Phillies 2026 News and Discussion

[andyb]

They really did Johnson a disservice by pitching him a second inning last night. He had not done that all year and they were transforming him into a pure 1-inning high velocity guy in the minors. Hopefully he can get beyond that outing.

[EastFallowfield]

Nationally, teams are evaluated by the high profile players, and we have a boatload of them.

And of course, some people value the back to back division titles, and consider the average of 92 wins over the last 4 years, even with all the deadweight on the roster.

[BostonRoss]

On the pre-game show, Thomson acknowledged that the second inning was a stretch for Johnson, but he wanted to save the bullpen in a game where the leverage arms weren't needed. So everyone's available today except Kerkering.

[zambonir]

Did he say the plan was to just send him down after using all those bullets? Nothing wrong with that, that is why you have an optionable spot (which they will lose soon if Walker moves to pen). But as Andy noted, it wasn't necessarily how Johnson's been prepared. And it came pretty close to backfiring!

[BostonRoss]

He didn't say that sending him down was the plan. I don't remember him mentioning the demotion at all; maybe the interview was recorded before the move was announced.

Letting him start a second inning seemed like a reasonable choice to me, as the risk to last night's game was small, and it theoretically improved the situation for tonight (of course, that hasn't worked out as I write this).

[Philsmania]

Somehow at work MLB Network is on, it is funny to hear so much positivity about the 2026 Phils since they're not talking to Phillies fans on the internet, people talking about how they're possibly the second best team in the NL or MLB, running down all the good things about the team.

(No offense to anyone here, think I read too much negativity elsewhere each time the Phils are playing, nice to get a tad less doom for a while).

Perhaps since we see them more and more up close, we see the warts more easily.

[BostonRoss]

Somehow at work MLB Network is on, it is funny to hear so much positivity about the 2026 Phils since they're not talking to Phillies fans on the internet, people talking about how they're possibly the second best team in the NL or MLB, running down all the good things about the team.

(No offense to anyone here, think I read too much negativity elsewhere each time the Phils are playing, nice to get a tad less doom for a while).

Perhaps since we see them more and more up close, we see the warts more easily.

And we don't see the other teams' warts much, especially the teams we haven't seen at all yet.

[EastFallowfield]

According to the Mets fans I work with, their entire team is warts, except for last night's starting pitcher.

[BostonRoss]

2026 Pete Alonso would fit in well with these Mets

[EastFallowfield]

This tweet captures the mood about that up here, including the sarcasm:

Many fans are also very upset that Alonso was replaced with Polanco. I mean, this is really a ridiculous substitution. You got a guy who is a home grown icon beloved by fans, hugely productive, plays every day and you replace him with an older fragile SS who's never played 1st?

[EastFallowfield]

Prior to tonight’s game against the Chicago Cubs, the Phillies placed right-handed pitcher Zach Pop on the 15-day injured list (retro to 4/13) with a right calf strain. To fill his spot on the 26-man roster, left-handed pitcher Kyle Backhus was recalled from Lehigh Valley (AAA).

[andyb]

Option roulette continues. Guessing there is a chance we will use the maximum 5 trips to AAA with Backhus this year.

The small danger is really not having a great long option without Pop but guessing that is Walker's role when Wheeler comes back. And if Walker can't do it we will just go back to Pop.

[zambonir]

Either Pop or Walker still have to be DFAe'd for Bowlan (once Wheeler's back), but as this already shows, there's always bound to be a spot somehow.

[Callison]

Some poster here said he would not be watching the first month because it takes that long for MLB stars to find their games or something. Sage advice many of us couldn't take, but sorry we didn't. What a start for the Phils. Nearly everybody is slumping. Humility lessons.

Rob is stuck in a rut with Turner, Schwarber, Harper @ 1,2,3. But he should try Crawford at leadoff. Let's stop pretending we're protecting him from something keeping him @ 9. Hand him some responsibility and see what happens. Crawford, Turner, Harper, Schwarber. BRILLIANT!!!

[EastFallowfield]

The Phillies pitching staff has been the unluckiest in baseball

To sum up:

They’re striking out a ton of batters.
They are walking very few.
They don’t allow many home runs because they have the highest ground ball rate in the league.
They are allowing the weakest contact.

This is what you want. You build a staff in order to generate all of these things, which leads to one overriding conclusion.

On the whole, the Phillies have been unlucky.

As a team, the staff has allowed a batting average on balls in play (BABIP) of .359. Folks, that is insanely high and far and away the worst in baseball, a full 32 points higher than the next-closest team (Houston’s .327). BABIP numbers that high never sustain themselves over the course of a full season. Last year, the Phils’ BABIP was 6th-highest, but only sat at .299.

(But our defense is bad)

[zambonir]

That's encouraging. Now if only our hitters could find some of the same luck!

[Austinfan]

I watch, but the first 40 games are the annual "shakeout cruise."
Key is to finish at least 20-20, then play above .600 the rest of the way (73+ wins).
If you can't play .600+ ball odds are you're not a serious bet to go deep into the playoffs even if you make the cut.

Sanchez and Luzardo don't seem to have lost any velo, probably just mechanical tweaks, like Luzardo last year.
Nola also throwing as hard as you could hope for.
Wheeler back soon, Painter a few growing pains but the sky is the limit.
The BP has been shaky, but again, the stuff is there.

The hitting is more of a concern, Bohm is totally lost, Stott not building off a strong finish, etc.
Reyes might be able to help but where would he play?
Miller is probably a lost cause this season.

[dcsman]

Miller is probably a lost cause this season.

Is Miller’s back injury really that bad?

[Philsmania]

Miller is probably a lost cause this season.

Is Miller’s back injury really that bad?

He's probably done, period.

[andyb]

There is absolutely no indication Miller is done and it is irresponsible to say that.