Phillies 2026 News and Discussion

[jimbomill]

he sure would be a heck of a fit today in the cleanup spot in our lineup.

His batting between Schwarbs and Harp would be a nice counter to the opponents LOOGY.

[andyb]

Duran is back. Richards traded to the White Sox for cash so we have another open 40-man spot.

[dcsman]

The idea of parting ways with Crawford, Nori, or Wood or any legitimate prospect for Trout is laughable and would be a horrible deal. This would need to just be a significant salary dump by the Halos for it to even be considered. Even then I tend to agree with Zambonir that if Trout really wanted to play here it likely would have happened already.

It would be nice to get a RH-bat though.

[allentown]

Adolis Garcia not living up to Phillies hopes with a negative 0.1 rWAR. He is still a major upgrade over Castellanos, who has already logged a negative 0,9 WAR with fewer AB than Garcia. Bohm almost as bad as Casty with negative 0.8 rWAR, but he has almost twice the ABs.

[Philsmania]

Adolis Garcia not living up to Phillies hopes with a negative 0.1 rWAR. He is still a major upgrade over Castellanos, who has already logged a negative 0,9 WAR with fewer AB than Garcia. Bohm almost as bad as Casty with negative 0.8 rWAR, but he has almost twice the ABs.

Between him and Romano last year, it does seem like the Phillies don't have a good track record with bounceback candidates.

[zambonir]

Fangraphs likes him better: 0.3. But either way the defense is not so great as to make up for the offense as much as it seemed to last year. And also they really needed him to rediscover some offense.

[phillychuck]

Good corner outfield defense, no matter how good, is never going to contribute much to WAR--too few chances. Bad corner OF defense can, somewhat counter-intuitively, damage WAR quite a bit. Gotta make those routine catches...

[Callison]

Between him and Romano last year, it does seem like the Phillies don't have a good track record with bounceback candidates.

Master of the understatement.

Garcia is not doing a lot, but the Phils' OF finally looks pretty strong on D with Marsh, Crawford and Garcia. Garcia has an All Star arm.

The folks standing on the brakes looking at Trout - the Phils will have to offer something significant to justify the trade of a likely future HOF player. As noted by several, Trout is the only one who can make it happen. If you're standing on the brakes, you're disqualified from the negotiations. If you're unable to hype the Phis in the WS to him with a straight face, you're disqualified from the negotiations. The acquisition of Trout would offset the Phils' refusal to sign a RH hitter in the off season again, THE GLARING problem in the Phils' lineup for a couple seasons now. The addition of Trout to the Phils' lineup is as good a dream as a Phils phan can have.

OTOH, Reyes looks like he's just about to become and All Star. The Phils can wait, right?

[VoteForKalas]

Trout is majorly injury prone, older and expensive. If it was anyone else, there would be almost universal rejection of the team signing such a liability, especially when we are already leveraged to the hilt with risky long term contracts.

They need a RH power and on base bat for the middle of the order, but Trout is not the answer IMO.

The ultimate question is, OK, well then who do we get? Not our job, that is why DD and all his assistants to the GM get paid big bucks and ride around in fancy cars and jets. Unfortunately, I do not think they have any idea either based on their choices the last several seasons.

[EDmuch]

VFK if not Trout, who?

[BostonRoss]

Cristopher Sanchez is now leading the NL in pitching WAR. He's had only one start (the debacle at Wrigley) where he's given up more than two earned runs.

[zambonir]

Mets already rained out today

[phillychuck]

When you are trading for a player, that player is going to have some warts (players without warts don’t get traded). The warts of being old and overpriced are manageable for a team with our financial resources. I think it’s an acceptable risk, especially if some of the contract is picked up by the Angels. He’s actually pretty much a perfect pick-up for what we need offensively, the only questions to me are price of acquisition and health. I would take the health risk if the price is right, but I’m not in charge.

[phillychuck]

Mets already rained out today

Forecast for this evening in Philly is cool but relatively dry.

[zambonir]

VFK if not Trout, who?

Like he said, let Preston Mattingy figure that out from the back seat of his Bentley.

There are probably better/less risky players that will be available, though the acquisition price would be higher. And a lot of them can't play the field. But that will remain a question about Trout too (whether because he can't field or because he can't play at all).

[zambonir]

It's nasty now. And I'm seeing showers at 6pm and 8pm in the forecast (50%).

[phillychuck]

I was looking at the future radar on Accuweather. The rain seems to be moving off to the North and East by evening. Lousy night to be at the park, though, either way.

[allentown]

VFK if not Trout, who?

VFK can speak for himself. As another person who doesn't want a trade for Trout, I'll say that I'm in the stand pat for now. I didn't like the team's start to the season and was less than pleased with Harper's explanation that the team needed a jolt (the firing of manager) to get them past the funk. We're on a good run, largely because the pitching has improved, but I'm not convinced that this is a team that can advance in the playoffs with the addition of any given older star. I want the Phillies to have a future. Taking on a lot of future salary for very old players is a trap. I don't want the Phillies to be the place where the elephants go to die in a comfy place. We need good young and cheap players. Our best and better prospects need to be virtually untouchable. I think if DD feels he must make a trade, a RH batting platoon OF is the way to go, and I would not spend a lot to get him. What we don't need is another old, everyday star in decline who will soon be just another awful fielder or DH. For those who want a trip to the WS, I think that window has probably closed. Desperation moves seldom work and Trout would be a desperation move.

[allentown]

The warts of being old and overpriced are manageable for a team with our financial resources.

No, they really aren't. What we did this winter was determined by and severely restricted by budget. We can add a costly player next season, but not now. That's why Adolis was the gamble DD could afford to take. The Phillies have too many $ invested in too old players.

[zambonir]

I think "what should the Phillies do to win in 2026" is not the same question as "what should the Phillies do to win in 2027 (and 2028-2029). There's a Venn diagram, is all. I think the point of Trout is the Phillies would not have to (and wouldn't) trade any Top 5, or even Top 10 prospects for him. The flaws and the money would make the trade price lower, and possibly make Trout more appealing than a less risky player (or a younger, more expensive FA who still wont be young or without risk).

I don't think "RH platoon OF" is an answer for anything though. We've seen that movie before. If anything you want a bigger RHB OF and you make Garcia your platoon guy, just like Bader, albeit as a CF not a big bat, pushed Nick and Kepler into a platoon.

I don't think the WS window has closed if they can make the playoffs. But the latter is still not certain. Or even likely. Also not really necessary to discuss until July, unless the Angels or another team with an interesting chip start early.

But that doesn't mean we're gonna like the moves going into next off-season either. Trades and free agents, not a rebuild, would be my guess.