Phillies News and Discussion 2025 Season

[zambonir]

I don't really understand the Marsh-haters. He's been a very good to great player. Even in a somewhat disappointing 2024 at the plate he put up 3.1 WAR, which was third on the team, and more than JT or Trea. He's an excellent LF and an above-average hitter against RHP. The front office and the manager have failed him - and the team, and Rojas really - by moving him back to CF and trying to play him the other 25% of the time.

But it's still just a slump. And he's still not even that old. At 27 he is the same age as Victorino was in 2009, and Marsh was a better hitter than Vic was in 2007 and 2008.

They failed him and the team further by signing Kepler, of course. They should have either platooned Marsh and Wilson (or Hays), or lived with the loss or production from a Marsh/Rojas CF and gotten a stud for LF. For now they should probably just play Rojas as much as possible and rotate the other three guys in LF (and sure, given Nick a day off every week against RHP, it can only make him better/fresher as his numbers really are still built on strafing LHP).

[flyers19rw]

Let me start off by stating that I don’t particularly like this club. Some of these players really aggravate me. However the season is a marathon not a sprint. There’s a lot of water to go under the bridge before October. DD is giving the guys a chance to run it back. They’re right on the precipice of failure which could have benefits-no one can complain when DD breaks up the club. Which I believe he will.
He has in house reinforcements at his disposal in Crawford, Painter and maybe even Kemp, as well as others. He will have players to move off of the roster and to different positions in the field. The BP is a mess but teams rebuild them on the fly each season. I look for DD to drastically change this roster from now until the TDL. What he has after that may well be good enough to go far. One qualifier-if Sanchez has blown out his arm, it’s a totally different scenario.

[zambonir]

One qualifier-if Sanchez has blown out his arm, it’s a totally different scenario.

They seem really unconcerned about it. That it might even be something like the flu.

But even that wouldn't be apocalyptic. Ranger is coming back. Painter is still in the mix. Walker has been solid. Need Nola to bounce back too of course. But with the hitting that will still come and, we hope, a better bullpen, hat would still be enough to chase the wild card and more than enough for the playoffs, and also a lot more than last year (even Sanchez didn't win on the road).

I just hope they can come home from Chicago with one win and get back on track a bit.

[allentown]

The 2025 Phillies started well and now seem in a team funk/slump. They should be able to get past this, but there aren't obviously green pastures ahead. At least the Dodgers and Mets are better than us. That doesn't mean we can't advance if we make the playoffs. None of our WS teams from the last and current cycle were the best Phillies team of the cycle and certainly weren't the best NL team those years. Our best team of the two cycles was the best in baseball and got the bum's rush out of the playoffs. The team emphasizes starting pitching, because 3 strong SPs can dominate the post-season. They need the support of the rest of the team, but they can be the key to dominance. If we are just squeaking into the playoffs, I don't think DD should trade anything of consequence.

[zambonir]

The Dodgers just got swept by the Cubs. It's possible the Cubs and four NL West teams are better than us. But not by a lot, and like you say, it matters not in an NLDS.

[MichaelJackSchmidt]

Maybe this team doesn't have what it takes to win the division or make the playoffs, but it's too early to say that.

[andyb]

The NL is much deeper than the AL at the moment. Probably 7 or 8 of the top 10 teams are in the NL this year.

[BostonRoss]

I think that some of the disappointment with the Phillies hitting is the strikeouts, especially when they look bad due to chasing. It's easier to overlook the frequent strikeouts for guys like Schwarber (and even Harper) when they also hit a bunch of bombs. But people who hit "only" 15-25 homers a year like Marsh and Castellanos--and JT, who's leading the team in whiffs--don't get that pass, even when they are quite valuable when they are not striking out (and in Marsh's case, in the field, too).

But strikeouts happen way more frequently than they used to. The Phillies are about league average in strikeouts, and they were last year, too. There are plenty of players who strike out as frequently as the worst offenders on the Phillies, including Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Elly De La Cruz, Pete Alonso, and others. I don't like watching the Ks any more than anyone else, but an awful lot of valuable players strike out 25%-30% of the time.

[Austinfan]

Three outcome players strike out a lot, but they also hit a bunch of HRs and walk a lot.
Mike Schmidt was that player well before launch angles, etc. came into vogue.
150 Ks is fine if you hit 40 HRs and walk a 100 times.
But it sucks if you hit 15 HRs and walk 40 times.
If you strike out 25% of the time, .75 x .350 (BABIP) = .263.
And that's a very high BABIP for most hitters (Rojas, if he learns to bunt, could pull it off).

Line drive hitters need to make consistent, hard contact.
Walks should be a by product of good plate discipline, if you don't swing at pitches you can't hit, you'll get ahead in the count and walk more.

The reason Castellanos for example has strong platoon splits is that against RH pitchers, he struggles to pick up the outside slider and consistently chases that pitch If he'd just spit on it and wait for a pitch over the plate, he'd take a few strikes but get ahead in the count far more often.

[andyb]

Need to wake the bot up. 2:20 start today to look at next year's RF Kyle Tucker.

[zambonir]

I think the offense will eventually be fine. Their chase is down. Their OBP is high. They are just not hitting home runs or with RISP. The latter comes and goes, and the difference between bad and good is almost too small to be noticeable over a larger sample. It's just always noticeable in any given game or bad streak. They are still 12th in MLB with RISP (and 9th in OPS). Last year they were 7th with a .266 BA.

The Phillies are tied for third in the majors with a .340 on-base percentage, partially because they’re tied for second in walks (108). But they rank only 11th in runs per game (4.44) because they’re batting only .251 with a .781 OPS with runners in scoring position.

The Phillies after 25 games: April pressure, the bullpen question, and a Brandon...

[HopeSpringsEternal]

There’s a weather delay at Wrigley Field - not sure how long. So the bot can continue catching up on its rest for a while.

[andyb]

It is a Friday. I actually can skip work the rest of the day so hope they get it in.

Edit - Looks pretty bad.

1:03p - Delayed. This is one of the worst outcomes lol…Gonna take awhile to chew through. pic.twitter.com/YZrCVcR1Fw

— Cubs Weather ( @cubsweather ) April 25, 2025

[allentown]

I'm not anti-K. My concern is that good (good, not great) pitching shuts us down. The deficit is hitting with RISP, Probably true for most hitters, but Phillies hitting stats have been boosted by a few big offensive outbursts against weak pitching.

[zambonir]

I was just wondering if Gelb had posted a weather update and saw this instead. Last year they were trending up though (15-10 and 7-3 in most recent 10). This year, 13-12, 4-6).

Phillies through 25 games

2024: .248/.320/.390
108 runs, 27 HR

2025: .251/.340/.381
111 runs, 21 HR

— Matt Gelb (@mattgelb.bsky.social) April 25, 2025 at 7:51 AM

(Housekeeping question, @julio - the system thinks every embedded bsky post is the same post, I assume that's well beyond the forum's control but FYI)

[Philsmania]

Just grasping a straws here but maybe unlike last year when our schedule was easy up front and then got tougher, maybe this year it's tougher up front and will get easier later?

[zambonir]

No idea if that's true in the broad sense or even how you measure it just yet, but May does look easier than April. September doesn't look especially easy (at Brewers, four against the Mets at home, six at LA and AZ) but final homestand (Miami and Minnesota) seems friendly.

One current trend seems to be that Stott is doing great at the top but Schwarber isn't hitting 4th. Only 4 RBIs in last 14 days. And they'll pitch to anyone we hit 5th.

[Squire]

Phillies traded OF Kody Clemens to the Minnesota Twins

[LoneStarPhan]

Phillies traded OF Kody Clemens to the Minnesota Twins

Good trade. Who’d we get?

[zambonir]

Dave Cash's grandson?