Phillies 2018 Season News/Notes/Discussion

[David_Criss]

Playing a rookie SS at 3B is seldom a winning formula. Nor is playing a rookie 2B at SS. Perhaps

I have been saying this all season. I get the love for Kingery and rewarding him with a Major League roster spot for signing the contract, but this can't be all that great for these two. And don't forget Hoskins is learning left, too.

But after watching last nights game, it is Herrera I am most concerned with and think needs a couple days off. He is LOST. Daydreaming at first, and looking like he has no idea where he is when he is up to bat.

[EDmuch]

The current situation is why I never get too excited when Herrera is “hot”. There is always this funk period to balance out the hot streak. He will have to grow a lot in his maturity before he ever wins the batting title that CD predicted for him.

And it is “attitude” shown last nite almost falling asleep while on first base which, understandably, causes some fans to be extremely irritated with him. But he is what he is.

[allentown]

I don't think that's entirely fair. Every player has slumps and hot streaks. Year-to-year, Odubel has been extremely consistent. The stats say he is a lifetime .774 OPS, .344 OBP player. That is exactly where he is now. If some have convinced themselves that the 'real' Odubel is or somehow should be more than that, then I think they have believed what they wanted to believe -- their problem, not his. He used to be an effective base stealer in 2015 and especially 2016, but hasn't been since then. Might be change in Phillies' philosophy, might be protecting his legs or slowing down a little. In any case, he has been a net negative as a base-stealer for the past season and a third. His numbers stack up well against the rest of our lineup which doesn't have a single .800+ OPS player and quite a few below .700 OPS. Odubel is nowhere near the top of my list of 2018 disappointments. He is right where he should have been predicted to be. And yes, he presently is in a funk and likely does need some down time.

[Philsmania]

Herrera is most definitely an outstanding player. But, I never thought he was as good as he was doing earlier this season so there's probably some regression to his mean which, as I have said, is still outstanding.

[Philsmania]

It would be nice if Efflin--the return for Rollins, one of the all-time Phillies greats--turns into something.

[andyb]

I think Herrera is streaky. There is always the thought that he could be even better if he acted more like everyone else. I am not 100% sure about that though. My worries are if his defense slips a bit and he becomes only an average player out there. Stats are down some this year, though I could also put that squarely on the new regime where everyone's defense is down perhaps because of shifts and positioning.

It is a concern that we seem to be one of the worst defensive teams in baseball. Some of this is by choice like Hoskins. But LF is relatively unimportant and we have the personnel to be decent defensively at most other positions and so far we have not been good.

[bkeich]

Every player goes through streaks. Odubel, because his hitting stroke is so complex, will always be very streaky I suspect.

I dont think immaturity is really his issue, he is just different. The announcers where talking about this last night, how aggravating he can be at times. He doesnt concentrate, he really doesnt. His baserunning is crazy variable, when he stole a base last night was the only time he actually took a lead off first. He was 12 feet off and broke on the pitch, all the other times he was 7-8 feet. He just isnt a detailed type person, he tends to "wander", and he almost got picked off last night because he was looking at the 3rd base coach and didnt notice a pickoff until just barely in time.

Odubel is always going to be enigmatic i suspect. He probably is a guy that could use Adderol, or something like that. It seems to his mind just doesnt work like most others (my long time girlfriend was very much like this, not bad just 'odd'), but I dont think it is immaturity as much as just "failure to concentrate". I love watching the guy play, no matter what it looks like at times he has true passion for the game and it shows in how he does things. He is in a lull right now, but he did bust it down the line and get on 1st on a strikeout (made it easily) and then stole a base to setup a run. I will take him on my team anytime, but 25 of him would be completely unmanageable.

[EDmuch]

I never said he was a "disappointment". In fact, I agree, he is right on target for another .280 BA season which is his norm. But because of his inconsistent "focus", I don't see him as ever winning a batting title despite his great talent. Nothing wrong with that either. I do, however, get annoyed with him commuting from the Planet Twilo while he is on base.

[bkeich]

I do, however, get annoyed with him commuting from the Planet Twilo while he is on base.

The pickoff attempt (where he almost got caught) last night reminded me of the absolute terror on the face of Lonnie Smith every time he clearly was about to fall down at full speed (which happened alot).

[julio]

I do, however, get annoyed with him commuting from the Planet Twilo while he is on base.

Frustration I can understand. Annoyance, to me, implies that you think he can somehow help this - that he could be different if he somehow just chose to be. I doubt that's the case.

Yeah, I know; over-reacting to your choice of wording. But I think we should be cautious about assuming that Herrera could be more reliably focused if he just "wanted it bad enough."

[zambonir]

I certainly hoped that Herrera's hot start would stick, sometime a player doesn't figure it all out for three or four years, there was a new batting coach, a better team, who knows? Now it's just disappointing that he might not even make the ASG.

As much as anything he probably just did better against lesser competition, much like the team itself (even though some players didn't exactly start out hot either).

[EDmuch]

To it is a bit condescending to assume Herrera "can't" do any better with his judgement. I am uncomfortable with the idea that he is genetically incapable of improving his concentration.

So I will remain "annoyed".

[Austinfan]

Herrera is only 26, so I do think there's upside left, especially because at times he shows the discipline to work a count, has great reaction time and eye to hand coordination, can hit to all fields and has solid gap power. It's frustrating because he has so much raw talent, but it's not like he's not already a good (3-4 WAR) player, it's just that you can imagine him becoming a great player.

[jferry46]

When did the term "old white guys" become an acceptable pejorative? Seems sexist, racist and ageist to me.

[schillingfan]

If the term "privileged" is added it fully applies to the former Phillies powers that be and would rightly be perjorative. It also is not racist,ageist or sexist because there are several old, white men on this forum I greatly respect and I am also old and white and have nothing against older,white men in general.

[jferry46]

Ah, the old "some of my best friends are old white men" defense.

[jferry46]

yeah, kind of like the way Von Hayes was annointed "lovable" and "a character."

[David_Criss]

Valentin starting in right field and Altherr starting in center tonight.

[HopeSpringsEternal]

Valentin starting in right field and Altherr starting in center tonight.

And Maikel Franco sees the light of day - batting 6th and playing 3B while Crawford sits.

[LoneStarPhan]

My gut feeling is that too much lineup shuffling hurts rather than helps the team.

I fully understand and support players being versatile but for the purpose of being able to make moves dictated by circumstances such as injuries or late game strategy. Just moving guys around like Kapler does just prevents players from getting comfortable in starting at the same position on a regular basis.