GDT 4/19/25 Miami Marlins (Quantrill) @ Philadelphia Phillies (Walker, T)

[bkeich]

That’s enough of Romano. Release or DL

[andyb]

If he is hitting 98-99 he is not hurt. I think you hope this was just a bad day and shuffle him to the lower leverage spots.

Frankly given the depth problems with the bullpen we should not be talking about Painter there. We should be talking about Ranger.

[EastFallowfield]

Got to sit in the 2nd row of the RF corner, courtesy of the elder child. It was really hard to see the ball in the sky for the early innings, sky was bright whitish clouds with a hazy sun peeking through, seemed to only slightly affect Rojas in the first inning. Thought it might affect more plays, but there were more line drives than fly balls, it felt like. Fun to score 11 runs with no homers, and the cranky people around us got a chance to boo a few relievers to let off some steam.

Kinda started feeling sorry for the kid making his ML debut that they made throw all those pitches, but turns out we needed all the runs he gave up.

[zambonir]

I think you call it a bad day and don't change his leverage at all. He's already slipped out of the Top 3 but nobody has pitched better to be 4th. He had three straight good outings before this one and this one truly didn't matter, even if he made it almost matter in epic fashion.

Ranger to the pen is obviously still on the table. It is a bit of a dilemma especially given what happened last year (they picked incumbency and and superior track record over the "Wally Pipp" 5th starter who was pitching well in the moment. Now Walker is Turnbull and Suarez is Walker). So, 6-man, Ranger to pen or Walker to pen?

Painter's path will be determined easily enough by both him and the circumstances.

[Philsmania]

This is the Phillies' Romano nightmare scenario. The Phillies cut him by Memorial Day. A bottom-feeder team picks him up. Romano straightens himself with them over the next couple of months on the Phillies' dime, so much so that the bottom feeder team is able to flip him at the Deadline to the Mets, Braves or another team competing with the Phillies for a Postseason berth and he suddenly looks like the guy the Jays had until last year and makes a a big difference for them at the Phillies' expense, again on the Phillies' dime.

[bkeich]

Phillies back to “if the season ended today” in the last playoff spot.

[HopeSpringsEternal]

(they picked incumbency and and superior track record over the "Wally Pipp" 5th starter who was pitching well in the moment. Now Walker is Turnbull and Suarez is Walker).

Well, last year Turnbull finished April with 1.67 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, and a 2-0 record when they moved him to the bullpen. While Walker has been decent as a starter in April 2025, his numbers don't quite match up to Turnbull's in April of last year. This may all be a moot point however - Walker was removed after 56 pitches today with shoulder stiffness.

[zambonir]

But the Phillies know that. He will not be cut from this team before July 31 and I think he will still be here after that. Corey Knebel would have kept pitching for the Phillies that year had he stayed healthy.

[phillychuck]

Romano isn’t going to be released--they will give him time to get his stuff together or they will put him on the injured list and send him out for rehab. He is an established major league pitcher, and with established players you have to let them work through tough times. Yesterday it was location; his velocity was fine. This is where Cotham has to earn his money.

[zambonir]

I missed Walker was possibly hurt. Listen, Turnbull was probably always going to regress or get hurt, but at the time it seemed like they not only stopped his momentum but made getting hurt more like due to the back-and-forth (his injury finally happened when he actually returned to the rotation). Walker is probably still a safer bet, based on his track record, than Turnbull. Just not necessarily to be a better pitcher than Ranger.

The question is really just, do you go six-man or do you bury Walker again until needed (as 8th reliever) or (much less likely this early in the season) do you move Ranger to the pen.

All kidding aside, they put Romano in an 11-4 game because he hadn't pitched in three days. While Strahm performed in the same context and Romano didn't I still don't think you read too much into it. Incredibly the Phillies also have yet to lose a game because of him (they won his one blown save).

The other thing is this team's salary structure is such that they can't easilyl release someone like they did Merrifield or Familia in the past, unless they are already to go over the next threshold (which they will if they have to, I'd hope. But not yet).

[andyb]

I do get the feeling Strahm can pitch well with diminished stuff and Romano really can't. Strahm has good location and mixes speeds well whatever velocity he is at. Romano seems to have 2 good pitches and if he loses command or velocity that sequence just becomes predictable and hittable. It is Cotham's job to fix Romano and it is probably more about repeating his delivery to get his location back.

[zambonir]

For sure, Romano's issue was probably not three days rest more than he's still not locked in. But it sure sounded like he might have been tipping pitches yesterday, or was just catching too much of the zone?

[BostonRoss]

Conine’s injury was bad, on the 60 day IL. The Marlins also DFA’d Monteverde; who was left in to take a beating.

[DurhamBull]

The Marlins also DFA’d Monteverde; who was left in to take a beating.

I get it from the Marlins' perspective, but that's a tough way to go out.

[andyb]

get it from the Marlins' perspective, but that's a tough way to go out.

Major league minimum for 10 days is still a nice bonus for a kid from a small school. Pretty sure there is some minimum pay component for each recall. And his 40-man pay in AAA and MLBPA membership should net him some more.