This is your new Phillies Discussion.
I’ll be AFK (away from keyboard) for about a week. This new discussion should keep the comments section from becoming too unwieldy.
I’m still suffering from “romus disease”.
Important Dates
- February 16, 2026: Beginning of new waiver period (February 16 – April 24, 2026). Outright Waivers secured on or after February 16, 2026, remain in effect for 7 days or until 5 p.m. EST, April 24, 2026 (the 30th day of the 2026 season), whichever is earlier. MLR 10.
- March 26, 2026: Active rosters reduced to 26 (13 pitchers) by Noon ET
- May 2, 2026:Florida Complex League starts
- June 1, 2026: Dominican Summer League starts
- July 11, 2026: 2026 MLB All-Star Futures Game, Philadelphia PA
- July 12-13, 2026: MLB First-Year Player Draft, Philadelphia PA (Phillies drop 10 slots)
- December 1, 2026 (11:59 p.m. ET): MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement expires.
Note: These dates will be used unless/until notified differently. (Note that there are many more dates to add from Spring Training through the end of the 2026 season and calendar year. I will add when I have accurate dates for them.)
Phuture Phillies 
Inching closer to .500… sucks they dug such a big hole but guess they couldn’t provide their own inner clubhouse spark without adversity.. like they needed a villain and the villain was themselves and they had to sacrifice toppers head to feed the beast… right?
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I guess here they close the last weeks discussion when the new week’s discussion opens, which is fine, but I did want to reply to the McFarlane discussion we were having. I respect those “everyone always wants to rush prospects” takes, but each case is different. I don’t think that wanting a 22 year old in the big leagues is ridiculous. Young arms can be dynamite, especially in post season.
Now, I would fully agree with you guys that the twitter commenters who want gage wood in the majors now are ridiculous, and there certainly does exist that inclination to want to rush prospects, but if the guy is straight up unhittable in AA, and hes not like 19 years old, its ok to be aggressive.
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Last year, McFarlane pitched 80 innings and he’s only had 10 innings so far. So he could definitely stay at Reading for more seasoning, especially when his walk rate is at 5.2. Note that when he got called up for 1 game and then got sent back down, the Phillies could have sent him to Lehigh but they didn’t. So clearly they want McFarlane to continue his progress at Reading.
But he’ll get to Lehigh soon enough and he’ll make his debut sooner rather than later since he’s already on the 40 man.
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Yes, the previous discussions get closed when the new one opens. But you can still continue a conversation.
And regarding McFarlane, no one is suggesting that there’s no room for aggressive promotion in baseball. In fact, there’s an example of it on the Phillies right now. Kerkering started 2023 in A ball and ended the season on the MLB postseason roster. But there’s a big difference between what he did and what McFarlane is doing; Kerkering wasn’t walking guys while he posted gaudy strikeout numbers and low ERAs.
Alex has had a great start to the year, but that doesn’t mean he’s MLB ready.
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Mc farlane will start collecting SSI in June, these old projects we cuddle Is nuts
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It has like zero to do with “coddling” or “babying” (I HATE that word, if you can call it word) prospects. If you promote a player before he is ready, he will get his rear end kicked and end up right back where he started. I believe Johan Rojas’s career went sideways in large part because he was promoted too soon.
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rocco….sure he turns 25 years old next month, but his lost time due to the injury. I firmly believe he will be in LHV come some time in July, and maybe then after the Phillies evaluate him vs AAA hitters , he could see the majors in Sep, that is if there is a need for him.
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Age is less of an issue when it comes to relievers. If he was a starter, then I would be really concerned.
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Nice to see Romus and Rocco agreeing once again. No idea if this will post. Could not get on earlier.
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Don send your post to romus email. He will post them
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You have to be really encouraged by how Escobar has flipped the switch and now is suddenly 283/803 after an awful start. Rincon keeping it up too: 274/907. Those two plus Nori (and Kemp just starting) seem to be the only guys really hitting now in the system.
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Clearwater has a trio that I keep an eye on: Ferrera, Ferrebus, Beltran. Ferrebus is really ripping it but he needs to stay at catcher. There’s no path to Philadelphia if he’s 1B/DH.
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Whatever happened to the (ridiculous) days of David Clyde? Maybe Romus would like to enlighten the PP gang about what that was oh, about a hundred years ago.
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Hah…..Rangers try to make the 18-year old lefty an early star…another Vida Blue. He actually had good stuff, but he had no command. Tough to go from HS to the majors.
On another note…. Alec Bohm ranks 177th out of 178th qualified hitters in OPS @ .443…..I think he may be involved in a deadline deal in July if a team needs a third basemen. Hope he can get his bat going until then.
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Nobody will be trading for Bohm with his current OPS and salary. There’s a higher probability that he gets DFAd. Mattingly already sat him for Sosa in tonight’s game.
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Painter still struggling. Cannot understand why it has lasted this long.
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Baseball is hard and he’s likely still trying to find consistency in his mechanics after the long layoff. The stuff looks good, at least. I imagine if we had better starting pitching depth they’d let him get a mental reset in AAA.
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He was shell shocked from the get go. He was nibbling all over the place and had no feel for any of his pitches. I believe all 3 of his HRs came on fastballs that leaked middle in to RH hitters.
I think he’ll get 1 more start in the bigs, but obviously he’ll have to show something. For me, this is the second time that he’s had no feel for his pitches and that’s what’s concerning for me. None of this pitches worked tonight.
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The first one was barely a strike and the second was inside by 3 inches. It’s hard to be upset when a hitter is just able to turn on a ball that would break most peoples bats. The walks preceding the homers were much more egregious for me.
It was a terrible start no doubt about it. But that being said, this umpire is awful. Inconsistent, missing often, and sometimes missing BADLY.
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Phillies pickup Grant Holman from Detroit on waivers. Reyes and Kemp about ready to swap places, Kemp with HR tonight. Not much hitting going on in our minor leagues.
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Ferrebus
Binellas
Colemanares
all hitting
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My point, 3 guys in AAA, AA, A+ and A-. Ferrebus took one on the wrist last night, not sure of the severity. Has a past of injuries.
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If Painter is struggling and needs the mental reset in triple A as Dan K writes, where is Ty-Win Walker when the Phillies need him?
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https://x.com/i/status/2052540379283497395
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Where is the pitching? While the Phils gave up 13 runs, the Iron Pigs have surrendered 24 in the last 2 games, the Fightins have let in 46 runs in their last 4 game, the Blue Claws, 31 runs in their last 3, the FCL team needed only1 game to allow 21 runs….ah, but the Threshers only gave up 9 runs last night
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As for the majors, the pitching has been great recently – just one bad game.
As for the minors, I think we can all get into the rut of judging the farm system by the overall performance of its teams. It’s fun when they win, but I just focus on individual prospects and know that 80-90 percent of any farm system is filler or fringe prospects. It’s not a big deal if they get blown out of some games or get shut out here and there. It just isn’t.
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On Painter:
His FB had 0-19 whiffs. That’s pretty remarkable. It avgerave close to 97mph. They say he made some tweaks to it, if felt like it had more movement. What caught me is the when they said “We have to make it less predictable”?
Doesn’t Painter have a crazy amount of secondary pitches? 6? Whatever it is, he has enough to not make his FB predictable. He might be tipping his pitches. Something Luzardo went through or was doing. I believe Luzardo is a basically like a mentor to him… they need to figure that out.
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Little surprised he is now throwing a splitter. Surprised they are letting him do it…..assume because of his height, his fingers have some length and that helps in the gripping……it may have to be his out pitch. Hitters are crushing his FB—4Smr and 2Smr..
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Most pitchers take years to develop – nobody should be surprised. I’m still really bullish on him. In his first full year as a starter Max Scherzer had an ERA over 4 and a month where his era was over 6 – for the year, he pitched to a pretty bad 1.3 WAR. In his third full year in the big leagues, Scherzer pitched to a 4.42 ERA and pretty crummy 1.4 WAR. Painter has the arm and the pitches and the poise. There’s no reason to think that he won’t be a great starter in a few years, but have patience. This is why he’s the team’s 5 and not a 3.
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Painter’s fastball has less movement than the average fastball and it’s just getting pounded. He had no command with his fastball yesterday so that didn’t help. If he’s sticking with his current grip, then he needs to primarily go above the zone with it.
He will have to experiment with a new grip in the offseason because what it is now, it’s just not working (even at 97 mph).
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I like that Realmuto seems to be getting more time off this season, as a rested JT seems to be a better JT.
However, we’re going to need somebody that ISN’T an automatic out when he fills in.
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And we really don’t need TWO guys filling in and taking up roster spots who are automatic outs. Again, unless this is a limited-time mini-competition between the two guys to see who will become his back up for the rest of the year, it’s foolish in the extreme.
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I got to watch the last couple of innings of the Mets-Rockies game yesterday. It was tied at 2 in the bottom of the 8th when the Mets brought in Kimbrel. He walked the first batter, gave up a hit, then walked the bases loaded. Up came Jake McCarthy.
He hit a Sterling “it is high, it is far, it is gone”. The umpires had to check because the ball sailed OVER the right field foul pole. It traveled 448 feet. It was the longest homerun I have ever seen right down the line.
This is a competitive Colorado team coming in. They are much better than the pushovers of the past few years. I’d love for our boys to sweep the series but I’d be just as satisfied with winning the series. Let’s go Phillies!
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First, I’m stunned that Craig Kimbrel is still getting chances to pitch. Second, that royal purple faux fur coat is awesome.
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Bet he looks like the “Cats A__” in that!
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