When you're 37, a shoulder injury is a very big deal. There is a very good reason that he is still unsigned. A minor league deal with a set salary if he is healthy enough to make the Phillies, with a June 1 release if not in Philly would be fine, but not an MLB salary and roster spot today.

[zambonir]

"Set salary" is the key phrase there. They can't even spare $2 million w/o actually offloading Moore or Vince. I think the three guys we have (Howard being the other) are the three guys we see until July.

[DurhamBull]

I think there's also some wisdom for both Hamels and the Phils in not taking the risk of tarnishing the image of a beloved sports figure. If Hamels came back and struggled in AAA, that'd be especially sad for Philly phans to see. It's fine if Hamels attempts a comeback on someone else' AAA squad, or if the Phils can take a gamble on some other pitcher who is trying to eke out a final season or two, but I think it's smart if Hamels doesn't wear a Phillies jersey again until he retires.

[zambonir]

I doubt Cole is gonna sign a minor league deal with anyone. If he pitched in AAA it would only be because he's going through the extended ST/rehab steps on a guaranteed deal. It doesn't sound like he'd be available for a couple of months in any case, according to Heyman no one has even seen him throw yet.

There's also nobody running the Phillies now with any nostalgia for him really. Dombrowski might be more likely to go back to Anibal Sanchez.

[David_Criss]

If Hamels was ready to pitch at the Major League level he'd have a deal in place. He doesn't need it, financially speaking. He isn't a hall of famer and needs 37 more wins to eclipse 200 and 440 Ks to reach 3,000. That is tough for a healthy 37-year-old. We haven't heard anything from the Hamels camp. He hasn't officially retired, so there is always hope. I don't want to see a Hamels barely hanging on return. That isn't what the Phillies need and it isn't what he needs.

Who knows maybe he comes to camp next year to attempt a comeback. But I don't see it this year, unless he was 110% ready to compete at a high level.

Don't get me wrong. I'd love a healthy effective Hamels return. If not him or Suarez, Falter, Jones or Medina - 3 other starters are out there:

Mike Leake from all accounts is healthy. He wants to stay close to Arizona to take care of his paralyzed father. Like Hamels, I am guessing the man is set for life financially.

Rick Porcello - has lots of ties to Philadelphia/New Jersey having grown up in Morristown and pitching for Seton Hall. He is a ground ball specialist who has been impressive more than he has not. He is a Mets fan though

Jeff Samardzija is 36 and like a lot of pitchers with track records struggled with the crazy 2020 season. In 2019 he was 8th in the NL starting 32 games and finished 11-12 with a 3.52 ERA in San Francisco.

[Philsmania]

Rick Porcello - has lots of ties to Philadelphia/New Jersey having grown up in Morristown and pitching for Seton Hall. He is a ground ball specialist who has been impressive more than he has not. He is a Mets fan though

Morris**town** is in North Jersey. Morris**ville** is in Bucks County across the river from Trenton.

[Philsmania]

If the Phillies want to add to their stable of one-time first-round picks, this son of a phormer-Phillies Cy Young Award winner is available. He wasn't a bust, however, he was good for a stretch.

Cam Bedrosian Elects Free Agency

[zambonir]

As far as anyone knows Hamels is still injured. He was on the 45-day IL most of last season and then wound up on the 10-day IL to end it. When he's ready to pitch in front of teams, we'll hear about it.

But I just don't think any of these guys are willing to play for minor league minimum, no matter how much money they've made, and the 40-man spot won't be that easy to come by either (even if it is right now). What they need right now, perhaps, is someone who would actually report to the alternate site and AAA, with no opt-out. And then hope you never need him.

We're at least 8 combined Moore/Velasquez starts away from going to anyone else (barring injury) and Howard would be next up.That actually does get us to July, especially with off-days. The only question now, depending on how VV pitches and whether or not Moore actually tested positive for COVID, is who makes the next start.

Suarez is apparently being treated as a starter again, though I don't know that he's a good one - nor how long it will be before he's actually ready. Probably not for a month or two since he's still in spring training mode and needs to pitch in real AAA games.

Right now the fact that we just had to play w/o Segura, Gregorius, Alvarado and Bradley is probably a bigger deal than the 5th starter. Hopefully Didi and Alvarado are back in the mix before the road trip ends (Didi supposedly for this series).

[Taudawg]

Braves, Marlins, Nationals Interested In Anibal Sanchez

Jon Heyman tweets Phillies in attendance for Anibal's workout today. One of Six teams present per his tweet. One could suggest this visit is just due diligence. I'm not sure I would agree.

[andyb]

We passed once before on Sanchez. I just don't see if there is any reason to suspect he would be better than Moore. Now if he is willing to take a low guarantee and pitch in Lehigh Valley to see if he is good enough I am all for that. He just does not seem to be a good major league solution at the moment.

With Hamels I am intrigued as anyone is. And a pro-rated half season contract is probably something we could overpay a bit and fit under the competitive balance threshold. As others have said though, there is no indication he is actually healthy and he really has not shown much of a desire to finish his career in Philly. Not that we could have met his price last year, but Hamels probably wants to pick a team in July that he thinks is a pretty good bet to finish in the playoffs. The Clemons late career strategy.

[Philsmania]

Signing Sanchez might be something of a tacit admission that at least Moore did not work out and they are not so sure about Anderson (though he hasn't been all that bad).

[zambonir]

I don't think we passed on him, he passed on us - and everyone. He supposedly turned down multiple major league deals because of COVID concerns at the time, before we got Moore and Anderson. Only started ramping up again two weeks ago.

And of course it's nothing more than due diligence. For now. But I still don't see us further approaching or exceeding the CBT for someone who isn't necessarily an upgrade over what we have. When the time comes to do that it will be for a better pitcher, and/or a CF.

If Moore really does fall out of the rotation permanently that's a pretty poor reflection on the front office, if nothing we're not used to. They put a ton of his stock in his Japanese performance.

[Taudawg]

And of course it's nothing more than due diligence.

Maybe, not sure I agree as I mentioned in original post. If Sanchez impresses (perhaps slim odds) those in attendance, he will no longer be an option for the Phillies - He will be signed and another Moore replacement will be off the board. Dombrowski knows this and for this reason, I believe the Phillies interest is legit.

[Austinfan]

He has his velocity back, but his command has been awful.
But that's not unusual for the first few starts, we'll see.

[zambonir]

I don't think the concepts of due diligence and their interest being legit are in opposition to each other! The other 24 teams are the ones without even a hint of interest.

But I also still don't think replacing Moore with anyone not named Velasquez or Howard is a priority, so another team may indeed want him more, or have the $ the Phillies really don't. Including the Braves.