2023 Phillies Regular Season Discussion Part 2

[bkox]

the Angels have said they won't trade him to the Dodgers!!!

Hes a free agent after the season.. no trade needed

[Callison]

OOOPS - living in the past, when I thought he'd be traded... aging faster than I thought...

[EDmuch]

Are u aware that Ohtani lives in Seattle during the off season?

[zambonir]

I tried to move this discussion to the non-Phillies thread (heck, we even have a thread with "Ohtani" in the title) but since that didn't take - really?

In that ill-fated attempt I did mention that I doubt the Phillies have any interest in an Ohtani who couldn't pitch, not that they were serious contenders to begin with. But....

Phillies among teams who have scouted top Japanese pitcher – Phillies Nation

[Callison]

Nooooo.... I guess they ARE in it after all.

Thanks for the help.

[zambonir]

Rhys update

“I don’t know if I have a specific series or target date in mind,” Hoskins told Phillies Nation before Friday’s game against the Cardinals. “My goal has always been off of that original six-month mark and that was always Oct. 1. To me, anytime after that seems like it’s reachable. Obviously that is fine-tuned once we get closer to that. Depending on how I’m presenting.”

Catching up with Rhys Hoskins as he enters crucial part of ACL rehab – Phillies...

[bkox]

I have no idea where to put this.... obviously too early for the hot stove... but the Phillies were there for this

Teams flocking to scout Yoshinobu Yamamoto as move to MLB looms

His Japanese stats are exceptional

Yoshinobu Yamamoto Japanese Leagues Statistics | Baseball-Reference.com

[zambonir]

Ohtani does not live in Seattle but he spent some time there (four months total over two-off-seasons, it says below), including at Driveline. Unsurprisingly, he also has a fondness for the team due to watching Ichiro play there. If he actually had place there it would be a much bigger deal (at this most recent All-Star Game as well as with regards to his free agency).

https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/shohei-ohtani-mum-on-future-but-really-liked-time-spent-in-seattle/

As I said in the other thread though, the weather there is also actually great during baseball season.

[zambonir]

Phillies still building insurance depth before the 9/1 deadline (or just making the Pigs better for their own playoff run).

Phillies Sign Hector Perez To Minor League Contract

[bkox]

Ranger Suárez (hamstring) will throw to hitters Monday afternoon and the Phillies believe he’ll be ready to go at some point during the next road trip. Won’t go on a minor-league rehab.

— Matt Gelb ( @MattGelb ) August 27, 2023

[zambonir]

That Rob Thomson, he's no fun!

Rhys Hoskins’ rehabilitation from a torn ACL has been a “slow moving time frame,” Rob Thomson said. It will be difficult for Hoskins to return this season, the manager said. …

Will Bryce Harper hit 500 home runs? ‘Absolutely,’ Mike Schmidt said.

[Callison]

The team is looking more and more like they were meant to be all season. Lots of things going right all of a sudden, Turner being the most obvious. Bog Rob will not be discouraged from playing guys he likes in spite of dismal performance on the field. Sosa and Cave would be buried on another team. Covey would have been long gone on another team and I wish Big Rob would do likewise because the Phils seem to have better arms. Rojas is starting to move into the starting lineup.

I thought the Angels would be discouraged by now, but they are still competing, Good coaching there. You can see why they had such high hopes. Too bad about Trout and too bad about the Angels next season without Ohtani.

[Austinfan]

Turner and Harper are finally plaing like they should, but the key this year is Stott, Bohm and Marsh making up for Castellanos and JT not hitting up to their "norm." And if Harper can play 1st, they should just make Rojas the everyday CF and sit Caves and Sosa.

The real key has been the pitching, although Walker has fallen off, he still consistently gets to the 6th or 7th inning. If Nola can build off his last game, that's a deep group that makes life much easier on the pen. Alvarado seems to be working back into shape, need to get SD on track, then pitchers like Soto can be moved back and Kimbrel's workload reduced.

Covey's virtue is he's been consistently mediocre, whereas Brogdon lost it and Marte is an adventure every time out.
They have some young arms but I don't think they want to push them this season.

[David_Criss]

Covey won't make the post season roster, so they will add another bat.

[zambonir]

I doubt they will add another bat. They went 13 pitchers last year against St. Louis and Atlanta. Covey just won't be one of them (most likely).

[andyb]

Last year they went with 13 pitchers. I think Hoskins is the one scenario where they keep a 14th bat and that would not be until the later series.

Reality is we don't use our bench much. Rotating Rojas or Pache in for Marsh and for defense is the one move we do regularly. Stubbs and Castro won't play much in the postseason. Sosa will get the second most playing time.

They may well decide someone like Bellatti or Ortiz is better than Covey, but pretty sure they will stick with 13 pitchers. At least the postseason games won't last 4 hours any more, though 3 and a half might be possible still if both teams use 8 pitchers and the commercial breaks are all longer.

[Philsmania]

What makes me nervous is the September gremlins they've dealt with the last five years. They have had losing Septembers/early Octobers every year since 2018, some of them downright calamitous. Makes me wish they were more than five games up on the fourth place wildcard team.

[zambonir]

I reckon you meant Stubbs not Stott. If memory serves he didn't get a single AB last year.

And Castro probably loses his playoff roster spot to Pache. Cave, Stubbs, Pache, Sosa (Rojas a starter).

[zambonir]

Honestly I am more (unaccountably) nervous about them coming in as a first-round favorite and losing. And/or getting hammered by the Braves.

The reality is, they can be just as bad this year as they were last year and they still probably won't blow the top wild card, the current lead is actually pretty comfortable given the competition has shown little inclination to string together huge winning streaks. And they definitely won't miss the playoffs.

I think they will show up for the Mets and Pirates games just like they did for the Cardinals games, though ideally the last four or five won't even matter and we'll get to enjoy a Dylan Covey start to boot!

[andyb]

Yeah Stubbs. I don't know if they want both Pache and Rojas. Pache's new injury will give them another week or two to look at him in AAA. They also have Cave in that outfield rotation (2 of Marsh, Cave, Rojas, and Pache will start).

I just wish we saw that 900 OPS Castro against LHP that were his stats before the trade. That Castro could be a valuable pinch hitter.

There was a bunch of negative talk about Cave vs Rojas against right-handed pitching on the game thread last night. Rojas is really overmatched against good right-handed pitching with velocity and he has gotten a little lucky so far. I am perfectly fine starting Rojas mostly against LHP and then getting him in the game in the 6th or 7th for defense and pinch hitting/running in other games. Cave is solid defensively in a corner. He is no longer a great CF but he is really not that different from Marsh defensively in both places. Cave played mostly CF in the minors and still has played there the most in the majors.