So, are we getting close to admitting Walker is no longer a Major League Pitcher? He needed to have a good Spring. He has a 6.92 ERA.
Please stop this silliness and just release him. The money is spent, there is no value in losing more games to prove it.
That's what I mean about lazy managing, if Casty doesn't hit, he's a detriment to the team, contract and character be damned.
"it's not personal, Sonny. It's strictly business."
Casty ain't getting paid $20M a year cause he's a nice guy to have around the team.
And that's the attitude a good manager should have, you don't panic b/c a player is in a slump, but if he keeps making the same mistakes or shows he can't hit a ML FB or . . . the manager is paid to make unpopular decisions.
Now past history guides some of these decisions, you have a lot more patience with Harper than Casty, you have patience with Stott b/c he's younger and has shown flashes. But if JT is struggling, maybe you cut his workload back even if he wants to play everyday, "you're no spring chicken, kid."
It sounds like Walker might be the fifth starter to start the season with Suarez on the IL:
https://www.mlb.com/news/ranger-suarez-s-back-injury-has-phillies-rotation-in-flux16
Ugh. Not like we didn't always know this might happen. Maybe the Suarez-to-the-pen argument gets stronger if Walker pitches well. That's still a big if. But I'd still sooner let him have his chances than weaken the pen further w/o Ross. You can't use ERA in the tiny spring training sample as a measure. He's had some good innings and promising stuff. But there's also still questions (the splitter).
julio, I wonder if the process of the Bucks - mostly them, I believe - and Middleton selling off shares to the three new owners also prompted the dissolution of Tri-Play and a renaming. But it could also just be semantics. Those other families (including Middleton) surely have LPs or LLCs whether they have unique names or not.
This was at the time of the Middleman ownership purchase. I don't think a similar level of detail was released when the two addition people bought in, though that was when MIddleton slightly reduced his own share.
As a result of the recent passing of longtime Phillies owner William C. Buck, the Buck family has decided to diversify its assets by reducing its ownership interest in the club. Late last week an agreement was reached whereby Middleman will purchase one-third of the Buck family interest. Tri-Play, the Buck family limited partnership that holds the Phillies interest, will continue to be owned by the three family branches.
I think that may nix any thought of a Suarez extension, turning 30 with a bad back is not a good bet for long-term deal.
Walker is unlikely to be as bad as he was last season, but not as good as Turnbull was for his 7 starts.
They've replaced Ranger's 27 starts last year with Luzardo, so it's more about hoping for him taking some of the 39 starts after the top four last year, maybe some for Walker, and close to half for Painter starting in July.
If Suarez is a restricted free agent this winter, if the Phillies offer the QO, you can bet dollars to donuts he takes it.
I think Suarez was unlikely to get an extension anyway. They locked up Sanchez (to say nothing of Nola and Wheeler), they traded for Luzardo, they have Painter, they're still paying Walker.
In the meantime we'll see what happens, right now they are saying he might not go on the IL but they also say his velocity has been down all ST. Let's hope he's good enough to get the QO regardless of role;you never know what happens with those (see Nick Pivetta).
Turnbull set an unusually high bar. Bailey Falter set a really low one. If in fact Walker starts the year in the rotation hopefully he's somewhere in between (if not as good as 2023 Walker). Before today he was pitching decently, or we wouldn't have been talking about six-man rotations or moving Ranger to the pen.
People you haven't thought about this spring but might be sneaky good. Also having good ST results:
John McMillon - waiver pick-up from the Marlins who was a very solid reliever in the high minors and has had some success in the big leagues, too. Only 27. Better than many o the guys we've had in AAA recently. Throws gas (96-100 mph FB) and a gyro slider.
Kyle Tyler - waiver pick-up, again from the Marlins. Sinker (92) slider/curve pitcher who has primarily been a starter. Not a high-K pitcher, Has been wild, but has had stretches of impressive success in the minors. An Angels draftee.
Carson Taylor -- minor league rule 5 pickup from the Dodgers last off-season. Had a nice year for Reading. Great college C/1B for VaTech. Line-drive hitter who has worked hard over the last two years to try to get more balls in the air. On the Oliver Dunn track.
I left off guys I think we all know...
McMillon was on the 40 when they got him but didn't stay there long. I'm sure we'll see him eventually. The exact kind of bullpen arm this Phillies regime likes.
I believe Tyler actually is on the 40 and they want him to keep starting rather than giving him the last (or 7th) reliever spot. He was no more or less marginal than the other guys last year (Allard, Phillips) but if Ranger goes on the IL and Walker flops he'd probably be next.
Watching Walker, he got knocked around but he was actually pretty encouraging.
4 seamer 93-94, 2 seamer 92-93.
Split 85-87, cutter 87-88 with good movement.
Nice curve at 76, though lost a couple, sweeper at 80.
The split is a little fast right now, not enough separation from the FB to be a really effective change. But good fade.
Problem today was location, 3 FBs down the middle thigh high ended up in the stands.
Lost a little velocity after 50 pitches, but that's to be expected at this point of ST.
Wouldn't pitch until April 6, so probably get him one more ST start then work with him to refine his secondary pitches.
Needs to improve his command, but he has the arsenal and his velocity back.
We're just asking for a competent 5th starter, that's not a high bar.
Ranger will be a free agent. I'd be fine going year to year with him if he duplicates last year (150 good innings). Ranger keeps the ball in the park and does not rely on stuff - so he might actually age pretty well. He was probably never going to get more than a Zach Eflin type free agent contract anyway because of durability concerns.
If everybody is healthy and Painter and Luzardo are both good he probably leaves because he'll want the chance to start somewhere. The season rarely goes as planned though, so no reason to really speculate too much now.
Matt, do you think he might find another mph or two as he conditions toward the season? The 96-100 number was from a pro scouting website. Did he touch 100 mph earlier this spring?
The Athletic uploaded the Phillies' Zellus lawsuit, not sure if it would also be paywalled. The story notes how Andy Galdi (former Google guy who helped start the Phillies analytics dept) went to work there and has also hired away several other Phillies people, but that's not part of the lawsuit.
Things sure have changed:
In last year’s media guide, the Phillies listed 31 members in their R&D department — not including [Assistant GM] Kilambi. This year, they reorganized the analytics arms to reflect a growing presence. They list 41 employees over three departments — foundational research and applied biomechanics, predictive modeling, and software engineering. Employees from other departments could fall under the R&D umbrella as well.
He was the early talk of spring training having done so!
I wanted to shoot out a tweet about this earlier, but feared that it might be a bit too baseball-sicko of me.
— Alex Carr ( @AlexCarrMLB ) February 24, 2025
John McMillon was gross today. Topped out at 100.2 mph on his fastball, and flashed a nasty slider. Will be an interesting arm to keep an eye on going forward. https://t.co/FPpyKlWSXt
It is probably not uncommon for a pitcher like McMillon to go all out in his training to turn some heads early in camp. Then hit a bit of a dead arm period.
McMillon was pretty good in limited time in the majors last year but pretty bad in the minors (6.32 ERA, 7.8 BB/9). Only 130 minor league innings in his career and he is now 27 years old. Just sounds like somebody who has had trouble throwing strikes (and probably staying healthy) his entire career. I think he never had much of a chance to make the team out of Spring Training simply because it would be good for him to get 30 more innings in AAA regardless.
All kinds of news today.
The Phillies say they are going to give Brandon Marsh runway early this season as the everyday center fielder, starting him against left-handed pitching.
https://www.mlb.com/phillies/news/brandon-marsh-to-be-phillies-everyday-center-fielder-in-20252
And, no surprise
I think they're playing with fire with Marsh in CF, Casty in RF, and Turner at SS.
Nice fluff piece about Turner working on his fielding, but I'll believe he's an average SS these days when he does it on the field. He has the tools, but blows too many routine plays.
We know Casty is awful, and Marsh just doesn't have CF range, at least Kepler shouild be above average in LF.
Problem comes when defense starts extending innings and wearing down the bullpen.
If they all hit, it's fine. If Marsh can't keep it going against lefties, there's Rojas. If Casty bottoms out they will have to go get someone at the deadline, Rojas or Crawford still won't be the answer for the offense.
I'd be more worried about Turner's future, period. He was 3.9 FG WAR and 124 WRC+ last year and 4.2 WAR and 108 WRC+ in 2023. Lower WAR last year was due to fewer games played I assume, but is he really going to be a good enough hitter for LF (or a good enough defensive 3B) by 2027?
