2025 Phillies Thread
- Thread starter Tom McAndrew
- Start date
Buxton is the kind of outfielder the Phillies need, but that is a pretty steep price. If they can swing that trade with other options, they should do it.
He's a nice player. But over the past 10 seasons, he's had no shortage of injuries. He's only played more than 100 games in 2 seasons (2017 - 140, 2024 - 102). I'll cut him some slack for his rookie season, and for the Covid season in 2020. But if I'm giving up that type of package (which I doubt I would do for almost any player in MLB), it's got to be for an everyday player that stays healthy.
A definite no.
Fair enough and I did say that was too much to give up. But Kepler, Marsh, Rojas, and Casty aren’t exactly getting it done and this team is built to win now. The window is closing quickly on guys like Harper, Schwarber, and Realmuto.
That'd be insanely stupid. I'd simply promote Crawford instead of making that deal.
Why is Crawford not getting a look at the big league level? I assume he’ll be a definite call up in September, if not before.
It also goes against everything Dombrowski has said for like two years now. As much as I want a bat that’ll somehow alter this offense, I’d rather have a reason to never drop my ticket plan because they’re always in the mix.
It took years to build the farm system into where it is now. They’ve learned from those mistakes and Middleton has money.
For the most part, every WS team needs talented youth who are cheap to make that difference. The money won’t always be where it is today, but we know they’ll always be willing to spend when the time is right now. That’s why we have to stay patient IMO and can’t expect this game changing trade that costs more than it’ll truly be worth for a rental or one year contract player
His stats look great on the surface but his ground ball ratios are still pretty bad. He has the speed to make it work in AAA, but I think that’s the main concern. They worry he’s gonna come up, hit a ton of outs to second and short and not improve their defense over Rojas.
Now, with that said, I’m still down to try it. But also, with Marsh coming on strong lately, it’s made them all the more patient and Rojas has been great in the field.
Thanks for the reply. I like Marsh and he is playing well, but we have seen this before and when it counted last postseason the OF didn’t produce. The other glaring elephant in the room is Alvarado. They don’t have a true closer. Do they trust Kerk when the bright lights are on and it counts? Or do they go shopping for a proven entity at closer?
Funny you say that. Yesterday, a coworker said he is convinced Harper is still hurt and they aren’t saying anything. I log onto BWI 15 minutes later and you posted the tweet (?) that Harper has been hurt since last year and should have had surgery in the offseason for a relatively small fix, but they opted to wait it out and now he isn’t doing so well.
This offensive funk is even getting to me.
Giants had 1st & 3rd (I forget how many out) in the bottom of the 2nd, and their lefty at bat checks his swing, and it ends up going down the 3rd base line into LF, and the Giants score a run.
Top of the 3rd, Fightins have 1st & 2nd, and 1 out. While Schwarber is at bat, they execute a double steal, so it's 2nd & 3rd, and 1 out. Schwarber battles, but ends up striking out on a 4-seem FB that may have been just above the strike zone. Harper is up next, and swings at 2 balls that are way outside. He then battles back (I think to 2-2), and then hits a weak grounder to short for the 3rd out. (In Schwarber and Harper's defense, the SF pitched is really tough against lefties.)
Even if the Fightin's offense is slow to come out of this funk, you'd expect luck/good fortune would start to even out for them, so that check swing RBIs by the opponent wouldn't be a huge mountain for the Fightin's to overcome.
Oh well, just venting. We're only in the bottom of the 4th, so lots of time for the Fightin's offense to come alive.
Giants had 1st & 3rd (I forget how many out) in the bottom of the 2nd, and their lefty at bat checks his swing, and it ends up going down the 3rd base line into LF, and the Giants score a run.
Top of the 3rd, Fightins have 1st & 2nd, and 1 out. While Schwarber is at bat, they execute a double steal, so it's 2nd & 3rd, and 1 out. Schwarber battles, but ends up striking out on a 4-seem FB that may have been just above the strike zone. Harper is up next, and swings at 2 balls that are way outside. He then battles back (I think to 2-2), and then hits a weak grounder to short for the 3rd out. (In Schwarber and Harper's defense, the SF pitched is really tough against lefties.)
Even if the Fightin's offense is slow to come out of this funk, you'd expect luck/good fortune would start to even out for them, so that check swing RBIs by the opponent wouldn't be a huge mountain for the Fightin's to overcome.
Oh well, just venting. We're only in the bottom of the 4th, so lots of time for the Fightin's offense to come alive.
They have a crap bullpen and have for at least 5 of the last 6 years. They’re poor at manufacturing runs, mainly because they strike out too often. They have a low field IQ, which magnifies the last point.
They have a fabulous starting rotation…the best in baseball, IMO. But that strength is regularly negated by the above issues.
If Dombrowski could address even 2 of the 3, then they’d be real title contenders. Fix the bullpen and I think they have a legit shot.
Nothing like a Schwarbomb in the top of the 7th, to break (to a degree) the offensive funk. 3-1, Fightins
Since 2021 ( I’m not going to use covid year) the bullpen has a WAR that ranks 10 th in mlb according to fangraphs. FIP is 17th. Pretty average. Not sure I’d say crap.
strike out rate in that time period is 12th lowest. Again not great but not awful.
the glass doesn’t always have to be half empty.
Agree 100%. But what were Marsh and Kepler doing?? Right center in that stadium is known for caroms just like that one. The second Marsh realized he wasn't going to catch the ball he should have stopped to play the rebound. And Kepler should have been busting azz toward center field on a ball hit in that direction, just in case. It's like how Phillies right fielders know they need to hustle toward center field on a ball hit toward Monty's Angle. I guarantee it's a situation which was discussed with the outfielders before the series started.
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On a related note, that Romano pitch is as straight as an MLB pitch can possibly be....
I'm reminded of a fellow poster who replied to a post of mine suggesting RLISP does not matter.
Hummmmmm....okay.
At best it should have been a double,
Phillies need a real closer, but what do I know.
"Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.....sometimes it rains"
Hummmmmm....okay.
At best it should have been a double,
Phillies need a real closer, but what do I know.
"Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.....sometimes it rains"
Read the post again. I didn’t say it didn’t matter. The point was that the good teams leave a lot in SP because they put a lot in SP. I also said that I hoped that stat regressed to the mean for the phils later in the season.
You and I are yin and yang here. Yes, 10th in bullpen WAR over 5 years isn’t bad (pls link the data if you have it…I’d like to see year by year).
But for a team with the 3rd or 4th highest payroll in that period that is 100% going championship or bust, they’ve needed a better bullpen. Flat out.
It’s looking like it will hold them back again this year. I’d LOVE to be wrong.
Kwan would be an amazing addition for the Fightins, and Chase would be a huge boost to the bullpen. Chase is under Guardians control until 2028, and I believe Kwan is as well. Between that, and the Guardians not being that far out of the wild card, I'm dubious that they would move either of them unless blown away by a trade package. I'd hate to part with Abel, but if the Guardians would take him as a key part of the package for those two, I'd make the trade (caveat that I'd like to see the rest of the package).