40 thoughts on “Report Card–Middle Infield”

1. Great analysis, but where is jake Holmes going?

   1. Short season, either GCL again or Williamsport. Don’t rule out a position change. He’s 6’3, 185. We may get an idea what the Phillies intend during Instructs.

2. Completely disagree on JPC’s 2018 destination. Everything I see him doing now is validating he can hold his own in the bigs and should start there opening day. Yesterday he worked a walk against a LHP and it must have been a 10-12 pitch at bat. His plate discipline is outstanding, his glove has looked very good, and the FO will want to reward his OBP friendly approach as that’s the culture they’re trying to set.

   1. I agree with on JP. I think he is ready, and is just going through his textbook adjustment period he does when jumping a level. I think it really depends on the FO, whether or not they poo or get off the pot in terms of the IF logjam. Something has to give in those terms. I’m expecting a really interesting offseason or a stay for the status quo, nothing in the middle. Will see, im leaning status quo.

   2. I thought that was a bit odd too, although I could see him being caught in a “numbers game” if the team can’t find a spot for him and are unable to move Hernandez/Galvis/Franko.

      Just like with Kingery, it all depends on how he does in Spring Training. If both of them go and out rake in February and March, sending them to the minors would be pretty inexcusable.

      Jeff

      1. Kingery is going to the minors after next ST come hell or high water. He will be promoted just as soon as his FA clock ticks. They want 7 years of control over him and that’s how they will do it. It’s a time-honored tradition.

         1. Catch, I think the Phils approach to the middle IF will be this in 2018:
            1 JPC will play everyday somewhere
            2 They see Kingery as an everyday big leaguer at some point next year so he won’t be traded. I think their plan will be, with everyone healthy, to send him to AAA, but I don’t think they’d hesitate to break camp with him if an injury occurs. I just don’t think the plan will be him opening day no matter what.
            3 I don’t know if Franco has options next year, but if he does I think the Phils will send him to AAA before they’d trade him for pennies on the dollar. He’s too young to give up on but I think his career will ultimately mirror Dom Brown not Adrian Beltre.
            4 I think they’ll try hard to trade Galvis and keep Cesar. I feel like the Phils are playing up his leadership and defensive skills to increase his value. While he is strong on those areas, I think the Phils see him as an offensive liability and average overall player whose salary is going to exceed his performance rather quickly. I think they’ll hope to sell high. I also think they love what Cesar has done and can do going forward.
            5 This would put Franco or Kingery at 3B, JPC at SS, and Cesar at 2B. The dream here is that Franco figures it out (at least for 3 months) and Kingery proves to be ready.

            1. Yeah, it will be. I’d be shocked if Kingery is the opening day 2nd baseman – shocked. Even if he is ready, they will hold down the fort for 2 or 3 weeks until his FA clock runs – it won’t be hard to find a fill-in, even if Cesar is traded. They are not such a good team that they can’t afford to keep him out of the line-up.

         2. Hernandez is the only chip of value the Phils can offer that they can spare. Re-living the Joseph/Hoskins bottleneck in 2018 at 2B serves no one’s interest. Don’t be surprised if they put together a deal for Hernandez and let Kingery compete with Galvis to open the season at the keystone sack.

3. Had it not been for the injury he sustained during the CWS, I think Guthrie could have been in Lakewood by season’s end, and may have started there ala Kingery and Martin in 2015. As things stand, I expect Guthrie will start in Lakewood in 2018 and could be in Clearwater by mid-season. His bat will dictate how fast a riser he is though. His glove looks promising.

   1. I don’t have a source to cite, but I distinctly remember college baseball commentators discussing how highly regarded Guthrie was coming out of high school.

4. Kingery and Crawford will both be in the Phillies infield opening day. Cesar and Franco will be traded to either load up on more prospects or be a part of a trade to get a solid number 2 stater. Stroman, Cole, Archer, or Fulmer. So Nola, trade, Lynn (FA), Cobb ( FA), Lively. Put some excess pitching in the pen and trade some.

   1. Not happening. Kingery will not be on the opening day team. He will be in the minors even if Cesar is traded. I’d bet you $100 on that if I could.

      Also, it’s very unlikely Franco will be traded for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it’s foolish to trade him while his trade value has ebbed so low.

      1. i’m one of the biggest Kingery fan here but I agree with Catch. Kingery will be invited in ST and regardless of what he does, he will not be added in the 40-man when 2018 season starts. May is the earliest with June as the most likely.

         If Cesar is traded, Galvis and JPC will be the DP combo until Kingery comes up. The Phils will sign Florimon to be the main INF back up while Valentin stays in LHV and only called up in case of injury. Unless Franco generates some interest from GMs for a decent return, he will be the 3B for May and June but his leash will be short.

         1. KuKo…..players like Franco, at his age and experience, sometimes really get it going after a few poor seasons. The majors have seen plenty of them .
            I like to think he will be one. I do not think he will be one to have a “Dom Brown” complex.

            1. romus – i’m really “ish” with Franco. i was never been vocal to support or criticize him. i never liked Domo because of his mechanics. Although i agree with you that Franco doesn’t have a Domo complex, his mechanics concerns me too.

               I prefer batters who hits without being outbalance in the plate whether they hit for the fences or not. Altherr and Williams used to be like that, but they learned and make adjustments while keeping their aggressiveness. Franco seems to be more stubborn than Altherr and Williams.

               I’ve been vocal about Machado for a while now. That’s probably my indirect swipe towards Franco. If the 40-man roster is not an issue, I would like to see Walding at 3B (and just DFA him if he’s bad so no big loss). At least Walding got a nice swing and a decent defense at 3B.

               1. Walding is such a shot in the dark.

                  He’s old now for a AA prospect and his hit tool is highly suspect. Not enough hits, too many Ks and too old. And yet, there might be something there, but he’s a lottery ticket right now. I’m okay with keeping him and seeing what happens, but you can’t rely on him to be a big league hitter.

               2. KuKo….based on Walding’s latest minor league metrics, his projected MLB slash would be the same or worse than Franco’s.
                  And he is only one month younger than Franco, with no AAA or MLB experience
                  I seriously doubt he will ever be added to the 40.

               3. i’m not saying that Walding is the answer, because I was never been on him ever, but this is me saying i rather want to see somebody else than Franco. At least Walding have better mechanics and defense and MAYBE something click with him for a couple of months. No harm done.

         2. I generally agree with all of this. While Kingery will almost definitely start the year in the minors, his call-up date could be anytime from mid-late April to early June, assuming he doesn’t tank for some unexpected reason. Honestly, I think another 150 ABs in the minors would be beneficial to him. He’s almost a finished product, but he needs a little work on his plate discipline, but once he’s up, he will be amazing.

            I also think Franco starts next year as the third-baseman and the team assesses where is at the end of May and takes it from there. The frustrating thing is that the talent is definitely there at the plate (although the performance has been horrible) and the defense is just fine (although not as good as advertised).

            I’m resigned to the fact that Galvis will almost certainly be here and, much to our chagrin, batting second much of the time (why doesn’t the FO tell him to change that? they are his bosses after all). His trade value isn’t high enough for him to draw a lot in return and Pete Mackanin (the former good-fielding, light hitting and, as Ted Williams said, “stupid” hitter, must see himself in Galvis) loves him.

5. Incorrect Cesar has to be traded to get the assets to get a number 2 and Franco is awful nightmare that we all must wake up from. Kingery is your start 2nd baseman opening day.

   1. Cesar may indeed get traded, but time will prove that I am entirely correct about when Kingery is promoted. It won’t be at the beginning of the season.

      1. Like I said, if you can figure out a way for us to put $100 on this and actually collect, you’ve got yourself a bet.

6. I don’t see any need to give up on Franco yet. There is no one to replace him, without the musical chairs of moving guys out of position. And, he is young enough, with a high enough skill set, to improve his game. We are not going to get all of our issues fixed in 1 off season. I still don’t see Cesar bringing that SP back that everyone wants, without an expanded trade that he is a part of. If he gets traded, I see Freddy at 2B and JP at SS, and I agree with Catch and KuKo that Kingery starts the year in LHV. That control issue is a very big one, and has nothing to do with Kingery being the future 2B.

7. I heard from a good source that Galvis is batting 2nd because he’s a smart base runner . they wanted someone between Ceaser and Herrera in the beginning . Jp k% is a bit high plus it takes the pressure off a rookie that’s playing 2nd and 3rd.

   1. Tim………….’because he’s a smart base runner ‘….with that in mind, to be effective and productive, one would need to get into that position, i.e. on base, a little more than at a .305 percent clip.

8. True but Galvis K% 16.9 is much better Williams 28.2 , Altherr 27.4 , Herrera 22.2 . Jp k% is 26 .5 as of now that should get better. So maybe putting the bat on the ball is just as important.

   1. No, it’s not – he’s an out maker. He has no business hitting second in any legitimate line-up. Crawford is the prototypical # 2 hitter. Low K%, High BB%, excellent back control and ability to provide situational hitting.

9. Let’s see what Crawford can do at major league level his K % is high right now. Let’s give Jp 100 at bats or so to see if that K % comes down . Never heard of Jp having great bat control he has a nice eye at the plate .

   1. His bat control is ridiculous. Several times I’ve personally seen him foul off 6 or 7 two-strike pitches in an at bat. He can sometimes toy with pitchers.

10. Plus it’s taken him about 1 1/2 yrs to adjust to AAA . JP mite need some time to adjust to MLB the offense part. Jp doesn’t really have alot of speed or power . I mean he’s not a Seager ,Correa, Lindor on offense. I’m not putting him down .

    1. You’re right, he’s not Seager, Correa or Lindor on offense. He’s in the Willie Randolph, Keith Hernandez, Lou Boudreau family of hitters. If you don’t know who those guys are look them up. They never hit a lot of home runs, but they got on base all the time and hit for relatively high averages (Crawford won’t hit for as good of an average as Hernandez or Boudreau – but he’ll hit for a decent average and have more power than Randolph), were great fielders and generated excellent positive WAR. He’s a bit of a throwback player, in a good way.

       1. You don’t have to hit 25 homers a year to be really valuable. Check out Randolph’s stats. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/randowi01.shtml

          I expect Crawford to hit for not quite as high an average and he’s slower than Randolph, but he’ll have more power that will offset those advantages.

          If J.P. plays plus defense (as I expect he will), hits .275 with a .365 OBP and hits 25 doubles and 12 homers, he’s going to be a 3-5 WAR player year after year after year and hitting second he will put tremendous pressure on the other team’s pitcher. If he starts hitting more doubles and 18-25 homers, he’s going to be a star. I don’t necessarily predict that, but it’s more than possible.

       2. I like to think he will give you something close to a Jeter OBP/SLG % slash and the BA may be in the 270ish range.

          1. That would be fine – he won’t hit for as high of an average or as much power, but he’ll draw more walks.

             1. Agree on the .270 range – that’s where I have him pegged too – .265-.280.

       3. Lol I know who they are, yes In there era of baseball they were vg players . The SS position has morphed into a power and RBI position . Im No saying he’s a bad offense player it just might take awhile to get there. Kingery and Herrera can give you the up the middle power hopefully.

          1. Tim, there are a total of 5 SS with an .OPS over .800. It’s not the power position you think it is unless you’re strictly focused on HR’s. There are 9 SS’s with 20 or more hrs and Freddy is currently 18th with his 12.

11. JP will be playing in Philly on opening day. He’s shown he’s ready. The only question is whether Galvis or Cesar is playing 2B, after the other is traded. Kingery will be up June 1 and that will kick Galvis or Cesar to the super sub role and kick Florimon off the team. The interesting decisions will be at Lakewood and Clearwater. Guthrie, Gomez and Gamboa all need to play every day.

12. Long term, I see JPC as the 2 hitter, with Hoskins 3. They will just wear pitchers down. Last night is a great example. Darvish threw 97 pitches in 5+ innings and was pulled in the sixth. Getting to the bullpen earlier led to the Phils scoring 5 in the 7th. Why had Darvish thrown 97 pitches? Because in 5 total ABs, Rhys and JPC made him throw 31 pitches. Replace those two with TJ and Franco, who let’s say see 3 pitches per AB total, Darvish would have been at 81 pitches, finished the 6th, and possibly pitched the 7th.

    These two, along with another 1-2 guys with similar discipline, will just wear down starting pitchers.

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