GDT 9/12/18 Washington Nationals (Strasburg) @ Philadelphia Phillies (Nola)

[LoneStarPhan]

ButlerBulldog is probably right. Almost seems that Kapler is on a different planet from those of us old timers who have been following the Phillies for a long time. Frankly, I welcomed his bold moves but when they don't work out well, it may be time to reevaluate. I hope they come out next season with some new ideas and also go back to some of the old as well.

[ButlerBulldog]

ButlerBulldog is probably right. Almost seems that Kapler is on a different planet from those of us old timers who have been following the Phillies for a long time. Frankly, I welcomed his bold moves but when they don't work out well, it may be time to reevaluate. I hope they come out next season with some new ideas and also go back to some of the old as well.

As I said yesterday, I hope Klentak is smart enough to realize that some of his and Kapler’s ideas haven’t worked and that change is in order. Among the things that haven’t worked is the constant lineup shuffling, which Kapler justifies by citing data showing that it works. The “eye test” says otherwise.

As a former player, Kapler should know that routine matters. I don’t necessarily think a Wade Boggs mentality is needed, but the day-to-day expectations for the Phillies in 2019 need to be more uniform than they’ve been this season. Adjustments are fine in the face of specific circumstances, but micromanaging of the sort favored by Kapler isn’t conducive to winning.

[LoneStarPhan]

Saw this interesting note on Twitter on Crawford. He has not gotten enough playing time this season to really make a judgement on his future, but these numbers are certainly positive.

Matt Winkelman (Matt_Winkelman)

Crawford should start another 12 games or more at shortstop to end this season. Let's see if he can keep this up.

[flyers19rw]

Eleven wins; twenty-three losses in the last thirty four games. Worst record in the NL over that time period. Analyze that data. Pretty solid evidence that something isn't going well. Also interesting that this team sprung its leak when players were added that hadn't been here through the main part of the season.

[Austinfan]

Nah, starting pitchers got tired, even Nola and Arrieta.
Shows up in a lack of command as they try to maintain velocity.

But overall Pivettta, Eflin, and Velasquez are who we think they are, talented pitchers who need to refine mechanics and work on their secondary pitches - which is par for the course for the first couple seasons of young starting pitchers.

With these five, plus Eickhoff, and a Lehigh rotation next year of De Los Santos, Suarez, Irvin, Romero and Anderson, they'll be just fine. Anderson will eventually move into the spot starter/long relief role that Thompson and Leiter couldn't handle.

Basically, they tried to patch over Crawford and Kingery being a year away, Quinn not staying healthy and Altherr going south. Resign Ramos and let the other TDL additions walk. Alfaro is two years away from being a ML hitter if ever, and may get passed by Grullon at that point, Ramos will buy time. I'd rather see Santana than Cabrera at 3B.

[andyb]

Resign Ramos and let the other TDL additions walk. Alfaro is two years away from being a ML hitter if ever, and may get passed by Grullon at that point

Aren't you the first to say we should not sign aging free agents? Isn't there any concern that Ramos could stay healthy and I am pretty sure the contract will be a lot more than his current contract (3 years/$50 million?). And how is Alfaro not a major league hitter when his 710 OPS is probably above average for catchers. Add good framing stats and I would say that there is a strong chance that Alfaro is better than Ramos in a year or two. Grullon is also far from a sure thing. Players that hit at Reading with a low walk rate are often a mirage. Let's see how he develops before saying he is more than a backup catching prospect.

Letting Alfaro be the starting catcher is probably the best decision at catcher. He might be a top 5-10 catcher in baseball as soon as next year and what he already was this year was pretty good. Defense and tools matter. Yes Alfaro chases lots of pitches and that is not the style you want robotically for all players to adopt. But if he decreases his chase percentage by a small amount you probably have a 750-800 OPS catcher that will hit 15-20 HRs and play above average defense. That is pretty good and it comes at a low price that let's you spend money on the Harpers and Machados and Corbins the next few years.

[Philsmania]

I realize this is something of an old-school idea but perhaps sign Ramos for 1-2 years to ease Alfaro in more.

[andyb]

I realize this is something of an old-school idea but perhaps sign Ramos for 1-2 years to ease Alfaro in more.

Because that might delay any progress Alfaro makes. At his age Alfaro should get better. Ramos should get worse and have more injury issues.

We have bigger problems than at catcher. Catcher already has a good chance of being a plus position with Alfaro's maturity. Why panic and spend money when we can address other issues that are more pressing at areas where we are genuinely weak?

[allentown]

and

Too much easing in greatly diminishes the advantages of the 6-7 years of team control, especially the pre-arb years. I don't know what you mean by continuing to ease Alfaro in, but I think he should be our primary catcher in 2019. He certainly needs a backup, who will play 30-40% of time.

[Austinfan]

Alfaro is years away from being a good ML hitter or reliable defensive catcher, and Ramos won't be that expensive, his injury history says hoping for more than 100 games is wishful thinking - but 80 games here would allow them to split between the two - but the key to me is whether Ramos has the personality and motivation to mentor Alfaro and eventually Grullon.

And I thought we had plenty of money to throw at short-term deals? It's Middleton's money, after all, and I think it's great for rich people to share the wealth!

[Philsmania]

In hindsight, this was the year to bring in a veteran catcher on a one-year deal--or kept Rupp--to ease Afaro in. If not for the fact that Alfaro was out of options, he may have started the year at LHV.

[andyb]

Rupp's offense was great and Alfaro is years away from being good? Alfaro is already good (not great) defensively also.

You are being pretty selective while also naive about what Ramos would cost. I don't think this team has any intent of keeping Ramos, Cabrera, Bour, and others. They are stopgaps who will not be better in the future than the younger players we already have. Who will be much less expensive.

Russell Martin signed for 5/82 at age 32. Brian McCann got 5/85 at age 30. Yadier Molina got 3/60 at age 35. Matt Wieters got 2/21 at age 31.

Ramos won't get a long deal, but he certainly will get $15 million AAV. He is already making $10.5 million this year as escalators from 2017 and his below-market deal kick in. His next contract will start at age 32. 3/50 sounds about right to me for a catcher with the top OPS in the game. I don't disagree that Ramos is good. I just think Alfaro is better and the money is better spent elsewhere on younger and less risky free agents.

[EastFallowfield]

Don't see how the Nats can catch the Braves since Atlanta has 5-7 easy wins vs the Phils coming up and the Nats have only won one series the last two months against a team other than ours.

Nats lost today in the Cubs game they shifted due to weather, so if you consider that part of the series they played before sweeping us they now have not won any series the last two months except vs Our Guys. Their last non-Phils series win was the same weekend as our last series win, early August, when they took 2 of 3 from the Reds.

[zambonir]

It's still kind of stunning to me how well we beat on them earlier in the season, even with that one big squandered game.

[EastFallowfield]

Went back to look at preseason predictions and of course it was nearly unanimous that the Nats would win, the Mets would be 2nd, and we were picked either 3rd or 4th, so we still may match expectations, but WAS sure didn't.