2017 Season Phillies Discussion (News/Notes, etc.), continued

[mdougherty12]

Check out Brooks Baseball for more pitch tracking data than you'll ever want. Here's Aaron Nola's page:

BrooksBaseball.net Player Card: Aaron Nola

[bkox]

Chuck Hixson (PHLBaseballNsdr)

Tom Housenick (TomHousenick)

Of course I understand that the Minor leagues are to serve the Big Club... but thats gotta be a bit demoralizing to both the team and the fans.

[nycphils]

I don't know, obviously, but I doubt the team is upset with one of their own getting his shot in The Show.

[flyers19rw]

I don't know where to put this but it might qualify for this thread.
I noticed that Kolby Allard is mowing his way through AA ball for the Braves. In the '15 draft the Phillies passed on him to take Randolph. I realize that there were some health issues surrounding Allard at that time but passing on him is going to be a mistake that will haunt the Phillies for years. In '15 he was compared with Cole Hamels for more reasons than being an injured H.S. player. He'll probably be in Atlanta by mid '18 and the cornerstone of their rotation for a long time.

[David_Criss]

Phillies To Promote J.P. Crawford

[gmwannabe]

Sad story about Matt Imhof at today's philly.com. i forgot he was a second rounder and received a nice bonus. don't know if he was finding himself at the time but probably would have been in reading this year. weird accident. too bad.
gm

Link:

Ex-Phillies prospect Matt Imhof lost an eye to baseball and learned to live...

--pc, mod

[bkox]

Crawford in the lineup tonight, batting 7th and playing 3rd base.

Florimon put on 60 day DL to make room on the 40

[phillychuck]

Yup, because we need Freddy G. to start 162 games, darn it. And the heck with whether it messes Crawford up or not. Why should we care about our long-time #1 prospect, anyway?

Sheesh, man. Play the kid where he's comfortable, or leave him in AAA for the playoffs.

[Austinfan]

It won't hurt Crawford to play 3B and 2B, Klentak doesn't know if he'll move Galvis and/or Hernandez this winter, he's not going to give them away, so if the offers are meh, he wants to keep all his options open for next spring, send Crawford down for a couple months or use him as a 4th IF. If Franco doesn't turn it around, Crawford at 3B might be a reality for a year or two until they can land a real 3B and move him to SS.

Didn't kill Polanco's career to move around the IF. It won't kill Crawford, either.

[bkox]

Moving Hoskins to LF just destroyed him. Look at how bad hes struggling since he came up. He might be already leading the league in HRs if it hadnt been for that position change.

[California_Dreamin]

I guess the question I would ask if I were on the Philadelphia press corp but it undoubtedly won't be is this..."if its so important that Galvis start 162 games and you, Peter Mac, value his defense so much, why don't play him at 3rd base, and let Crawford get comfortable at a position he is familiar with."

Honestly, this is the type of decision that fractures a clubhouse. I guarantee Franco is not happy about this, and while we all can say its his play that got him benched, it still seems to smack of favoritism to Galvis in order to keep his streak going, its not like his hitting has been THAT much better than Franco's.

And Crawford undoubtedly has some good friends on the Phillie team from his LHV days and they probably think this is a silly move also. Look, its not a devastating blow to the team and the Phils do have the worst record in baseball BUT...this team is getting younger, they are growing together and my guess is that if/when they get good again the odds are better that Crawford will be a strong part of it than Galvis will. And I happen to believe that Franco has a better chance of being a part of it than does Galvis, a guy I believe is barely adequate and couldn't start for at least half the major league teams.

Only the Phillies would treat Freddy Galvis as an indispensable p[layer when he clearly is not.

[California_Dreamin]

bkox..your point about Hoskins is valid except for this, and its something I addressed a few weeks ago when it came to discussing Thompson's struggles and Hoskins initial struggles in LF defensively.

I have mentioned on several occasions that I happen to believe Thompson has never suffered from a loss of talent, I believe he suffers from a lack of confidence and this is a major reason to have a strong defensive club out there when he pitches. He unraveled on the first game he pitched with Hoskins in LF after the young slugger misplayed a fly ball that let in two runs. He was then sent down and in his first game at LHV the same thing happened to him when a player [can't recall who it was] who normally doesn't play the OF was playing it that day and also misplayed a fly ball, allowing an inning to continue and the eventual bombing of Thompson.

Look, I am not saying that Thompson [or Eflin] shouldn't get tougher mentally, like Lively and Pivetta appear to be, but I am saying that this musical chairs with young players may not always be dangerous for the player choosing a new chair...but for another young player who already had one.

Vin Scully always used to say, " a ball will ALWAYS find the player who is playing a position he is not comfortable with!"

[bkox]

Todd Zolecki (ToddZolecki)

Matt Gelb (MattGelb)

[David_Criss]

I have no problem with this. I just wish the Phillies could have thought ahead and not waited until a week before you are in the bigs to switch Hoskins and Crawford. The way Franco has been playing let him feel some pressure. Franco, Hoskins, Joseph, Hernandez, Crawford, Galvis, Kingery - that is six players for four, maybe five if they keep Hoskins in LF, positions next year. Someone(s) will be traded, or allowed to stay on as a utility guy. If Crawford, as a rookie, next year plays some 2b, ss and 3b for a year before moving into fulltime SS action - that is okay.

To me this is all a message to Joseph and Franco that they can be replaced. Galvis and Hernandez are valued, too and it isn't like one or both have to be traded. This isn't Howard pushing Thome. This is flexibility

[Austinfan]

I think Franco's days are numbered, it's been one and a half years of replacement level play, at some point you have to start looking for other options.
2016 post all star break .238/.286/.351/.637,
2017: .223/.278/.387/.665

It's the same with Joseph, there's just no sense of real improvement, a good week here or there, followed by an ugly display of hitting.
And both players are defensive liabilities, though Franco has the potential to improve, he doesn't have the range to be more than adequate.

[allentown]

I think you are correct. I also think that because one player isn't effected by a position change doesn't mean that all young players will be unaffected. Hoskins is clearly an offense-first guy. He seems to be able to simply shrug off being a butcher in LF and happily go to bat and pound out a dozen HRs. Of course, he has been blessed by not having the media and his manager belabor his defensive woes. Domonic Brown wasn't so lucky. How lucky will Crawford be in that regard if he messes up a play or two at 3B? Will the media and his manager be all over him as we saw with Brown, or will he get the more relaxed Hoskins treatment?

I saw Crawford play 2 games at 3B. I don't recall seeing him field a grounder, although he extended fully to make a very impressive grab of a hot line drive to his left in one game. I have no idea how competent he'll be at 3B or how much an error or fear of an error on the big stage will bother him. Since I never saw him make a throw from 3B to 1B, I also have no idea how good his arm will be from 3B. I did see him field a grounder (maybe two) as a '3B', but that was in a shift situation and he was positioned as a SS shaded toward 2B.

[zambonir]

While I don't think the Phillies did well/right by Dom Brown (or Ruf, or Asche), the reality is, he found his level. These sort of moves can not destroy a player. They are hiccups at best, and the ones who are going to be major league players (be they stars or bench guys, be they instant impact players or a slow-developer) will get there.

If Crawford could overcome his AAA bumps, he can overcome this (and if he hadn't had the former we wouldn't even be talking about Freddy's 162-game streak).

And the same goes for the media and critical fans too. I may not like them but they aren't going away, so it's part of what it takes to play for the Phillies. Herrera clearly could care less, which is part of the beauty of him in that regard.

[Austinfan]

If Crawford is a potential gold glove SS, then he'll have no problem playing 3B and 2B, at 3B he has the arm and the soft hands, at 2B the biggest problem will be with the double play pivot.
If he hadn't gotten "star" treatment in the minors, he's have some time at all three IF spots already under his belt.
Because you don't assume a young player is going to be a starter, you want to train them for a bench role and to WIN a starting job, not be given one.
And part of that training is learning to play multiple positions so you have more value to the ML team.

[phillychuck]

Of course, Freddy already has training at 3B and 2B, so doesn't it make sense to move him? Unless TPTB are valuing him more than Crawford, which is, IMHO, a long-term mistake.

[Austinfan]

I think TPTB want to maintain optionality going into the offseason.
You don't know what people will offer you for your players, so the more flexibility you can maintain on your roster, the more optionality you have when it comes to negotiations.
In the long run, they project Crawford to SS, but what if someone makes a big offer for Hernandez but nothing worthwhile for Galvis.
So you might want to play Crawford at 2B for half a season, and bring Kingery along slowly.
Or what if you can't find a 3B this offseason and want an option other than Franco to buy time?

Right now Galvis is the better fielder at SS, and will be for another year or so, it usually takes young SSs a couple years to adjust to the ML game.