Phillies 2018 Season News/Notes/Discussion

[zambonir]

Well, we all saw what he did in spring training. I think the excitement, and the plan to ease him in as a super-sub was perfectly justified. And so was the argument for just letting him go to AAA, service time or not. But they made the decision they did, he's not actively hurting the team and now he will be pretty marginalized for the rest of the season (and 20 ABs in 13 days is already pretty marginalized). I'm sure he'll be fine. And depending on how the roster stuff plays out (with Ramos and Florimon) there's still a chance he could go down to AAA for a couple of weeks.

[VoteForKalas]

How is he not hurting the team? He is awful at the plate and mediocre in the field. They cannot play him.

[zambonir]

He's been on the team all year and they're in first place. For most of the time he played, there was no better option (Florimon, Crawford, Valentin all hurt or no better), Now there's a better option (maybe more than one) and he's a bench player.

[ButlerBulldog]

For most of the time he played, there was no better option (Florimon, Crawford, Valentin all hurt or no better), Now there's a better option (maybe more than one) and he's a bench player

Kingery’s role between now and September will likely hinge on what happens with Crawford. Plus, it’s not out of the realm of possibilities that the Phillies make another trade before August 31. Daniel Murphy has been mentioned as a player they might target if they’re looking to improve their depth. I’d like to see them add another pitcher, but Murphy wouldn’t be a bad idea, as he can definitely hit.

[tom81]

, it’s not out of the realm of possibilities that the Phillies make another trade before August 31.

I think it’s a good possibility that the Phillies make another trade before August 31. I think they look to a bat bench with pop.

[zambonir]

Murphy's bad this year but he certainly has a track record. Bautista has been mentioned too. I just don't know if I see it with a four-man bench though, especially if Ramos can come up before 9/1. There's certainly no downside to sneaking a player onto the roster though. And yeah, sure, I'd rather see Jose Bautista or Daniel Murphy pinch-hitting in Game 5 of the NLDS than Kingery or Knapp or Crawford.

[EDmuch]

I would not mind at all a four man bench of Ramos, Crawford, Quinn and either Murphy or Bautista

[andyb]

They probably go with a 5-man bench in the playoffs. No 5th starter needed so they will choose between making someone like Pivetta a long reliever or just dropping a starter.

Ideal playoff bench probably has Kingery and Crawford in the infield, Alfaro behind the plate, Quinn in the outfield and then one person who can hit. Doubt it is Murphy because the Nats are likely still in it at the end of the month. If Altherr has not turned it around then we could easily go with Knapp because it might make sense to pinch run for someone like Ramos early in the game if we had 3 catchers on the roster. If Ramos singles in the 4th inning in a tie game, would we want to put Quinn in at that point?

Or we get some veteran inexpensively. Just likely will not be Murphy.

[Austinfan]

Knapp is a switchhitter, which has value off the bench b/c it messes up those RP matchups.

[andyb]

Knapp is a switchhitter, which has value off the bench b/c it messes up those RP matchups

His problem is that he is not a great hitter though. We actually have lots of switch-hitters (Hernandez, Cabrera, Santana in the lineup, Quinn on the bench) so another switch hitter is not a priority. Knapp on the bench would help us pinch run for the catcher. But Knapp is also a 688 OPS hitter. Pretty sure we can add a 750-800 OPS hitter before September if we want to.

[Austinfan]

Knapp has a slow start, he's hit much better since then.
Since June 1:
.258/.343/.473/.816
.736 as a rookie.

He's a pretty decent hitter.

[Austinfan]

This is an interesting tidbit:

The club believes Neris was tipping his pitches through the positioning of his hands and that can spell disaster when a hitter can eliminate 50 percent of a two-pitch pitcher’s repertoire.

Hector's rebound, prospect to eye, more in Phillies Phodder

Given that the key to Neris' success was the splitter, if he was tipping it off it would explain why hitters were taking it for balls and getting him behind in counts and forcing him to throw FBs for strikes. If he can get back on track (so far, so good), it would be a huge boost down the stretch.

[zambonir]

Can't rule out Florimon either. I mean, who knows how he's doing physically, but (obvious SSS aside) he's been an .800 OPS player for the Phillies and would be as good a defensive replacement option (if not better) than Kingery (and possibly Crawford too simply because he hasn't had the reps or health this year either).

Gelb put together an NLDS roster in chat yesterday that had 12 pitchers, with Pivetta in the pen and left off both Ramos and Morgan.

And yes regarding Murphy (or anyone, really) that column was written August 2. The Phillies were in on Jones and rumored to be interested in others but a lot of that happened before Quinn. I'm skeptical they'd want anyone given the tight 40 and since they also have the second-best record in the league, will also be hard to get anyone (Bautista, for instance, is cheap and probably would get claimed).

[andyb]

Wild card game roster would certainly be interesting. I assume they probably go with 2 starting pitchers (Nola if on rotation and then one more as a backup). Then go with at least a 6-man bench and probably an extra LHP in the bullpen.

1-game strategy is just completely different than longer series strategy. It might be helpful to have a rule saying the wild card teams need to set their rosters for both the wild card game and the division series at the same time with only injury replacements at the same position allowed. Wild card games should not really be played with a completely different strategy.

[Patchmk88]

I honestly hope that one day they expand to a 3rd wild card team and give the best two division winners a bye with the 3rd division winner and 3 wild card teams playing in 3 game series. This will probably never happen because of history and timing but I think it would be fun. I hate the 1 game scenario in baseball because it is such a volatile sport where one game’s outcome is somewhat random.

[zambonir]

Once you do that you may as well not even have divisions for seeding purposes.

[Patchmk88]

That’s fine. What I originally proposed is basically identical to the NFL playoffs except for the fact that they have 4 divisions instead of 3 - maybe the MLB could go to 4 division. I just think that the NBA has too many playoff teams, the MLB doesn’t have enough, and the NFL is pretty much perfect. Plus I hate the 1 game wild card series.

[andyb]

I saw an interesting proposal of a 2-game series in which the lower seed has to win both games on the road. That would lessen the unfairness of a really good wild card team losing a freak game to a lesser squad.

One could play these 2-game series Monday-Wednesday with the full series still starting Thursday and Friday. I know it is part of baseball history, but I would also be completely fine if baseball eliminated all play-in games even for division titles. Every other sport uses head to head and strength of schedule tie-breakers to decide playoff spots and baseball should just do this rather than allow an extra day after the season that pushes the entire playoff schedule back a day.

[Philsmania]

At first, I was very uneasy with the one game "play-in" but I like how there is a penalty of sorts for being a wild card.

[zambonir]

Sure but why should the Yankees have to play a wild card game instead of Cleveland? I know the NFL rewards weak division winners too but they have almost no chance of advancing, whereas in a baseball play-in you just never know. And the schedules/numbers of games are so different.

If it was open seeding not only would the Yankees be ahead of Cleveland but they'd be in a race with Houston for #2.