22 Philadelphia Phillies (Wheeler) @ St. Louis Cardinals (Wainwright)

Patchmk88 2022-07-09 03:38:29 UTC #81

Big time win. Bohm, Wheeer, Dominguez, and Hand won it.

zambonir 2022-07-09 03:40:02 UTC #82

Thomson seems to be really good at bullpen management, I guess Joe never listened to him?

bkox 2022-07-09 03:42:45 UTC #83

The @Phillies are the first team in MLB history to win a game 2-0 on a multi-homer game from their No. 8 or No. 9 hitter.
— Stats By STATS ( @StatsBySTATS ) July 9, 2022

LoneStarPhan 2022-07-09 03:43:22 UTC #84

Another strong start from Wheeler who gets the win.
Another combined shutout for the Phillies pitching staff (Wheeler-Dominguez-Hand).
Save for Hand. Kudos to him for a 1-2-3 ninth.
Of course on the offensive side, Bohm says it all.

Great start on this 9 game road trip.

DurhamBull 2022-07-09 03:47:29 UTC #85

Great game by both starting pitchers. Tough CG loss for Wainwright.

HopeSpringsEternal 2022-07-09 03:57:22 UTC #86

I definitely like using Dominguez to face the toughest part of the lineup, which was the 8th instead of the 9th tonight. I thought Hand gave up a HR to lead off the 9th inning, but I guess Pujols didn’t have his Wheaties today, as Schwarber caught his deep fly ball up against the LF wall. Knebel seems to have righted the ship as well, still facing some of the best batters of the opponent, but in a less-pressure situation. Overall, our bullpen has performed pretty well for the last month or so.

bkox 2022-07-09 04:52:09 UTC #88

Coming into tonights game Hoskins was 3rd on the Philies in OPS and 34th in all of MLB. Ahead of names like Correa and Stanton, Boegerats and Olson

He would be leading the 2nd place Rays and 1st place Brewers in OPS if they were on those teams.

Rhys's OPS+ this season is 8 points higher than his career OPS+ and his .252 BA is 9 points higher than his career BA. His career high in BA is .259 in his rookie season.

And hes on pace to reach a career high in hits and hit 30HRs for only the second time in his career. (would have last year too without the injury)

bkeich 2022-07-09 10:06:37 UTC #89

That is actually a surprising stats (about multi-homer game from bottom of the order). Cool

EDmuch 2022-07-09 11:51:19 UTC #90

BCox, thank you for clearing the air about Hoskins. He is a vital part of our lineup since he is the only reliable RH power hitter on the team.

zambonir 2022-07-09 14:08:02 UTC #91

Yeah, Rhys has his (many) limitations but he has basically been carrying the offense with Schwarber since Harper went down, and is having a very strong offensive season. The Phillies also stumbled without him two years in a row, which is why they didn't trade him this past off-season when it might have been smart (especially considering the other moves they made, though by then it was too late). I'd still consider moving him next year but only because of salary/approaching free agency and his poor defense.

As someone new to the board you will find that there aren't many posters here who think his .250 batting average matters (but we've also had every argument about the general topic already).

EDmuch 2022-07-09 15:09:52 UTC #92

Unless they can find another RH power bat at a cheaper price, I would look at extending him.

zambonir 2022-07-09 15:50:33 UTC #93

Boy, I definitely wouldn't, unless they can move Castellanos. RH DHs aren't that valuable and he's not a good 1B. Plus Boras would probably want a 5-year deal for an extension (if not more). Worst case I would just pay the money for the next two seasons and happily wave goodbye to 32 year-old Rhys Hoskins.

A four-year deal with a hometown discount that lowers the AAV, sure! That's only two more years of risk. .Though I'd also be asking for a no-trade clause with that if I were him.

andyb 2022-07-09 16:07:36 UTC #94

What has always limited Rhys is really his defense. His offense is pretty close to Matt Olson but his defense is not. Defense is what would make him a 4-6 WAR player as opposed to the 2-3 WAR player he has been (though note his defense has improved enough this year (-0.1 dWAR) to the point where he might be a 4 WAR player.

I'd extend him 2 years. But would be OK with him leaving because at $25 million plus a year his spot can be filled by someone just as good.

Defense does matter. It was interesting to see the comments about Johan Rojas not being ready for Reading because he had mediocre offensive stats at Jersey Shore. He had always been good defensively and on the bases and clearly ready for the next level in those parts of the game. And Jersey Shore is the hardest park to hit in across the minors so that probably robbed him of 100 OPS points. He was having the equivalent of a 4-6 WAR Ender Inciarte season at Jersey Shore and all some people looked at were his unadjusted offensive stats.

zambonir 2022-07-09 17:14:03 UTC #95

I would consider trading him this off-season because his already-modest trade value isn't going to get higher. If he stays health he's on pace for an excellent and career-best season, given he's already at 2.1 WAR in 83 games and he only had 2.0 WAR in 107 last year (and 2.0 in 160 in 2019).

But if he's only a 2.0 WAR player or misses 60 games again in 2023 (when he still won't be that expensive) I'd say he's as close to being a non-tender candidate as he is an extension candidate (which would also have this off-season obviously, if he gets to one year left neither side will do it).

Edit: wait, Rhys only has one season left before free agency huh? Well, that simplifies things really. Still think you might trade him given all the other 1B/DH types on the roster but he won't be worth much. He's too good to non-tender. And an extension that both sides can live with is super unlikely.