2023 Phillies Regular Season Discussion

zambonir 2023-05-27 19:22:04 UTC #561

Yeah maybe they will look at him in July but right now he is not on the 40. Meanwhile they just added another LHB OF. And there are some moves looming (Hall coming off the 60, Marchan coming off the 60, the admittedly more remote possibility of Song pitching in June).

Of course that roster crunch would be another good reason to cut bait on Harrison.

BostonRoss 2023-05-27 20:33:07 UTC #562

Once the Pirates fall out of it, they have an old one of each--Andrew McCutchen and Carlos Santana! While they're at it, they may as well send us Rich Hill. Maybe Harrison can go back to where he had his glory days to fill one of the roster spots.

bkox 2023-05-27 22:16:03 UTC #563

Cutch having a very good season... but almost all at DH. only 5 games in RF. 0 in LF. Santana is below .700 OPS.

zambonir 2023-05-27 22:24:14 UTC #564

Yeah I don't think those are the guys. Or that Pittsburgh is going to fall out of it!

BostonRoss 2023-05-27 22:37:38 UTC #565

I should have used some sort of smiling emoji...

bkox 2023-05-27 22:48:17 UTC #566

If Cutch could still play OF I would love to have kept him over Castelllanos. He outperformed Casty last year and even with Casty's improvement this year, McCutchen still has the higher OPS... and is $15M per year cheaper (11.5M cheaper last year)

Callison 2023-05-27 23:08:32 UTC #567

You know you can close when you close the Braves twice. Hard to believe Kimbrel is the same guy that got "Charlie Browned" in LA.

Morton looked all-world when the game was on the line.

Wheeler could win 20 games if the Phils start to hit. All Star performance today.

Gonna be the big fun tomorrow, too - series on the line, grudge/rivalry game against the division leader... and all the games have been tight.

GO PHILS!

Callison 2023-05-29 14:54:06 UTC #568

There's some responsibility to be assumed for leaving the team in the position to have to start Dovey and again for the decision that he's a capable ML pitcher. The folks who made these decisions have some splainin to do and must be watched more closely in the future.

On the cusp of competing with the Braves, the Phils just give one away.

bkox 2023-05-29 15:27:43 UTC #569

Except this is every team. Dylan Dodd has 4 starts with the Braves this year with a 6.64 ERA, Even the Rays have a guy that has started 4 games for them and has a 7.87 ERA in those starts. The Dodgers have Michael Grove who started 4 times and has an 8.84 ERA and Gavin Stone.. 3 starts and a 14.40 ERA

There is an absolute shortage of starting pitching right now MLB wide. 246 different pitchers have started games in the MLB this year. Thats an average of 8 per club. And we are only 1/3 of the way through the season

Austinfan 2023-05-29 16:00:56 UTC #570

I do think the "donut" in the organization due to bad drafting (blow 4 1st rd picks in a row, a scarcity of good LA signings) is hurting them right now. While Clearwater is outstanding (and I look forward to the FCL and see if the next wave of prospects is as good), they're weak from Jersey City through Lehigh, which is why they signed so many veteran minor leaguers and undrafted college players.

It may take another 2-3 years to build organization depth up and down the system, where they have prospects, not retreads or guys with marginal stuff, dominating the rotations at Lehigh and Reading.

zambonir 2023-05-29 17:26:55 UTC #571

What no one is saying is we didn't know how good we had it last year with Kyle Gibson, even if he eventually fell apart. Falter didn't even enter the picture as anything other than a spot starter until July 1 (when they lost Eflin).

andyb 2023-05-29 17:30:47 UTC #572

Orioles are definitely getting significant value from Gibson on a 1 year/$10 contract. Of course they went out and got Cole Irvin too and that was a disaster.

It is just hard to know what you get from the "guys that throw 92 but can pitch lots of innings" category.

allentown 2023-05-29 18:18:42 UTC #573

It's worse than that and will be hard to undo the damage in 2-3 years, as I doubt the Phillies will go rebuild mode. The busted #1 picks are crucial: we aren't likely to have as primo picks or as big a draft budget again until the next rebuild, whenever that is, but I don't think soon. We also have among the smallest international allocations. It's going to be very tough to get the farm where it needs to be, with the diminished draft and international allocations. It's the curse of going deep into the playoffs and being a contender. The CLW team is excellent, but not enough to right the organization and who are the future stars among that group. So much rests upon Abel and Painter. Muzziotti and Rojas are close, but still need improvement to move the needle significantly.

zambonir 2023-05-29 18:51:48 UTC #574

Oh, I'm not saying they should have kept Gibson anymore than I would say they should have brought back Eflin instead of signing Walker. But Gibson's 0.6 WAR and 167.2 innings were not nothing. 100 of those innings were in the first half with a 4.57 ERA. Second half was more like what we've been getting from the 5th spot this year.

Average ERA up leaguewide this year of course which makes what he is doing in Baltimore even more impressive. He's pitching like a clear #3 on a thus far first-place caliber team (just not one that is as good as Tampa).

andyb 2023-05-29 19:00:15 UTC #575

I wonder if the calculation of WAR needs to change a bit if the quality of replacement level has declined.

WAR really does not factor in the pitcher that can give you 160 mediocre innings over the one that tops out at 100. A 5.00 ERA might be replacement level now in conventional terms where it might have been 4.60 a couple of years ago.

flyers19rw 2023-05-29 19:14:59 UTC #576

None of the guys that the Phillies lost from last season are regrettable losses. It’s only a matter of time before Eflin’s knees act up; let’s just see how well Gibson fares the second time around. Neither of them is better than Walker. It’s bad juju that has bit them with arm issues to Suarez, Painter, McGarry and a few others. It happens.

zambonir 2023-05-29 19:47:26 UTC #577

I know BBRef WAR puts a lot of weight on IP but I still presume Gibson put up most of his in the first half, and was negative in the second?

If it is predictable that Eflin might miss time this year it was also predictable that Suarez would. And that prospects get hurt (or don't pan out).

Gibson could crater again this year and he still would have given the Phillies 3 or 4 wins over Falter and Covey now.

zambonir 2023-05-29 20:36:08 UTC #578

That's worse than Falter was! (Yes, SSS for Ranger but even his best start of the the three was still a 6.75 ERA outing.)

Maybe you can get away with lousy performances at the very back of the rotation if the middle is performing, but Suarez and Taijuan Walker have a combined 6.30 ERA in 14 starts (11 from Walker).

Callison 2023-05-30 15:21:50 UTC #579

That's a great look from nbcsports in many ways, but this in particular:

"The team’s low walk rate could linger because half the lineup -- Turner, Realmuto, Nick Castellanos, Alec Bohm, Edmundo Sosa -- is aggressive."

That's because 5 of these guys are used to hitting for average. Sosa doesn't belong here because he hasn't been around long enough. This Phils team should be an offensive powerhouse.

But, as they say, the team is about where it was last season. OK, guys, warm up is over. Let's start beating the hell out of everybody!!!

zambonir 2023-05-30 15:30:29 UTC #580

The Phillies announce that Scott Rolen will be inducted into the Wall of Fame along with former GM John Quinn and former owner Ruly Carpenter.

Rolen will not be inducted alumni weekend -- his celebration will take place Sept 22 at CBP.
— Pat Gallen ( @PatGallenCBS3 ) May 30, 2023