2022 Phillies Major League Regular Season Discussion Part 2

[BaseballCat]

Hope you can rearrange your plans!! Wish I could go. I expect it will be very crowded

[andyb]

Plassmeyer has 4 days rest. Emanuel 2. Morales 0. Can pitch more innings than Appel.

They want somebody the next couple of days that could go 3+ if they needed it. Strong chance Plassmeyer is only on the roster for a few days. Morales or Appel could very well go west and they'll need a 40-man spot for Harper anyway.

[zambonir]

Thomson just announced Sanchez is coming up to start Wednesday so there's your Plassmeyer move presumably. Just to get the rotation an extra day.

[zambonir]

Phillies are optioning Darick Hall to Triple A. He’ll go play there every day, then can return in 10 days on Sept. 2 when rosters expand. They’ll bring another hitter tomorrow.

— Matt Gelb ( @MattGelb ) August 23, 2022

[andyb]

Maybe Guthrie will get his shot as Plassmeyer was just renting the 40-man spot. At least until Bryce is back. A few days of major league service time is at least a nice reward for some of these kids who never got a big signing bonus.

[zambonir]

Plassmeyer not only has options, he has all his options (if Fangraphs is correct). So I assume he just gets swapped for Sanchez and they probably call up Camargo or Munoz (while still possibly using Maton in the OF but hopefully not for much longer).

Apparently people (including Ricky Bo) are perplexed that they'd want to call up a 7th starter and possibly tax the bullpen, even against the Reds. But I kind of like the long game - and it's also an acknowledgment that the team is in pretty good shape to make the playoffs, it doesn't really matter what the seed is. All this talk of having Wheeler and Nola ready for Games 1 and 2 doesn't matter much if they aren't sharp.

[xogfog]

I guess Hall is going to play 1B for a few games as Harper is heading to begin his rehab.

[Aquapong]

At league minimum, if you stay on the active roster a week it’s like $30k in salary. Nice pay bump for us commoners.

[zambonir]

Of course us commoners still probably can't perform in AAA, let alone the big leagues. The best part is probably the pension and health insurance bump.

[andyb]

Plassmeyer not only has options, he has all his options (if Fangraphs is correct)

He is not good enough to keep the 40-man spot with all our other needs. Remember Harper will need a spot. Then expanded rosters could dictate another spot potentially. Nothing against Plassmeyer, but he is unlikely to be lost in a DFA move.

[LoneStarPhan]

Roster management of the 40 man roster after the season is a whole different discussion that we will have in November. I always enjoy that time.

[julio]

Roster management of the 40 man roster after the season is a whole different discussion that we will have in November.

Yes. At the same time, we should keep in mind that Dombrowski cannot defer thinking about off-season roster management until the off-season, because decisions made now can constrain his off-season options.

Not to say he should avoid making decisions now that will constrain him in November — but that in making today's decisions, he needs to be thinking about the off-season impacts, weighing the costs/benefits, both to today's roster and November's. Focusing on today, and "worrying about tomorrow later" is a fan's luxury, not a GM's.

[Austinfan]

We'll see. We dismissed Irvin, and he's put up 3.3 WAR in 54 starts the last two seasons.
Junk balling lefties seem to be like cockroaches, hard to kill.

Now Falter has the inside track for #5 starter next year (figure they only resign one of Thor and Gibson), but Plassmeyer might have a shot as the #6 type you stash in AAA.

I think McGarry and Miller start in AAA, and Abel and Painter in AA next year.
So they'll need veteran depth to start the season so they don't have the rush the kids.

[zambonir]

I am not saying Plassmeyer isn't fungible, and I certainly don't think you spend a lot of time worrying about keeping him for next year. But the simple move is there, especially if you do it for Sanchez. If you then need the 40-man spot at the expense of a pitcher you could also punt on Emanuel (but maybe he's going to get a turn too). And I suppose Morales is also not a sure thing to survive the Rule 5 run-up

Would be simplest if Marsh came back at the same time as Harper (then you could DFA Zimmer) but not sure that's in the cards.

[andyb]

We'll see. We dismissed Irvin, and he's put up 3.3 WAR in 54 starts the last two seasons.
Junk balling lefties seem to be like cockroaches, hard to kill.

Didn't you just dismiss Plassmeyer a couple of months ago after I noted he had a good start?

For the record I never dismissed Irvin. Always thought he was useful and could have developed into a back of the rotation starter but also recognized that he got caught up in a roster shuffle and they really had to move him (traded him for cash instead of losing him to waivers).

It is the reality of today's 40-man roster which is increasingly squeezed by the number of pitching injuries and the increasing roster size. The fact is, Plassmeyer being likely to pass through waivers made him a candidate to be called up even if he was there just to pitch multiple innings if they got way behind.

Nobody is "dismissing" Plassmeyer. We just realize where he is compared to their other pitchers and knowing that they made this move simply because he is "behind" those other pitchers. Optioning a pitcher means not having them for 15 days. We might want Appel or Morales up for longer periods of time than Plassmeyer if they get called up in the next couple of weeks.

[andyb]

Would be simplest if Marsh came back at the same time as Harper (then you could DFA Zimmer) but not sure that's in the cards.

I think Harper is likely back before Marsh, even as soon as this weekend when they go on the road. Harper probably replaces whatever extra hitter they call up today. Then Hall gets added on 9/2 as the 14th hitter. Then Marsh replaces Zimmer whenever he is ready.

They are clearly managing day to day though. I think Bohm tweaked a quad last might so that might dictate short term moves this week (though you really want Bohm's bat in the lineup and that might mean getting Schwarber in the outfield to free up DH for a day or two).

[Taudawg]

Marsh targeting Friday - https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/phillies/phillies-injury-updates-seranthony-dominguez-kyle-schwarber-brandon-marsh

[zambonir]

He might have been lying (or joking?) but Thomson said he wanted Sosa in there for a potential SB.

I don't think Harper is going to play before the West Coast road trip. More likely he plays two games, takes Thursday off and plays two more than it is that he plays three games and then is like, let's go!

(And, while that's life in the minors, they are probably selling the heck out of the ballpark Friday and Saturday.)

Adding - sounds optimistic on Marsh but if he and Harper can both get on the plane to Arizona that's good enough I'd say!

[phillychuck]

Iron Pigs said Harper is playing Tuesday-->Saturday and sitting Sunday.

[andyb]

If Marsh is actually ready Friday I guess they bring him back then and choose between Zimmer and whomever gets called up for today.

The plan with Harper is to play 5 days in a row (Tuesday-Saturday) take Sunday off and play next week out west. I am just throwing out the possibility that if he is really good the first couple of games they might just decide to activate him sooner rather than later if Schwarber can play the field. In other words if I were a Lehigh Valley fan I would get tickets early in the week rather than late.