163 thoughts on “Phillies Discussion (3/29/2026)”

1. For those angry and/or panicking, Bichette is 1/14 with 8 ks and Bader is batting .100.

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   1. And gas is 4.00 ,What is your point

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      1. It is too early to be judgmental.

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      2. It is too early to be judgmental.

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         1. You can say that again …. oh, you did!😄

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   2. Good to hear, one is a Met, the other a Giant!🤔

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   3. The Blue Jays know Bichette better than anyone and they didn’t really make a concerted effort to re-sign him. That tells you what you need to know.

      It’ll be the same way when Bohm becomes a FA at the end of the season.

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2. Saturday was cold. 132 is a great section in the hot months because it is mostly shaded however with sub 50’s temps it was bitter.

   We stayed until the last out and were technically rewarded with a great game. A little disappointed of course that Duran couldn’t keep at least that second run from scoring.

   It amazes me how many cheap or broken bat hits he gives up…

   Anyway before BH’s last AB one through three in our LU were 0-12

   Yesterday was too nice to stay indoors so I didn’t get to see Luzardo get tagged but either way it is scary going back to some games last year that he can be so good at times and at others he can’t get his defense off the field.

   Dare I say welcome to town the Nats…

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   1. We will get to see Painter make his MLB debut in this series.. Exciting times.

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3. I recognize that it’s only three games into the season and a super small sample size. That being said, I am very concerned about how Bryce Harper looks in his at bats. He is late on the heater and still really struggles against sliders from left-handed pitching. Last year he was almost an automatic out against left-handed pitchers with a good slider. Sure he could hit a mistake pitch but if the pitcher executed, it was either a strikeout or weak contact. Early this season he really is struggling against the heater as well. He has an advanced enough approach to still draw walks and be somewhat productive but I fear that DD‘s assessment is spot on, Harper is just not elite anymore. He’s an above average hitter on the decline. I hope that I Eat My Words later this season. But I just don’t like how he looks in the box.

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   1. Aren’t we glad DD & JM didn’t give him more money for no reason.

      He’s going to need to walk way more if he wants to hit his 140-150 # he set for himself… lol what a bozo… clown numbers bro

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   2. Harper always had a violent swing and would hammer mistake pitches. Now, he seems tentative. It seems like he’s taking a split second more to recognize what the pitch is before swinging and he seems late (or fooled) on most pitches. I was seeing this in the second half of last year.

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      1. Agreed. That is what concerns me. I am speculating, but wondering if he just isn’t seeing it well. the issues with the sliders from LHP are kind of a canary in the coal mine. he really struggles to pick them up. has really bad swings against that pitch.

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         1. What concerns me is the reaction time issue – at a certain point in his career, in his early 30s, Ryan Howard couldn’t pick up on most lefty curves, or, especially, sliders, quickly enough and once that happened, his career was effectively over because he would just flail away at pitches that he couldn’t tell would be balls or strikes and were so far out of the strike zone that he had no chance of hitting them; leaving him only to hit the mistakes. Like I said, I think this is largely a reaction time issue and, I hope that’s not what’s happening to Bryce but, who knows, it could be.

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   3. Listen, you may turn out to be right and the concern is legitimate. However, Harper as a hitter, is like an Italian sportscar – he’s got to be perfectly tuned and aligned or he struggles a bit. As such, his entire career his littered with long-ish spells of just okay baseball (including whole seasons!) combined with ridiculously long periods (months and sometimes a whole year) where he is totally locked in and just rakes. Let’s not reach broad conclusions until we get much farther into the season because we just don’t know yet . . . but the concern and skepticism is understandable.

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4. I’m actually surprised there’s not more consternation posted here by now. Thought for sure someone would be calling for the FO to blow it up.

   Jokes aside, it’s obviously too early to draw any conclusions. I’m a little worried about Harper. I’m decently worried about Nola. And garcia has been a see-saw of emotion so far. But I’m mostly not worried about the rest. Trea and Schwarber look like their timing is off, but otherwise look fine. Bohm looks like his usual self and the hits will come. JT’s not beating the allegations that he’s not a good hitter anymore, but you can see he still calls a good game and he’s looking like potentially the best challenge-calling catcher in the game. That’ll be SUPER useful when guys like Eddings and Bucknor are behind the plate. Marsh, Crawford, and Stott have looked good.

   On the pitching side, Nola was… Nola, I guess. He looked super sharp sometimes, but then would leave a pitch middle-middle and it was launched. Sort of the same with Luzardo; his stuff was absolutely filthy for most of the game. But then suddenly one pitch in an at-bat was flat and it would get pounded. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that they had trouble gripping the ball in that weather. For now, at least. I’m not impressed with Backhus or Pop thus far. Too soon to cut ties, but they’re definitely at the bottom of my personal depth chart. Every other pitcher has been great. Sanchez was phenomenal, obviously. Alvarado looked like his old self. Mayza, Keller, Banks, and Bowlan all did their jobs without giving me heart attacks. And Duran, despite the most recent result, still looks elite. The hit he gave up was unlucky, and the spiked ball is his fault, but the bounce it took was pretty unlucky as well. 99 times out of 100, that hits JT’s chest protector instead of his mask and it goes nowhere. Oh well.Overall, I’m still expecting this to be a playoff team. Definitely excited to see Painter tomorrow. And hopefully Miller gets going soon so he can join the rest of the rookies later this year.

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   1. Out of the Phillies 5 starters and 9 hitters (14 total), 6 of them have at least 4 more years AFTER this season. Add on JT’s $30M and Wheeler’s $42M, there is no easy fix even if the Phillies wanted to blow it up after this season.

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      1. 2012 team was aging and started their slide….this team does have some yuong prospects coming up, and young vets to perhaps weather the storm I hope.

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      2. Yes, but that’s making the assumption that people calling to blow it up after a few games are rational to begin with.

         And speaking of being rational, one half inning actually does feel like enough to hope we just skip Walker’s turn in the rotation as often as possible until Wheeler gets back. Good guy, but I can’t wait to never see him in a Phillies uniform again.

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5. If Murakami becomes a superstar in Chicago, I’m going to be mondo not happy.

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6. Big night for Philly Phans tomorrow… Painter .. and possible Martone making their long awaited debuts. For Painter… taking a look at his draft class, here are the top 25. The Nats have Wood & Ford, both down the line further… but any of the top 25 guys you’d rather have than Painter?

   Marcelo MayerINF

   Jack LeiterRHP

   Jordan LawlarINF

   Kahlil WatsonOF

   Henry DavisC

   Kumar RockerRHP

   Jackson JobeRHP

   Brady House3B

   Ty MaddenRHP

   Colton CowserOF

   Sal FrelickOF

   Matt McLainSS

   Harry FordC

   Sam BachmanRHP

   Benny MontgomeryOF

   Jordan WicksLHP

   Anthony SolometoLHP

   Andrew PainterRHP

   Joe MackC

   Will TaylorOF

   Bubba ChandlerRHP

   Gunnar HoglundRHP

   Jud FabianOF

   Joshua BáezOF

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   1. Not many are doing as well as expected when drafted….the closest, maybe McClain

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   2. Don’t see anyone after Painter I would have preferred

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   3. Probably Chandler but your point stands: assuming at the very worst Painter ends up a serviceable MLB starter, it was a great pick. If he ends up reaching his full potential its a home run pick

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7. T. Walker throwing batting practice… ugh

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8. More 2nd guessing about Rob T….Crawford hit .376 against lefties last year. Rob has already pinch hit for him twice and now sat him against a leftie. How is this helping him in his development or showing confidence in him?

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9. Ugly from the get go, I think Rob did well to get chucked in the 1rst inning, showed great perception IMO!

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10. At least we have Painter tomorrow

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11. glad i was too busy to even check on the score till it was totally over.. geebus 10 run ruled.. Hope to see Wheeler back ASAP.. if meatball TJ is back we can’t have him out there.. certainly felt like we got lucky that he ate as many innings as he did last year without much damage but that could be gone

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    1. What struck me was the Nats approach at the plate. They had 6Ks to 5 BBs. We had 9 to 2. They made contact with runners in scoring position we did not.

       Sosa had no business throwing that ball home they were playing back and that bad play seemed to set the tone for the rest of the game.

       A bad vibe and example when you have brought up two of your best prospects to start their careers.

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12. A lot of soft contact against Walker. Balls hit just found holes. And Sosa had a really bad night. That throw to home was what opened the floodgates.

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    1. I get that he gave up a lot of hits off of soft contact, but honestly its just enough. Sometimes he gets hammered with home runs, and other times he gets babip’ed to death. Hes just not a good MLB pitcher. You can cite the soft contact, but his stuff is just so hittable that if major league hitters are constantly able to put their bat on the ball, bad things are going to happen. He just has no putaway stuff. Yes I know wheeler will be back sometime, but there will be injuries and more times another starter will be needed. They need to do better than him. How hard would have been to sign Tony Gonsolin is still a free agent and while im not wetting myself for him, he’d be an improvement over Walker

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13. Not sure if its the FO or if its Thomson but Crawford needs to play everyday against lefties and righties. Same for Stott who even if by now you don’t trust his bat you have to give the nod to his defense. Personally I think he stays in on Lefties just fine.

    Yes both of those guys should get the occasional night or day off and preferably against a tough lefty. I think already Rob has PH for Crawford against a lefty 2X and no start last night, already signaling to the kid hey we don’t trust you yet. That must do wonders for the kids confidence.

    Marsh should never be in CF and that’s not because I thought he should have caught any of those bleeders last night its just proven that he is not really a CF. Emergency ok fine.

    And yeah I would never have resigned JT to be the full time C. Marchan is no star but he’s capable and cheap.

    None of my whining is based on a horrid 1-3 start. These were all things I complained about before the season. My ire for Thomson or someone in the org making these calls increases everyday.

    And they should go Harper Trea Kyle and bat the catcher 9. Harper is not going well but at least he sees pitches and takes walks which Trea almost never does.

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    1. Yeah, Crawford has to play every day as long as there is no true second CF on the roster. Kemp – Marsh – Garcia is just not good enough to man an outfield.

       However, it seems like we are doing the same thing we did in previous years in looking for micro issues to (partially) blame for poor performances, when in reality, its because the “big bats” that are getting paid more money per year than I’ll make in my lifetime just constantly go cold. Its so frustrating

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       1. The reason why teams pay for FA is that there is an expectation of consistent production. Right now, after 4 games, the only starters with an OPS+ over 100 are Stott, Marsh, Crawford. Harper and Realmuto each have 1 hit.

          If you’re one of the teams who spend, you will only go as far as your money players will take you. That was true in the past, that’s definitely true now, and it will be true in the future.

          If Harper, Schwarber, Turner don’t have a .800+ OPS at the end of the year, it’s highly likely that the Phillies won’t make the playoffs or get bounced early.

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          1. My micro season expectations are pretty simple win 90+ Games get into the playoffs and see what happens.

             My Macro expectations are to see a lot of Crawford; See Painter show signs that he may grow into a 1 or 2 and see if one of Miller or Escobar can plug the eventual hole at 3B.

             From there I know some major money is freed up after the season. Middleton isn’t likely to sit on it.

             But then I also haven’t looked ahead to see if a major bat is even going to be available plus lockout and all looms.

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14. Well tomorrow is April so surely April will be better then March… not that ST means anything but they had a losing record and carried it into these first 4 games…. time to flip the switch.. i think some of these older guys will play better on the road this season.. too many little kids at home

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    1. ST is meaningless. 2021 through 2026, the Phillies have had 3 winning and 3 losing records in ST. They do not play to win in ST just as they do not play to win games in the minors. There is a script to follow and development to be accomplished.

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       1. I agree.. but the meaningless nature of it all seeps in if that is the mantra.. as Trea says in his BS reasoning.. “my worst ST was my best season”.. yadda yadda.. can put a spin on it however they want but ST is family vacation mode filled with parties and stuff, i’ve seen the insta posts for years now.. team is getting softer every year as everybody has grown old with one another.. March is over tomorrow.. hope they flip their switch and start taking the job serious.. management included

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       2. yeah he looks a solid 3 who should be able to eat 150 as he’s a young guy who should have it in him

          nice debut by painter

          hope banks is ok.. taking one off the ankle like that has to bite… don’t blow painters nice innings phils

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15. Not fun to see the offense lay an egg when the last time we saw them play in a real series they also laid an egg. It’s early.

    However, I’m not sure Walker is a major league caliber pitcher. Once Wheeler comes back, I’m not even sure you want to try to keep him as your long man in the pen. I can’t imagine he significantly better than J. Cabrera, B Wilson, A Rangel . . . a sunk cost is a sunk cost at some point.

    I guess the good news is that there are still some . . . capable pitchers still on the market if need be. Sorta. Tyler Anderson, Lucas Giolito. Nestor Cortes.

    If we need 20ish starts from anyone outside our top 5 . . . Cabrera gets 10, Rangel gets 5, Wilson gets 5. I could live with that.

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16. Said it before . This offense stinks. And if VI is right about Harper having trouble with velocity. . It’s going to be a long long season.

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17. It’s refreshing to see that nobody is jumping to conclusions with this team based on small sample sizes – my applause to everyone for giving this time!

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    1. I said this in summer last year. Winter time this yr. There is no ship jumping. Just facts. Stort is great fieldier. But weak bat, realmuto can’t hit. Has been declining for couple of years outfield offense is terrible. DD imo is blind to the offense

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       1. Rocco – I was being a little cheeky but I agree with your concerns on the offense and was saying that last year and this year when people were suggesting that the main reason the Phillies lost each of the last three years was that they got cold at the wrong time. I disagree. I don’t think they just went cold – I simply don’t think the offense was good enough. For this reason, I believe the young hitters will be especially important this year, especially Kemp and Crawford and hopefully, if he gets healthy, Aidan Miller. We will also need at least one of Bohm, Stott and Marsh to take a big step forward and the other two not to regress – and I am quite skeptical that this will happen. I have no expectations for Garcia except that he will field his position well, which is not enough.

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    2. LOL I can’t see you but it seems tongue is firmly planted in cheek.

       All I can say is its big business and fans expect to get their money’s worth. When they don’t they are going to vent and I’m here for the good the bad and the ugly.

       One game to the next…

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18. I saw a report . Don’t know how true it is, Sam Darnold got 175.000 for winning Superbowl, he spent 7 days in California practicing and the game. His jock tax was 241.000 for 7 days. More than he got. LMAO

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    1. Funny anecdote, but factually wrong.

       He was being taxed for his whole season (the parts spent in California), not just the Super Bowl. In addition, I don’t believe that $175K is calculated in that tax, because it’s a bonus not salary (which is what the “jock tax” is calculated on).

       Also, don’t feel bad for him. In addition to that $175K split from the playoff bonus pool, his own contract paid out an additional $1M for the win. So he didn’t lose money even if you took the claim at face value.

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19. Here we go!!!!

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20. Let’s freaking Gooooooo!!!!

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21. Let’s get it out of the way, Andrew Painter is not Paul Skenes. However, after that performance, he’s a lot closer than I thought. Painter has a plus curveball. It’s a hammer pitch and he can really control and spin it. His slider is average. The kicker is how good his changeup looks when he can control it. It’s a plus pitch and a serious weapon against lefties. The changeup has a lot of movement. He’s throwing 96-97 but his fastball seems straight and he was working hard to make sure he didn’t throw it in the zone. I was also impressed with his command as he was throwing the majority of his fastballs in the top half of the zone or busting it inside on lefties. He even threw some sweepers that looked promising. He definitely has a feel for pitching.

    Right now, he’s easily a 2/3 pitcher. If he can develop his fastball (more movement or a second gear like Wheeler), he would be elite. He is super talented and I’m excited to see how his career unfolds.

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    1. nice debut by painter

       hope banks is ok.. taking one off the ankle like that has to bite… don’t blow painters nice innings phils

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    2. If I’m correct I don’t think he threw a CU until the 5th inning. At the very least he seemed to be predominately FB Slider or Curve.

       But I 100% agree the FB at this time he has to keep out of the middle of the plate because it lacks the late life everyone raves about.

       Shelby looked more nervous than he was pounding those Ultras LOL (I kid of course when I saying pounding)

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       1. I think he started to throw the changeup in the 2nd or 3rd inning. I believe he got 3 strikeouts off the changeup, all to lefties. He got Luis Garcia Jr. to challenge the strike 3 call on the changeup and lost.

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    3. He’s not Skenes, he’s Andrew Painter. Thats more than good enough. Skenes has more life on his FB, for sure, but what about all the secondary pitches? IDK, spitballing … but thinking Painter edges Skenes there. I will say… this debate is not over. Let’s revisit in a year. I think by then, the FB life Painter once had will be back in full swing.

       The lone walk he gave up… the “Ball 4” couldve been challenged imo. That was absolute filth. Good luck on that swing.

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22. Great start from Painter. FB/CU/CH all effective! Plus good command! And got the W! Lost a little velo after first couple innings. Remain excited about his future. He clearly has worked hard to get back post injury.

    BTW, in his draft class noted above, watch that last name …Joshua Baez. OF. He’s a legit prospect with Cards.

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    1. His last pitch was 97.

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       1. The most impressive things about the start, other than the results, were his poise and the fact that, making his major league debut as a 22 year-old he already has 4 or 5 functional big league pitches, which is amazing. Until pretty recently, young pitchers never had such a varied arsenal so early in their careers.

          One thing I can say with a lot of confidence – Painter’s career should be helped a lot by having a pitching coach as good as Cotham, which will help him enormously in reaching his ceiling.

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          1. 1. Yes I agree. He looked like a pitcher. Not just a big fastball kid. He knows how to pitch.
             2. Having JT behind the plate helps a lot!

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23. I was very impressed by (1) Painter’s secondary pitches and (2) his composure.

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24. On another note I’m not sure how Crawford is every going to get a SB hitting in front of Turner who seemingly swings at everything.

    Had he let Crawford grab that one bag Crawford would have easily scored on that single up the middle with 2 out.

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    1. Speculating … but I’d imagine its pretty tough for an unproven rookie to tell the NL batting champ not to swing 🙂

       Maybe once Crawford proves he’s not a first month wonder or better than a Dom Brown hit streak, Turner will play nice in the sandbox

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    2. DMAR……..he may not always be hitting in the 9th hole in front of Turner. If he makes contact, like he did in the minor leagues, I can see Thompson moving him up in the lineup. More than likely, he probably will never end up in the 3 thru 6 hole,

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       1. Honestly I don’t care that he is hitting 9. I just care that Thomson is already yo-yoing him against left handed pitching. I seen JC triple off of Skubal

          I don’t need to see anymore. Leave him in there let him play. Don’t get him questioning his ability to perform at this level.

          If 2-3 seasons down the road and it plays out his platoon splits aren’t worthy fine.

          You want to get the most out of a young player try believing in them more than they may believe in themselves.

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25. Not to stir the pot, it’s early, but I need Rob T to help the organization out and give Stott the first half the season, to bat against whoever is pitching. There is a logjam between Stott, Bohm, Sosa, Kemp, and Miller in the works. I don’t want Stott to sit vs whatverhander is out there. You gotta determine if he’s worth the contract. Payroll is tighter than we think, as crazy as that sounds with Middleton’s war chest. There is possible relief if you let Bohm, Stott, and Sosa go for Miller, Kemp, and Nori. Will see how they handle it, but thats something worth watching the 1st half. If he’s going to sit, thats not going to A-O-KAY

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    1. Stott’s career 256/318/700 OPS is as bland as it comes but his defense is so elite it makes it worth it to have him in there every game…

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26. We need to let Painter get a dozen or so games under his belt before we claim that he’s the second coming. I HOPE he turns out to be this good.

    And Moffo, what do you think about moving Crawford up in the lineup? Who do you think should bat ninth? Oh, it is Realmuto you say should bat last.

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    1. I’m ok with Realmuto 8th and Crawford 9th.

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       1. I question Turner 1 with a 6% career BB rate to Harper’s 14% BB Rate.

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          1. Based on his past progression thru the minors, Crawford should eventually go to the first position……his contact abilities and speed play better there, but more important he will also get that extra AB thru out the game.

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27. I think the most impressive thing about painter last night was his composer looked far more like a ranger Suarez than Jordan Romano.

    As far as this offense goes, I think the issue is that they perform better than league average versus below average pitching and they perform worse than league average against above average pitching. The biggest problem with that is you don’t see hardly any below average pitching in the month of October.

    It’s a small statement and we probably shouldn’t take it overly seriously but when Rob Thomson continuously says “look at the back of the guy’s baseball card”, it makes me cringe. I can guarantee you Howie Roseman has never “looked at the back of the football card“ before making a major decision about somebody’s future. I can guarantee Rob that the next three years on JT’s baseball card will not look as good as the last three and I’m pretty sure we can say the same for Zach Wheeler, Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, “K”Turner ” and Aaron Nola just to start.

    I also think it’s painfully obvious how much worse Kevin Long is at his job versus Caleb Cotham.

    The last time the Phillies were in a period of rapid aging, Mr. Amaro set a new benchmark for the concept of trading guys 1 to 2 years too late. the good news this time is that we have Christopher Sanchez, Jesus Luzardo, and Andrew Painter to take the rotation forward in a much better way than 14 years ago. However, the futures of Justin Crawford, Bryson Stott, Alec Bohm, Brandon Marsh, Aidan Miller, Rafael Marchan, Otto Kemp, and our top five minor league position player prospects is much less certain and filled with great risk. as for our veteran position players, we may already be one to two years too late and moving on from them already. I highly doubt this team will fall out of contention this season to the point that considering a retooling and selling at the deadline, but if they ever did and ownership decided to make a pivot, I’m not sure you could get much of anything for JT, Bryce, Turner, or Garcia.

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    1. I always thought the romanticism that Montgomery had while chairing the team was a detriment and it would leave when JM took over. Apparently not…

       Loyalty is not a bad thing but you need to be very judicious with it when running a pro sports franchise.

       They got decent mileage out of the last JT contract but this one is bound to look pretty bad.. Hopefully Marchan plays more than 42 games this season despite who is being paid what.

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       1. DMAR…cheer up, Phillies only have 7 more years with Turner’s contract ,5 with Harper’s and 4 with Nola’s. By then the team has to have at least one championship.

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          1. LOL I’m not worried about that Romus

             We should be able to put guys around them whether it be through the system or FAs

             Every good club is probably under paying a guy or two and over paying a guy or two for their production.

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          2. Ro.us the problem with that is, how many yrs does fat Rocky have?

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    2. Yes, you should always look to win but you need to be realistic with the state of your team. And after a certain point, you can’t always start throwing crazy money around every year or else you get stuck with contracts that you can’t get rid of. And if you have to make the hard choice, so be it.

       Right now, is the window open for the Phillies? Yes. But I would argue that we’re closer to the end of the window, then being in the middle of the window.

       2019: I wasn’t crazy about the length of Harper’s contract but it signalled to everyone that the Phillies were players and ready to win.

       2022: Was ok with Schwarber’s contract. Wasn’t happy with him playing in the LF but that’s a story for another day. Was puzzled with Casty’s signing because he was a DH and we already signed Schwarber (another DH).

       2023: Wasn’t happy with Walker’s 4th year but the Phillies needed pitching and pitching is expensive. Hated Turner’s contract. Shortstops don’t age well even though DD seems to think he’s a unicorn in that aspect.

       2024: Hated Aaron Nola’s contract. He was starting to lose some velocity.

       2026: Not a fan of JT’s contract. Yes, he’s a good caller of games but his bat was in full decline already. Felt like the Phillies blinked in giving him the 3rd year. 5 years for Schwarber? Is the Phillies window really going to be open for 5 years? This is where hard decisions needed to be made.

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       1. I was ok with all of it based on the timing of what I was seeing.

          I just think this last JT deal (and I love the guy) was too much. I expect Schwarber will still hit bombs for the next 3-4 years so no issues with that one.

          There will be a reckoning of some sort at some point. There always is for every great team.

          Even the Dodgers are going to have one.

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28. I understand the hand-wringing, I do, but we’re not even a year removed from the same offense (albeit, a year older) being in the top 10 in avg, obp, slg, HR, strikeouts, etc. over a full season. If you look at just their August and September (which is obviously even closer in time), the same offense was probably top 3-5 in all of those categories.

    The length of the contracts is concerning, but outside of injuries, I would think that we could get 2-3 more years of competitive offensive baseball out of these guys, even if it relies more on support from a youth infusion of the Crawfords, Millers, and Kemps, and, next year, a free agent to replace Garcia, Bohm, Marsh, Stott, etc. (guys that aren’t fixed here for years to come). If Turner, Schwarber, and Harper aren’t finished and each account for 85-90% of their usual selves this year, couldn’t this offense still be as good or better with Garcia outweighing Castellanos, Crawford performing all around better than Kepler, and Stott, Marsh, or Bohm playing slightly better than last year?

    I could be proven wrong and the end could be here, but declaring the window closed is premature at best, and stupid at worst.

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    1. Wait, you think that the Phillies will be competitive for 2-3 years and you’re ok with the Phillies giving Schwarber 5 years?

       If just 1 of the big 3 are finished, the Phillies are toast AND stuck with their contract.

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       1. No. I said “the length of the contracts is concerning”. They have real issues they’ll have to sort out as those big 3 age and their contracts become albatrosses. I’m not looking forward to that. I’m simply saying that predicting this is the year where we’re stuck with 3 albatrosses seems to be an unfair prediction.

          I just want to believe that this group can perform adequately (or even above average) for at least 2, maybe 3 more years, and with the pitching, maybe win 1 championship. Then it makes it an easier pill to swallow in the dead years of those deals (and there will be some for sure).

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29. It’s game 6 and I think it’s time to move Crawford to leadoff and play everyday. Crawford is ready to handle it.

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    1. Trea keeps hitting the way he has he can go bat 9th

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    2. https://x.com/i/status/2039408941415748062

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30. So the team payroll for the Nationals is $102.4M. Wait, that seems high right? And it is, because they have 1 player taking up a third of the payroll: Stephen Strasburg.

    In 2027, the total guaranteed money the Nationals have on file is less than $10M which is absurd. It’s possible that the Nationals could have a team salary of UNDER $60M for 2027.

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    1. Probably will not happen after the lock-out….with the hard cap ceiling comes the marble floor…..which could be well over $100M for the teams. I can see a 40 to 50% delta when all is negotiated and settled….. i. e. if the cap is $300M, the floor could be anywhere from $120M to $150M.

       MLBPA will shoot for the highest floor possible, to ensure all get to have a piece of the pie. Small market team owners may cringe.

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       1. Having the cap at $300M really doesn’t change much since only a few teams go over it. I would shoot for a floor of $150M but a cap at $250M. And the cap wouldn’t start until 2030.

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31. Nice lil rally/inning to tie it.. hopefully they can pull the W off

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    1. Good comeback, else it wouldn’t have been a pleasant flight to Denver.

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32. But groundballs dont work in the majors…..

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    1. Good point ……… I’ve heard that before, incidentally!

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    2. They do… Chicks just don’t dig them 🙂 Homeruns & Strikeouts, thats it.

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33. Sandy Alcantara pitched a complete game shutout, gave up 3 hits, threw 93 pitches and sixty five hundred people (announced) got to see the gem.

    Talk is he is headed to the Yankees. Hope the Phillies don’t have to see him too many times in their 13 games (4 series) versus the Marlins.

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34. Crawford notching his 3rd hit, his first walk-off, begs the question again to the Phillies FO…. Why exactly was Justin not up late last year and on playoff roster? (Like so many here begged for!)

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    1. The pressure of the playoff push/october isn’t really the best proving ground for a rook…… had he not started off hot and they lost games the hit to confidence factor outweighed the potential for production and the value…. Much easier going to start the season off after a ST to get setup proper. i see no issue in how it’s unfolded for him or painter.. hope millers back is ok.. need that youth.. can’t have a stiff prospect out there

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       1. I don’t remember if I was barking for JC to be up last year. I think you really have to know the make-up of your prospect. Some kids are red light players others not so much.

          J Roll for example just oozed confidence; so much so I think it helped others around him at the time excel as well.

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          1. I don’t think it has anything to do at all with them thinking he is not a “red light player.” I think they didn’t want to mess with the outfield mojo they had last year with Harrison and everyone else and thought it would be better for him and the team if they just started the slate clean this year – and they were probably right. Crawford is an interesting young player who is more valuable now than he probably would have been 10 to 15 years ago. Why? Because in this current pitching environment where making solid contact off of pitchers throwing harder and spinning the ball better than ever, a hit tool has a lot more relative value – and Crawford’s hit tool might be somewhere in the 60-70 range. I mean, Trea Turner led the league last year in hitting at .304. Sure, he had a really good year, but while you were watching him do you feel you were watching the league leading hitter? I sure as heck didn’t because the batting leader usually has a dominant season. Frankly,, nobody in the NL had a dominant batting average season last year due to the great pitching.

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             1. Ahhh yes Bader how quickly I forgot.

                But now I remember being in a camp of that trade wasn’t going to change the outcome. It was still a good trade. I was at that first game for Duran and Bader and the stadium was electric that night.

                Personally I would have held onto Abel and Tait and like the Dodgers did I would have moved a couple guys into the BP come playoffs.

                But I wouldn’t have known Wheeler was going to go down so I would have looked the fool LOL.

                I believe we would have still made the playoffs and won the division given how the Mets played down the stretch but who knows.

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35. Concerning situation on Aidan Miller and his back. Its been awhile now-not good. Can attest to lower back lumbar issues, if that is the main area of pain……and I am 50 plus years older.

    Hope surgical procedures are not required….though Eagles Cam Jurgens seems to have come back from it.

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    1. Its scary and would be a big hit to our future plans but even without the back issues who’s to say he would excel at the MLB level.

       My middle son lives in CO he is Denver PD and gets to work Rockies games on his off days. Sadly he’s not off on weekends so he will miss this series.

       His favorite player growing up was #26. He played 2B like him, he hustled like him and never came off the field without a bunch of grass and dirt stains on his Uni.

       I’ll get over not taking a certain kid eventually…

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       1. DMAR…….no matter how hard you try. they grow up.

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          1. God willing they do and I am really blessed

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36. Small sample size so far, so it doesn’t mean too much, but here’s who’s hitting the ball hard:

    Schwarber: 94.3 mph average exit velocity; 58.3% hard-hit rate (95+ mph)

    Garcia: 94.3 mph average exit velocity; 55.6% hard-hit rate (95+ mph)

    Realmuto: 92.8 mph average exit velocity; 60% hard-hit rate (95+ mph)

    Stott: 89.9 mph average exit velocity; 50% hard-hit rate (95+ mph)

    MLB average is 88.4 mph average exit velocity, and 39.7% hard-hit rate.

    Overall, the team looks much improved in right field and center field, and if Wheeler comes back healthy the rotation will be awesome . . . should be a good team.

    By the way, ESPN had an article yesterday profiling the 11 MLB starting pitchers they consider “true aces” — the Phils have three of them (Sanchez, Wheeler, Luzardo): https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/48356211/2026-mlb-ace-rankings-best-starting-pitchers-skenes-skubal-crochet-yamamoto

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    1. I don’t yet consider Luzardo an ace. He’s really good and I am glad we have him but he lacks that great CU that ace lefties typically display.

       Sanchez certainly fits the bill and Wheeler surely has been. We’ll see how he comes back.

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    2. Luzardo is a talented pitcher but he’s more of a 2/3. He’s been injury plagued for most of his career but even when he’s put it together, his highest WAR season was only 4.7. Cristopher Sanchez just came off a 8 WAR season. Wheeler has had seasons of 6.5 and 7.5 WAR. Paul Skenes just won the Cy with a 7.7 WAR season.

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       1. Agreed that Luzardo isn’t an ace NOW, but he certainly has ace-type potential. Luzardo is starting his age 28 season and has the arm and pitches needed to become an ace – if he can stay healthy and refine his command. Wheeler did have his first ace-like season until his age 31 season. But even if Luzardo pitches like a 2 or very good 3, he will be well worth the contract.

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          1. Luzardo feels like we knew Ranger with the velo dip and $ was a goner that it was good to get a guy with such high upside and sign longterm/young age as hopefully he too can get crafty as time goes on and velo dips… hedged future move.. i like him but i don’t trust him in gm1/2 come october yet like sanchez/wheeler.. and really maybe even nola just bc of how often he’s been there/knows high tension… gotta get TJ out of the mix tho as it’s a as they call it in the NBA.. a scheduled L

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37. Rocco ……. Don53 ask me to Pass on that his computer has the “Romus” disease, he can get to PP, but it goes to a blank screen when he accesses it. Everything else works well. Think we need to innoculate?

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    1. Old About two months ago I told Romus about some hot computer, Romus and Don bought them wonder if those cheap computers are the problem.

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    2. I had to bring a computer guru fellow I know, come in and get me onto Word Press again. Took him a bit to finally get it done. When your system does an update….cross your fingers and hope it does not unravel something you had something going good, before the update.

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       1. 3Rs. I am back for the moment. Took time to glance at all the posts. Nice to see Phillies at 3-3 instead of 2-4. Season is early. We just all need to be patient.

          No idea if I will get back on again so just hi to all and hope the Phillies have a good roadtrip.

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38. The Pirates are calling up the #1 prospect in baseball, Konnor Griffin, for their Friday home opener.

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    1. Its also reported they will sign him to an $8/$110+ contract

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       1. Contracts like these are not without risk for the team, and I will use Alec Bohm as an example. Bohm will enter FA after banking approximately $23-24M. The Phillies will NOT be giving Bohm a long term deal. But imagine if the Phillies gave him 8/70 which is what the Pirates gave Ke’Bryan Hayes. The Phillies would almost be obligated to keep Bohm around (since they paid him for the extra years) but he’s not producing like a quality 3B. So the Phillies have overpaid Bohm, and might keep him on the roster for longer than he should. The Pirates cut bait and traded Hayes to Cincinnati who are now on the hook for Hayes’ remaining $36M.

          Yes, all Hayes has to do is give 1 WAR per year for the contract to be worth it but do you really want a 1 WAR 3B?

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       2. DMAR……so they bought out his 6 controlled years and two after…..very team friendly deal, if he measures up to what they expect. As a small market that has to be the avenue they must take to keep their talent. Wonder if Skenes is on their radar with something akin to an extended LTC.

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          1. Unless the Pirates start at 4/100, Skenes shouldn’t do it. He already won a ROY and a Cy. He might set a record for most money for 1st year arbitration pitcher. He could legitimately set a record for total arbitration money for a pitcher.

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             1. He will be a dodger.

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                1. ……..or a Yankee.

                   But……when the hard cap comes in, that might change the dynamic on where he could land.

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          2. Romus and Guru its kind of a game of pick your poison pill. If you’re the Pirates and you assess you will never win players at the FA stage in that realm you take these cheaper bets and hope one or two payoff.

             Going back to McCutchen they did the same thing.

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    2. My son just got back from Disney and was hoping to slip down to Indy to see Griffin. Timing did not work out. I told him it sounds like he should have just started with Pirates. He had really good stats through 5 games with the Indians last week.

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39. Small sample size, but Justin Crawford:

    • O-swing rate: 24% (only 13 players in all MLB had a lower O-swing rate last year)
    • z-contact rate: 92% (only 18 players in all MLB had a higher z-contact rate last year)
    • Swinging strike: 7.5% (only 27 players in all MLB had a lower swinging strike rate last year)

    Just a few peripherals that jump out. His current batting average is driven by an unsustainable BABIP. But for a rookie, he is showing remarkable batters eye and contact rates. How good are those stats? Only 2 players in all MLB had that level of discipline and contact last year: TJ Friedl and Geraldo Perdomo.

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    1. Early for sure, but I love what I see so far! I don’t care a bit about the ground balls. It wasn’t too long ago we were lamenting all the swing and miss.😊

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       1. I will second that… watching a hitter who can make contact with wheels… I will take it after all the years of watching certain players swing at the “low and outside” pitch for their bazillion strikeout. Now, im not saying I could do better, but I am welcoming the change 🙂

          If this coaching thing keeps up… every mound visit will be “Throw it low and outside!” Kid:”You sure it’s going to work?” Me “just a hunch!”

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    2. I do think the BABIP is unsustainable ….but, with his speed to first, it may not suffer as much as slower RH bat would incur.

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       1. We’ll see what happens but I think the more pitchers he sees and the more he sees them more than once he will start to get to those line drives.

          His brain will also start to process data. He will start to see how teams want to approach him.

          As V1 points out he is already demonstrating the skill of staying in the zone.

          If he keeps his heart rate low and doesn’t press he should be just fine. And he’s only going to get stronger…

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          1. Yes agreed. To tell you the truth, what i have noticed over the last 30/40 years,, the sons of former ball players really do not get too overly excited and feel the pressure.. Being around the big leagues and in MLB locker rooms growing up seems to be second nature to them more than anything.

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    3. Good stuff, v1. I’m excited about Crawford for sure, and hope Topper plays him every day.

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40. Gage Wood is starting the season opener tonight for Clearwater.

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    1. I really like Wood the couple times I have seen him pitch. Think he has a good future if he can avoid the injury bug. Think he will move up the ladder fairly quickly.

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       1. Wood could move up quickly but thankfully the Phillies don’t need him to do so. Sanchez, Luzardo, Nola, Painter are all controlled for at least 4 more years after this season. If Wheeler’s healthy, he’ll be here until 2028. And the Phillies have Cabrera at Lehigh. There’s no rush.

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          1. I expect Wood to finish the year in Reading at the least. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he were a bullpen option for the Phillies in the postseason. We will need to use every tool in our bag to overcome the Dodgers – a guy who can come in out of nowhere and throw rising heat could be perfect for October.

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             1. Exactly, all hands on deck.. if the kid is dealing and they can bump him up to the pen it’ll be a great advantage as folks won’t have much experience against his aresenal.. that advantage of nobody having faced a guy is huge.. i’m shocked more teams really don’t attempt the stash/lay in waiting approach to arms come september/october.. sure it’s risky but when you are going for a WS.. that’s the time to push your pieces into the middle of the table and play your hand

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                1. The issue with bringing him up later in the season….Wood is now 22 years old and has never thrown more than 40 innings in a season….IMO, do not think the Phillies will let him go over 90 this season….and that is like 15 to 17 starts, , based on what pitch count per game they will have set up for him.

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41. Impressions and stats one week into the season with ABS. Its reported that 58% of challenges were overturned. Catchers are having the most success with a 64% rate.

    Pitchers challenging have the lowest success rate.

    All in it has for me anyway added a level of interest I’ve been hoping to see for years.

    Some thought framing would become less important but I disagree. Good framing puts pressure on the batter and umpire. Burn through your 2 challenges and wammo the game is back on.

    Hopefully our pitchers stop challenging. Both JT and Marchan have proven really good at knowing when to use them.

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42. I know it’s only 1 game and our bullpen has been pretty good but Alex McFarlane is going to help out this team come summer!

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    1. The bottom line with McFarlane is that the stuff is all there for him to become a successful high leverage big league reliever – he’s got a dominant high 90s, touching 100, fastball, and a few wipe out breaking pitches. It will be all about consistency and command. But earlier this year, someone commented about why we were paying attention to a guy who had over a 5 era last year in minor league ball – if you watched him pitch in ST, you would see why. And, who knows, maybe this is the year McGarry also gets over the hump. They have some good minor league bp arms right now – lots of possible players to hit on with potential upside (even though some are longer shots than others), not just one or two arms and a lot of filler who throw under 90 (which is what we used to see a lot of).

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       1. I am sure that there will be an injury and both guys will get a shot. I like McFarlane a lot.

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    2. He’s talented but he’ll need to control his walks. His career minor league walk rate is 5.5. As a comparison, Kerkering’s minor league walk rate was 1.7. For this year, he’ll need to get his walk rate under 4.

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       1. Absolutely – he will need to get a handle on both his control (ability to throw strikes) and command (ability to throw strikes where they are difficult to hit) before he can become a legitimate big league pitcher, but the stuff is there. From what I saw this spring, he didn’t look like a guy who would never throw strikes, as McGarry, for example, did for long periods of time.

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43. Romus See you in church today, bless y my son

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    1. Ok rocco.

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44. Wheeler on the bump tonight LHV

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45. And yet another small market team going LTC with a young prospect. The Brewers and prospect  21-year old shortstop Cooper Pratt are reportedly on the verge of finalizing an 8yr/$50.75M contract….with two club options worth about $15M per year, Buying out his 6 plus two option years. The trend is starting to heat up with the small market teams….perhaps getting ready also for the lock-out.

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    1. Will the Phillies also get in on it with Justin Crawford later this season?

       Can see 8yr/maybe $120/130 including performance escalators that can increase its total value.

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       1.  $120/130M

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       2. I imagine Crawford would make substantially less than $120M because his skill set doesn’t pay as well in arbitration/free agency.

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          1. Yeah that could be the case,. But you never know with Dave D doing the negotiations and John Middleton gladly signing the checks….Phillies tend to not go cheap.

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46. Wow the Rockies are even worse this year.

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47. Nola – FB at 91 mph, Sinker at 89mph, Changeuo 84mph, knucklecure 74. Was the radar gun in the WBC juiced?

    He’s getting results, 9 SO at the end of 6, but I’m not liking those mph for other lineups. besides Rocco’s car, is anyone else concerned or are we riding the poor man’s Greg Maddux vibes?

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48. rocco….Nola said this Buds for you….oops, perhaps this Coors for you.

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    1. 91bmph. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes

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       1. That is true

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49. Gage wood 4 innings. One hit 7 Ks

    wheeler not so good. But who knows what his plan was

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    1. The stuff looks electric. I don’t expect him to stay in CLW too long.

       We won’t know exactly where we are with him until we see him against much better hitters. but the fastball is still electric and the slider and curve look like out pitches. He is still working on the change-up.

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50. I just saw that kid for pirates, get his first hit, he hit a really good (look good to me) breaking ball. Very impressive first at bat

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51. Nola’s 2026 so far: 11 and 1/3 innings, 16 strikeouts. That’s very good. It was a cold day in Denver, so it’s expected his velocity would be 1 or 2 mph lower than on a warm day.

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52. I was looking at pitchers. In our system Avila has 96-98 fastball but straight it says. Good feel for changeup . Wonder if he is slated for bullpen.

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53. Regarding Gage Wood’s stuff

    https://x.com/i/status/2040203641009623174

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    1. I think by the end of the season he will be in Reading. The issue of course is his innings limitations the org will set upon him…..wish we could get that information.

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       1. I’m curious to see if he can pitch 110- 120 innings, I’m thinking they give him the Painter treatment

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          1. I think Wood will max out at around 110 innings. The Phillies have always taken care of their pitchers and they are consistent in building them up to handle the workload. Wood also had a right shoulder impingement last season in college. Staying healthy will be the Phillies’ #1 concern.

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             1. Maybe Jim can talk with Matt Ellmyer of the Threshers coaching staff and get a clue or an idea if Wood will be on restrictions and maybe what his ceiling will be as for innings pitched.

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54. Get out the brooms. You all know why. It’s Walker time!!! No way he lays an Easter egg today.

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    1. Happy Easter,

       ……I expect Wheeler to be back in the rotation for that home series vs the Braves….Apr 17-19. Then TWalker probably gets 2 or 3 more starts.

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