Phillies Acquire 1B Justin Bour from Marlins

[andyb]

SInce they activated Crawford today I assume they are picking between Crawford and Kingery tomorrow as to which player to send down.

Current bench is Knapp, Kingery, Crawford, Quinn.

Quinn's ability to fake SS will probably keep him here and eliminate the need for both Kingery and Crawford. Of course we don't seem to care about SS defense so I guess Quinn there is as good as anybody else.

I guess the one thing that might make them choose Kingery over Crawford is that Bour bats left-handed. Knapp and Quinn switch. Bour will be left. No pure right-handers if that made a difference. If the big concern is defense though I think they keep Crawford. Plus Kingery is struggling in his new part-time role. Let's get his head straight in a month at AAA and bring him up on the 1st.

[EDmuch]

Sending Kingery to AAA seems to be an easy decision.

[LoneStarPhan]

Another possibility would be to go with a 5 man bench for a short time and send out a relief pitcher. I doubt Kapler would want that though, so it does seem likely that Kingery would be sent out. Of course, something else could happen by tomorrow.

We have seen Kapler not hesitate to use Knapp as pinch hitter or even replacement for Alfaro in several games, so I have to assume he has a catching option in mind that he feels comfortable using should it become necessary after one of the catchers is out of the game. Again, I don't know what that option is.

[David_Criss]

Who do the Phillies lose from the 40-man roster with the addition of Bour?

[Patchmk88]

I believe the DFA Thompson. Do they have to DFA someone else for Crawford too?

[David_Criss]

Crawford is on the 40-man. So it is Thompson and Mills for Bour basically. Now in the off season do they keep Bour or Santana?

[LoneStarPhan]

Since they DFA'd Thompson, he is immediately off the 40 man roster, but the Phillies have ten days to do something with him such as trade, lose on waivers, or release. I am not sure, but they might be able to outright him if he passes through waivers with out being claimed.

[andyb]

Small piece on Fangraphs. Most interesting point is wondering how little value that 1B/DH types have around the league. And properly criticizing Miami for not trading him over the Winter where he at least had some value. Assume he is a non-tender candidate after the year that will mainly be a bench player now.

Justin Bour Heads to Philadelphia | FanGraphs Baseball

[Lucky_Beagle]

Since they DFA'd Thompson, he is immediately off the 40 man roster, but the Phillies have ten days to do something with him such as trade, lose on waivers, or release. I am not sure, but they might be able to outright him if he passes through waivers with out being claimed.

I believe the 10 days has been lowered in the past couple of years....I think I recall it is down to 7 days although I am trying to go off of a fading memory!

[julio]

I believe the 10 days has been lowered in the past couple of years....I think I recall it is down to 7 days

That is correct - Article XIX(G) of the CBA, MLB Rule 2(k). Seven days.

[Austinfan]

Watching these moves, I think Klentak already knows who he's going to be protecting on the 40 man roster this fall.

[teabag259]

Does this move demonstrate dissatisfaction with Santana or just an addition of a power bat?

[LoneStarPhan]

Watching these moves, I think Klentak already knows who he's going to be protecting on the 40 man roster this fall.

I hope the GM has a working model of the 40 man roster that he sees going into the rule 5 draft. Of course, changes will be made as other moves are made, but one think I have been critical of for many years was a seemingly lack of looking ahead. While the final decisions will be and should be made close to the time of setting the roster, they should be looking at this well in advance. Try to move some players early if you don't see being able to protect them. If you think you are going to non-tender a player, look for a chance to convert that player to something of value going forward. Of course, some players are still useful for this season and that is a huge factor in not moving them now, even if they don't project beyond 2018. I think they are looking at all this and moving accordingly.

[zambonir]

Valuing Thompson over Leiter is at the very least, interesting. They seem like a toss-up to me.

[zambonir]

Murphy just said that Klentak told him it is all about winning now (for the rest of this season), not development. Which is obvious, but might suggest Kingery is indeed the odd man out.

[zambonir]

OTOH... A lot of fascinating stuff in this Athletic piece

The many interesting aspects of the Phillies' decision to...

The likeliest scenario, though, is either Kingery or Crawford is sent to Lehigh Valley. Kingery is hitless in his last 20 at-bats but the organization views him as a better defender than Crawford.

Also lots of interesting stuff in there about what they like about him, how they might use him, that he may indeed be a non-tender.

[DurhamBull]

Murphy just said that Klentak told him it is all about winning now (for the rest of this season), not development. Which is obvious, but might suggest Kingery is indeed the odd man out.

JMHO but sending Kingery to AAA doesn't conflict with winning now, and I think Kingery will develop more in AAA than in the majors. The Phils haven't seen enough of Crawford in the majors to know what they have, but he's a better defender at SS than Kingery, and with a sub-.600 OPS, Kingery's offense won't be hard to replace either. Crawford might not be better but he probably won't be worse. It's all growing pains and both of these guys still have plenty of space between them and the ceiling.

[zambonir]

Yeah I think it is odd the Phillies (if Gelb is right) rate Kingery higher defensively (and at SS specifically, it seems). There's just not much data either way, and a lot more minor league data on Crawford. If they really think that than andy is right, they're just not that into Crawford and would sooner play Machado or Kingery at SS next year. They were willing to try Crawford at 3B but Franco ended that for now.

But no question, at this point winning now means playing the best players and sending either of them to AAA for two weeks (that's all that's left) doesn't matter either way). In chat Gelb also predicted everyone will come up 9/1, helping the Pigs in the playoffs won't be a factor. It will just be interesting to see who of Kingery, Crawford and possibly Florimon can make the playoff roster as the bench SS.

[bkeich]

I wonder if this makes Santana trade bait in the off season. I know that sounds kinda crazy, but this was a somewhat strange move to me, didn't cost anything, but still, a guy who has no place after this year if we keep Santana.

[allentown]

The likeliest scenario, though, is either Kingery or Crawford is sent to Lehigh Valley. Kingery is hitless in his last 20 at-bats but the organization views him as a better defender than Crawford.

There have been suggestions before that the Phillies see Kingery as a better defensive SS than Crawford, but this is the most explicit statement I have seen. That really makes Crawford's position tenuous going forward and greatly reduces his value. Crawford as a 3B just isn't going to fly --- Franco is doing better and even if he bombed, I just can't see Crawford as our starting 3B, unless his bat gets a lot better.