Phillies 2026 News and Discussion

[BostonRoss]

"Change of scenery" is a PR move as much as anything. The fans are tired of him and DD will look bad if they stick with him and is wrong.

I certainly hope that is not how DD makes decisions!

[Carver]

If DD is worried about looking bad (and he is not), then that would be an issue. You make your judgements and then try to make it work, and if they are worried about fan reactions as they run the team that is a big concern.

Fans tend to get caught up in whether moves were good or bad...right or wrong (mostly due to becoming vested in their own armchair resume). They have shown that the better GM's tend to have a slightly better than 50 / 50 track record on trades and signings - figuring out baseball horseflesh is a difficult task. And bullpens are even worse, as they are so up and down in their performance from month to month and year to year (or game to game at times).

What worries me more than anything with the pen is the development and coaching side. We have a well-respected group when it comes to pitching coaches, and we also had a deeper group of live arms heading into the season. And yet we have seen regression from too high a % of them.

[zambonir]

I certainly hope that is not how DD makes decisions!

Well, you could argue that's how he changed managers this year.

[Jazzhead]

McFarlane strikes out Soto and Crawford triples in three runs - two defining moments for two young Phillies.

[BostonRoss]

I certainly hope that is not how DD makes decisions!

Well, you could argue that's how he changed managers this year.

I can't imagine that was a factor. 9-19, and to some extent past failures, must have been the reasons for Thomson's firing.

[zambonir]

Sure, but the team was clearly feeling the public pressure. It's not like they started winning because they got a better manager, no matter how much we want to believe in the bump from such things. It was Wheeler, and the hitters, and probably the schedule, just like the latter was a factor in 2022. But unlike Girardi who got canned in similar circumstances Thomson had been a great manager (achievement-wise), and there was no real indication that the team had tuned him out.

Dombrowski refusing to fire Thomson both after the 2024 and 2025 playoffs was the act of someone who doesn't make reactive decisions. The guy who publicly summoned his advisors to go into the clubhouse and watch a series in Atlanta while he secretly reached out to Cora was not (but that's also the real reason Thomson got fired, Dombrowski picked the new manager before actually firing the old manager, and then didn't actually get him).

Of course the other reason you fire the manager is to take the heat off yourself. And because the hitting coach was too expensive to scapegoat.

[schillingfan]

When I look at McFarlane, I see Sera thong. It was clear to me that he was being overused and an arm injury waiting to happen. It makes me sad. Seranthony was never the same.

[BaseballCat]

Sera thong

This made me smile - best typo in a while!

[zambonir]

McFarlane is nowhere near that, fortunately. Even if he's been warmed up too much. It was certainly a similar situation though. Neris was bad in 2018, Robertson got hurt in 2019, Seranthony was the next best option. But he pitched a lot more.

[zambonir]

McFarlane and Rincon are this year's Paul Owens Award winners as Phillies minor league players of the year. Posted by Phillies player dev account to social media but not yet on team website.

[zambonir]

And, just another bit of news here - the Phillies' "stay-hot" camp for extra players serving as October depth starts in Allentown Thursday. Because of course there is no "triple A" for Kerkering or anyone else to pitch in now.

Phillies send struggling reliever Orion Kerkering to triple A: ‘Sometimes you...

[jimbomill]

But as frustrating as it has been to watch Kerkering over the past month, it seems unreasonable to assume he is washed up or needs a "change of scenery" based on five or six bad outings

Calendar wise, it's been 11 months since the playoff meltdown from Orion. If anything, he's regressed taking all his outings together since the sad end to last season. It not just 5 or 6 bad outings.

[Philsmania]

Listen, the best possible case would be that two weeks in AAA makes him an option for the NLDS. But if his stuff is down, probably not.

Pigs' season ended yesterday. Kerkering won't be getting any work in there. I suppose it's possible they can send him to Reading for the FP's playoff appearance.

[andyb]

At the moment he needs rest and rehab to get his velocity back to where it was (98 and not 95). Minor league games won't help with that. Right now he'd be behind guys like Shugart anyway. Might as well let Cortes start one of the final games and see if he can give us 3-4 innings as a long man.

The higher leverage bullpen really looks like Duran, McFarlane, and Luzardo now. At least for the WC series.

[zambonir]

But he was pretty great in the first half. Not perfect - who is? - but a 2.43 ERA and 1.162 WHIP. More than 30 scoreless outings and only one blown save (which he still won), so even if he allowed some inherited runs they didn't change the outcome of any other games.

In 2025 ERA was a tick lower but WHIP was higher.

I think in our minds, because of the way the season ended and because he had a bad first game, we think he struggled, but he really didn't until after the break. Second-half numbers are now grotesque.

Perception is reality though, at least for the casual fan base and pundits. I've had the good fortune to not see Bottalico or Barkan talk about this but I'm sure they're saying his Phillies career is done. Rich Hoffman (former PHLY guy now with his own newsletter) said it too.

[zambonir]

As I more recently posted, "AAA" now means, "get-ready camp." Whether that ultimately occurs in Allentown, Philly or Clearwater.

I don't really believe they see him as an option this year, and supposedly he can't be called back up until after NLDS anyway (though you can always find an injury and I'm not even sure that's true once the season is over). It would make more sense to have him in Clearwater working on stuff but probably the best coaches will all be up north.

[andyb]

Game by game velocity for Kerkering. 95.2 last time out. He is just a different pitcher at that velocity. He never has been good on back to backs but he also seems to be wearing down more. Is it the usage with all the warm ups? Or maybe he just needs to get serious about training and get his legs in better shape to handle the workload.

https://www.brooksbaseball.net/velo.php?player=689147&b_hand=-1&gFilt=&pFilt=FA|SI|FC|CU|SL|CS|KN|CH|FS|SB&time=game&minmax=ci&var=mph&s_type=2&startDate=03/30/2007&endDate=09/21/2026

[Philsmania]

Perception is reality though, at least for the casual fan base and pundits. I've had the good fortune to not see Bottalico or Barkan talk about this but I'm sure they're saying his Phillies career is done. Rich Hoffman (former PHLY guy now with his own newsletter) said it too.

It's easy for them to argue that his recent troubles are an outgrowth of the error at Dodger Stadium last October when, in reality, earlier this season it looked like he put that behind him. Having said that, it still always seemed like Kerkering was at his best in lesser-leverage situations and not in the 8th or 9th.

[zambonir]

My feeling is still that if the Phillies continue to see the value of his age, stuff and salary (as well as remaining options if need be) so will opposing teams, if the Phillies do decide to move on.

There are also a lot of other teams who could more easily take their chances with him in leverage, not having the luxury of signing a Keller as the Phillies did (never mind how that worked out).

Honestly, if you pencil in Keller, McFarlane and Bowlan (as well as Duran) for next year, the Phillies don't really even need Kerkering, and need LHPs more. Sure, that gives them the luxury of slotting him lower (or optioning him), but also might make a trade the best use of him as an asset. But if Keller can't pitch or can't pitch well, then, ironically, Kerkering is the best option to replace the guy they brought in to replace him.

[zambonir]

Meanwhile, from everything I've read today, it doesn't sound like the Phillies are focusing on getting a higher seed or home field. If they clinch the spot quickly enough, they'll start to set up their rotation and experiment with Painter in relief (Luzardo in relief seems pretty much a certainty, though he could do a short outing in Game 1 and still be available for Game 3, or as the NLDA Game 1 starter).

I'd still like the home games and I'm sure the business office would too, but if they burn it out chasing the #4 and get it (or don't get it, at #5) and are in ragged shape for the WC series, what's the point?