Phillies 2026 News and Discussion

[zambonir]

Mistakenly, it now seems! But not really. It's not about any specific guy. And you also move on from those guys when they run out of options. They picked Wilson over Clemens last year for that reason, and Kemp deserved to beat out Wilson this year (though maybe not in hindsight). Last year they had Stevenson (who had an option), and for a while, Kennedy (who didn't). They still have fungible guys like that they could put on the 40 and call up if they want to, but haven't wanted to.

[andyb]

I wonder if they will want Rojas back. We are almost halfway into his 80 games and I wonder if he can do a minor league rehab stint while being suspended for 20 days. Marsh has been respectable against LHP to the point where I think he will start most of the time over Crawford. Does Rojas add more to the roster than Stubbs? Pinch running and defense and occasional CF starts against LHP just might add more than Stubbs.

[Callison]

IMHO, the decision on Painter has been made, but for the moment there's no one available to replace him, so he gets another shot. He looked like an All Star for one game but average and much worse ever since.

Sometimes when you make adjustments in your game, the first thing that happens is you get worse. Best case for Painter.

Watching the first A's HR, just ONE pitch before the batter hit it, he hit one out foul because it was just inside enough to be effective. After watching that, it looked like Painter threw the same high heater about 6" more over the center of the plate. Whether it happened by accident or intent, no good either way.

Sorry for those attending - NOT quite what you expected - can't say it's never happened to me.

[zambonir]

Well, Rojas has one option left so I certainly don't think his Phillies career is over even if he's not a lock for the major league roster. But I definitely think part of the Stubbs move is just figuring he's taking up space for six weeks until Rojas returns. A reward for Stubbs, he's useful enough, and he's no better or worse than anyone else they have. Doesn' t mean they won't try to change it up between now and then, but if they want Kemp back, or a better defensive OF, the Reyes spot is also up for grabs.

[andyb]

Kemp has started to hit and Reyes really needs some sustained AAA success so I imagine they will flip those 2 in the next few weeks. Neither will really challenge Bohm for playing time but it would be nice to get offense from that platoon and a potential pinch hitter depending on the situation.

[Philsmania]

For the love of Robin Roberts, go sign Trevor Bauer as a 5th starter and let Painter works things out in AAA.

Good lord, it's bad enough that we have to deal with all the Bauer bros on social media.

[andyb]

I would not go near Bauer, but he is leading the Atlantic League in ERA.

https://pro.iscorecentral.com/ALPB/stats?tab=pitching&sort=era

Ethan Wilson and Jamari Baylor hitting pretty well for Southern MD so I guess an indication that the league is probably High A quality at best.

[zambonir]

I assume that is why he was in Ed's head. Just pitched a no-no of sorts (games are seven innings but that one went to extras) Only two starts so far. Immediately posted on social media that the pitch clock robbed him of a perfect game. I think this is probably as much about maintaining his aggrieved online following as getting back to the bigs.

[EDmuch]

He was not "in my head". He was just an example of frustration with Painter. And I think Painter really needs to get back to AAA to work things out. If there is somebody else floating around out there, besides Bauer,who has a major league background, fine.

[flyers19rw]

I’ve been pulling for Marchan to get his game together but it just isn’t happening. His defense is fine but he has to be able to hit. Back when pitchers were hitting, they did better than Marchan is producing right now. Perhaps the club needs to acquire a better backup catcher?

[VoteForKalas]

The last 4 seasons agree with you yet DD & Co have done nothing to address it besides trade O'Hoppe.

[BostonRoss]

Even if Bauer were a good person, he has thrown all of 24 innings this year and had a 4.41 ERA in Japan last year.

[andyb]

Well they did address it with Stubbs in 2022 when he had a 1.1 WAR season.

With JT we were never going to entice any free agent to be the backup so we kept hoping Stubbs would at least get back into the 650 OPS range. Then Marchan came along with great defense but really can't translate that into any consistent MLB offense.

They probably need somebody new next year that could play 60 games next to JT. It is really the least of their problems now though. Having 2 backup catchers that can't hit is not optimal roster construction. I would not be shocked if Stubbs wins the job at some point and they will risk losing Marchan to waivers. Which is really not a great risk because he does not look major league worthy at this point and is really not young enough to get much better. He might be another example of the growing gap between AAA and the majors offensively. If you don't have close to a 900 OPS in AAA if you are older you are probably not a major league hitter.

[DurhamBull]

He was not "in my head". He was just an example of frustration with Painter. And I think Painter really needs to get back to AAA to work things out. If there is somebody else floating around out there, besides Bauer,who has a major league background, fine.

Paging Vince Velasquez!

[David_Criss]

Regarding Bohm. If a couple days off don't work, it might be time for a roster injury and see if Carter Kieboom can be what Mickey Moniak is now to the Colorado Rockies.

Regarding Painter. Before his confidence is destroyed, let's let Rangel take a few turns in the rotation.

[zambonir]

It is hard to believe Marchan is as bad as he is though. Actually in the 70s (out of just 79 Cs with a single AB) by both WAR and WRC+. But at the same time, 40 of those guys probably aren't better than Stubbs either. Including O'Hoppe. And Jonah Heim who just hit waivers.

[zambonir]

Spencer Turnbull's out there somewhere.

[dicemen99]

Holy overreaction people. Painter (and Crawford) are rookies. There were bumps to be expected. And many more to come.

They both have shown some positives as well in SSS, and Painter at no times except last night has seemed like he couldn’t hang at this level. Luzardo has had some rougher outings and I think he’s a pretty good SP in this league and just a few years ago Chris Sanchez was making everyone cry about Curtis Mead on this board at an age far older than Painter.

So we know he’s not Doc Goodwin, okay. As long as he’s not blowing up like that every start let’s let this play out a bit. Lots of guys can work through the rough patches at this level without hurting development.

[zambonir]

That doesn't mean it wouldn't be okay to demote Painter for his own best development path. Or Crawford. Bohm and Stott both had to do it. So did Sanchez and Suarez (including bouncing from pen to rotation).

But these decisions are also only important if you have a team with post-season expectations and better options. Tonight already a reminder that this team might not have either.

[phillychuck]

Yeah, it’s not good to get shellacked early in back-to-back games when the strength of your team is starting pitching.