2022 Phillies Major League Regular Season Discussion

[gmwannabe]

yes it does.

[bkox]

Corey Knebel said he felt some tightness in his right shoulder while warming up in the pen. Has thrown through discomfort in the past, which made things worse. He hopes he maybe only misses a day or two. Plans to throw today to test it.

— Todd Zolecki ( @ToddZolecki ) June 12, 2022

Cristopher Sanchez optioned to make room for Jose Alvarado.

— Todd Zolecki ( @ToddZolecki ) June 12, 2022

On other options at closer, Thomson said it depends on where they're at in the lineup. He said there are "three or four guys" that could fill that role, including Seranthony Domínguez, José Alvarado, etc but will depend on which hitters they're facing.

— Alex Coffey ( @byalexcoffey ) June 12, 2022

[zambonir]

Always fun to see if the manager will actually stick to that approach. They almost never do. And I sure wouldn't be hoping for Knebel to be out long enough to find out - though the combination of his struggles and this tightness makes it prettty easy to imagine there's an IL stint coming.

[bkox]

Bailey Falter pitched 7 innings last night for Lehigh Valley, his longest outing since July 2019. He'll likely start one of the games of Friday's Phillies doubleheader in D.C. Stretched out and would be on an extra day of rest.

— Corey Seidman ( @CSeidmanNBCS ) June 12, 2022

[Aquapong]

I leave you guys alone for one game and just look. We got soundly shellacked by one of the worst teams in the league.

[allentown]

That's how the Phillies have done poorly in recent years: not able to beat the bad teams. Makes a weak schedule for rest of year less than the bonanza it should be.

[zambonir]

A) It's not like we lost the series and B) the Dbacks had a better record than the Phillies until recently (and still have just one fewer win). And the Phillies also beat up on some good (if struggling) teams which hardly happened regularly in past seasons even as they also lost those games to bad teams.

But for sure, will be crucial to handle the Marlins and Nats to make something of this season.

[andyb]

Norwood DFA. Michael Kelly up. I feel a little bad about Appel not getting the chance here though it could be limited until the 19th. And Kelly has also had a similar long journey from high draft pick way back in 2011 through Indy ball and finally getting to the majors.

Michael Kelly Minor & Independent Leagues Statistics & History |...

[zambonir]

Yeah he is probably just chum until one of the IL guys gets a turn. He and Appel both of options though so in theory neither of them have to be DFA'ed if they get on the see-saw.

[Austinfan]

Phillies seem to have collected a bunch of arms who can't consistently command their stuff, Alvarado, Dohy, Warren, etc. Unfortunately, they don't seem to be able to get through to any of them and get them over the hump.

It's frustrating, guys like Nelson throw mid-90s, have a secondary pitch or two, but just can't put together a string of games that would make them reliable.

The arms are better, but the results are the same.

[andyb]

If guys have stuff and can command it, they are not available for free as minor league free agents.

[Austinfan]

Yeah, but you'd think they'd be able to coach one or two guys over the hump.
It's not just minor league FAs, it's arms in their system at the AA and AAA level who've stagnated for years.
Which probably explains why they brought in the guy from TB who was known for finding bullpen arms.

[andyb]

Manager resting Bohm (Vierling) and Castellanos (both Moniak and Herrera playing) tonight. Good. Playing these guys (and Schwarber) every day in the field is not productive long term. Everyone needs a day off every week or two and that means rest days without the DH.

[andyb]

They do have their successes. Brogdon and Suarez and Bellatti for instance. They also have a preference for pitchers that throw 98 that are available because of command issues. Those pitchers tend to be hard to fix or they would not be cheaply available in the first place.

The Phillies can do better and there is SOME evidence that the shift to high velocity arms which really began last year in earnest with Alvarado and Coonrod has made their bullpen less bad. It is not good. But less bad is a bit of a victory.

[zambonir]

They traded for Nelson, Alvarado too, but nobody had any illusions that the former was fringe and the latter a project.

Jury still out on the new Assistant GM's finds, which include the two guys just coming off IL I believe. But also Bellatti and Norwood?

This is not a bad bullpen. Or a bad mix. I actually thought it was overkill to sign three vets but it worked out otherwise with Coonrod, Brogdon and Alvarado's issues. If Hand and Knebel both end up being decent and Familia doesn't that's probably about the expected rate of return. If Brogdon joins Seranthony as a core piece that's big. The 7th and 8th guys are never that good - one is to be churned and one is for mop-up. And this year we've also seen the 9th guy a lot.

[andyb]

I think the biggest problem with the bullpen is not having enough multi-inning pitchers. It is not a problem when we are on a hot streak getting 7+ innings from our starters, but the reality these days is lots of 4 or 5 inning starts and the need to cover multiple innings. I hesitate to try to look up "second inning stats" on our bullpen. I suspect it is not pretty.

[BaseballCat]

At this point I would prefer Appel if they both have options. I hope they explained to Appel their long term plan for him if he got bypassed by Kelly who has a poor ERA this year. We will see.

[HopeSpringsEternal]

I would prefer Appel if they both have options. I hope they explained to Appel their long term plan for him if he got bypassed by Kelly who has a poor ERA this year.

I was thinking the same thing. Appel seems like the perfect guy to fill the 2-inning role that seems to be a need with the Phillies. Perhaps that’s the plan at some point in the not too distant future. Maybe he’ll be the 27th man for the doubleheader coming up on Friday.

[zambonir]

A really good multi-inning reliever seems like a bit of a unicorn, or I guess maybe that's just for the Phillies. They all seem to either get hurt, or, if they have success as a middle reliever, get promoted to shorter later roles (in Ranger's case, that and then to starter).

Neris was probably the Phillies' best guy to get four-six outs in the second half of last year, once he stopped closing.

I just reckon any time a guy enters a game in the 4th or 5th inning things have already gone badly. A Nick Nelson might keep you in that game half the time, and not the other half. He had two scoreless outings in June before this one but just as crucially the Phillies scored 8 and 9 runs.

[andyb]

One of Nelson's outings was not his fault as he was asked to pitch a 3rd inning and then got hit hard. He is not great. But he seems reasonably capable of giving us 2 innings of average pitching when rested. Now his stuff looks more like a short reliever so maybe he is being misused.

I wonder why the Phillies have really not tried to develop Sanchez in a multi-inning relief role. Sanchez is clearly a work in progress, but he also looks like he has the tools for the role. Ideally you want a left-hander too if more of your starters are right-handers so they might get a platoon advantage in the middle innings.

The definition of a multi-inning reliever is just a short reliever with stamina. They don't need much more than 2 pitches though having a change and a slider/curve is always nice. They do not need 4 pitches and a varied routine though to go through a lineup more than once. If a 2-inning pitcher faces more than 9 batters then they are not that good of a 2-inning pitcher.