8 games is too soon to predict one of the worst signings of all time. That said.. Schwarber had the best year of his career last year and it may be down hill from here. We forget hes just one year removed from the Cubs non-tendering him.
The problem is more the fact that the phillies threw together a bunch of mashers.. and mashers are prone to being streaky more than contact guys.
And while we focus on our offense... our starting pitching has a 4.70 ERA and only pitched 36 innings in 8 games. And I realize this is partly due to the shortened spring and the issues Ranger and Wheeler had.. Im not sure the 4.70 ERA the 5 have put up is going to improve much. Gibson and Eflin are back of the rotation starters. Nola still cant figure things out. Ranger is going to regress (and lets hope not turn into a pumpkin as he goes around the league for a 2nd season) and Wheeler probably isnt going to pitch nearly as many innings this year now that the shoulder issue cropped up.
Oh and we have no viable 6th starter...
Bullpen is actually looking decent so far.. but could start wearing down
This team has a ton of holes and is relying on power to overcome the shortcomings of defense and starting pitching.
I said at the start of the season that I expect this team to win between 78-82 games. I hope im wrong and Nola can figure it out and the offense can provide a lot of fun and Stott and Bohm can be great young players.... but I think its hoping for a lot
Now all that said... its 8 games into the season... we are 3-5.. you know who else is 3-5? The defending world champions.
