Phillies Acquire Carlos Estevez from Angels

[phillychuck]

Hays has also been unlucky on a couple of hard-hit balls. Batting stats need about 1/2 season to become meaningful, and we don't really have that much time.

[Austinfan]

He has a track record, he's not a AAA plus guy on a one week tear.

[zambonir]

Every OF that has started out hot for the Phillies in the past year has gone nowhere other than down, so may as well try something different.

[andyb]

Hays is better than he has shown so far, but he is basically a 110 OPS+ guy that is closer to 100 if he is not platooned. Whether there is some upside after his injuries earlier this year is a question, but he has also been around a 700 OPS guy since the All Star break last year in 2023.

We'll probably add Clemens in a week or two. Clemens could help in games like today (with Rojas in for defense in the last few innings).

[VoteForKalas]

It does appear from the last two games that Marsh is the new CF, Hays the new LF and Rojas the 4th OF from the bench as late inning defensive replacement when Phillies are ahead.

If Hays is league average (100) or slightly above (~105) without the platoon, he is worse than Marsh (average of 117 OPS+ the last three seasons). Obviously, that is still better offensively than Rojas, but I guess I was hoping for a better option than that.

We'll have to see what they do for LF & CF in the off-season; I suspect (hope) this will not be the final move. It may also depend on if they can or want to move on from Casty as part of a larger upgrade of the OF.

[andyb]

With Pache gone I was really surprised we did not see Rojas against a left-handed pitcher. I know his stats this year are mediocre, but it is such a SSS with Pache getting most of those starts.

[Austinfan]

Rojas is hitting .180 against LHP, .250 against RHP.

[phillychuck]

Very small sample for Rojas...means almost nothing.

[zambonir]

I don't think anything is truly set. They don't want to bury Hays in the short platoon and not find out what he has, but he also won't get forever. Rojas, they already know what they have. I personally would still take the superior defense (in both LF and CF) on most days against RHP. I reckon that rare Marsh against LHP start was also meant to signal that they are not completely writing him off against lefties.

You can't really put any stock in Rojas's reverse split even if it was 162 games. He has still started 30% of the time against LHP (22 vs. 49). Pache had 28 (with just 2 against RHP) but only 18 in CF.

[andyb]

There is nothing in Rojas' minor league record to suggest he would be bad against LHP. He has kind of neutral splits. He just has not faced many this year in the majors and the issue with Pache is that we knew Pache was awful against RHP so we had to get him ABs against LHP. Rojas did not get the reps. Now he needs them because maybe he'll be better against LHP with actual practice on a regular basis.

[Mac]

We'll see - maybe you're right, maybe Estevez is a critical part of the (hopefully impending) World Series run.

But I'll tell you who won't make an impact come October - either of the prospects traded for Estevez.

When you're in the spot they're in, you do the best you can given the circumstances to try and win it all. DD is no spring chicken and knows that - hopefully he ended up picking the right reliever, but we won't know until November.

[Mac]

My first take was "steep price" too - I certainly would have liked to give up less - but the sellers have the leverage and trying to win every deal isn't going to put us in better position this October.

[schillingfan]

I think they preferred a rental, they can now see how Hoffman and Estevez finish the season and decide which one, if either, they want to sign. Phillies have become a preferred destination, and money isn't a big issue, so it's more a matter of team preference.

Every reliever you trade for should only be a rental, unless they are a pre-arbitration prospect. Relievers are up and down. I have no problem getting a reliever having a good year as long as he IS a rental. He’ll probably suck next year. Maybe the price is to high for a rental, but the price would be higher if he was under control for next year.

[Docs]

the price would be higher if he was under carol for next year.

not to mention, carol may object

[gmwannabe]

Not bad SF, Not bad...

[gmwannabe]

And you too Docs.

[dicemen99]

Agree. They are trying out Hays to see if they can get more out of him than just the left-handed side of the platoon.

The exacerbating issue is that our killer lefty's are in slumps right now. If things were normal we would be bashing RHP like we normally do and the Hays test in RF would not move the needle.

[schillingfan]

In my defense I’m typing with a brace on my broken wrist….

[phillychuck]

I blame autocorrect.

[Philsmania]

If only he would have games to save.