Phillies acquire Jay Bruce from Mariners (for Jake Scheiner)

[zambonir]

The Mariners only took Bruce as part of the Cano deal so they are still way ahead on that financially. They also got the Phillies to take Nicasio and flipped Santana to Cleveland (they are paying some of his salary but Tampa is paying some of Encarnacion's). And Scheiner is not nothing.

Kind of reminds me of the Papelbon deal, Pivetta was a fourth-rounder and Phillies paid all of Pap's salary that year (though Nats were on the hook to guarantee the next year, IIRC).

[David_Criss]

Have they said who goes down with Bruce is activated tonight? I am guessing Gosselin, since this frees up Kingery to play more inf. I am hoping he gets some time at 3B they way Franco has been scuffling.

Given the gutting of the of, I am surprised that Adams and Robinson didn't figure into the equation. Both have had decent starts at AAA and have MLB experience. They are hitting far better than Walding, Cozens, Gosselin or Rodriquez were at the time of their callups.

[Squire]

They just optioned Nick Williams back to LHV to make room for Bruce. Also sent Cole Irvin down and recalled LHP Austin Davis

[phillychuck]

This is the new MLB--30-35 man rosters, a portion of them in AAA at any one time, especially pitchers.

[zambonir]

There are now 40 guys on the 40-man and there's no room on the 25. Gosselin will probably go when Quinn comes back. They have guys they can put on the 60-day DL but there's no need to make that move for someone like Adams when he's not going to be called up. (Also I think players get paid more in AAA just because they are on the 40, and your 60-day DL guys are still part of the total payroll/luxury tax, so no reason to add even that small amount of $ if you don't need to.)

Then Davis goes back down for Eflin (if not sooner). They obviously aren't concerned about him since Irvin can't come back up for 10 days (barring an injury, but Eflin not being ready wouldn't qualify).

[Austinfan]

Williams was obvious, he's below average defensively and never looked comfortable as a pinch hitter, nor has hit that well when he started. His problem is with alley power he really needs to be a decent defender. Hopefully, he'll get hot in Lehigh and get traded for a solid A ball pitcher, which is about all you can hope to get, or a veteran RP.

I don't think there's much difference defensively between Bruce and Williams.
And Bruce is a proven ML power hitter, while his .210 BABIP suggests he'll probably get his BA back to his career norm at some point this season.
He's your perfect "platoon" LH batter, really good power stats over the last few seasons (except 2018) against RH pitching.

I don't like trading too much youth for veterans, but in this case a big hole got filled, nothing of value was lost, and Williams can now be traded for hopefully a decent prospect, opening a future spot for Haseley, a better prospect.

[DurhamBull]

I don't like trading too much youth for veterans, but in this case a big hole got filled, nothing of value was lost, and Williams can now be traded for hopefully a decent prospect, opening a future spot for Haseley, a better prospect.

And Williams might get a shot at a career somewhere else, because I don't think he has one here.

[LoneStarPhan]

Regardless of whether Williams has a shot here or elsewhere, he needs to show some production in AAA. He started spring training looking like he was a major league hitter but when the season started, he didn't hit in limited opportunities. His recall gave him another brief chance but again he didn't show much. He needs regular at bats and he needs to hit pretty well in AAA to gain another shot, be it with the Phillies or via a trade.

[zambonir]

I'm sure he'll be fine in AAA. Started out hitting .375 in his first two games. This isn't like Dom Brown or Cody Asche, cratering over an extended period of time. He simply didn't get to play. Pinch-hitters on average hit .220 or something like that so even if he'd done better it wouldn't have looked very good.

He'll be a nice piece in a trade for a pitcher, or he'll fetch you something better than Scheiner if they want to use him to restock system depth.

[FMcB]

Next - go get Adam Jones from AZ.

[zambonir]

I don't think Arizona is ready to sell yet, though they are certainly trending away.

But Adam Jones can't really play CF anymore (and hasn't all year). Also he left last night's game with a hamstring issue. I don't doubt his name will come up though.