Phillies 2026 News and Discussion

[dcsman]

I have no idea where to say this so I’ll just say it here.

My thoughts go out to all the Phillies from Venezuela and hope that your loved ones are safe. I know Aroon Escobar is from there as I am sure there are several others. Baseball can take a back seat for a little bit. I can’t imagine the devastation the earthquakes have caused for everyone.

[dicemen99]

Reading an MLB.com article on the all-star voting and chuckled at this sentence I read about Marsh:

"emerging as another big bat in the Phillies’ potent lineup."

The author obviously hasn't spent much time on this board, lol. Funny how recent events - especially the power surge - can dominate thinking.

I am still not in that camp though. We are still far too much a two-outcome lineup without the critical third in place. In the playoffs you don't bang out 15 hits often against other top teams' top 3 plus competent BPs. A timely HR looks a lot better when preceded by a walk. Without the ability of much of our lineup to grind out ABs, draw walks, and get on-base we are always going to be a very, very streaky team that feasts on poor pitching. The playoffs are too long to not suffer a severe drought at the plate with the way this team is built.

Not sure if the issue is a DD one in that he targets the free swingers, or if this is a Long issue in terms of philosophy. But the bat we add IMO needs to be a high OBP guy.

Sorry in advance for bringing some negativity to the board during this jubilant period. Maybe that's just the Philly in me waiting for the other shoe to drop. Just ranting a bit because I think we're in the midst of finding some fool's gold. But hopeful I'm wrong. Feel free to ignore or talk me into enjoying this streak.

[EastFallowfield]

Here's a gift link to Jayson Stark's article after our batch of Jayson Stark games:

Weird and Wild: The 10 wildest games of June…and 3 involved the Phillies

And you may think you're done with the Phils bits after reading all of them at the top of the article but they do pop up in the last part again.

[Callison]

Could be Stark's best work ever right there.

After all that, I'm not gonna miss the next game even though it will be held hostage by the streaming pirates. I must go to the sports bar again. Ah, well...

[VoteForKalas]

The team and the bats have been doing better recently, but the feast or famine inconsistency continues.

Let's check on the claim of us beating up on bad pitching/teams and struggling against good pitching/teams.

In the NL, we have the following record breakdown:

SDP: 6-0 (2nd in the NL West)

PIT: 3-0 (4th in the NL Central)
SFG: 4-2 (4th in the NL West)
WSH: 5-2 (4th in the NL East
COL: 4-2 (5th in the NL West)
MIA: 5-2 (3rd in the NL East
NYM: 2-1 (5th in the NL East)

Outside of the the Padres who we seem to match up well against, our best records are against pretty bad teams.

ATL: 1-5 (1st in the NL East)
LAD: 1-2 (1st in the NL West)
CHC: 1-6 (2nd in the NL Central)
MIL: 1-2 (1st in the NL Central)

AZ: 1-2 (3rd in the NL West)
CIN: 1-2 (5th in the NL Central)

Whereas against the better NL teams, we have our worst records so far. Why we lost series to AZ and CIncy, I'm not sure since they are not very good, but timing plays a role too.

Against the AL, we've been able to win every series except CLE and TEX where we lost 2 of 3. TEX was the first series to start the season and we definitely started slow. CLE was a better test and we scored a total of 5 runs in 3 games. Their pitching did lock us down.

We'll see how the rest of the season plays out, but there does appear to be some credence to the claim that we tend to get most of our wins against bad/mediocre pitching/teams and have, at least so far, not proven we can hang with the teams we will likely need to beat to get to a WS and win it.

[EDmuch]

Tommy Pham? Why not?

[zambonir]

News was in the minor league thread since it's a minor league deal. He appears to be finished but maybe he'll find a groove in the minors. He wouldn't be able to beat out Hill right now, though he might not be any worse against Rincones, he did hit same-side pitching when he was actually good.

It really is hard to believe he never got here before, his personality seems like a fit (not necessarily a compliment).

[Austinfan]

Rincones is over his head, but I think they don't want to rush Reyes back.
He's starting to take a few walks, so maybe they're getting him to be more selective.
If Reyes comes back, it'll probably be as an every day OF with Crawford/Hill platooning.

[andyb]

We are much closer to Derek Hill being a full time OF than Reyes. They will make a trade before they give Reyes that chance. Just too many holes in his approach and too little defense.

[xogfog]

DD has a lot of work to do, they still need an impact RH bat, a 5th starter better than Nola and bullpen help. The fifth starter may be the biggest immediate need, they can't keep losing 2 out of every 5 games started by Nola and the bullpen game.

[biggsphils]

I agree, Nola is not even a average 5th starter anymore , they need a decent 4th starter.

[biggsphils]

And nobody should be deemed untouchable in that weak farm system

[zambonir]

And nobody should be deemed untouchable in that weak farm system

That seems like a Catch-22 though.

They're still on a 90-game pace overall, and a far better one since the managerial change (which, let's face it, is really "since Wheeler came back, his first start was when Thomson's head was already on the block in Atlanta).

What's changed is the division race. Do you overpay for a quality 4th starter (which really means someone who is a #2 on another team, as Luzardo was) when you still might not even get a bye? Or just cobble it together knowing that's enough to make the playoffs (current probability 85%) and you only need three starters after that, for the most part.

Seems like a ripe situation to repeat the Lorenzen move (mistake?) where you get a guy you think can be moved to the pen in October. Which is another reason Nola can't be the 4th starter even if he's better.

[julio]

Chase Shugart optioned to AAA; Lou Trivino selected, added to 40-man roster.

[andyb]

The fresh arm theory on a busy week with 100 degree temperatures. Day game on Thursday is going to be 102. Rangel gets sacrificed and gets to pitch to Stubbs or Marchan. That game could be 12-10 in that heat. Good thing we have a weird day off Friday when it will be just as hot.

[julio]

The weather is going to be brutal... but actually, I wonder if the conditions at CBP on Thursday will be worse than what conditions frequently are in St. Louis in July/August - which is notorious for really hot conditions on the field.

[andyb]

Frankly they should shift the game to the night if Pittsburgh is OK with that. Assume it is a getaway day for them and the Friday off is World Cup related. No ideal solution obviously. Getting more than 3 or 4 out of Rangel will be difficult in the conditions. Same for any starter. At least Sanchez and Wheeler get to pitch at night this week. I might keep them to 85-90 pitches also in the heat.

[zambonir]

PIrates in your town Friday night, in theory they can't veto the time change if Phillies do it. They've already cancelled the World Cup Fan Fest during the day on Thu and Fri.

It's not too bad today.

I reckon they are taking their sweet time with Keller too, maybe not until after the break? Or else Shugart just goes when he's back.

[andyb]

I guess I did remember Pittsburgh is here. Thought about going Friday but going to soccer instead. Avoiding the city on the 4th....

[EDmuch]

The weather here in Columbus was absolutely brutal today. The heat is so intense. You have some really nasty weather heading your way for tomorrow and Thursday.