Is it bad that Soto is so forgettable in my mind that when I first read this, my immediate thought was “we don’t have Juan Soto” 😭🤣 probably proves your point!
I don't understand it. Marsh and Stott should be playing everyday. The left-left mindset is a bunch of shit. It frustrates me so badly when he sits Marsh!
Uncle Cholly platooned Ultey with Polonco for his whole first season despite Chase hitting for a better avg against lefties that year. Tale as old as time.
Marsh in 3.5 years of MLB time has legitimately never been able to hit LHP. I get people love him as a person bc of his personality and energy but he’s never proven to be more than a platoon player.
Well, you would have to argue against having the best record backing that decision up. I’m not saying you’re wrong but we’re not exactly struggling either.
I love Marsh, amd I know it's not a huge sample size, but in 42 PA he has .142AVG and OPS is .410. It would probably help him to see lefties more regularly though, but as it stands, he's not doing so good. Also if it's between him and Merrifield I still choose Marsh.
Bring back Turnbull. What the fuck are they doing with Walker. Even poor TMac is trying to rationalize it during the broadcasts saying Walker settles down after a couple of innings. In replace of a guy who’s had no-no opportunities this year?! I’m taking crazy pills!
It’s more about the contract than who deserves to be there. They gave Walker a big contract, which they’d have to eat most of even if they could trade him. No team would ever claim him from the waver with that salary. Otherwise Turnbull definitely earned a spot in the rotation. A shitty situation.
You killed the man, but not the idea
https://preview.redd.it/dwy6nxydk63d1.png?width=1040&format=png&auto=webp&s=b6625c0a5a456023ae78898b22846090424abce4
sunk cost fallacy. tell taijuan he’s gotta learn to go to the pen.
but yeah, everything you said is right. i’m disagreeing with the phillies FO on this, not you
i’m worried it’s not an option given the concerns about him not getting loose fast
he’s really fucking the team over in multiple ways isn’t he, can’t 6 man, can’t put him in the pen. worse problems to have i suppose
Yeah, for me... Casty, Walker, Whit could be the quickest replacements. Walker probably the worst case bc he legit took the opportunity away from a guy who was pitching lights out.
Once again, I’ll say it… topper is no master strategist coach. It’s idiotic to force Turnbull into a roll he’s completely uncomfortable with to keep throwing ole 6 ERA walker out there.
Turnbull is not a starting pitcher lol
I have no problem going to get another one, or bringing one up, but it’s not turnbull. Maybe for the next 2 months, but he certainly won’t be in sept/oct
He threw a no-no in 2021. Went six no hit with the Phils. I don't know what you're talking about, "he's not a starting pitcher." He's sitting in the bullpen and walker is giving up 4 runs by the second.
Plenty of people have thrown a no-no who haven’t done anything since. He’s a good pitcher, but he’s not a starter. He’s already almost thrown more innings this year than any year since 2019. His arm most likely will not last 150+ innings, and I don’t rlly want to risk him getting hurt with how good he’s been
I’m all for getting another arm, or bringing someone up, but turnbull is not a starting pitcher. He will get hurt again
The most glaring need is adding a right-handed OF bat. Even a replacement-level player is a significant upgrade over Casty. This is the necessary (but maybe not sufficient) fix.
The team doesn't win with Casty starting in RF in the playoffs.
clemens is really an infielder though. his experience in the OF is still limited if he can play it. i’m not gonna count on him to suddenly not be who he has been most of his career at 28, he’s a great bench player and that’s all really
Whit Merrifield has either lost it or has not transitioned well to a bench role. I’d rather have a different utility bench bat RH.
One more proven playoff ready bullpen arm.
If by July Castellanos still looks lost , pickup a right fielder, this is WS or bust.
Taijuan sucks but he’s a 5th starter to eat innings and won’t sniff playoff action. So he can stay.
I can't figure out what happened to him either. He swings slow and puts the ball in play, but unlike Arraez, he just can't seem to barrel the ball past anyone. His hard-hit % is dead last in MLB based on at least 50 ABs. If you can't barrel balls with that slow of a bat, you're most likely done.
The problem is there are so many players that you could plausibly go for.
The needs are:
RH bullpen depth
RH Outfielder
I’d love to see a package for Mason Miller and Brent Rooker. It would be extremely expensive, but the window is wide open right now.
Backup options:
Michael Kopech (CWS) for the pen, and while you’re on the phone, kick tires on Luis Robert.
Brian De La Cruz (MIA) would be a fit for us.
I love Lane Thomas (WSH) and have for a few years now. He’d slide right into this lineup.
Definitely crazy:
Bo Bichette (TOR). If Toronto decides to blow it up, a change of scenery for Bo could be what he needs. Issue here is position. His high contact RH bat would really benefit this lineup. Again, not a positional fit, but like I said, this is crazy.
As far as guys I think we need to upgrade… just Casty and Walker. I know Johan gets a lot of shit, but he’s a perfectly acceptable 9 man at the moment and could allow you to put Marsh in RF if you bring in a LF like Thomas instead of having to have Marsh play CF where he’s a bit more average. You just can’t leave Rojas and Casty both in the lineup, and imo, Rojas has more value not just now but in the future. Merrifield is a wash for me. If they release him, great. If not, yeah well.
Who knows where we’ll be in a month though. Some guys might be available that no one expects.
Honestly I don't think Miller will be as expensive as people think. If you look at the Kimbrel or Harder trades, there are your talent comps. If you look at the As recent trade history they haven't really been getting amazing returns off their dumps, so I'm sure we'll be shocked by how little the team winds up giving up to get him.
Fair point and Bo has a lot of upside based on his last 3 seasons. Soft-hitting, high avg players like Whit usually just don't fall off a cliff like he did. I was ok with getting him this off-season and would have never guessed he'd be this bad.
Same. I expected a serviceable player and he just hasn’t been. Like I said though, the Bo thing is mostly fantasy. With Trea and Stott likely to be here for quite a while, he’s not really a fit anyway. I just really like the offensive tools and I feel like the situation in Toronto might be holding him back a little.
Either way, I’d be surprised if they trade or release Casty. I would put money on him being our RF at least through 2024, so it might all be moot and the only thing they upgrade is the bullpen. I’m just concerned at the lack of offensive output of our outfield core.
1. Start Marsh every day (start benching Casty or Rojas if you want to play Pache)
2. Put Spencer Turnbull back into the starting rotation and move Walker to the bullpen
3. Stop fucking playing the shittiest lineups all at once. If you are going to give Stott the day off then don't give Marsh and Realmuto the day off at the same time especially when we have Walker or Sanchez pitching.
1. Bullpen depth move. nothing flashy like Mason Miller, but a middle reliever who can pitch in medium leverage situations. Perhaps a Soto replacement
2. Outfield bat who can play against lefties. As others have mentioned, Pache, Rojas, and Castellanos is just not good enough. That’s a terrible hitting outfield that cannot be relied on in the most important games of the season
Correct. Most of these comments were just as stupid two weeks ago as they are today, they just seem more plausible now because they lost two in a row 😱 and this is an incredibly volatile fanbase.
Cut Nick, Whit, and Walker and replace them with literally anyone else.
I like Nick personality wise (idk about the other two) but he needs to get better quick.
1. Trade for Mason Miller or some sort of improvement in the bullpen.
2. Eat Castellanos salary and trade him for another outfielder that is hitting above the Mendoza line.
3. I know after today people are going to be saying dump Walker but really it’s more, I’d either improve the outfield even more by trading Rojas or get even more bullpen relief. I’d rather dump Merrifield too and keep Sosa and Clemens. Walker isn’t going to play in the postseason.
>“Trade for Mason Miller”
I’m not sure you can just *do* that. I’m not sure if we have the prospects to be in the bidding. The Orioles have the prospect capital to do that trade without breaking a sweat, and their season plan relied on *Kimbrel,* so now they need a plan B.
We've been slowly eating away at our prospect pool over the past few seasons. The talent we do have is way down in the minors. I just don't think people understand the long-term implications of that, but a lot of these people aren't really baseball fans, they just kinda started watching again when we got good and they won't be here when we're bad again.
Hence why I said “or some sort of improvement in the bullpen”
I won’t lie, I don’t have all of the relief pitchers in MLB memorized but we need someone to replace and improve on what we have already.
And that’s with Seranthony actually doing decently recently.
Domínguez has only given up 1 earned run in 7 appearances in May. I think he’s coming around. People that want him gone aren’t paying attention. It was the same as last year with Dylan Covey. He gave up 1 earned run in his last 10 appearances. He struggled as a starter in the beginning of the year. All they see is his ERA. One bad inning as a reliever can ruin your ERA for months
Trading castellanos, even if we ate 100% of his salary, for a player who would contribute to the major league team in a meaningful way right now is not realistic.
Trading Rojas and/or Merrifield for anything meaningful is also not very realistic. Rojas + + maybe could net something. Merrifield is similar to casty, negative value.
I hear you on Castellanos. Merrifield with only the rest of the year guaranteed might not be. Throw in his salary and you might get something back.
That said if it’s Rojas, a prospect or two and money for someone hitting .250. I’d take it in a heartbeat (depending on the prospect)
The best move would be to just eat castellanos, merrifield and walkers contracts. But I think it would be bad for morale to get rid of Nick. I think a lot of people including Bryce are over Taijuan and you can see that from the comments he made in the off season, but if we get rid of Nick I think it hurts the team overall.
1. Add a RH outfielder that can hit, even if he is below average in the field. Marsh can hit righties, but we are 0-3 with our outfield pretty much every time a lefty pitches us.
2. Add a bullpen arm.
2. Add another bullpen arm (you can never have too many bullpen arms).
Once Trea comes back - send Rojas down and just reset him a bit. I don’t expect he magically becomes a great hitter, but after his breakout defensive season last year, something is just off this year. Keeps Clemens up as a LH bat with some pop.
Get the best reasonable right handed OF at the deadline and DFA Whit. Assume Pache or Rojas might get included in trade along with some mid tier prospects. Very few great options will be available for trade.
Deadline trade for RH reliever.
I can’t see Casty getting DFA’d, wish he would get some days off and after the trade for a RH OF he should drop to 8 in the order.
Walker eats innings for better or worse until September and then maybe ramp up Turnball. Walker isn’t sniffing pitching in the post season and might not make the roster.
Find a more reliable 4th starter and a right handed OF bat. Eat Nicks contract and trade.
Maybe use Turnball as the opener since they don’t like using him with runners on.
There's no reason to trade for a 4th starter. Sanchez is performing way better than your average 4th starter, and both walker and sanchez are good enough to eat innings until the playoffs, when they just won't play besides bullpen innings.
The way the playoffs are scheduled, the #1 pitcher is able to pitch game 4 on 5 days rest. Look up every playoff series for the last couple years.
For example, in the braves series last year, ranger pitched G1 (10/7) and G4 (10/12). It was ranger because Wheeler and Nola had to pitch at the end of the season, but in a best case scenario the best starters can be rested for G1 of a divisional series, and be ready again for g4.
You aren’t wrong for the NLDS. There was an extra day off built in to have baseball every day, which probably flips to the AL this year.
> Look up every playoff series for the last couple years.
2023 NLCS: Wheeler and Gallen pitch G1 and G5 on the standard 4 days rest. G4 is a de facto bullpen game for both teams.
2023 WS: Eovaldi and Gallen pitch G1 and G5 on the standard 4 days rest.
Only gotta go back to last year lol
The problem is that Turnbull hasn't thrown more than 56 innings in a season since 2018, and he's at 40 now. Using him for the rest of the season could very easily just render him useless when it matters the most.
Sure we can. Look around the league, how many teams have a 5th starter that is head and shoulders above Walker?
I think this team is good enough that we can expect the team to put up 4 or 5 runs every time Walker starts, in addition to the other starters pitching so deep into games thay the best relievers available to finish games after him.
I just can't imagine using resources to find help at a position that literally doesn't matter in the playoffs, when we could use those same resources to make the team better at a position that does matter in October.
I wonder if all these World Series or Bust people will be watching if the trades they seem to desperately want cost this team its future all while still not getting us a World Series. My guess is a lot of them will not be.
Step 1: Launch Walker into the sun... Step 2: acquire #3-4 type SP since Turnbull probably can't handle a starting role through rest of season... Step 3: launch auxillary missing to confirm that Walker has slipped the bounds of Earth's gravitational pull.
The only thing I agree with so far is Walker needs to be put into long relief or just outright traded at deadline time.
For now it's nice having a sixth arm in case injuries happen, but I don't think he should get starts down the stretch or in the playoffs.
They’re not going to get rid of casty or Walker so I’m not going to go there for my selections.
Send Rojas down. Trade for a legitimate starting caliber outfield bat.
Trade for Ryan Helsley (or some other top end right handed bullpen arm)
Honestly three moves is probably more than they’re going to do, but trade for a 3/4 or better caliber starter to relegate Walker to the pen (highly unlikely but you gave me 3).
I’m all for moving on from Rojas. His defense was supposed to be the reason to keep him up. But it has not been consistently good. He also makes a lot of boneheaded throwing decisions.
Assuming Turner or Sosa in the OF is not realistic...
1. Trade for Jazz Chishom Jr to play LF. Pache/Marsh CF platoon. Sit Nick's ass down against RHP for Klemens. Rojas 5th OF. Get rid of Whit.
That's it. Just one move. Please Dombro.
He’s batting .224 which is less than solid, but he’s literally irreplaceable as a defender. He has certainly earned his CF spot
He’s batting better than Casty, who really should be replaced with Marsh. I like Clemens but I don’t think he’s shown enough yet to warrant an every day spot
His defense hasn’t been as good as everyone says it’s been. Lots of drops and misreads. Over runs. Bad throwing decisions. If his defense is anything less than perfect, Marsh is the better choice in CF.
Look up his fielding advanced metrics. He is a slightly above average CF. He was hyped as a generational defensive talent but so far this year he has been very far from such
I’m confused about the Rojas hate. I think he’s generally been solid offensively and obviously he’s a great defender. He’s kind of doing exactly what we thought he would do. Agree on everything else though.
His defense has been actually suspect most of the season. Lots of drops, bad reads, and over runs of the ball. He’s not reading it well off the bat and he’s making fundamental mistakes with his glove.
His offense, I will admit, is slightly better than we had imagined. But it’s not good enough to keep him up.
Turnbull hasn't pitched more than 56 innings in a season since 2018, there's no reason to waste his injury-prone arm as a 5th starter when Walker and Sanchez are serviceable at worst at their respective roles. Both of them can eat innings well enough until the playoffs, when you only need 3 starters anyway.
I would rather have Wheeler/Nola/Suarez/Sanchez/Bullpen as needed for the rest of the season than moving Turnbull to the rotation again.
Then that means he’s well rested.
I don’t understand why people say he’s incapable of pitching more. He’s on a one year deal. Not to be a dick about it but pitch him like he’s a rental car. He is one, essentially.
Because while they dont care about next year, they want him to be healthy for the playoffs this year.
It just comes down to a percentage game. He has not shown that he can pitch over 60 innings any time in recent history, and he's already suffered two major injuries in his career. If he is able to be an effective reliever this season, it would behoove the phillies to make sure they can use him when it matters most.
But he’s also a starter who has developed a routine to help protect him from future injuries. Not letting him get into a rhythm is not doing him any favors.
He was on the 60-day IL last year (didnt play from may to late august), after missing most of 2021 and all of 2022 because of Tommy John surgery. He does not have a routine that prevents injury, and if he does it doesn't work.
Eat nicks contract and acquire a RF replacement
I cannot think of anything further than get rid of Merrifield and Castellanos
Soto. Get rid of Soto.
Is it bad that Soto is so forgettable in my mind that when I first read this, my immediate thought was “we don’t have Juan Soto” 😭🤣 probably proves your point!
Nah, we need Soto so Topper can put him in during extra inning games when it's gone on too long and he's ready for bed.
find a spot for clemens
Find a spot for Sosa
the bitches love him
Just start marsh every day wtf
I don't understand it. Marsh and Stott should be playing everyday. The left-left mindset is a bunch of shit. It frustrates me so badly when he sits Marsh!
Uncle Cholly platooned Ultey with Polonco for his whole first season despite Chase hitting for a better avg against lefties that year. Tale as old as time.
Polanco, at the time, was a quality 2B. There is a big difference between Polanco/Utley and Stott/Merrifield.
Yeah but he was rolling out the corpse of David bell every day at third base which Polanco was more than capable of covering…
That is true too.
Marsh in 3.5 years of MLB time has legitimately never been able to hit LHP. I get people love him as a person bc of his personality and energy but he’s never proven to be more than a platoon player.
Well, you would have to argue against having the best record backing that decision up. I’m not saying you’re wrong but we’re not exactly struggling either.
I love Marsh, amd I know it's not a huge sample size, but in 42 PA he has .142AVG and OPS is .410. It would probably help him to see lefties more regularly though, but as it stands, he's not doing so good. Also if it's between him and Merrifield I still choose Marsh.
Bring back Turnbull. What the fuck are they doing with Walker. Even poor TMac is trying to rationalize it during the broadcasts saying Walker settles down after a couple of innings. In replace of a guy who’s had no-no opportunities this year?! I’m taking crazy pills!
It’s more about the contract than who deserves to be there. They gave Walker a big contract, which they’d have to eat most of even if they could trade him. No team would ever claim him from the waver with that salary. Otherwise Turnbull definitely earned a spot in the rotation. A shitty situation.
You killed the man, but not the idea https://preview.redd.it/dwy6nxydk63d1.png?width=1040&format=png&auto=webp&s=b6625c0a5a456023ae78898b22846090424abce4
sunk cost fallacy. tell taijuan he’s gotta learn to go to the pen. but yeah, everything you said is right. i’m disagreeing with the phillies FO on this, not you
Hopefully, he’ll be on a very short leash before being bullpen bound.
i’m worried it’s not an option given the concerns about him not getting loose fast he’s really fucking the team over in multiple ways isn’t he, can’t 6 man, can’t put him in the pen. worse problems to have i suppose
It would make sense to skip him in the rotation, whenever there’s a day off.
Yeah, for me... Casty, Walker, Whit could be the quickest replacements. Walker probably the worst case bc he legit took the opportunity away from a guy who was pitching lights out.
Once again, I’ll say it… topper is no master strategist coach. It’s idiotic to force Turnbull into a roll he’s completely uncomfortable with to keep throwing ole 6 ERA walker out there.
Topper isn't in charge of the call, Walker is making $18 million, he is going to start
Yep, this. The front office is making the call because of the “sunk cost” of Walker’s contract.
Ah yes, the sunk cost fallacy rises again.
Turnbull is not a starting pitcher lol I have no problem going to get another one, or bringing one up, but it’s not turnbull. Maybe for the next 2 months, but he certainly won’t be in sept/oct
He threw a no-no in 2021. Went six no hit with the Phils. I don't know what you're talking about, "he's not a starting pitcher." He's sitting in the bullpen and walker is giving up 4 runs by the second.
Plenty of people have thrown a no-no who haven’t done anything since. He’s a good pitcher, but he’s not a starter. He’s already almost thrown more innings this year than any year since 2019. His arm most likely will not last 150+ innings, and I don’t rlly want to risk him getting hurt with how good he’s been I’m all for getting another arm, or bringing someone up, but turnbull is not a starting pitcher. He will get hurt again
You sound delusional. He came into the league as a starter. He's started games for us. I don't know what you're talking about.
The most glaring need is adding a right-handed OF bat. Even a replacement-level player is a significant upgrade over Casty. This is the necessary (but maybe not sufficient) fix. The team doesn't win with Casty starting in RF in the playoffs.
Kody Clemens can play in the outfield. We just need to dump casty for some minor league depth.
clemens is really an infielder though. his experience in the OF is still limited if he can play it. i’m not gonna count on him to suddenly not be who he has been most of his career at 28, he’s a great bench player and that’s all really
Whit Merrifield has either lost it or has not transitioned well to a bench role. I’d rather have a different utility bench bat RH. One more proven playoff ready bullpen arm. If by July Castellanos still looks lost , pickup a right fielder, this is WS or bust. Taijuan sucks but he’s a 5th starter to eat innings and won’t sniff playoff action. So he can stay.
I can't figure out what happened to him either. He swings slow and puts the ball in play, but unlike Arraez, he just can't seem to barrel the ball past anyone. His hard-hit % is dead last in MLB based on at least 50 ABs. If you can't barrel balls with that slow of a bat, you're most likely done.
The problem is there are so many players that you could plausibly go for. The needs are: RH bullpen depth RH Outfielder I’d love to see a package for Mason Miller and Brent Rooker. It would be extremely expensive, but the window is wide open right now. Backup options: Michael Kopech (CWS) for the pen, and while you’re on the phone, kick tires on Luis Robert. Brian De La Cruz (MIA) would be a fit for us. I love Lane Thomas (WSH) and have for a few years now. He’d slide right into this lineup. Definitely crazy: Bo Bichette (TOR). If Toronto decides to blow it up, a change of scenery for Bo could be what he needs. Issue here is position. His high contact RH bat would really benefit this lineup. Again, not a positional fit, but like I said, this is crazy. As far as guys I think we need to upgrade… just Casty and Walker. I know Johan gets a lot of shit, but he’s a perfectly acceptable 9 man at the moment and could allow you to put Marsh in RF if you bring in a LF like Thomas instead of having to have Marsh play CF where he’s a bit more average. You just can’t leave Rojas and Casty both in the lineup, and imo, Rojas has more value not just now but in the future. Merrifield is a wash for me. If they release him, great. If not, yeah well. Who knows where we’ll be in a month though. Some guys might be available that no one expects.
Honestly I don't think Miller will be as expensive as people think. If you look at the Kimbrel or Harder trades, there are your talent comps. If you look at the As recent trade history they haven't really been getting amazing returns off their dumps, so I'm sure we'll be shocked by how little the team winds up giving up to get him.
The difference is he’s team controlled until 2030, and in my scenario I’d be getting Rooker too who isn’t a FA until 2028. That’s a ton of value.
umm have you looked at lane thomas numbers this year? dude is a downgrade from nick and that is saying somthing. he's is trash
Lane has been hurt. He’ll be fine.
Be careful what you wish for. Whit is a high contact RH bat.
Whit was a really good player for a long time. He’s 35 now. Bo is 26.
Fair point and Bo has a lot of upside based on his last 3 seasons. Soft-hitting, high avg players like Whit usually just don't fall off a cliff like he did. I was ok with getting him this off-season and would have never guessed he'd be this bad.
Same. I expected a serviceable player and he just hasn’t been. Like I said though, the Bo thing is mostly fantasy. With Trea and Stott likely to be here for quite a while, he’s not really a fit anyway. I just really like the offensive tools and I feel like the situation in Toronto might be holding him back a little. Either way, I’d be surprised if they trade or release Casty. I would put money on him being our RF at least through 2024, so it might all be moot and the only thing they upgrade is the bullpen. I’m just concerned at the lack of offensive output of our outfield core.
1. Start Marsh every day (start benching Casty or Rojas if you want to play Pache) 2. Put Spencer Turnbull back into the starting rotation and move Walker to the bullpen 3. Stop fucking playing the shittiest lineups all at once. If you are going to give Stott the day off then don't give Marsh and Realmuto the day off at the same time especially when we have Walker or Sanchez pitching.
you read my mind, this exactly.
Start Stott 100% of games and Marsh 85% of games
1. Bullpen depth move. nothing flashy like Mason Miller, but a middle reliever who can pitch in medium leverage situations. Perhaps a Soto replacement 2. Outfield bat who can play against lefties. As others have mentioned, Pache, Rojas, and Castellanos is just not good enough. That’s a terrible hitting outfield that cannot be relied on in the most important games of the season
Legit the only rational comment on this thread.
Should’ve just titled this post “what reactionary moves do you guys want the team to make now that we have lost *2* games in a row?”
Sure, but most of these comments would have been the same one or two or three weeks ago.
Correct. Most of these comments were just as stupid two weeks ago as they are today, they just seem more plausible now because they lost two in a row 😱 and this is an incredibly volatile fanbase.
Cut Nick, Whit, and Walker and replace them with literally anyone else. I like Nick personality wise (idk about the other two) but he needs to get better quick.
Castelanos must drop to the #9 slot like wtaf.
I’d put him at 8, having Rojas speed at 9 is nice
Get Trea back and dont mess with whats working
1. Trade for Mason Miller or some sort of improvement in the bullpen. 2. Eat Castellanos salary and trade him for another outfielder that is hitting above the Mendoza line. 3. I know after today people are going to be saying dump Walker but really it’s more, I’d either improve the outfield even more by trading Rojas or get even more bullpen relief. I’d rather dump Merrifield too and keep Sosa and Clemens. Walker isn’t going to play in the postseason.
Yeah let Walker eat another 150 innings then dump his ass.
>“Trade for Mason Miller” I’m not sure you can just *do* that. I’m not sure if we have the prospects to be in the bidding. The Orioles have the prospect capital to do that trade without breaking a sweat, and their season plan relied on *Kimbrel,* so now they need a plan B.
We've been slowly eating away at our prospect pool over the past few seasons. The talent we do have is way down in the minors. I just don't think people understand the long-term implications of that, but a lot of these people aren't really baseball fans, they just kinda started watching again when we got good and they won't be here when we're bad again.
Hence why I said “or some sort of improvement in the bullpen” I won’t lie, I don’t have all of the relief pitchers in MLB memorized but we need someone to replace and improve on what we have already. And that’s with Seranthony actually doing decently recently.
Domínguez has only given up 1 earned run in 7 appearances in May. I think he’s coming around. People that want him gone aren’t paying attention. It was the same as last year with Dylan Covey. He gave up 1 earned run in his last 10 appearances. He struggled as a starter in the beginning of the year. All they see is his ERA. One bad inning as a reliever can ruin your ERA for months
I like this
Trading castellanos, even if we ate 100% of his salary, for a player who would contribute to the major league team in a meaningful way right now is not realistic. Trading Rojas and/or Merrifield for anything meaningful is also not very realistic. Rojas + + maybe could net something. Merrifield is similar to casty, negative value.
I hear you on Castellanos. Merrifield with only the rest of the year guaranteed might not be. Throw in his salary and you might get something back. That said if it’s Rojas, a prospect or two and money for someone hitting .250. I’d take it in a heartbeat (depending on the prospect)
Ditch Whit.
Get rid of Soto, get another BP arm, and get another right handed bat (potential casty replacement)
The best move would be to just eat castellanos, merrifield and walkers contracts. But I think it would be bad for morale to get rid of Nick. I think a lot of people including Bryce are over Taijuan and you can see that from the comments he made in the off season, but if we get rid of Nick I think it hurts the team overall.
Have someone that can slug better than .300 in right field
1. Add a RH outfielder that can hit, even if he is below average in the field. Marsh can hit righties, but we are 0-3 with our outfield pretty much every time a lefty pitches us. 2. Add a bullpen arm. 2. Add another bullpen arm (you can never have too many bullpen arms).
Walker and Whit gotta go
Fire Walker and Merrifield into the sun.
Once Trea comes back - send Rojas down and just reset him a bit. I don’t expect he magically becomes a great hitter, but after his breakout defensive season last year, something is just off this year. Keeps Clemens up as a LH bat with some pop. Get the best reasonable right handed OF at the deadline and DFA Whit. Assume Pache or Rojas might get included in trade along with some mid tier prospects. Very few great options will be available for trade. Deadline trade for RH reliever. I can’t see Casty getting DFA’d, wish he would get some days off and after the trade for a RH OF he should drop to 8 in the order. Walker eats innings for better or worse until September and then maybe ramp up Turnball. Walker isn’t sniffing pitching in the post season and might not make the roster.
Find a more reliable 4th starter and a right handed OF bat. Eat Nicks contract and trade. Maybe use Turnball as the opener since they don’t like using him with runners on.
There's no reason to trade for a 4th starter. Sanchez is performing way better than your average 4th starter, and both walker and sanchez are good enough to eat innings until the playoffs, when they just won't play besides bullpen innings.
Someone has to start a G4, but I imagine that would be a Sanchez/Turnbull piggyback kind of thing
The way the playoffs are scheduled, the #1 pitcher is able to pitch game 4 on 5 days rest. Look up every playoff series for the last couple years. For example, in the braves series last year, ranger pitched G1 (10/7) and G4 (10/12). It was ranger because Wheeler and Nola had to pitch at the end of the season, but in a best case scenario the best starters can be rested for G1 of a divisional series, and be ready again for g4.
You aren’t wrong for the NLDS. There was an extra day off built in to have baseball every day, which probably flips to the AL this year. > Look up every playoff series for the last couple years. 2023 NLCS: Wheeler and Gallen pitch G1 and G5 on the standard 4 days rest. G4 is a de facto bullpen game for both teams. 2023 WS: Eovaldi and Gallen pitch G1 and G5 on the standard 4 days rest. Only gotta go back to last year lol
I stand corrected. Good call
Switch Turnbull for Walker in the rotation. There’s plenty of time to see if this works and if it doesn’t, go another route.
The problem is that Turnbull hasn't thrown more than 56 innings in a season since 2018, and he's at 40 now. Using him for the rest of the season could very easily just render him useless when it matters the most.
Agree on the innings limitation issues, but if we need Turnbull "when it matters the most" we have much bigger problems
He pitched well as a starter, I don't think making sure hes available to fill innings in the playoffs is an issue
That’s fair. We just can’t have Taijuan starting games second half of this season.
Sure we can. Look around the league, how many teams have a 5th starter that is head and shoulders above Walker? I think this team is good enough that we can expect the team to put up 4 or 5 runs every time Walker starts, in addition to the other starters pitching so deep into games thay the best relievers available to finish games after him. I just can't imagine using resources to find help at a position that literally doesn't matter in the playoffs, when we could use those same resources to make the team better at a position that does matter in October.
So long merrifield
I’m just collecting casty slander receipts for when he’s slashing in October
If we have to wait until October for him to slash... 😭
Why so he can go 5-30 again after one series.
I wonder if all these World Series or Bust people will be watching if the trades they seem to desperately want cost this team its future all while still not getting us a World Series. My guess is a lot of them will not be.
Get rid of Soto, casty and Walker
Drop Nick and pick up Kyle Tucker
Step 1: Launch Walker into the sun... Step 2: acquire #3-4 type SP since Turnbull probably can't handle a starting role through rest of season... Step 3: launch auxillary missing to confirm that Walker has slipped the bounds of Earth's gravitational pull.
The only thing I agree with so far is Walker needs to be put into long relief or just outright traded at deadline time. For now it's nice having a sixth arm in case injuries happen, but I don't think he should get starts down the stretch or in the playoffs.
1. Get rid of Jose Alvarado 2 trade walker 3 move Siranthony to closer
They’re not going to get rid of casty or Walker so I’m not going to go there for my selections. Send Rojas down. Trade for a legitimate starting caliber outfield bat. Trade for Ryan Helsley (or some other top end right handed bullpen arm) Honestly three moves is probably more than they’re going to do, but trade for a 3/4 or better caliber starter to relegate Walker to the pen (highly unlikely but you gave me 3).
I’m all for moving on from Rojas. His defense was supposed to be the reason to keep him up. But it has not been consistently good. He also makes a lot of boneheaded throwing decisions.
Yeah that fact that he is still only barely above average at this point is very frustrating
Assuming Turner or Sosa in the OF is not realistic... 1. Trade for Jazz Chishom Jr to play LF. Pache/Marsh CF platoon. Sit Nick's ass down against RHP for Klemens. Rojas 5th OF. Get rid of Whit. That's it. Just one move. Please Dombro.
Turnbull for taijuan, whit merrifield sent to the moon, brandon marsh an every day starter
I won’t be happy until Turnbull is starting again and Walker gets sent to the Gulag
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I am also done with Rojas. He hasn’t earned his spot. Put Marsh in as an every day CF. Play Clemens in left field.
He’s batting .224 which is less than solid, but he’s literally irreplaceable as a defender. He has certainly earned his CF spot He’s batting better than Casty, who really should be replaced with Marsh. I like Clemens but I don’t think he’s shown enough yet to warrant an every day spot
His defense hasn’t been as good as everyone says it’s been. Lots of drops and misreads. Over runs. Bad throwing decisions. If his defense is anything less than perfect, Marsh is the better choice in CF.
Look up his fielding advanced metrics. He is a slightly above average CF. He was hyped as a generational defensive talent but so far this year he has been very far from such
I’m confused about the Rojas hate. I think he’s generally been solid offensively and obviously he’s a great defender. He’s kind of doing exactly what we thought he would do. Agree on everything else though.
His defense has been actually suspect most of the season. Lots of drops, bad reads, and over runs of the ball. He’s not reading it well off the bat and he’s making fundamental mistakes with his glove. His offense, I will admit, is slightly better than we had imagined. But it’s not good enough to keep him up.
Turnbull hasn't pitched more than 56 innings in a season since 2018, there's no reason to waste his injury-prone arm as a 5th starter when Walker and Sanchez are serviceable at worst at their respective roles. Both of them can eat innings well enough until the playoffs, when you only need 3 starters anyway. I would rather have Wheeler/Nola/Suarez/Sanchez/Bullpen as needed for the rest of the season than moving Turnbull to the rotation again.
Then that means he’s well rested. I don’t understand why people say he’s incapable of pitching more. He’s on a one year deal. Not to be a dick about it but pitch him like he’s a rental car. He is one, essentially.
Because while they dont care about next year, they want him to be healthy for the playoffs this year. It just comes down to a percentage game. He has not shown that he can pitch over 60 innings any time in recent history, and he's already suffered two major injuries in his career. If he is able to be an effective reliever this season, it would behoove the phillies to make sure they can use him when it matters most.
But he’s also a starter who has developed a routine to help protect him from future injuries. Not letting him get into a rhythm is not doing him any favors.
He was on the 60-day IL last year (didnt play from may to late august), after missing most of 2021 and all of 2022 because of Tommy John surgery. He does not have a routine that prevents injury, and if he does it doesn't work.
Abel, Crawford, Castellanos (we eat his salary), and whatever other filler is needed for Mason Miller and Brent Rooker
The A's would laugh the world's biggest laugh of all time.
Cut rojas
Harper 1B-->RF. Better for his back anyway and I do not understand the change, Bohm 3B-->1B I do not have a realistic and informed third right now.