21 Philadelphia Phillies (Gibson) @ New York Mets (Hill, R)

julio 2021-09-20 16:23:15 UTC #121

The Phillies have eleven relief pitchers on their 28-man active roster. Four guys were apparently unavailable. That leaves... seven relievers available, to get nine outs?

Why the heck are these guys on the active roster, if Girardi isn't willing to use them?

Bedrosian, Cam - pitched 9/16, two days off prior to 9/19
Bradley, Archie - pitched 9/17, one day off prior to 9/19
Falter, Bailey - pitched 9/16, two days off prior to 9/19
Jones, Damon - pitched (AAA) 9/14, four days off prior to 9/19
Medina, Adonis - pitched 9/16, two days off prior to 9/19
Moore, Matt - pitched 9/16, two days off prior to 9/19
Rosso, Ramon - pitched 9/16, two days off prior to 9/19

Given that Bedrosian threw 32 pitches last night, he's presumably not available tonight. Do y'all think Girardi has enough relievers available (ten!) to back up Ranger Suarez tonight?

andyb 2021-09-20 16:42:05 UTC #122

With these bullpen games I still don't know why the Phillies don't try to get 3 innings out of somebody (likely the opener or the 2nd pitcher after a good matchup in the first inning).

It is not as if we have enough pinch hitters to want to waste them early, so it is not that. I also feel guys like Moore and Falter are used to being starters so a once-around-the-lineup outing so they can prepare would be optimal.

We just don't have the bullpen depth Tampa does, especially with relievers that can go 2 innings.

Austinfan 2021-09-20 17:06:45 UTC #123

Bullpen would have to be perfect if you're gonna roll out a lineup with Cutch, 2 of Galvis/Didi/Torreyes, and one of Knapp/Miller. At least Herrera/Vierling are respectable in CF. Basically you have three hitters above replacement in Segura, Harper and Realmuto.

I think Steve Carlton might have pitched behind a better lineup in 1972.

If this team somehow finishes strong and wins the division, they should try walking on water for an encore.

andyb 2021-09-20 17:15:42 UTC #124

Torreyes did make 2 or 3 plays yesterday that I doubt Bohm would have made. But his offense has regressed to zero. His power worked better in the optimal summer months when the ball was carrying. Now he has "10 feet short of the warning track" power.

Hard to fault Girardi on the lineups of late. He is trying to keep JT in the lineup every day and then somebody needs to catch. I'd probably go with Marchan now and assume the offense is a zero either way, but it is not like we have a better option. Galvis is basically the 3B these days too and that is fine. Didi and Cutch are doing some strong side platooning and that is also fine though Cutch does need to play against half the RHP.

Austinfan 2021-09-20 17:54:36 UTC #125

None of this is "fine." It may be unavoidable, but there's a reason they're firing half the minor league development staff, I refuse to believe all their 1st rd picks were mistakes, it's not like any were huge "reaches," if you take Moniak #5 no one would have thought twice, Haseley, Bohm, maybe Randolph was a slight reach but was still a top HS hitter.

Right now Vierling is it, and reportedly he had to fix his swing on his own after the Phillies developmental coaches ruined it.

We seem to have reloaded in A ball, hopefully a better development staff will actually produce some ML players.

andyb 2021-09-20 18:05:48 UTC #126

That is taking artistic license with reality. It is too easy to blame the developmental staff for everything. He was stuck at home during the pandemic because he was not on the alternate site roster and like a lot of players he worked on stuff on his own. No big reason to slam the Phillies development staff here.

He remains a tweener who profiles as an extra OF. Not enough defense for CF. Not enough power for the corners. A useful guy on the roster but we really do not know much about his long term offense and an initial hot streak (like Williams and Maton had) before the league gets a book on how to pitch him is not really much of an indicator for future success.

I don't know why you persist in defending the Almaraz/Klentak drafts (and yes the GM and higher ups are really responsible for top picks). It does not matter who was supposedly a reach and who was not. It matters who we chose and whether they had success. Moniak was a difficult choice when there was not a consensus number one but he still has not developed. Randolph was simply a bad pick. Bad scouting, not whether or not he was considered a reach. Haseley also looks to be a bad pick. Supposedly safe, but he also never had a high ceiling. And we knew Bohm was lousy defensively but we ignored that for the most part.

zambonir 2021-09-20 18:21:53 UTC #127

Because there's nobody better on the 40 or the waiver wire and Brogdon (the 5th or 6th-best pitcher) is hurt? I think it's perfectly reasonable to say that you don't want to see a single one of those guys in the 7th inning of a 2-2 game (except Bradley who was probably being saved) but it's also not reasonable that none of the other four were available.

It's not like Gibson had actually lost it. He gave up some runs, but he'd retired 6 straight batters before the home run, and two more after. Bedrosian pitched well but had he entered earlier who knows what else would have happened. Rosso has been a trainwreck. Matt Moore is Matt Moore. Medina and Jones are unknown quantities. JD Hammer's back in AAA. Falter's the one guy who's been okay (but not consistent)

I would hope it wasn't just a matter of "we have to go to the bullpen here" but actually looking at the match-ups and deciding Gibson was a better option. They might have gone with a lefty against McNeil but then that guy would have had to face two more batters.

Anyway, the Phillies just won four straight games scoring 6, 17, 5 and 4 runs. They're not gonna win many with 2.

zambonir 2021-09-20 18:33:25 UTC #128

Two lefties starting for the O's, do you call Bohm up? No sign of Williams either.

It seems a real stretch to me to blame the development staff for anything per se, or to hope things are really going to change. The issue is organizational, and lack of consistency. By the time they hired Josh Bonifay and Ochart, Randolph, Moniak and Haseley were already well into their careers under the Jordan regime (with Haseley just a few months away, in baseball time, of getting to the majors).

We'll see what the latest change in direction is (and whether or not they keep the hitting and pitching coordinators) but it will be another 2 years before that's likely to have serious impact, and while Dombrowski's public comments are preaching a "more balanced" approach, it still sounds to me like an overcorrection, i.e. the new school guys failed, and turned out not to be good new school guys, so now it's back to the old.

andyb 2021-09-20 19:55:15 UTC #129

I think you go with Vierling. Williams has only hit so-so since he got back in action in AAA and his value to the roster is less now that we have Galvis to play 3B and SS. Vierling is hitting better now. Bohm has only been back a few games and has not been tearing the cover off the ball either. I'd be fine to swap him for Moniak, but if the plan is to play JT at 1B a lot the last 2 weeks to keep his bat in the lineup then the opportunities to actually start Bohm are not really there since Miller will play 1B against RHP.

zambonir 2021-09-20 20:04:11 UTC #130

Is Williams technically not taking up a 40 spot? Seems like they don't need one, but they also haven't moved him off COVID-IL rehab.

Jankowski is also eligible to be back soon. Technically that is Moniak's spot.

We could just use a RHB instead of Joyce or Jankowski, and Bohm and Williams are the only ones they've got.

andyb 2021-09-20 20:22:01 UTC #131

It would make some sense to bring one of Williams and Bohm back. At this point in the season playing those extra 10 AAA does not seem that important (though I hope they add Stott to the roster).

40-man roster actually seems to be at 40 now, so they don't appear to be using a COVID exemption. Jankowski went on the IL on the 11th, so he is a day away. Williams went on rehab the 7th, but that can probably last 30 days so he does not have to be activated. I am not sure they have even used his option yet which is good, because he does look like a valuable up and down roster option the next few years.

Edit - And apparently 15 minutes ago we activated Williams and optioned Moniak. Now Joe can double switch to his heart's content. Even if Matt Joyce is going to be relied upon to get a big hit or two the next couple of weeks.