Phillies Hot Stove, Winter 2023-24

[Austinfan]

The current lineup is fine. Rojas will hit better with experience, and Marsh is improving against LH pitching.
Marsh in LF and Rojas in CF give them an above average defensive OF, and Castellanos is fine in RF with Rojas covering for his limited range. I think Harper has a chance to be a much better 1B than he is a RF.

What they need to do is upgrade the bench while they wait for the next wave of prospects.

Crawford, Ricones, Bergolla, Miller, etc. are 2-4 years away.
Which is why you want Marchan, Kroon, Dunn, Muzzioti to push Stubbs, Pache, Castro and Caves.

[zambonir]

What they need to do is upgrade the bench while they wait for the next wave of prospects.

Crawford, Ricones, Bergolla, Miller, etc. are 2-4 years away.
Which is why you want Marchan, Kroon, Dunn, Muzzioti to push Stubbs, Pache, Castro and Caves.

I could see all four of the players in that second sentence being gone next year (and Castro is already not really slated to be on the major league team if Sosa still is). I just don't see anyone in the first group besides Marchan replacing them (and even that is unlikely given how popular Stubbs is and how much JT still plays, ill-advised though that is). The bench upgrades will be veterans.

[MichaelJackSchmidt]

Question: what will the Phillies do with Rojas? Will he be asked to player winter ball? He desperately needs to learn to hit again...

[LoneStarPhan]

Rojas did hit .302 for the regular season with an OPS of .772, While I agree that he has some work to do to improve his hitting, it's not like he was overwhelmed at the plate.

[zambonir]

I knew he'd left the 40. But my point wasn't that he was in the mix, just that the other group will be in the same category as him.

Rojas will probably play winter ball if he wants to. But the fact that he isn't hitting well in the playoffs is hardly indicative of anything. But it is another reason to make sure you have a LH LF (with Marsh in CF) for next year. So long as he's like a .700 OPS player he's the CF though.

[zambonir]

Whatever Bobby Dickerson has done with Bohm for fielding I think Long needs to do with Rojas for bunting in the off-season.

[zambonir]

Well, Stott was a 25 year-old former college player who'd been sent back to AAA last season too. Rojas is still just 22. But I agree the playoffs in and of themselves don't really mean anything. It's something he'll need to be ready for in 12 months, not on Opening Day.

[fish]

I think his bat looks a slight bit slower than it was - he’s not catching up to fastballs like he had. Reasonable to think he’s a bit fatigued at this point. Same could be said for Stott- he’s started to swing at bad fastballs like he’s trying to gear up way early to catch up.

[Austinfan]

Think Rojas is overanxious as well, swinging at too many high fastballs.

[zambonir]

They could still live with Hoskins at 1B if they really wanted to. They did what they did last year with him playing there and he wasn't worse than Bohm at 1B either (i.e. they won a lot of games with that scenario this year too). They can't possibly sign him to DH. Granted, injuries will come - Harper and Hoskins being the proof, and Schwarber might be another one waiting to happen. But they really don't have enough playing time at DH for Hoskins and Schwarber if you don't want either of them to ever put on a glove. They're not platoon players and neither is Castellanos.

No Hoskins, Harper in 1B and a new part-time OF is probably the best roster. Unless Harper is lobbying the team to re-sign Rhys, in which case he will also announce he's going back to the OF.

[andyb]

Harper is not that bad in the OF and LF would be easier. Getting Harper and Hoskins' bats in the lineup at the same time might make the Phillies even better (or an equivalent 1B to Hoskins). I am not moving Harper to get a Sosa or Clemens in the lineup. He goes to the OF however if we have a real 1B bat.

[phillychuck]

7 posts were merged into an existing topic: Phillies Cold (Not Hot Yet) Stove, 2023-24

[MichaelJackSchmidt]

Prioritizing Every MLB Roster's Biggest Weakness

Philadelphia Phillies: Third Base

Position WAR: 0.4 (23rd)

This is pretty much a knock against Alec Bohm, which feels kind of unfair given that he was perfectly serviceable in hitting .274 with 20 home runs this season.

The catch, though, is that he remains a liability on defense. He has minus-46 Defensive Runs Saved at the hot corner in just four seasons, and thus already qualifies as one of the worst defenders the metric has ever measured.

Potential Fit: 3B Matt Chapman (Free Agent)

It's hard to imagine this actually happening as of now. But if the Phillies were to fall short of a World Series championship once again, Dave Dombrowski deciding his team needs one more star would be well within the realm of "stranger things have happened."

Is Bohm improving enough to keep him or is it time to move on?

[andyb]

Is Bohm improving enough to keep him or is it time to move on?

He is definitely good enough to stay while his salary is low. 2nd/3rd arbitration years might be different.

[Austinfan]

By the time Bohm gets expensive, Miller should be in Philly.
His fielding has improved, needs to be more consistent at the plate, but with a blue chip prospect behind him, no urgency to replace him.

[zambonir]

Still don't really want to discuss this but it will be interesting to see what kind of off-season is ahead, whether the ultimate result here sets any kind of tone for it, and even what the goal of next season should be (i.e. is it actually to try and catch the Braves or are we seeing that just winning 90+ and the wild card is enough).

Somehow Bohm went from whipping boy to overrated (both at the plate and in the field) but so long as he can continue to do what he does well (contact/RBIs) while remaining adequate in 3B, agreed, he's still very cheap. They just need to tweak the team at the margins around him (LH bat who can play 3B, RH power corner OF or 1B if Rhys isn't back).

[BostonRoss]

I had advocated trading for Chapman a couple of years ago. Probably would have had to include Bohm in that trade.

[Aquapong]

Offensively Bohm was fine. He does seem improved at 3B. Only 4 errors at 3b.

[zambonir]

I just don't think he's quite good enough at the plate, overall. 108 OPS+ and just 0.5 WAR is a very ordinary/slightly above-average player. And errors don't really tell the story of his defensive limitations. The real question is whether he can still improve offensively, or if he might backslide if the hitting with RISP isn't sustainable. But he isn't going anywhere.

[zambonir]

heh.