Phillies 2026 News and Discussion

[Philsmania]

Bader actually outplayed his norm for us down the stretch last year but has been pretty bad in SF this year.

Harrison Bader Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More |...

[andyb]

This is small sample size thinking. It is the thinking that led us to trade JP Crawford. Wilson has something like a 760 career OPS and also has the AAA stats that suggest his major league OPS in a platoon role is real.

Kemp and Reyes have a shot at that same role of course and are young enough to improve a tiny bit, but they also play inferior defense. Wilson was just a better all around player and we failed to realize it.

[Philsmania]

It's not like we scouted and developed Wilson. The Brewers moved on from him when we got him. He had a good SSS season and a bad SSS season for us before we moved on from him. He is having a nice season in Baltimore but at the age of 31.

Much different situation with JPC whom the Phillies did scout and develop and had gotten to know and they allegedly had doubts about something. He's actually a FA after this season. He'll be 32 next year.

[zambonir]

DFAing a 31 year-old utility IF who's only sort of an OF is hardly the same thing as giving up on/trading away an elite SS prospect you mishandled/didn't believe in. And in the old days, if the Phillies had preferred a Wilson over a Kemp we would have griped about not giving a young player a chance. But clearly Wilson is a more finished all-around MLB player.

I assume they were also counting on having Rojas, and thus were more willing to live with Kemp's lesser LF work, and could defensive sub for him late.

In theory you should always be able to find a Weston Wilson (or Austin Hays, or Jake Cave. Or Grichuk or Pham). Phillies seems to value glove-first depth on the 40 (Cairo, Berroa) plus of course they have a third catcher on both rosters right now.

[andyb]

He had a good SSS season and a bad SSS season for us before we moved on from him.

That was not really true though. AAA performance counts also and what he did in 500+ plate appearances with a 30-30 year mostly at shortstop was actually a large sample and between 2023 and 2024 he had almost 1,000 total plate appearances with solid performances in AAA and the majors. 2025 is actually the small sample and not the years before.

AAA counts. That is why what Kemp and Reyes do there matters. They need to put up solid performances there in larger samples to earn a big league job. Obviously Wilson was older so the bar for his AAA performances was higher than it is for Kemp and Reyes, but he largely met that bar for 2 complete seasons before injuries and SSS made us move on the next year.

[Matt_Winkelman]

Players like Wilson generally only have value when they have options. The Orioles were able to get him through waivers, the Phillies were not. He also has mainly played 3B this year and is generally a better infielder than outfielder (he really is not a SS), but isn’t a great defender. In a vacuum I prefer him to Kemp, but you can park Kemp in AAA and you couldn’t with Wilson.

[andyb]

Wilson was listed in the context of all the right-handed bats we have acquired in recent years. Not saying he is that great (and I know the value of options), but if they had just stuck with him they might be better off (knowing the money and prospects we have spent to solve this problem).

It is hindsight of course, but I'd rather have Hendry Mendez and Weston Wilson along with Kemp and Reyes than just having Kemp and Reyes today.

[Matt_Winkelman]

Mendez or Bader is interesting what-if, but also they might beat LA if Bader is healthy. Mendez is also a lefty who can't hit lefties and is redundant, but different to Gabriel Rincones Jr. and it would have been hard in the long term to justify two more lefty platoon corner outfield bats. Mendez of course also has the tendency to run Crawford level ground ball rates with great other peripherals (he currently has an average launch angle of 0.2 in AAA).

[andyb]

We are living in a world where Garrett Stubbs is a bench piece of course. Sometimes the what ifs don't require lots of imagination to think we could be better off.

[zambonir]

The problem is AAA counts but as you've certainly noted yourself, it also counts less than it used to. That .987 OPS for LV last year is what got Kemp his chances last year, same as Wilson's .879 first got him his in '23.

Nobody on the list is especially good, and when they are, they want more playing time and money than the Phillies could give. Bader earned that with the year he had, many were skeptical he could do it again. But with regards to the article originally being about Hoskins it has really been two different things - the fact that Hoskins was not truly replaced by Turner (different skill set), accompanied by the decline of Nick and JT, and the fact that the decline of those two bats - plus the inconsistency of Bohm - puts more pressure on the bench RHBs to do more than is probably reasonable to expect (true of Sosa too, at least this year).

At least Garcia is decent in the field and Marsh is making the most of his time.

[andyb]

Well it is not an exaggeration to think that the bench of Sosa, Kemp, Stubbs, and Marchan could be the worst bench in the league. One player out (Schwarber) along with 2 catchers who are really only good in an emergency meant that we just played a 3-game series with a 1-person bench.

[BostonRoss]

Guys who have put up .900 OPS at LHV since Hoskins:

Otto Kemp
Cal Stevenson (twice)
Buddy Kennedy
Kody Clemens
Jake Cave
Darick Hall
Nick Williams
Phil Gosselin

[zambonir]

And Dylan Cozens a mere .873 back when we expected the Reading drop-off.

[Austinfan]

Kemp and Reyes are inexperienced enough that they have the potential to improve.
Older players with say 1000+ PA at AAA can put up big seasons b/c they've figured out AAA pitching with enough time, but that rarely translates to the next level, though there's always a Coste.
Kody Clemens has been OK the past couple seasons, broke out in AAA at 26, but didn't stick in the Show until 29.

[andyb]

Kemp and Reyes are slightly younger but really not that young for AAA. The common thread in the above list is older AAAA players with the exception of Nick Williams (who was 25 by the time he did it though). It is not just the plate appearances. It is the physical maturity as well and players over 25 are just not getting stronger any more (and they usually have plenty of plate appearances by then).

Bottom line is we have not really produced much offense in the past decade and a half and the AAA results show that.

Crawford's year last season actually meant more because of his age than anyone on that above list.

[zambonir]

Moving out of the game thread

Adolis García, Nick Castellanos and the Phillies’ quest for a righty-hitting OF

This season, their right-handed outfielders have combined to produce a .501 OPS in 245 plate appearances. (Most of it is García.) That is 117 points worse than the 1989 Phillies, who own the franchise’s worst mark for that split.

The pool is thinning every year. Across the sport, entering Monday, all right-handed-hitting outfielders had combined to produce a .695 OPS. It is the lowest figure for that specific split since at least 1969, and it was 14 points lower than the next-worst season (.709 OPS in 2024). In fact, five of the six worst seasons for righty outfielders since 1969 have come since 2022.

[Callison]

Is Kemp only a career AAAA or can he bring his game into the Bigs? Nothing left to prove at AAA. Now is the time, Otto.

All Kemp has to do is hit, say, .250 - just not be a screaming hole in the order like Garcia has become. Bada boom, he's a starter. Can't ask for a better opportunity. Garcia should start losing PT, IMHO.

Had some high hopes for Kemp in ST, but he's only shown a few moments of his best play with the Phils.

[Austinfan]

The same with Reyes, his struggles in the Show hopefully makes him more amenable to coaching.
For him to make it, he has to be more selective, he can hit strikes, but he can't afford to waste strikes swinging at balls out of the K-zone.

[phillychuck]

The same with Reyes, his struggles in the Show hopefully makes him more amenable to coaching.
For him to make it, he has to be more selective, he can hit strikes, but he can't afford to waste strikes swinging at balls out of the K-zone.

You can swing at balls out of the strike zone, just not EVERY ball out of the strike zone. And it’s actually bad when you hit those pitches and put them in play--in general you make lousy contact.

[andyb]

But it is not coaching. It is his skillset unfortunately.