If JT is DHing and the catcher gets hurt, we’ll lose the DH for the rest of the game
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.
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.
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.
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.
Commitment to winning over catering to player preferences would mean Turner getting reps in left field.
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.
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).
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.
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.
It'll be up in the air all season.
If Kepler hits, at least RH pitching, and Marsh can hit RH pitching, Crawford LH hitter, may depend on Rojas, whether his winter ball performance shows improvement. Wilson in LF, Castellanos in RF against LH pitching.
I can see Castellanos becoming a platoon OF b/c his hitting against RH isn't good enough to compensate for his fielding.
Last three seasons, against RH pitchers, 93, 94, 98 RC+. Given his fielding that's below replacement - better off playing Rojas, 106, 77 RC+ against RH pitching last two seasons.
Meanwhile, against LH pitchers, 100, 149, 125.
Well, I'm not truly comparing Kepler to Sosa. It's possible Kepler is not going to bounce back and is not a suitable LF. But I think we already know Sosa is what he is. He's a capable back-up and strong defender who can get hot for a while but is eventually exposed.
Neither Turner nor Sosa are second, third or fourth in line to play a little LF. And nobody's trying to get Schwarber or JT serious playing time there either.
And no, nobody's talking about playing Schwarber in the field 100+ times, even to get Nick out of it. Would sooner just put Nick in LF. But goes to show you they think asking Nick to adjust to LF when he's made himself at least playable in RF is less preferable to letting Kepler play LF. And, they no longer value outfield defense in general. Marsh is playing where he's not as good, Kepler is playing where he's not as good, Casty isn't good, and Rojas is on the bench.
Kepler had arm injury issues last season and Castellanos does have a decent arm. Kepler in LF and Castellanos in RF is almost certainly the better defensive choice if you are playing both of them at once. Marsh would be a more interesting question to flip, but they have never done that and it almost certainly would not be on the table except in an emergency.
It's funny how the narratives are one thing but what actually gets said in the story doens't always match. For instance in this one Harper says he won't lead off (but would hit 2nd or 4th) and in one of the others he said he doesn't want to play anywhere other than 1B (i.e. no DH days).
Marsh has played 74 innings in RF the last two years, he could probably handle it fine if needed.
But if would make more sense to platoon Kepler with Castellanos in RF with Marsh in LF against RH pitching.
Marsh is a subpar fielding CF, and Rojas actually hits RH pitching the same or better than LH pitching, so I'm dubious about his value as a CF. They'll be watching Crawford's progress closely.
Rojas's platoon splits are a small sample, and also full of noise from his highs and lows. The Phillies and Thomson almost always ignore that (if they are platooning that is. They also ignore it when they have just decided a guy should play every day, whether they are right or wrong).
In CF as things currently stand it is pretty much guaranteed Rojas will play against LHP and Marsh against RHP. Even if Rojas continues to hit RHP better by his own standard, he's nowhere near Marsh's standard (or Kepler's).
And there's also no indication Castellanos will be platooning in any way. Nor should he, if he's able to avoid a slump and pick up where he left off last year. If he craters that's another story. And he should actually get one game a week off this year.
I doubt Marsh is subpar in CF (I.e. he will still be positive value). Just not as good as Rojas or as good as his own work in LF
Hopefully this plan works and they are not once again looking for a RHB OF or talking about Luis Robert. Crawford could still be traded, could be the 2026 starting CF or could just be the next Rojas. I'd be surprised if he's a factor this year (and if he is that means Kepler has gone the way of Merrifield).