2017 Season Phillies News/Notes/General Discussion

[zambonir]

We'll never know about Middleton's finances but I think he's rich enough that it isn't the problem, especially as just half-owner. I don't believe for a second that he and the Bucks are pocketing profits and I'm not sure Giles ever was either (what we do know is that Giles gradually sold his stake to support himself).

If it is a real problem, Middleton would probably do the same - sell some to Comcast or bring in another partner. It better not be a real problem because I think Michael Saunders has a better chance of playing in the All-Star game than that lawsuit does of resolving quickly.

Klentak has done nothing yet. I agree with that. Could he have done more, do we know why he didn't? Yes and not really. I still expect aggression and major housecleaning over the next two years. As for this one, the drop-off from so many players has definitely been a huge bump.

But as far as the major league moves, I don't really believe he thought he was building a .500 team, I think he just wanted a slight upgrade over the likes of Cedric Hunter/David Lough, and was not confident in Altherr's health. In hindsight, he could have obviously gone with Coghlan, Nava and Altherr instead of Kendrick and Saunders. He also could have gone with scrub 6th starter type pitchers instead of Buchholtz (and even Hellickson). But the press and most fans definitely would have ripped 'em. They enjoyed the positive spring training spin and now they are getting the deserved backlash.

Would have been much better off if they'd only won 65 games last year and had set a goal of 71-75 this year. But I still don't think it is linear. The changes to the roster are going to be so drastic that what the team did this year won't have a huge relationship to what it might do next year (plus, it's still June, we should be watching a lot of new people in August too).

End of the day, Klentak is looking to the Cubs and the Astros but he and MacPhail do not bring the history Theo and Luhnow (w/ the Cardinals) did (MacPhail's was too long ago). S we'll see if he can have the same kind of success.

[LoneStarPhan]

Phillies open the series in Seattle and it's another winnable game.

Nola touched for two in the third but goes 7 full innings, 5 hits, 2 runs, 4 walks, 9 Ks.

Phillies score 2 in the top of the 5th to tie the game and take the lead in the 7th on a Franco solo home run.

Benoit pitches a scoreless 8th after the Phillies added another run in the top of the inning.

Phillies offense tacks on 4 more runs in the 9th and Neris comes on to face 3 in the bottom of the ninth, striking out all three.

Solid pitching with the strong start from Nola and perfect relief from Benoit and Neris.

Offense scores 8 runs. Galvis 3 for 5 with 2 RBIs. Altherr 1 for 3 with 2 walks and 2 RBIs, icing the cake with a two run home run in the top of the ninth. Franco 2 for 4 (double, home run) and Rupp 1 for 2 with 2 walks.

Yes, another winnable game but this one, the Phillies actually win! Great start to the series with the Mariners.

[bkeich]

Strange game as Galvis' rant got into a few guys heads and it was AZ that played sloppy. To me the play that put the game away was Ty Kelly running hard on a sac bunt and forcing an error on the pitcher because Kelly was near the bag when the offline throw came.
Replay showed him busting down the line, which is unusual and very unusual for this team.
Perkins also beat out a throw because he made contact and put his head down the whole way earlier in the game.

Player of the game was Galvis, not for his hits but for his rant.

[Austinfan]

You can see the Stairs impact on Galvis, very controlled ABs. He developed a nice stroke the second half last year, now he's more consistent with it.
Franco seems to have turned the corner the last couple weeks, still a aways to go, but he's using the whole field, and his power is coming back.
Nola really struggled with his FB command, 92-93 but couldn't hit the outside part of the plate where he usually lives, too many walks, but his curve and changeup keep improving. Battled hard in the 7th.
Altherr keeps chugging along, no signs of him being overmatched or pitchers adjusting to him.

[bkeich]

I think you are being optimistic about Galvis and Franco. They are hitting better lately, but just a couple weeks ago Franco was about as baffled as he could be on how to approach an AB. He is in a hot streak, and it is a good thing, but the only thing that has changed recently about his approach is he is hitting the ball hard as opposed to rolling over on things. To believe he has figured something out I want to see what it looks like when he goes cold again, I suspect it looks the same, but I do hope you are correct.

Galvis' hitting has gone from awful to bad. Kruk made a comment last night that makes sense to me, Galvis has a different approach when he hits 8th because he knows the pitcher is behind him so he tries to knock himself in. That actually does seem like how he approaches that, Freddy is a very smart baseball player and I think he doesnt see the value in walking while hitting 8th (rolling over the pitcher) because he is pretty certain he will get stranded on first. He is right in a way, but he is overlooking what it does for the lineup as a whole.

Honestly, I think with Freddy it has more to do with where he is in the order than suddenly approaching things the way Stairs suggests. I hope I am wrong about that too, we will see when Galvis goes back to where he should be (8th). Galvis is not a bad player and I think he does have some leadership skills, especially with the Hispanic players, but he is not going to ever be even an average hitter I suspect because he overthinks the outcomes of his ABs too much.

[DurhamBull]

Galvis is not a bad player and I think he does have some leadership skills, especially with the Hispanic players, but he is not going to ever be even an average hitter I suspect because he overthinks the outcomes of his ABs too much.

Franzke and LA were commenting that Galvis has great offensive stats when batting second, so maybe you're right and that batting 2nd puts him into the right frame of mind to get the most out of what offensive skills he has.

If his problems are between his ears, to me that's a good sign, especially for a young(ish) player. He's teachable. Old habits die hard. I think he struggles between good Freddy and bad Freddy. Do you recall we used to talk about Rollins the same way? Anyway, there's more hope for Galvis than there is for, say, someone like me, for whom no amount of coaching will be sufficient.

[Austinfan]

Franco has been working at trying to use the whole field for over a month.
From all reports he works hard, but it takes time to adjust for a young hitter.
I remember a certain 3B rookie hitting .198.
Bowa took 4-5 years to become a respectable hitter.
Rollins wasn't an instant success.
The Utley's and Howards', who hit the ground running, are the exception, and Howard was helped by being forced to spend extra time in the minors due to Thome.

[LoneStarPhan]

Odubel Herrera, fined and out of lineup, admits lack of concentration

[allentown]

Perhaps another candidate for Adderall. I don't like the Philies eturn to media leaks and public run-overs with the team bus. Odubel did not react well to this approach last season. Part of this is trying to do too much on the bases. That's what all the losing does to a team.

[DurhamBull]

Perhaps another candidate for Adderall. I don't like the Philies eturn to media leaks and public run-overs with the team bus. Odubel did not react well to this approach last season. Part of this is trying to do too much on the bases. That's what all the losing does to a team.

The article cited "a source" as saying Herrera was fined for running through the stop sign, and that "Mackanin declined to comment Tuesday about the situation. Herrera did". I agree that the Phils have made bad choices in the past about making internal disputes public, but it's not obvious to me that this is one of them.

[Philsmania]

Perhaps another candidate for Adderall. I don't like the Philies eturn to media leaks and public run-overs with the team bus. Odubel did not react well to this approach last season. Part of this is trying to do too much on the bases. That's what all the losing does to a team.

The article cited "a source" as saying Herrera was fined for running through the stop sign, and that "Mackanin declined to comment Tuesday about the situation. Herrera did". I agree that the Phils have made bad choices in the past about making internal disputes public, but it's not obvious to me that this is one of them.

People here talk about this like it is some kind of uniquely Phillies problem. Does anybody have any evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, that other organizations don't do this? I would not be surprised if this goes on everywhere.

[zambonir]

Heck, as a fan, especially in this day and age of so much spin and contrived media, I feel entitled to have this information. I don't think it's ever that big a deal (and if it is a big deal, even more reason to want to know about it). It's just another part of baseball, baseball managing and player development. What happened in that AB? Why did you PH for that guy? Why did Herrera attempt that steal?

[EDmuch]

Not to disrupt the big debate, but I was wondering. Do you think there is any chance the Yankees would trade us Severino for both Tommy Joseph and Cesar Hernandez? For that matter, should we do it even if the Yankees would? Seems both Joseph and Hernandez will be expendable next year. Yanks need help at both 1b and 2b right now to stay in the AL East hunt.

[Lawman]

I doubt NYY would do that. I'm not sure they have the pitching depth to be able to afford that trade. They may make their CF prospect, Clint Frazier, available in trades.

[bkeich]

I think if I were to trade any of the young-ish guys that we hope are going to have a rookie replace them soon (Galvis, Hernandez, Joseph or Rupp) I would really want pitching. We have a prospect in every position (if you count Franco) that is near or at ML ready, but our pitching staff is still woefully short. I would trade any of those guys for a solid #2/#3 Starter (high minors / solid prospect) or a package of a couple/few less ready. An OF prospect would be acceptable, but honestly we are really pretty full at the upper minors now, we need to start building up our staff.

I would want more for Hernandez as I think he is a much better player than the other 3.

[andyb]

The Yankees signed 9 of the top 30 international prospects in 2014 to get themselves in the penalty for 2 years. Most of those kids are just 19 and in short season leagues. The Phillies would happily take some of them in a deal though I doubt the Yankees deal from their major league ready prospects. If one of the kids would be a good match for Joseph I would do that. For instance I noticed that a catcher named Miguel Flames hit a HR against them in GCL the other day. He was a $1.1 million bonus guy repeating GCL because he is only 19 (and the Yankees might not have room for him one level up). And the name is awesome.

[allentown]

The throw-the-players-under-the-bus plan by McClure, Mackanin, and TPTB in general fooled at least one sap local newspaper writer. Way to go, Bob Ford!

Phillies need to stick with Pete Mackanin, get rid of players | Bob Ford

So, Pete is what's right with the team? Gotta find a way to kick more players in the bum and get them out of town, starting with Odubel, even though he's our top June hitter. The fans aren't happy with the .250 W-L of late, which I admit is frankly abysmal and totally uncharted levels of bad if it were a full-season win rate, rather than a prolonged team slump. So, ignore that this team lacks the talent to be even a .400 club. Pete's been in baseball since 1969, so he must be the man and this is all the owner's fault. Ignore that Pete's next winning MLB season will be the first on his resume. Nope, Bob Ford is going to help TPTB sell the tale that this team could be so, so much better, if only they listened to Pete and tried really, really hard.

This really reminds me of the days in which the Giles' Phillies deliberately turned the fans against Rolen and Schilling, and Abreu and Burrell. It seems the new regime forgot to burn the copies of The Phillies Way.

This is getting really nasty, folks and it will get worse.

[BostonRoss]

That is a dumb article, but I don't read it as espousing the views of "TPTB" since they are presented in a quite unflattering light, and it sets them up for criticism if they do fire Mackanin.

[zambonir]

People always need something to write about. Marcus Hayes' recent article was also bad. He thinks Pete needs to get tough. And that Neshek is selfishly refusing to help the Phillies win games because he only cares about getting traded.

[Slinging_Southpaw]

I only care about getting him traded too.