GDT 6/17/18 Philadelphia Phillies (Nola) @ Milwaukee Brewers (Anderson, Ch)

[Austinfan]

It was a hitter's day, but good to see Hoskins on track and Herrera finally get that monkey off his back. Hoskins just had to relax and boom, the power was back, that kind of bat speed can handle almost anything. Herrera gets into funks, and you just have to ride them out, because when he gets hot, we're talking South Texas hot, not Philly summer hot.

Franco I'll reserve judgment, he's done this too often, have a stretch where he hits and shows his talent, nice hit to right center, then goes back and reverts to "bad" Franco where he tries to pull everything 500 feet and chases bad pitches. He's now had enough PA that at some point he has to consistently produce - he'll probably get one more year, but Bohm will be breathing down his neck by 2020.

Nick Williams is a work in progress, but he's progressing. Another quick bat that needs better judgement, but unlike most Phillies hitters, he's willing to go the other way. If Santana could only learn to punch that outside pitch down the 3B line . . .

If only they could get Alfaro to relax at the plate and trust his power and not overswing, he has MVP potential but I don't know if he will ever approach tapping into more than a fraction of his raw talent - power, bat speed, but like Franco, struggles to translate it into production - but Alfaro is far less experienced.

[bkeich]

Kapler had removed two of the players who were having a good day at the plate during the game. Franco left as part of the double switch when Dominguez came in to pitch. Williams (1 for 2 with 2 RBIs) was lifted for a pinch hitter, Altherr, who K'd for Williams in the 7th and ended up going 0 for 2 in the game. Was that a smart move when you have a 4 man bench? Especially since Williams is hitting .229 vs. LHP and Altherr .161 vs. LHP. Altherr does have a better OPS vs. LHP than Williams, but for this season so far, Altherr is hitting better vs. RHP than he is vs. LHP. This is probably a small sample anomaly but I think I let Williams bat in the 7th. The Phillies had no bench players left when the game ended.

Guessing, I would say that Kapler was going for the "put in better defense when you are ahead" strategy. Of course, that doesnt mean you use the lesser hitter to PH for the better hitter, that means you make the substitution when the other team is hitting. Kapler's moves continue to be just flat out baffling, I dont think he knows what he is doing as far as managing a game.

Dominguez is an arm injury just waiting to happen. It isnt the 1+ inning stints, it is that they are almost always 35+ pitches. I dont get it.

Putting in Thompson, who can't get anyone out in AAA, when you still had 2 other ML relievers (not great, but at least better) is equally baffling. The 2nd pitch he threw got absolutely smoked, luckily Odubel might a highlight real catch to save the game.

I would send Neris to AAA today, just to let him relax and have some success and find his pitches. He literally did not throw 1 good pitch yesterday, even the outs were of the "I am glad they didnt hit that" variety. I would also send Kapler to AAA for a couple weeks and tell him not to worry about shifts, sabermetrics or nutrition and try and learn how to manage a baseball game.

[Austinfan]

As a RP in Lehigh, Thompson: 14g 21.1 13 6 6 0 8 24 2.53 BA against .181.
So he was getting people out in AAA ball.

[California_Dreamin]

bkeich...you are mistaken about Thompson. He was pitching very well at LHV and I believe it was PC who had seen him pitch recently and commented on how good he looked.

I cannot help but equate Thompson to Gavin Floyd, another touted young pitching prospect who was never allowed to settle in and finally found success elsewhere. Look, I know that he has struggled at times in the majors but which young pitcher the Phils have hasn't struggled at times.

Hopefully Thompson has a tough mental attitude, you need one with the way Kapler uses his players. Be ready for anything and everything.

[bkeich]

As a RP in Lehigh, Thompson: 14g 21.1 13 6 6 0 8 24 2.53 BA against .181.
So he was getting people out in AAA ball.

As a pitcher, he had an ERA of 5.17 in AAA this year. Last year it was 5.25. Not sure I buy the argument that over a small sample size you can look at splits of that small sample size and make decisions based on that.

[bkeich]

bkeich...you are mistaken about Thompson. He was pitching very well at LHV and I believe it was PC who had seen him pitch recently and commented on how good he looked.

I cannot help but equate Thompson to Gavin Floyd, another touted young pitching prospect who was never allowed to settle in and finally found success elsewhere. Look, I know that he has struggled at times in the majors but which young pitcher the Phils have hasn't struggled at times.

Hopefully Thompson has a tough mental attitude, you need one with the way Kapler uses his players. Be ready for anything and everything.

Hopefully it goes well, I agree.

I remember PC saying he looked good also, but that was 1 (or a small number of games). Overall, he has not been good this year, but maybe he is "hot" at the moment, that is always possible of course. The point of my post was "why would you use him" over other options? He was just called up yesterday, if he is the better option that Rios, then was was Thompson in the minors and Rios in the majors before yesterday? The decision making just seems random at this point, I was really surprised to see Thompson brought in at that time.

[Austinfan]

A lot of pitches struggle as starters but blossom as RPs.
Thompson has a plus slider, if he adds 2-3 MPH in the pen he could be an excellent RP.
So 14 games may be a small sample, but it shouldn't be dismissed, either.

[zambonir]

I would also send Kapler to AAA for a couple weeks and tell him not to worry about shifts, sabermetrics or nutrition and try and learn how to manage a baseball game.

He's the best-performing Phillies manager we've seen in seven years and he's doing it with a bunch of .200 hitters so maybe he knows what he's doing? Or at least, if his flaws have cost them a couple of games, the other stuff he brings is making up for it (that was also true of Charlie for different reasons I'd say).

Franco I'll reserve judgment, he's done this too often, have a stretch where he hits and shows his talent, nice hit to right center, then goes back and reverts to "bad" Franco where he tries to pull everything 500 feet and chases bad pitches. He's now had enough PA that at some point he has to consistently produce - he'll probably get one more year, but Bohm will be breathing down his neck by 2020.

From Gelb:

(None of this factors in Franco, who is further down the depth chart than ever. His trade value is at its lowest, but there are interested teams who love Franco’s bat speed and believe they can fix him. A trade, at this point, feels inevitable.)

Is the Scott Kingery shortstop experiment fair to everyone...

[julio]

[julio]