2022 Phillies Major League Regular Season Discussion

[allentown]

Seriously, how many in-game decisions and lineup decisions was Kapler allowed to make. Didn't the higher-ups insist he follow the advice of the new Analytics Dept? Did he have any authority beyond trying to manage the morale and interaction of the various personalities on the team. The Analytics team came with a big authority boost direct from Middleton. They were young, inexperienced, and foolish but they had Middleton's fervent blessing. Kapler in Philly had to be among the most neutered managers of recent years.

[zambonir]

Well, I'm with you, but Gabe also doesn't get the job if he wasn't onboard with that approach, and likely in alignment with a lot of their decisions too. At the end of the day he still got to make the calls (like, the analytics said to pull Nola on Opening Day and he was obviously a fan of those analytics but also still got to make the decision). I just think 30 out of 30 managers would have rode Seranthony in a pennant race. It's just that the Phillies really shouldn't have seen themselves as being in one.

[andyb]

Placing blame is not the issue here. The reality is that a pitcher who had never been a reliever in his life. One who had probably never pitched at a higher level on less than 3 or 4 days rest, was allowed to pitch 28 times on 0 or 1 days rest in about 2/3 of a season. Going for more than 1 inning 1/4 of those outings.

Doesn't something sound wrong there? Mark Appel and Francisco Morales have both been allowed to pitch on 1 day rest only a handful of times this year, much less zero days rest. Nobody can ever prove that abuse hurt Seranthony. But the circumstantial evidence is pretty strong. Kapler was the manager. The usage is largely on him. Klentak permitted it to happen. So it is on his watch too. Bad luck is just not a good argument when the facts are pretty plain. Pitchers need to be trained for that usage, especially when they throw 99.

[andyb]

Apple TV tonight.....

[Philsmania]

Apple TV tonight.....

And Peacock on Sunday. A weekend streaming extravaganza.

[schillingfan]

If I didn’t say so on this board, I know that at the time, I was upset at Kepler and believed Seranthony was going to get an arm injury.

Thomson seems to be balancing his bullpen well. He is lucky that he has multiple pitchers he can slot into roles and starters that go deep. When you have one 8th inning guy, you use him every time you need him if you are desperate to win. So while I blame Kepler, I can understand not having any good choices. I think good bullpen management requires pitching skills in the relievers. The trick is mixing and matching them properly. Girardi relied too much on veterans in key roles. Thomson is not afraid to take chances.

[Austinfan]

Phillies are also pushing young pitchers to rely on their secondary pitches.

Used to be that sliders were blamed for arm issues, but I think it's becoming understood that the pressure for velo has too many pitchers overthrowing which puts more stress on their arms.

If you're throwing more changeups and sliders, you don't have to throw as many FBs, or throw them as fast, when hitters are seeing a steady diet of off speed stuff, a 95 FB looks as fast as 98 because they can't just sit on it.

[andyb]

That is all true, though I do think we like pitchers with really high spin rates on their offspeed pitches too. Probably does not protect the arm as much as one would think if they are generating lots of torque on their slider or curve.

[andyb]

Segura could be ready when his 60-day IL stint is over August 3rd:

Segura is not eligible to be activated until Aug. 3. Rob Thomson said that’s “ambitious” but Segura could definitely be on assignment next week. Also, he reached 10 years of big-league service time today. Big day. https://t.co/RRWJz1kheF

— Matt Gelb ( @MattGelb ) July 22, 2022

[xogfog]

Schwarber is having an Adam Dunn season, except with an even worse batting average.

[schooldoc]

It's time to get Jeurys Familia off this baseball team. Mark Appel, for one, is better than Familia right now.

I'm sure someone would pick up Familia for league minimum, probably fix him, and he'd help somebody out for the last two months of the season. But it's not happening for him here, there are better options, so let's cut our losses and move on.

[zambonir]

The Sunk Cost Fallacy

I mean, they can probably afford to keep him for 8 more days, just in case he can be dumped into a deal? That's the only scenario where he's not purely a sunk cost, if you can shave a little $ off your CBT. But even using him last night trailing 4-1 - and in a difficult spot! - looks pretty dumb. And at this point yes you'd rather see Appel even in a mop-up outing

He also probably can't be fixed. Was bad last year and as Baer points out hasn't really been the same since 2019 surgery.

[andyb]

We need to make a roster move for Falter tomorrow. It will be interesting to see if it is Familia or Romero.

[zambonir]

Heck maybe it should be both (call up Appel or Sanchez for long relief, though the latter probably doesn't pair with Falter).

[Austinfan]

Think they want to keep Sanchez stretched out as the "6th starter."
So far he's been more effective than Falter.

[zambonir]

Right but then why is he not starting tomorrow? His turn is today, wouldn't have been hard to do. Obviously he won't be available for call-up though.

[Austinfan]

Maybe matchups?

[andyb]

They can't call up either Appel or Sanchez because now you have to wait 15 days after using an option.

[Aquapong]

I saw on the Phillies site that they do bp at 10:15 for a 1:05 game. I also remember an attendant telling us while we were at a game that the Phillies don’t do bp before a day game after a night game. Any idea what time we can get in to try to get autographs tomorrow for a 12:05 atart?

[zambonir]

Ah right. it always seems like there is a loophole for that but nobody's hurt. Or maybe Jeurys is feeling a little twinge.

Otherwise I bet it's Romero. They already know what Familia is and that he likely won't be around in a week but it looks like Romero needs to be back in AAA (where he had already basically wound up before they realized he was injured) for a while.