GDT 7/8/25 Philadelphia Phillies (Walker, T) @ San Francisco Giants (Ray)

[Dirk41]

What a back breaking loss. Watching the outfield run around like a cartoon is pretty fitting for this era of Phillies baseball in the outfield.

[fish]

And this is why you don’t invest in high leverage relievers from bottom feeding teams. Pitching Romano is like playing Russian roulette with three bullets in the chamber. That Thomson could have thought anything other than “wow, I can’t believe we didn’t lost that game in the 8th after I pitched both Robertson AND Romano” and then proceeded to play the game of roulette with Romano for a second inning, well, that was dumb.

[VoteForKalas]

Yup, the offense and pen remain the issues DD and Co. need to address at the deadline and with more significant changes in the offseason.

What they did with both issues has not worked well enough so far this season.

[growe]

When I retired in May, I was looking forward to finally being able to watch west coast road trips. Fortunately there are other retirement advantages as the "staying up late for baseball" part has been brutal so far.

[EastFallowfield]

I forgot my usual west coast watching strategy, if they have the lead when you start getting really sleepy, go to sleep! They're either going to win or have a disappointing loss. And sometimes a crushing loss!

Have already gotten one of the usual emails from the Phillies about whatever merch or tickets they're trying to sell. Have always thought that someone in those departments should have an option to shut them off for a day or so after such a game, you'd have to think some people are so disgusted they're gonna hit unsubscribe today.

[Philsmania]

Romano is not a major leaguer pitcher at this point. That was disgraceful to watch.

As I've said, depending upon what we pick up at the deadline, it would not surprise me if Romano is cut in early August with the Phillies absorbing the balance of his contract--it would be roughly $2.833 million at that point--as a sunk cost. Let him be a rebuilding team's reclamation project for the rest of the season.

[zambonir]

He's looking pretty cuttable, but the bullpen is still rather thin. Expecting them to pick up two quality arms isn't necessarily enough even if Luzardo replaces Alvarado. Romano will probably be more like Seranthony and Soto in 2023, limited use.

And I'm not sure this bullpen is really that much worse than 2022, when it was Famiia getting cut and Robertson replacing Kneble and Seranthony not looking reliable during the season, with Eflin in the pen. Brad Hand and Bellatti were solid but not the high-end guys. 2023 was only scarcely better with Lorenzen not helping, a cooked Kimbrel and a not-ready Orion. Last year was our best bullpen, until it wasn't.

Romano will of course be one of the best relievers in MLB next year probably, and Phillies will probably hand out a longer contract they shouldn't, or the controllable guy they trade for this year will disappoint at some point.

[BostonRoss]

I made the mistake of vacationing this week in Nova Scotia, four hours off from PDT.

[zambonir]

Have already gotten one of the usual emails from the Phillies about whatever merch or tickets they're trying to sell. Have always thought that someone in those departments should have an option to shut them off for a day or so after such a game, you'd have to think some people are so disgusted they're gonna hit unsubscribe today.

Wait weren't we supposed to book our group outing?

[zambonir]

I stopped watching after six last night, put it on this morning and saw Kyle's home run, and then had ending spoiled by a Jayson Stark post on BlueSky, mercifully.

But it's a day game today!

[VoteForKalas]

Ah, but the beauty of Nova Scotia makes up for it

[Philsmania]

He's looking pretty cuttable, but the bullpen is still rather thin. Expecting them to pick up two quality arms isn't necessarily enough even if Luzardo replaces Alvarado. Romano will probably be more like Seranthony and Soto in 2023, limited use.

And I'm not sure this bullpen is really that much worse than 2022, when it was Famiia getting cut and Robertson replacing Kneble and Seranthony not looking reliable during the season, with Eflin in the pen. Brad Hand and Bellatti were solid but not the high-end guys. 2023 was only scarcely better with Lorenzen not helping, a cooked Kimbrel and a not-ready Orion. Last year was our best bullpen, until it wasn't.

Romano will of course be one of the best relievers in MLB next year probably, and Phillies will probably hand out a longer contract they shouldn't, or the controllable guy they trade for this year will disappoint at some point.

Interesting dichotomy between Strahm and Kerkering. Strahm's ERA is just ok (3.47) but his peripheral stats are good (1.183 WHIP) while Kerkering's ERA is good (2.83) but his peripheral stats are meh (1.400 WHIP). Says to me that Kerkering has been getting himself into and out of trouble.

[zambonir]

Yeah and you can see that in Strahm' lower FIP compared to his ERA too but perhaps more significantly Strahm's WHIP last year was 0.750, and it was 1.015 in 2023. FIP is 3.03 this year versus 2.2 last year. Essentially we not only lost Hoffman and Alvarado but Strahm is not as good. Kerkering is probably a wash with Estevez, had we had him all year. Estevez was almost Romano-bad last year in April himself.

[andyb]

Which is why we need Alvarado plus another back end likely right-handed arm for the stretch. Shift Strahm and Kerkering back to being the 3rd and 4th options and let Banks be the 5th option and Lazar/Romano be behind them.

There is really not a single arm that I feel good about protecting a 1 or 2 run lead in the 9th at the moment.

If Painter came up in August and Nola were back I might seriously consider moving Luzardo to the bullpen during the season rather than at the end.

[zambonir]

If nothing else it would make sense to give Luzardo a couple of weeks to get into a reliever routine. He will essentially be replacing Alvarado if they don't acquire two deadline pitchers.

I'm not sure you can truly rule out Painter in the playoff bullpen either. But right now I suspect Walker stays in the rotation until Nola's back.

[andyb]

But right now I suspect Walker stays in the rotation until Nola's back.

He has been very average this year which is not the worst thing to have in a 5th starter. I don't fully trust him, but right now we need innings and until Abel works on a few things Walker is our best option and probably should be in a 2-inning Ross-like role in the bullpen rather than a 1-inning role if Nola comes back.