GDT 4/24/22 Milwaukee Brewers (Lauer) @ Philadelphia Phillies (Nola)

[bkox]

wow even the Baron

Angel Hernandez is not a good umpire. This is a recording.

— Larry Shenk ( @ShenkLarry ) April 24, 2022

[EDmuch]

There is plenty of time to reverse course & get things going. Hitting normally gets hot & going closer to Memorial Day. These two losses hardly showed that they are a “bad team”. I think, however, there is beginning to be evidence that this manager is perhaps a bad manager for this team.

[allentown]

There is plenty of time to reverse course & get things going. Hitting normally gets hot & going closer to Memorial Day. These two losses hardly showed that they are a “bad team”. I think, however, there is beginning to be evidence that this manager is perhaps a bad manager for this team.

I think it goes beyond that. DD put together a poorly-constructed roster and did so at great cost. Signing 2 more DH's as his big moves of the off-season was stupid. I won't say this is a bad team, but it certainly isn't showing itself to be a good team, and given its poor construction, that shouldn't come as a huge surprise.

Your Memorial Day is of a piece with the shortened ST. Same for every team. Yes, our hitters should pick up, especially in HRs after the weather turns hot. We are not unique in that. We've given up a lot of runs, so that may actually hurt us more than it helps us.

[LoneStarPhan]

I think the team is much better than they have shown but my opinion is of no value. Performance on the field is what counts and the bottom line is wins and loses. After winning the opening series with the A's, 2 games to one, they have lost four series in a row.

[bkox]

Umpire Angel Hernandez was the lowest rated umpire on the day, missing 19 calls for a correct percentage of 85.3%.

He rang up 6 batters on pitches that were outside the zone and called a strike to Jean Segura that missed inside by a season high 6.47 inches. #Brewers #Phillies pic.twitter.com/pmmt1ELJJ6

— Umpire Auditor ( @UmpireAuditor ) April 25, 2022

[zambonir]

There is plenty of time to reverse course & get things going. Hitting normally gets hot & going closer to Memorial Day. These two losses hardly showed that they are a “bad team”. I think, however, there is beginning to be evidence that this manager is perhaps a bad manager for this team.

Whoa, I don't normally think of you as the voice of calm! (I've never thought much of the manager though. I don't know if firing him would help, but it probably couldn't hurt.)

There's actually more than a little to like about this team if they can get it all going, including Bohm, Nola's start tonight and even Wheeler's velocity. Plus Knebel and a few others. But at some point they need to actually win a series against a major league team and right now it feels like that might not happen for all of May (maybe the two-gamer against Texas).

[LoneStarPhan]

Texas is 5-10. Just the type team we seem to stumble against. Still, a chance to sweep two games.

It was certainly great to see Nola pitch as well as he did tonight and I expect Wheeler will be fine in another couple weeks.

Lost in the reaction to the ump is the fact that the only run of the game was scored by the hitter who lead off the ninth with the pop hit to center that should have been an out!

[VoteForKalas]

Lost in the reaction to the ump is the fact that the only run of the game was scored by the hitter who lead off the ninth with the pop hit to center that should have been an out!

Exactly. To scapegoat the ump to misdirect attention away from the team's offensive and defensive woes is classic.

Maybe Larry Shenk should make a tweet about how the offense struck out 16 times and got shut out. Or how miscommunication and lackluster effort led to a defensive error that cost us the game. Or the fact the team were booed off the field by the fans on national TV.

[Philsmania]

The Phillies right now seem to be in "can't put it all together" mode. They score a bunch of runs and either their starting pitcher gets lit up or the bullpen melts down or they get great pitching and they struggle to score a run.

[EDmuch]

I strongly disagree that this is a poorly constructed lineup. Signing Schwarber a power hitting limited defense left fielder is hardly a stretch. Lots of teams use LF to add a power bat (think Luzinski and Burrell at a minimum). And those teams with that kind of LF can still win championships. Then adding Castellanos as a DH is exactly what we should have done to use the newly created DH position to add offense. Castellanos has been a good choice for that role and has been reasonably productive.

The only place where I see a major problem is SS and that is because of DIdi's decline and Girardi's unwavering devotion to him. But even he will be gone after this year and we will have a decent, you left side of the infield with Bohm and Stott.

We have a solid hitting coach, a very good infield coach. To me the one who does not fit in is Girardi who seems to be managing like it is still 2009.

[Philsmania]

The counterpoint to that is that both Bull and Burrell had gold glove centerfielders who covered a lot of ground next to them in Maddox and Victorino.

If the Phillies pull the plug on Girardi, I wonder how much longer Didi will be for the Phillies and at what point will the decide to simply eat his contract.

[allentown]

Then adding Castellanos as a DH is exactly what we should have done to use the newly created DH position to add offense

No! They already had Hoskins and Bohm, who are defensive liabilities, who are best suited to DH. Ditto Schwarber. Castellanos may be the best defender of the four, but is, or surely will be within a couple seasons, another DH. Building a team with 4 DHs, coupled with a poor defender at SS and light bats in CF who are merely ok/good defensively is a poorly constructed roster.

I'm not a big Girardi fan, but the major problems lie elsewhere -- the biggest being the historical (possibly now fixed but several years until we see results?) but also the loading of the roster with DH's. I have absolutely no problem with Castellanos as an individual signing, but coupled with Schwarber and the guys we already had, it was bad.

[zambonir]

It is a poorly constructed line-up if its core premise - that good hitting can outhit the league's worst defense with just good-enough pitching - fails, which it has so far. We shall see.

It is a poorly constructed line-up in that it is almost uniformly post-peak age (with little production from the young players who aren't), though that will change next year with Didi and Segura gone and possibly Hoskins traded.

But the idea that all these sluggers could also paper over not having a SS or a CF or a natural lead-off hitter (as well as a little speed on the base paths) also seems flawed. The only good news is there's production from 3B, and we can assume - but can't actually be sure - that Schwarber will be okay (but right now we are watching the 2020 Kyle Schwarber).

[EDmuch]

Depending if he will sign for a lower amount, I could see them bringing back Segura for another year or two. He is still a productive player and appear like he will be for another two years. Now, if he refuses a salary cut to stay with the team, then he understandably should be gone. But if he would sign for 2 years at $ 8 million per year then I think he could be a viable option for the next two years.

As for next year I would hope we see Bohm and Stott manning the left side of the OF and Moniak and Vierling in CF. In 2024 we see Muzziotti stepping in.

[EDmuch]

Obviously if the core premises fails, then it is a poorly constructed line up.

[flyers19rw]

At some point Hoskins will probably be traded. That most likely was the reason that DD signed Schwarber and Castellanos. The organization is not going to go long term with Hoskins. He's too streaky at the plate and a butcher in the field. Don't discount how many errors for other players he creates with his weak glove.

[zambonir]

Depending if he will sign for a lower amount, I could see them bringing back Segura for another year or two. He is still a productive player and appear like he will be for another two years. Now, if he refuses a salary cut to stay with the team, then he understandably should be gone. But if he would sign for 2 years at $ 8 million per year then I think he could be a viable option for the next two years.

As for next year I would hope we see Bohm and Stott manning the left side of the OF and Moniak and Vierling in CF. In 2024 we see Muzziotti stepping in.

Segura has a $17 million option. He is more likely to go the way of Cutch than Herrera. And I wouldn't want to bet even $8 million on him being good at 33 and 34. 2B is an easy position to fill and they could also easily fill it with Camargo, or Stott (right now, the Phillies don't seem committed to him as a SS and he's not getting the chance to prove himself there either). And don't forget Kingery! (If three weeks of spring training was enough to pencil Moniak into the major league line-up he's got a shot too some day).

They are hoping Rojas is in CF as soon as next year, but definitely 2024. Muzziotti would be a bonus along the way. As would Moniak at this point. If this team is actually for real and not just a longshot wild card I suspect they will have to upgrade CF (or perhaps SS) this July. Of course if things stay the way the are right now they aren't either of those things, and Segura - and maybe even Herrera - will be traded in July.

[baseballoldie]

If you were Segura and the Phillies don’t exercise your option, would you want to come back to this team next year?

[allentown]

I don't think failure to pick up the option will drive his decision. I'm sure he understands that his value is considerably south of $17 million per year. He may avoid the Phillies if he thinks they aren't going to be competitive or if he dislikes playing for the manager/coaching staff. He may have a preferred area of country he wants to move to. Other than that, he'll likely go wherever he is offered the most $ with a reasonable chance to reach the playoffs. If he isn't of interest to the teams with reasonable playoff hopes, he likely goes for most money, barring above reasons.

[EDmuch]

After just convincing Middleton to "go for it", I think there is very littel chance that DD is waving a white flag in July and trading away a very good second baseman. I just do not see that happening. To me it is more likely that DD tries to add more pitching of even Kiermaier at the deadline that it is that he tosses in the towel by trading Segura. And to me the reluctance to give Stott the freedom to fail or succeed is Girardi. He now seems to be doing to Stott what he did to Bohm. I think Girardi has clearly gotten the message that his job is on the line adn is grasping for what he knows the best, a veteran like Didi.