Phillies Off-Season 2024-2025 (Part 2 including Spring Training)

zambonir · Feb 14

Reading that story it sounds like the LF thing is a long shot. Schwarber LF and JT DH is first option, with a day off for Kepler. Presumably Schwarber's experience trumps JT's athleticism; plus, if you want him to rest, let him rest.

And the subtext - not even subtext really, they say it - is that they feel pressure to let JT play a certain number of games to help his value in free agency, even if not all of them are at C. An extension would solve that, but JT probably doesn't want what the Eagles are offering before he hits the market (just like last time).

bkeich · Feb 14

I think I can guarantee that Realmuto is a better defensive LF than Schwarber today, I also think he is a better RF than Castellanos. Those two guys are among the worst defensive OF in years and Realmuto is a good all-around baseball player.

To me the more important question is as you said, is it better to just let him rest and just hit, and of course what if he gets hurt doing the “different” things that he never does as a catcher (100 foot sprints, different types of throwing, walls, etc).I

andyb · Feb 14

I think this is more contingency on outfield injuries. Wilson is probably fine in the reserve/start against LHP role. But what if Rojas struggles or someone like Castellanos or Marsh gets hurt? At that point we really need to integrate more players on the roster. Having JT as an option in LF once in a while at least introduces the concept.

Miller is a second half wild card too. What would they do if he is actually ready? Miller is staying at SS this Spring, maybe exclusively. Which would then put Trea in play as the fill in anywhere person. It really does feel like the Phillies want to give Miller a legit chance to start at SS in a year or two.

bkeich · Feb 14

It does also give a way to keep Realmuto in the lineup if he gets a “can’t catch for a month” type injury.

Philsmania · Feb 14

Then, on July 4, the Phillies waived him and the then-Indians claimed him back. In the span of nine days, he went from the Indians to the Phillies and back to the Indians. That was faster than Rob Ducey's back and forth in 2000--from Phillies to Blue Jays on July 26 for John Sneed who never made it to The Show and back to the Phillies on August 7 for Mickey Morandini.

zambonir · Feb 14

I think there is still something to be said for hundreds of games and years of experience seeing the ball come off the bat and running routes. Plus, Schwarber is in far better shape than he was his last stint playing LF for us regularly. He made 5 starts in LF last year.

In the story JT says he might shag a few balls in Clearwater but that's it.

Finding someone to play LF once a week is not really that hard (especially when our CF is really good at it and our LF is really good at RF). If there's an injury Wilson does it and Stevenson or Clemens (if he sticks/clears) or even Mercado (who is a good defender) would be up.

It sounds like Miller is indeed our next SS but I doubt it will be this year. Would be a good problem to have.

phillychuck · Feb 14

JT's offense isn't good enough that it is a benefit to the Phils to stand him out in LF when he's not catching, thus putting Marsh or Kepler (or Rojas) on the bench. JT's net value offensively plus defensively in LF has to be less than all three of those guys.

If JT's not catching, give him the day off or let him pinch hit.

zambonir · Feb 14

Which also means his bat isn't good enough to DH. But I'm not sure that's really true of LF if it's a LHP. I think JT also probably outhit Marsh in the second half of the season by a lot (after his surgery). And Rojas had reverse splits. It's true about the defense, but in this scenario, JT is DH and Schwarber is LF, so you are losing one of those guys regardless.

We also have to hope your statement is actually true when it comes to Kepler (versus what he was last year).

andyb · Feb 14

JT has a 782 OPS against LHP. If Wilson fails or is unavailable, JT's offense might actually be a plus In LF. And we'll have a switch hitter as backup catcher most likely, so it is not as if we will never start that backup against LHP like Stubbs ideally.

It won't be the first option or even the second option. But it might actually be a serviceable option for some situations over 162 games..

BostonRoss · Feb 14

If JT is DHing and the catcher gets hurt, we’ll lose the DH for the rest of the game

andyb · Feb 14

I hate that rule but it is what it is.. There is like a 2% chance of a catcher injury so if the price is a couple of at bats in one game it really is not that big a price. I don't think JT will DH that often anyway, but I would not avoid it because of the pitcher hitting in an emergency. We rarely use most of our bench anyway in most games.

zambonir · Feb 14

Let's face it, it's all a lot of lip service until proven otherwise. He caught 134, 139 and 135 games before the injury kept him at 99 last year. Seems just as likely he catches 120 as he catches 110 and plays 10 elsewhere. But hopefully that's it. It depends on the back-up situation too. Odds are Stubbs still gets a few weeks here or there when either of the others are banged up. If Marchán hits he'll play more but we all know what his career minor league numbers (versus last year's small sample) say.

HopeSpringsEternal · Feb 15

Howie always seems to find a way to

zambonir · Feb 15

Haha wonder why I had them on the brain today.

I like this idea, Howie would get JT to take three years and a pay cut based on reduced playing time with a signing bonus and deferrals.

zambonir · Feb 15

The day’s formal workout for Phillies pitchers and catchers had been finished for about 20 minutes, but the action continued Friday afternoon on the half field adjacent to BayCare Ballpark. Larry Bowa sprayed Alec Bohm with groundball after groundball to third base. On the other side of the diamond, Kyle Schwarber practiced some drills with infield coach Bobby Dickerson.

Schwarber even brought his first baseman’s mitt.

Goes on to say JT does want to catch 120, but could also DH or play 1B (both still more likely than LF).

And Schwarber will probably play more than five in LF this year. And that it also helps Schwarber's free agency if he shows he can stand in LF or at 1B occasionally. (And not necessarily a bad thing for Harper to have DH days.)

Sosa is also actually going to work out in, and maybe even play, OF this spring too.

kmc1019 · Feb 15

Commitment to winning over catering to player preferences would mean Turner getting reps in left field.

Austinfan · Feb 15

I think they're just improving roster flexibility, with the short rosters these days, you really don't want a pure DH.

Right now, they don't know what they'll have at Lehigh, both the top prospects but also the AAA plus guys, who'd have thought Wilson would come up last year and give them a solid 98 PA with 130 RC+? Can he repeat that as a platoon corner OF this season? You find out in June whether they're ready to come up and fill in for injuries, in April it's a guess.

Miller could start at Reading and tear apart AA or struggle for a couple months, Crawford could struggle with swing adjustments or the light could go on and he forces a promotion, Kemp might be for real and quickly adjust to corner OF to go with 2B and 3B, Abel could fix what's ailing him and push for a BP role, and so on. And a couple veteran "show me" signings might pay off like Hoffman and Ruiz.

But you can't predict which, if any, of these guys will be able to help you in July, so you have to have enough flexibility to take advantage of a hot minor league player - he may not be the direct injury replacement you want, so you may have to shuffle players around.

zambonir · Feb 15

With which player at shortstop (and which player at 2B)? Stott's not that great a SS (nor that great a hitter until we see a bounce-back). And Sosa showed himself to be his usual below-average bat eventually last year too.

If Kepler is actually good, you want both him and Turner in the batting order. And if Miller is our SS in 2026 I would still sooner see Turner at 3B and a more potent LF bat (though that decision will also be linked to whether they keep Schwarber, and Bohm for his last year obviously).

andyb · Feb 15

Whether Turner goes to the OF in a few years depends as much on our alternatives elsewhere. Bohm, Marsh, Rojas, Crawford, whatever we do in RF.

It is actually good that Turner athletically can play anywhere. I don't fault him at all for wanting to stay at SS as long as possible. That is good. That is him being competitive. But he also volunteered to play CF for the Nats when he came up so they could keep Ian Desmond I believe at SS. Desmond was decent defensively but nothing great in the back end of his tenure with the Nats. Turner also played 2B in the WBC and we really don't know about Stott long term after last year.

Turner gives us lots of options and that is good. I hope Miller stays at SS defensively because that could help the team defensively at multiple positions. Turner would likely be a huge upgrade over Castellanos for instance. Bohm too.

allentown · Feb 15

Sosa had a poor second half of season, but I think we should judge based upon the full season data set. Sosa was OPS+ of 104 for the season and 97 for his career. Kepler's OPS+ last season was 91. His 120 OPS+ in 2022 was his only year above 100 of the past 4 seasons and his career OPS+ is 102. Since this is his age 32 season upcoming, it's asking a lot to expect plus offense from him.

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