Minor League Games - May 25th, 2023

[Squire]

AAA: Buffalo at Lehigh Valley (TBD) - 6:45PM
AA: Harrisburg at Reading (RHP Tyler Phillips) - 6:45PM
High A: Jersey Shore (LHP Matt Osterberg) at Aberdeen - 7:05PM
Low A: Clearwater (RHP Jean Cabrera) at St. Lucie - 6:10PM

Rolling Scores Here - https://www.milb.com/scores/2023-05-25/all/all/phillies

Rolling Boxes Here - https://www.mlb.com/prospects/stats/affiliates?teamId=143&date=05/25/2023

[phillychuck]

Interesting quote from Reading: “Johan Rojas continues to play elite defense in center field for the R-Phils. He has two outfield assists on the season, which leads Reading outfielders. Rojas has nine defensive runs saved this season, which is tied for the most amongst minor league center fielders.”

Lots of good offense again yesterday. McGarry was effective on the bump. Jake Cave is Babe Ruth in AAA.

5/24/23 : Minor League Roundup

[Austinfan]

I think we'll have to give Cave another 50-100 PA but if he keeps this up, he has to get another shot, even AAA+ guys don't put up these kinds of numbers. Sometimes something clicks.

[zambonir]

He's just locked out positionally for now. Clemens has done nothing to lose his spot (and is the more viable 1B it seems), maybe not even to Hall. Once Harper is ready to play 1B Cave makes all the sense in the world (and Hall is still probably out of luck).

If he was a RHB you'd swap him for Guthrie yesterday.

[Austinfan]

Still might, Guthrie is really struggling at the plate.

[andyb]

He'll get a longer veteran leash, but Harrison is more of the issue than Guthrie. Swapping Cave in for Harrison makes more roster sense than Guthrie even if Cave would be a glorified pinch hitter.

[zambonir]

Pache will replace Guthrie and (hopefully) someone else entirely will replace Harrison at the end of July. You could certainly make the case for just not having a RH back-up OF (Sosa can still play CF and Harrison can still play the corners) if you swap Cave for Guthrie. You would also think Cave could actually play 1B. But for now I doubt they make a roster move involving a position player until Hall comes off the 60 (even if that move is just to option him).

[andyb]

Guthrie for Harrison recognizes Guthrie's ability to play the infield too. He is just a little more flexible defensively and can also pinch run more effectively. Pache might still take the RH CF spot, though if you had Guthrie as a utility IF that can also play CF in a pinch it does give you the ability to add another OF like Cave or Muzziotti.

I assume the Phillies want Pache to succeed because he does have a higher ceiling, though I imagine they will take a long AAA rehab to give him some regular playing time before making their decision.

[zambonir]

The rehab does buy them time but given what they saw in Pache's brief audition I reckon there's no way they try to sneak him through waivers.

Agreed you could just swap Guthrie for Harrison if there weren't those other considerations (and it's not like Guthrie is out-playing him either). This one comes back to Bryce or Hall and 1B too because once Bohm stops playing 1B Sosa is more firmly a bench player, he and Guthrie are kind of redundant. As is Harrison but only because he can't hit anymore.

[andyb]

It really feels they are stringing this along to time a 30-day rehab leading into the last 90 days of the season on the ML roster. Rehab in June and then roster in early July. Of course they could have decided that he needs the full year to rehab and they want to keep him on the roster all winter and send him to either Arizona or Australia or a Latin American winter league.

Matt Gelb: Here it is, an update on Noah Song: The Rule 5... - The Athletic

[zambonir]

Asked if he expects Song to pitch competitively this season, Dombrowski said: “For sure. Oh yes, he’s progressing to that.”

Injuries & Moves: Alvarado, Pache, Song, Painter, Hall, Marchán updates

Still a pretty interesting situation IMO. Hard to imagine this team being able to hide him especially right now. Of course they could still be going through the motions , or he could have a legit setback, to kick it to next year. You can also legitimately argue he needs to be going at this slow pace regardless, to be defined as game-ready even if he's no longer injured per se.

[andyb]

Pitching the last 30 days of the season in Clearwater and Jersey Shore would qualify as pitching competitively this season. That leading into Arizona in the Fall might give them a good idea of where he is if they wanted him to really ease into full time training for the entire year.

Then he would have a real Spring Training and just have to make the team like any other reliever next season.

[Austinfan]

They can use this time to refine Song's mechanics, have him build up arm strength.
If he's throwing 97-99 when they activate him, he's probably as good as Covey et al as the last man in the bullpen.

[zambonir]

Well, we shall see if the rubber hits the road, and when. I still gotta think that they can't do that without at least some pushback from other teams and a definitive call by MLB once it gets close to July 1. Whether that means successfully showing he is still injured or arguing he still doesn't meet the definition of game-ready.

But AF also isn't wrong - he's old enough and presumably fit enough that they might be able to hand him that eighth spot in the pen. But they need an actual 5th starter to do that. It would also likely cost them Vasquez or Hoffman (assuming Covey's already gone), which is not as big a concern. But he'd have to be better than, say, David Hale was. We already saw them win a game this week that they wouldn't have with just the usual low-leverage mop-up work. And this team probably can't afford to give away even one or two games in the second half of the season.

[andyb]

If he's throwing 97-99 when they activate him, he's probably as good as Covey et al as the last man in the bullpen.

More likely throwing 93-95 and might need a full year to build back up to where he was. And Covey is not the last man in the bullpen. He's our 5th starter. Song would need to replace Hoffman or Bellatti as that last man.

[zambonir]

Well, not Bellatti, he already lost his spot until the next injury. Marte presumably goes back down for Alvarado. Right now I guess we'd rank Vasquez 6 Hoffman 7 Marte 8. Though Marte has actually pitched 3 perfect innings in 3 appearances since coming back up. But he's in the optionable spot.

[andyb]

But that is Bellatti's spot (or the 7-8 spots). Whether he is in it or Hoffman is in it or Marte or Ortiz - Song needs to be better than that theoretically. All these marginal relievers will cycle through the last couple spots depending on injuries and whether they are good or bad.

Though I guess if the team falls out of contention it does not really matter. Keeping Song is not worth that scenario of course.

[Austinfan]

If their season rides on the 8th RP, they might have well have a fire sale after the All Star break.

[andyb]

Which is kind of what I was saying. If keeping Song on the roster does not matter, we have probably already traded Nola.

[zambonir]

Well, they are probably not going to fall out of contention. But last season they only made the playoffs by one game. That could have been this week's game against Arizona that the back of the bullpen won. Of course it also could be any of Falter's starts. But with the way teams use relievers these days and how thin starting pitching is leaguewide, the 8th reliever definitely makes more of a difference in 2023 than he might have in 2021. And in 2021 the Phillies still cut David Hale and Brandon Kintzler. Last year it was Familia. You just can't really carry an unreleasable pitcher (though certainly there have been years where the team refused to eat a contract).

I don't think the Phillies ever expected him to pitch this year. If they can postpone the 90 days they will. If they can't, he'll get the same chance Jeff Hoffman is currently getting due to his opt-out clause and lack of options. But if he pitches and July and struggles they aren't going to be able to keep him.