2017 Season Phillies News/Notes/General Discussion

[bigegypt0417]

I'm not of the view that we must trade Hernandez. I do believe he has significant value. No, I'm not afraid of a Kingery flop next season. The reason I'm not afraid of it is that the Phillies have fully demonstrated to me that they don't plan to contend in 2018, so what does it matter if we have a not quite as good 2018 2B, if we get a very good future player for Hernandez?

Agree 100%

What is there really to lose if you bring up kingery or any other player and they struggle adjusting in 2018?

As we proved with Rupp and Galvis holding on to them for another year could just end up costing us in the long run.

[Philsmania]

I hate to say it, but I'm writing off Quinn as a viable prospect. He's one of the most fragile players I can remember, and I can't see him as more than a 4th OF at this point, b/c you can't trust him to stay healthy.

I don't think that I can remember a young position playing prospect who has been this brittle myself. The closest which come to mind are Daulton who lost five, possibly six years to knee injuries and slow recoveries therefrom in the '80's, Ron Jones and, to a lesser extent, Rolen who finished every season in Philadelphia with the exception of '97 banged up in one way or another.

[Philsmania]

Moving Morgan to the bullpen hasn't really worked out so far, either here or in Allentown.

[allentown]

I can, and a very recent one. CD's favorite, Dugan, was the best contact hitter on the pharm, developed some power as he reached the high minors, had speed, and was a good defender with an excellent arm, but he just couldn't stay on the field. He lacked Quinn's plus plus speed, but was a more well-rounded player. Injuries are what kept him from the majors, and he had a slew of them, year after year after year. As I recall, drafted with about the same draft position as Quinn.

[tom81]

I don't think that I can remember a young position playing prospect who has been this brittle myself.

Jayson Werth? He lost a lot of time to injuries in his 20's and he turned out pretty good.

[Austinfan]

Werth hurt his wrist, he's similar to Altherr, once the wrist healed he was a very durable player.

[bigegypt0417]

I don't think that I can remember a young position playing prospect who has been this brittle myself.

Jayson Werth? He lost a lot of time to injuries in his 20's and he turned out pretty good.

Werth was one injury that seemed to go misdiagnosed.

If I'm thinking of the right guy.

[Soloman_grundy]

Add Neris to the list of "I get worse under Bob McClure's watch" list.

[David_Criss]

Or they could have just brought Stassi back up to pitch

[Lawman]

RHP Casey Fien

[teabag259]

Fien? Why?

[andyb]

I guess they like him more than Venditte and Milner just pitched 2.1 innings last night.

They are just shuffling in fresh arms at the back of the bullpen now. Everybody will get a shot at some point. Kids will only get promotions when they are ready (so Therrien is not quite at that point).

[David_Criss]

Had Milner not pitched 2.1 last night, he would have had to be the top choice, I would think. Wonder what made them decide to drop Rodriquez right after the game? It wasn't like they were clamoring for someone in particular. This sounds more like a get me anyone, somebody other than what I got move. Fien would have been my 4th choice after Venditte, Miller and another journeymen and lefty Cesar Ramos.

[Philsmania]

This is frustrating. They never bring up anyone the fans actually want to see like, in this case, Milner, Venditte or Ramos. It's gotten to the point where I think they are trying too hard to be smarter than us.

[Slinging_Southpaw]

My opinion, this is just to open up a roster spot. Fien gets a shot, but a short leash. He can pitch tonight, which is probably what they need and probably DFA'd down the line(probably passing through waivers) if he shows nothing and up comes who they really want for that roster spot.

[zambonir]

With this team's rotation struggles and beleaguered pitching coach, they are arguably doing the players with a future a favor. Fien is expendable and Venditte (31 years old) probably is too. The guys they care about and want to keep will come up when the 40 gets roomier.

[fish]

It started to occur to me that maybe this is what Andy McPhail is doing- forcing the 'patient' approach. I mean, it's got to be a little surprising that Klentak, a young guy in his first GM gig taking over a rebuilding team with some confidence in analytics, has only made one significant move in a year and half (the Giles trade)- and who knows how much influence he had in that move as he was just starting?

What GM with any ambition would take over an organization and almost step away from player procurement for a year and half except for a filler piece here and there? His hires seem impressive, his player acquisitions- are, well, limited and largely fails. Its got to be the influence of McPhail right?

[Austinfan]

Most of the tradeable assets were gone when Klentak took over.
And the current tradeable assets are accumulating value by playing (Franco may be losing it, but he wasn't tradeable given the paucity of 3B in the system).
So there is little urgency and no need to rush to make moves.

[andyb]

Rupp, Galvis, Hellickson - plenty of tradeable assets last year and this. The whole world criticized the Phillies at the trade deadline last year. At some point Klentak deserves some scrutiny for this. While each individual move he has made has seemed reasonable there has not been a whole lot of creative thinking (like the Braves have done). It is not like a rookie GM has earned the ability to avoid all criticism yet. There IS some urgency if there are flaws in our young players like Franco.

[zambonir]

I'm not sure we can plausibly argue that it was an obvious mistake to keep Rupp and Galvis when neither of their ostensible replacements look ready in AAA. That's not to say Knapp and Hanigan (or Ellis) wouldn't have been fine. Heck, Andres Blanco at SS would be fine. And if the Phillies actually need Rupp and Galvis in 2018 they have bigger problems. But it's not out of the question.

I think Klentak has plenty of autonomy, and I also think the process is a lot more collaborative than we like to imagine (and that was also true before). If it's true that ownership, above MacPhail, decided they wanted to add payroll and have a more respectable team, more Giles-like deals wouldn't have achieved that, or sold the team as being worth a look this year. That may not have been Klentak's choice. But nobody expected the pitching to be this bad, or the two players you could write down in ink to struggle.