GDT 8/16/23 Philadelphia Phillies (Nola, Aa) @ Toronto Blue Jays (Gausman)

[andyb]

I think the real reason they bunted was Rojas looked overmatched against Gausman. He has had issues with hard-throwing right-handed pitchers. Really weak swings on hard stuff up in the zone.

I think Rojas stays up when Pache is ready, but his role might be reduced to left-handed pitchers and defensive substitution especially when Marsh is back. I think it is likely they keep both since they have 3 redundant right-handed infielders at the moment (Sosa, Castro, Wilson). One of those players is probably optioned when Pache comes back and then Marsh takes the extra September spot.

Rojas is worth it for the defense, but on offense he really got a little lucky the first time in the league and the HR against a position player and some chancy HBPs are inflating his stats a bit. He is still useful as a 600 OPS bat, but he is probably not much more than that this season going forward.

[zambonir]

Yeah, I'm not saying Thomson's lack of trust in Rojas is necessarily uncalled for. Though it would be nice if he could actually bunt better (and then also bunt for hits).

Cave, Sosa, Rojas, Castro is still kind of an underwhelming bench at the plate (and Stubbs hasn't hit this year either) but that's the call they made at the trade deadline. I think there will still be games where it's Pache in LF and Rojas in CF, and Marsh mostly in LF. Keeping Wilson instead of Castro seems reasonable at this point. They are set for defensive subs, that's for sure.

[andyb]

Castro's option has already been used and he is not really playing over Sosa. He can hit LHP, but it is not as if Wilson can't and Sosa is better defensively. They can still see Castro play in Winter ball and evaluate him over the offseason to see if there is some improvement possible. The bench could really use a switch hitter, though ideally one without much of a platoon split.

[zambonir]

Even if his option hadn't been used I don't think that should be a consideration, though I guess at this point if you were only talking a week (and such limited playing time) why not? But, moot anyway.

It's still an odd group. I guess once Marsh is back Cave can PH for Pache or Rojas against RHP (and then you either leave him in at LF with Marsh in CF or burn the other CF as a defensive sub). Or you can have Wilson hit for one of them if you want more power.

But once Thomson has enough players I think he'll stop playing Rojas and Pache against RHP much. We'll get Marsh in CF and Cave in LF (or Schwarber) and the occasional Pache/Rojas pairing on Marsh off-days against LHP.

[julio]