Discussion

David_Criss 2018-05-17 19:16:27 UTC #422

Eickhoff has only pitched 3 innings in 2018. On Tuesday, he did strike out three for double A Reading, but he allowed five hits, including a homer in just 3 1/3 innings. I would hope he would have at least three more AA or AAA starts before he is officially activated and assigned to the parent club or LeHigh Valley.

zambonir 2018-05-17 19:25:05 UTC #423

Certainly if he doesn't make a couple of strong rehab starts in AAA, he'll have to stay there. Either way they've got up to 30 days without having to actually assign him to AAA.

Unlike Ed, I'm still hopeful/excited about him, if he's healthy. I just think he profiles well with an analytics-minded staff. No, he probably doesn't have the velocity or stuff to be the #3 but you can go far with a curveball in MLB right now.

zambonir 2018-05-17 20:21:07 UTC #424

Kind of a dumb column because its entire premise turns on the idea that Machado would agree to an extension. For sure, if that could actually happen, they should do it, and pay the price.

Anyway, buried in there is also Brookover's opinion that the Phillies are going to take Madrigal (which he cites as a reason they can afford to trade Kingery).

tom81 2018-05-17 21:55:09 UTC #425

Machado is the perfect fit if you want to improve the team for this year. Our offense is inconsistent and adding a middle of the order hitter who plays one of your weakest offensive positions is the logical way to improve. Getting Machado though does not turn on the idea of him agreeing to an extension, it only turns on what you are willing to give up to get him. It makes no sense for Baltimore not to trade him and at least get something for him so all you have to do is make the best offer for him. Without an extension you don’t part with someone like Crawford, Kingery or Sanchez and I don’t think other teams will either. We just need to make an offer without our top tier prospects that is better than the other offers.

zambonir 2018-05-17 22:02:20 UTC #426

Agreed. I would make that deal under the right terms and I would still pay a little extra on the gamble that being here makes it easier to re-sign him. But that's not what Brookover's column is about.

He may as well have written a column saying "the Phillies should give Aaron Nola an multi-year deal, if his terms are reasonable."

tom81 2018-05-17 22:20:22 UTC #427

Yea Brookover isn’t the best writer. He only mentions Herrera and Hoskins as offensive contributors and doesn’t mentions Hernandez who is one of the best leadoff hitters in baseball. I was impressed how Klentak played the free agent market to land Arrieta to a team friendly deal. I am comfortable having him in the position to negotiate on getting Machado and not have him overpay.

kmc1019 2018-05-17 22:25:55 UTC #428

The Brookover article is ignorant and borderline awful; makes me more willing to pay for The Athletic (which I am glad that I do).

David_Criss 2018-05-18 02:25:00 UTC #429

Morgan activated and Leiter optioned. I know there were a couple rainouts, but why not just keep Thompson and let Leiter rehab at AAA?

LoneStarPhan 2018-05-18 03:33:44 UTC #430

Velasquez pitches 6.1 shut out innings tonight to keep his hat in the rotation.

Having multiple possible starting pitchers as well as a full dozen or more relievers is a good problem to have. I believe I once heard that you can never have too much pitching.

andyb 2018-05-18 13:14:45 UTC #431

Hamels missed his start last night because he woke up with a "stiff neck". All trade talk about him will be predicated on health though I am guessing Texas is taking no chances with him.

bigegypt0417 2018-05-18 15:23:37 UTC #432

Kapler is an interesting dude...

Austinfan 2018-05-18 16:08:08 UTC #433

Velasquez is taking his "chill pills," he's a different pitcher when he relaxes and doesn't try to overthrow - he actually throws harder, touched 98. Struggled with his breaking stuff early, but didn't get uptight and it eventually came around. Throw some decent changeups as well.

Suddenly, Phils have pitching depth, or why you collect a lot of young pitchers and be patient with them, now we're looking at Eflin/Eickoff as the 5th/6th starter, Lively as #7, De Los Santos as #8 and Irvin #9.
And in the pen Ramos, Seranthony, Rios, Arano.

Lawman 2018-05-18 16:32:45 UTC #434

If Pivetta and Velaquez continue to pitch well, that's a very nice 1-4. Eflin/Eickhoff as the 5 and depth down on the farm, this is what we've been waiting for. Young, legitimate, talent with an upside and pipeline for depth and trading purposes.

zambonir 2018-05-18 18:59:02 UTC #435

Lively may be #7 in the sense that he's on the 40 and would be the next guy up, but in reality I'd put him 9th. He'd make a good throw-in for a July trade (like Eickhoff before him).

Philsmania 2018-05-18 19:40:15 UTC #436

Has anyone else noticed that All-Star balloting has not started yet? To be honest, I thought it was absurd how in recent years they started sending the ballots out at the end of April. However, we are now roughly half way to the ASG.

Right now, I would say that the Phillies' most worthy All-Stars are, in descending order...

1 tie Herrra & Nola, both of whom ought to be locks if they keep it up.
3 Arrieta,strong chance if he keeps it up.
4. Hernandez, not a household name but having another outstanding season. However, Baez will probably get elected since he's a Cub and Gennett will be there since he is having a great season too and he makes it easy to pick someone to represent the lousy Reds. And, Albers has also been great. It's been something of a banner year for NL second basemen and someone is going to have be snubbed. http://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/position/2b/league/nl/sort/OPS/order/true
5. Hoskins, fading prospects currently
6. Franco...playing himself into AS contention?

zambonir 2018-05-18 20:13:57 UTC #437

I guess that's a sign of how little the physical ballots matter now. Another dying tradition.

Philsmania 2018-05-18 20:36:53 UTC #438

True, but the online ballot has not gone up yet either.

zambonir 2018-05-18 20:52:22 UTC #439

Which is surprising for sure, but since you're allowed to vote once a day online, the less of a window the better IMO. Whereas the physical ballots, you wanted a longer period to reach more voters, and to keep the distribution of home games fair.

Seems like this is the reason for the delay, they were still considering a new system.

Philsmania 2018-05-18 22:39:18 UTC #440

For many years, I have advocated that fan balloting should be only one piece of the puzzle to select All-Star starters. Simply put, most fans are too ignorant and simpleminded to be entrusted with that task. Years of seeing Darryl Strawberry get elected year after year after year just because his name was Darryl Strawberry and not Darryl Johnson convinced me of that a long time ago. I prefer a weighted system, say 40% fan vote, 40% players, managers and coaches and 20% media and broadcasters.

andyb 2018-05-21 14:23:21 UTC #441

Bowden has the Phillies as the 2nd choice in Machado destinations at 5-1. Proposed trade is either Crawford/Kingery, Sixto, and one of our young power arms in the majors (someone like Dominguez I assume).

Curious that there is little talk of Franco in a deal still. The early returns on Machado's defense are not good. While the early analysis suggested he is more valuable contract-wise in the free agent market as a SS, the mediocre defense so far means he is a better overall player at 3B rather than SS.