2023 Phillies Regular Season Discussion Part 2

[zambonir]

For sure that is more emotionally frustrating. But hardly unusual. Good thing the Marlins are good now, we seemed to do worse against them when they weren't.

[Callison]

Still recovering from the final Pirates game when Sosa and Turner collided - where the game was lost, IMHO. Everybody good with e-6 there? I know Turner dropped it, but he obviously thought he called it - maybe Sosa called it too and the crowd was too loud for either to be heard. If Bohm were at 3rd, he would have reached over Turner or realized he had to back off. I'm down on Sosa. Sposed to be a defensive star, but he got eaten alive by a routine grounder against the Brewers and handed them 2 runs. Still recovering from that too. He makes a contribution about every 10 games, but the Phils love him.

Intereresting some folks are down on Turner at SS. IMHO, Stott is a slightly better fielder, but Turner prefers SS and the decision to give it to him is appropriate. Turner's fielding is not the problem with this team.

[bkox]

Josh Harrison DFAd to make room for Lorenzen

[Lucky_Beagle]

Did Harrison need to be DFA'ed today? I assume it will be a day or two until Lorenzen is added to the roster. Is there another player added to the roster for tonight?

[Patchmk88]

Interesting. I'm guessing we are going with a short bench in order to keep all the bullpen arms along with the 6 man rotation.

[bkox]

Interesting. I'm guessing we are going with a short bench in order to keep all the bullpen arms along with the 6 man rotation.

They cant I dont think. I think there is a limit of 13 pitchers on the roster

[Patchmk88]

Then I guess there is another move coming? Can we list Lorenzen as a position player lol?

[zambonir]

In the other thread it says Lorenzen is pitching tomorrow and if the trade is done he has to be on the 40 and the 26.

But yes one would imagine there is another trade coming and if not they will option a reliever for a bat tomorrow. Too late to get anyone there today.

[andyb]

The Gelb tweet added that there will be a bullpen move tomorrow implying someone will be sent down from the bullpen to maintain the 13-pitcher limit. Unless we actually plan to use Lorenzen in LF of course.

A hitter will be added for Harrison. Tonight if they call someone up, but more likely tomorrow via trade.

[andyb]

This could be the short term player move:

All of the 40 man hitters except for Rafael Marchan are in the IronPigs lineup. The IronPigs are home so it wasn't like anyone was getting there last minute. The Phillies currently only have 12 hitters on the MLB roster because of the Harrison DFA, and Realmuto got scratched

— Matt Winkelman ( @Matt_Winkelman ) August 1, 2023

[zambonir]

Yeah but he can't get to Miami until tomorrow. I'm still assuming trade but if not they could ultimately swap Pache for Cave (rather than Rojas). The fact that Ellis, Muzziotti and Clemens are playing tonight doesn't really prevent them from getting to Florida tomorrow morning (though it does mean Muzziotti probably isn't being traded. Rojas neither).

[BostonRoss]

Thomson just said on the pregame show that they are going with a six man rotation for the next 2-3 weeks.

[zambonir]

Yeah we seem to be past the late-breaking trade window in any case. So do they just option Marte or cut loose Covey? Does a six-man rotation make you more or less likely to want a long man?

[julio]

MLB's transactions page is reporting that the Phillies have "reassigned" Michael Lorenzen "to the minor leagues." Not to any specific minor-league club, though.

I assume this is just a one-day paper thing, so that the big club doesn't have to remove a relief pitcher until after today's game. (When Lorenzen goes on the active roster, some pitcher needs to come off, to keep to the limit of 13 pitchers on the active roster.) But at first glance, I was... "Wha?"

[andyb]

I think teams do have 48 or 72 hours to roster a player on the active roster after a trade. 40-man slots need to happen immediately. Castro got that designation too though I assume he is coming up today since the Harrison spot was not filled by Marchan or any other right-handed outfielder.

If Covey is the move for Lorenzen, we will have an open 40-man spot in case we decide to go with Weston Wilson or Kingery over Castro. The 2023 option for Castro has already been used on July 16, so there is no roster penalty to just go with the better player for the rest of the season. The only other player on the 60-day IL that might need a roster spot at some point is Hoskins. We could of course add a non-roster player like Kerkering or McGarry or Carlos De La Cruz. Just not really expecting that.

[David_Criss]

Covey has only pitched 5 times in the last 39-days. Yes he has thrown much better of late, but if you aren't going to use him, then you should put another bat on the bench IMO.

A six-man rotation can't mean good things for Covey, can it?
If Castro has options, then assign him to AAA, move Uelman to the 60-day, DFA Ellis and add Kingery and Wilson to the active roster. Both have pop and speed with decent gloves.

[andyb]

Yes he has thrown much better of late, but if you aren't going to use him, then you should put another bat on the bench IMO.

There are no choices here. We can't go with 14 pitchers so if we add Lorenzen someone has to go. And a hitter has to replace Harrison. We could go with 12 pitchers but that ain't happening either.

[David_Criss]

andyb, so true.
What I want to see on the transaction wire.
Marte optioned to AAA, Uelman moved to 60-day IL, Ellis DFAed
Lorenzen placed on active roster, Wilson and Kingery added to 40-man and added to active roster
Leaves Marte and Bellatti a phone call away and buys a little more time with Covey since Hoffman has moved more into the 7th inning role.

[zambonir]

Yeah if Covey leaves it is for Lorenzen (vs. optioning Marte) not a hitter.

And I'll take 24 year-old Castro and his .900 career major league OPS against LHP over 28 year-old career minor leaguer Weston Wilson or Kingery.

The real question is what they do when Pache comes back. Carry three RHBs on the bench (Sosa, Rojas, Castro? Or keep Cave and option Castro or Rojas. It would only be for a couple of weeks probably. So none of this is really that important. But clearly yesterday's deals indicate a willingness to carry both Rojas and Pache (and let them face RHP). But that also makes Castro (or any other RHB you want to romanticize in AAA) redundant except for his power (and position but they really don't need that either).

The minor leaguer I'd like to see is Muzziotti.

[andyb]

If we add both Wilson and Kingery (or 2 of 3 including Castro) we need to get rid of 2 pitchers, not one. Castro also gets Falter's 40-man spot so that is not an issue.

We are just not getting rid of 2 pitchers when each reliever is even more important as we move to a 6-man rotation for a week. We'll just kill Strahm if we do that. To add Lorenzen we need to get rid of Covey and someone like Marte if we carry an extra bat. I am fine with a DFA for Ellis if we are not bringing him up, but that 40-man spot is not the issue here.