Phillies 2025-2026 Hot Stove Discussion

[dicemen99]

I am not a fan of the potential move,, but one could see Bichette replacing Bohm this season and then Miller replacing Stott in some way next season (2027).

Disagree wirh your view of the move, but yeah, you have the plan right. I wrote a couple of weeks ago that Bichette is perfect for the Phils. Upgrades Bohm this year. Lets Stott, Crawford, and Miller battle it out for 2 spots in 2027. Have a good idea who is the odd man out, but gives us options.

He’s 28. Makes our core younger which is vital. You don’t get a chance to add 28 year old stars often.

If someone cites the draft picks as a reason not to do this, smh, I don’t know what to tell you, you haven’t been paying attention to MLB in your lifetime.

He’s still out there , so obviously he’s holding out for something that may not be palatable, but if you can get him for anything close to the $200M/8 projected, you do it in a heartbeat.

[zambonir]

I just don't know if Bichette is actually superstar good. I know his 2024 was injury-related but that's still a little scary. He's also not good defensively, and is a free swinger (which is great when he's hitting .311 but that was true of Bohm and Casty too). Could easily be our next Castellanos if you give him 6-8 years - a guy who trends towards merely above-average offense and bad defense by 30. Now, I realize the Phillies are only thinking about the next two season and it's only money, but I don't know that replacing Bohm and JT with Bichette and who knows is really going to make the Phillies any more likely to win 100 games or a World Series.

At the same time, I would like it if they spend more like the Dodgers.

[dicemen99]

I just don't know if Bichette is actually superstar good. I know his 2024 was injury-related but that's still a little scary.

He’s been in the league full time 6 years and put up all-star production in 5 of them. You admit that the one bad year he had was injury related, but that’s what you’re hung up on. I can’t fix that.

[zambonir]

Nope I'm also hung up on his defense and his chase rate. You can't fix that either (and neither can the Phillies). Granted he might be better at 3B than SS, but he was the worst SS by DRS in MLB.

All players get injured but the Phillies just have more players who are likely to get injured, and at very high salaries. 28 is definitely better than 30 but it's also not an upward trajectory from here.

[BostonRoss]

I like Bichette, but I'm concerned about adding another long term contract. The Phillies have eight more years of Turner, six of Bryce, five for Schwarber and Nola. Adding Bichette could put them close to the Dodgers in terms of commitments. It's not my money; if Middleton is OK with spending a lot more and willing to have expensive players not playing, then I guess it's OK with me.

[zambonir]

Ultimately that's how I feel too. Blow the budget! Sign Bichette and JT. Bring back Ranger! But that does not seem to be how they are operating. They are set up to hand out a big contract next year and they will probably need to (in addition to bringing back Luzardo).

They have also always shown a willingness to spend more in unexpected or extraordinary circumstances, but when you add in the tax hit Bichette would truly be a lot.

[fish]

There is no one like Bichette available next year when they do have money freed up, so a forward thinking club would consider that too.

[Austinfan]

They will have to extend Luzardo and make a decision on Stott and Marsh

[zambonir]

Yeah, and I'd say them getting Luzardo and Duran and bidding on Yamamoto has shown they are capable of thinking ahead. If they get Bichette and trade Stott, that would be proactive. If they had decided to go after Tucker and traded Marsh, same. But they do also need to find out if Crawford and Miller can play. And 2B is not the hardest position to address. The fact that Bichette was only worth 1.3 more WAR than Stott (as a SS, but I doubt it would get higher), and doesn't hit for power while having an OBP that's dependent on BA just doesn't scream elite $25 milllion player to me.

[Pat_Burrell]

https://www.mlb.com/news/don-mattingly-hired-as-phillies-bench-coach

Donnie Baseball to Phills official

[zambonir]

Must have been a tough negotiation.

I guess the good news is the Phillies can try to win him his first ring. That's also the bad news.

[Philsmania]

I always thought Mattingly was a good manager though he was thrust into an impossible situation in Miami which is why his record, in the end, is 61 games under .500. He did get a couple of his Marlin teams to overachieve, however, one of them being the covid mini-season in 2020 when the Marlins made the Postseason and actually won a series there. As for the tough negotiation, for some strange reason, they had to wait for his contract with the Blue Jays to expire at the end of last calendar year.

[zambonir]

Ah, makes sense about December 31. I didn't realize that was the real reason why it was unofficial for so long. Doesn't seem like they interviewed any other candidates.

Seems like a fine hire, if not really a major addition to the chorus of voices. Same rough age and Yankees background as the manager, and of course, the GM's Dad.

He's always been good, it just seems almost impossible to have played for, coached and/or managed the Yankees and Dodgers as many years as he did without a ring, and both teams did it without him soon after he moved on (with Rob getting it instead in '09).

[Pat_Burrell]

I'm a lifelong card collector. His 84 Topps, Donruss and Fleer were the cards to get as a kid. I remember asking my dad to give me the money to buy 1 back around 88. Cost roughly $32 and I felt like i was on top of the world or at least my class at school

[Jazzhead]

I agree; Casty is a professional and would, I believe, accept a platoon situation, especially if his role is made clear from the git go.. Assuming Garcia can play left, let Casty play right against lefties. He'll get some clutch hits; he always has. If Realmuto departs, we're going to need all the right handed pop we can get.

[andyb]

In the extra RH bat category it seems we are interested in Grichuk. Not really better than Casty offensively but imagine he would be better defensively especially in a corner with the ability to play CF a bit also. I kind of do not want any other CF competition for Crawford though beyond Rojas and Marsh. The temptation to start sitting Crawford if he slumps with a mediocre player would be there.

Phillies Interested In Randal Grichuk

[zambonir]

I don't think Casty has shown any indication that he is willing to be a bench player, His actions/emotional outbursts can be forgiven; his relationship with Thomson could be mended. But he's been pretty clear in his public statements that he wants to start. He was still complaining about it in late September. Pretty sure he complained about it in the playoffs too. He also basically admitted he wasn't practicing hard, because he figured why bother, whereas most part-time/platoon players understand it's just the opposite, you need more time in the cage to make up for your lack of action. Much like there was an element of the Phillies just not being happy with Strahm, the same is true with Nick. And both sides torched his trade value along the way.

JT's is basically not important to the offense anymore. Bringing in Garcia and wanting someone better than Kemp to platoon with Marsh are moves they need to make whether the catcher is JT or Stubbs (not that it will be Stubbs). And Kemp is also probably better than Nick. I do believe Nick could still have a bounce-back season but he actually has to be able to play and DH to do that. For a bad team.

[Jazzhead]

As things now stand, there remains a role for Casty. With Garcia and Crawford presumably starting against both righties and lefties, Casty serves in a platoon role with Marsh, leaving Kemp as a versatile bench option.

There's no reason to just release Casty. If he's not valuable to another club, then let him provide some value to the Phillies.

[BostonRoss]

Reasons not to bring Castellanos back:

1) He just isn't very good. He's averaging 0.4 WAR per season with the Phillies. Rojas has topped that every year, even last year with a .569 OPS. Bader had 1.3 WAR in 50 games for the Phillies; Nick's Phillies high for an entire season is 1.5.

2) His performance has declined for three straight years. At 34, that trend is unlikely to reverse, and he was below replacement value last season.

3) He doesn't get a long with the manager, which seemed to be a problem even though the team was winning. If the Phils don't get off to a good start, that behavior could help undermine Thomson. Publicly, he has not apologized or walked back anything he has complained about. There's no reason to think he would accept a lesser role than the one he complained about.

[BostonRoss]

I'm a lifelong card collector. His 84 Topps, Donruss and Fleer were the cards to get as a kid. I remember asking my dad to give me the money to buy 1 back around 88. Cost roughly $32 and I felt like i was on top of the world or at least my class at school

It's interesting how card collecting has evolved. We didn't know anything about rookie cards in the 1960s. We knew who some of the top rookies were (Bench, Seaver, Reggie, etc.), and we were happy to get their cards, but nobody ever paid for cards other than in packs. Maybe we could get lucky and trade with a friend for a card we liked, but usually it wasn't a rookie (I wanted to get every Willie Mays that I could, but most packs had the likes of Don Lock instead).

Did your parents throw out your cards? My mom didn't! I wish I had taken better care of them, but who would have thought to do that? I never put cared in the bicycle spokes, but I wish I hadn't drawn a mustache on Peter Rose...