2024 Phillies Season Discussion

[Chris23]

The outfielder the Phillies got from the Rays, Ruben Cardenas, hit two HR's tonight in his Lehigh Valley debut.

[phillychuck]

LV must have given him a sense of rebirth!

[bkox]

interesting.. players wanted less days off

Consensus from both teams is it's been a fun trip, tho several said timing of off-days was not ideal

Bohm: "Anytime you waste 3 off days for 2 games, gonna be making up for that elsewhere"

Lindor: "Too much time off. Showing up & playing next day would've been more beneficial"

— Corey Seidman ( @CSeidmanNBCS ) June 9, 2024

[zambonir]

Bot's got jet lag eh? Merrifield (LF) and Wilson (2B) indeed get starts against another LHP. Dahl will presumably get a PH.

I'm watching on a slight delay (more than usual) so I can listen to Frantzke instead of Michael Kay.

I assume the off-days were not for the players to get rest/prepare but for the promotional stuff.

[Aquapong]

Missed opportunity in the first there. Walker looks good early.

[zambonir]

Posted this in non-Phillies thread but I guess it blew up enough that Inquirer had to do a story

No, the Phillies aren’t trading for Luis Robert Jr. — but Buster Olney’s hacker...

[andyb]

Feels like such a long time - but we have a big road trip this week. Boston then Baltimore should be a pretty good test. Rested pitching staff, but lots of travel and potential for being a little out of sync.

[zambonir]

Yeah, "rested" is relative at this point. We know Wheeler doesn't like the long breaks but sounds like he was doing whatever he could to get ready. He and Nola both had the option to stay home, but took the trip.

The Cubs got swept by us in Chicago after their trip last year, while the Cards lost two of three. Dombrowski's Red Sox got killed in London but won their first three US games after in 2019.

A .500 road trip would be a success. As usual, but even more so this time.

[zambonir]

Gelb says the Phillies have yet to have serious discussions about Sosa in the OF while also noting the regression has already happened (.668 OPS in the last 14 days).

Nine thoughts on the Phillies, owners of a 9-game lead, with an eye toward...

He also says the Phillies used Soto the other day because that is the spot where he has to sink or swim if he's going to still be here in October. And he'll get more chances to do so for now.

Seems like his prediction is Pache might be the odd man out for Dahl because the Phillies are not ready to cut Merrifield. We can hope otherwise, but I still think Pache might at least get you a lottery ticket or reliever.

Demoting Rojas doesn't seem to be an option because then your LF is Dahl/Merrifield or Dahl/Pache and you're making both LF and CF worse defensively most days.

[andyb]

I am sure they will stretch out these decisions as long as they can, but imagine they are shopping Pache a little now. Or they could just say they don't have room or much playing time for Dahl and let him go for nothing or pennies on the dime. A Dahl/Merrifield platoon in LF could easily end up to be a 650 OPS platoon with mediocre defense. Merrifield has some range out there. He just does not have anything close to an outfield arm. Just in the last week he has had extra bases taken on him a couple of times where Marsh would likely have made the play.

[el-pietro]

A group photo from Saturday that I'm in made it into the piece in the Athletic. I'm the short guy in powder blue.

British baseball fan organizing Phillies tailgates in London: 'It's my turn to...

One disappointing aspect if thr weekend was how few of the sports outlets in Philly sent anyone over.
I know Stark was there, and we met Taryn and Spencer McKercher from NBC and even some MLB.com people but I don't think PHLY or the Athletic or the Inquirer sent anyone and I think a lot of the colour of the weekend didn't make it onto the broadcast (they didn't even show the first pitch/double play from Sunday right?)

[zambonir]

Yeah, WIP sent people over too, but indeed, for American viewers it was just not a big event, and very much second-place to Yankees/Dodgers on both the networks. Also a quirk, the "Sunny" appearance came on what was the ESPN game rather than their own network's parent company Fox, since that was the Phillies home game. They should have just let us see the British feed!

I think there must be some kind of contractual stipulation that kept NBC from doing pre-game or post-game shows for the national broadcasts as they didn't even do that from the Philly studio.

Part of it was also the games being so early in the day I'm sure. Just not gonna get big ratings at 9am or 2pm on a Sunday. Saturday was a little more viable. Obviously it was not possible for these games to be in the more attractive spot; if it hadn't been Yankees-Dodgers Fox and ESPN still would have been promoting their night games more regardless.

The Inquirer did send one or both of their writers though.

[zambonir]

Yeah I still don't know that Dahl is really that much better than Cave (he's a worse fielder seemingly) or Clemens or even Hall (in that Hall once had this kind of run too) but it's nice to have that pop. Don't think they'll be able to delay it for very long with Turner and Marsh both close.

[andyb]

The right decision might be to just move on from Merrifield at the moment. Just not sure they are ready to do that yet. Guessing they can get some low level prospect for Pache or Dahl if they had to, but the most likely thing is to just DFA them and hope they get through waivers. And they probably won't but the clubhouse is pretty good now and not upsetting it is probably the main thing.

[DurhamBull]

Neither Pache nor Merrifield have shown much at the plate this season. I think they'd keep Merrifield over Pache just for positional flexibility.

[zambonir]

Which is probably why Merrifield isn't going anywhere, more than the money. That would be my choice too, even if our shadow GM/1B probably feels otherwise.

As I think someone on Phillies Nation pointed out the Phillies moved on from both Didi and the (admittedly cheaper) Harrison each of the last two seasons. But they also waited until August 1 to do so both times.

If they DFA them they can still trade them, you just tend to get a little less. In some cases, only money. In other cases, Billy Sullivan.

[zambonir]

I think it's more about the money and overvaluing his character. Pache is a better OF than Merrifield and the Phillies don't really need two utility IFs (and if they do they still have Clemens and Wilson and even Castro possibly, and now Buddy Kennedy).

But if they keep Dahl he's really only going to be a PH, except for the fantasy that Nick loses playing time, or if they sit Rojas against RHP more. In the long run they still need a RHB who can platoon with Marsh and that's not any of the current group. Having a LHB on the bench would still be nice though, whether it's Dahl or Clemens.

[andyb]

they still have Clemens and Wilson and even Castro possibly, and now Buddy Kennedy

Don't forget Kingery who has out-hit both Clemens and Wilson this year and is better defensively. They just have options everywhere for injuries that seem as good as what Merrifield provides assuming that Merrifield does not hit like he was 28 again. Merrifield's second half last year looks more and more like he is getting older than just being worn out especially when paired with the seasons immediately before that.

[Squire]

Realmuto having a knee procedure. So that's a problem.

https://x.com/Phillies/status/1800581478902034915

[andyb]

Figured his knee was hurting when they pinch ran for him on Sunday.