They want to win games. They are not doing this to take a look at Johnson really. In a development world he'd have a couple more low key starts and go home for the offseason.
Johnson is the best alternative of their current choices at Lehigh Valley because Abel has disappointed and everyone else is mediocre. Allard is a little better than Phillips so could be in play after his 15 days in the minors are up, but it is not as if he has looked that great so far this year.
It was this or Walker+Nelson+Lazar+Banks bullpen game so this is probably better. Once Kyle Tyler was bad on Tuesday he was off the table and making a move for someone else (Castellano, Chace, or Pina) requires making an offseason 40 man decision. I think he gives them the best chance to win, the real question was whether the other factors around his workload and efficiency would be detrimental to him.
This was mentioned in the earlier Inquirer article. Guessing Dave Dombrowski is not listening to me or this board. He actually knows what he is doing.
The thing that I still find so interesting is that Soto had value. I mean I think he's better then we gave him credit for (despite even worse results in Baltimore) but still seems like they overpaid based on his time in Detroit (and their willingness to let him have a higher-leverage role). Still seems like he'd be a non-tender.
Soto really has not been awful. 3.75 FIP this year and 3.59 last year. Keeps the ball in the park. Just can't throw enough strikes to trust in high leverage situations.
I agree getting 2 decent prospects seems a lot for him especially when he might have been a non tender next year. Johnson's price was discounted because he was already on his second option and was only in AA (and Baltimore had a really crowded 40). But Chace seems like a bridge too far in terms of value unless Baltimore really needed a compression trade for rule 5 issues. When we dealt Aldegheri it freed up a potential spot for us next year.
Dombrowski is going to have some work to do in the offseason. The money cleared from Merrifield will pretty much be eaten up by arb raises. Stubbs and Covey are nontenders I think. Allard may be as well simply because he doesn’t have any more options and probably won’t make the opening day roster. Turnbull is always injured, so he’s also a possibility.
Our big fa’s are Estevez and Hoffman. It’s going to be tough to sign them both while staying under the next cap level without dumping some salary elsewhere.
Turnbull is a FA. I think they will keep Stubbs because he has an option. They are not going to sign both relievers, maybe not even either of them (but they'll have to sign someone if not).
Both relievers will give the team big discounts because they want to be on the roster for their ring ceremonies. 
Braves lost. Mets, Dodgers and Brewers didnt play.
Braves and Mets are now both 8 games back of the Phillies
Phillies are in good position but they must continue to win.
After the game tonight, while watching KC-Baltimore kicking off the NFL season, I have been reflecting on September, sixty years ago. I became a serious Phillies phan in 1952, so I really didn't get the enjoyment from the 1950 season (even though I was at a double header that season). After more than a decade of pretty consistent losing seasons, 1964 was the Phillies season. They entered September 5.5 games ahead in the National League. No playoffs, league winner played in the World Series. After 3 weeks, they returned home from a ten-game road on which they won 2 of 3 in San Francisco, 2 or 3 in Houston, and split four with the Dodgers in LA. Going 6-4 on a west coast trip seemed to avoid a potential road block in their path to the pennant. In fact, they returned home with a 6.5 game lead. Only 12 games remained in the season. What could possibly go wrong?
Yup, but in the 2024 playoff format (and the 1993 format for that matter) it could not have gone wrong in such spectacular fashion.
But, if you want to something dramatic to worry about, I suppose if the Phillies were to blow the division, they'd probably also blow the 4th seed.
Really disappointed for Hays AND the Phils. Hays was being given the shot to show he can still be an All Star. IMHO, he looked like he might do it. Decent eye, decent swing - after he quit overswwinging, decent glove. But one thing after another has happened to stop him. Say he needs two weeks to get his batting eye right. This guy is just about done.
For the Phils, they thought they had solved the LF problem with brilliance. Maybe they did but for bad luck. Again (Merrifield).
OTOH, Wilson could start to get PT and continue to hit and hit for some power and prove himself the better player. The Phils solve the LF problem again with brilliance, even though they were forced. One more hitter in the Phils lineup would mean a lot. In the place of .200 hitters Merrifield and Pache. Opportunity knocks for Weston Wilson.
Frankly, given that Hays is reported to have a kidney infection, I'd be concerned about more than his possible return this season.
Clemons and Wilson both look much better than Dahl, who blew an opportunity to win a job.
Clemons working ABs looks more comfortable than earlier stints, and Wilson is one of those out of nowhere seasons, sucked early, then caught fire in AAA and has carried that over to the Show.
Yo. I'm just posting, I'm not publishing here.
There's nothing like an editor going through your book line by line and showing all your mistakes after you thought you had cleaned it up by your 5th draft. Humbling.
Yeah, I know that. But you're apparently not reading much either, since other posters routinely spell Clemens' name correctly, and you consistently don't. Maybe it's just me, but I honestly have trouble understanding how that can continue to happen. I mean, you don't notice it? How is that even possible?
Yeah, tell me about it. The only thing I hated more was having to proofread (in a team of two, one reading, one scanning) long passages of technical writing written by others.
