2024 Phillies Season Discussion

[Austinfan]

His last start suggests Walker needs more work, 1 K in AAA is pitiful, it's not that he's a strikeout artist, but if he's 100%, AAA hitters should be flailing at his splitter and set up for a 92 MPH fastball with location - if he's throwing 90 without command and can't fool hitters with his splitter he's going to be batting practice in the show.

[David_Criss]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/phillies-about-to-make-a-mistake-managing-their-rotation/ar-AA1nrDfj?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=987f25582853425da13d9ae86a54b865&ei=20

Phillies About To Make a Mistake Managing Their Rotation

[gmwannabe]

I can see probably a left down from Turnball in Wednesday's start. knowing that he is being replaced after this one, I don't think he will be as dominant. Hopefully I'm wrong and the Phils don't send a hot team into a spin. Don't monkey with success.
gm

[zambonir]

The party line is that he actually did pitch like it was a spring training start. Was not going max effort, just wanted to hit his pitch count.

[andyb]

Looks like no Bryce for a couple of days.

Phillies put Bryce Harper on the paternity list today. Kody Clemens is active.

— Matt Gelb ( @MattGelb ) April 22, 2024

[David_Criss]

Why not Hall?

[zambonir]

The short answer is because Clemens is better. He's having a better AAA season and he was about five times better (literally, in OPS) in spring training. And Hall was also worse in the majors last year.

But the long answer is Clemens is bound to be needed again at other positions so all the more reason to see how he does.

[andyb]

I suspect we'll see Bohm or Merrifield at first rather than Clemens. Sosa likely gets a start somewhere too. Depends how long Bryce is out. At least Cincinnati is a short flight.

[zambonir]

I would like to see Clemens more than Merrifield.

He can miss as few as one or as many as three games. So long as it's an easy birth I'd put my money on two. And lots of people have wanted him to have a break!

[andyb]

Well we are getting Kody tonight. Playing 1B and batting 8th. Otherwise the regular lineup. We face lefties Tuesday and Wednesday though so this was the game to start Clemens.

[Ryles]

I would like to have seen Stubbs catching & JT @ 1B.

[allentown]

Can JT actually play 1B?

[bkox]

Can JT actually play 1B?

He has played 263 innings of 1B in his career.

[andyb]

Once they moved Bryce there I think the Phillies have shelved the JT occasionally to 1B thing they did a few years ago. I also think JT prefers a complete day off to another position or DH time. Like it or not he wants to play 130+ games at catcher and thinks pure rest is better and simpler for his routine.

Reality is we'll probably just use Merrifield or Bohm there if Bryce is off for a day or two. With Bryce out the team does need a left-handed bat so that is Clemens at the moment. One could still say that Clemens is a better fit for the bench than Pache though we won't make that move unless we are prepared to move beyond Pache.

[zambonir]

Gelb has already predicted it will just be Bohm, presumably with Merrifield and Sosa each getting a game at 3B. But Merrifield could also play 1B of course.

And it might actually get Pache a game that would have otherwise gone to Merrifield. If Sosa can keep going like he's going shouldn't be too long before they do something about Pache (and that's probably why they want to see Clemens too).

Not sure why we'd want Stubbs' .397 OPS in the line-up, or JT's .648 OPS at 1B anyway. Kody Clemens is capable of that. They didn't even let Stubbs catch Turnbull's last start (but I presume he'll get the next one).

[zambonir]

Deleted

It's right there at the bottom of every post

[LoneStarPhan]

Clemens does have a .500 BA with a 2,000 OPS. But it is a SSS.

[zambonir]

and he still won't start tomorrow!

[bkox]

and he still won't start tomorrow!

Hes being Turnbull'd!

[andyb]

Matt makes the case for Walker over Turnbull in the short term. I agree with most of it, though I also would say that it would not be the worst thing to keep Turnbull in the rotation and have Walker out of the bullpen. Neither is Strahm who had lots of multi-inning bullpen experience. Neither Walker or Turnbull have really pitched out of the bullpen ever. It is an open question if either will be effective outside of a starter's routine.

I would have given Turnbull a few more starts to see if he is a bit of a mirage or not. It is a long season so there will be many more opportunities for innings management if it comes to that. And Walker can be given very specific bullpen assignments covering 2-3 innings with plenty of warm up time. Flipping them immediately just seems a bit risky to me even if there are long term benefits. Most likely we'll need them both anyway so this is probably not the big decision many are making it to be.

Turnbull, Walker, and Making Hard Decisions for Tomorrow