Official Philadelphia Phillies Thread - 2024. Bums. Who even loses at home???

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

Good thing everybody on the team is hitting 250 or below besides Brandon marsh. Nick Castellanos has started where he left off in the NLCS.

[RoadToHell]

Rojas can GTFO I’ve seen enough 

[vsptroops]

Rojas continuing to swing for the fences is such a joke. 

[Diehardfan]

Robby T is the problem 

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

I don’t know what our average with RISP is or where it ranks so far this year but it has to be towards the bottom half of the league. Which was an issue for us last year. But they’d have these 1-2 games every 7-10 days that skewed the numbers 

[Blazehound]

Topper missed pitch hitting Pache for Marsh with the bases chucked and a lefty at the plate. 

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

Amazing Bohm and Turner just stand there and watch strike 3 called. 

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

Nothing like with an off night tomorrow going with Nick Fing Nelson and not Alvarado 

[RoadToHell]

1 minute ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

Nothing like with an off night tomorrow going with Nick Fing Nelson and not Alvarado 

Where’s Hoffman? 

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

1 minute ago, RoadToHell said:

Where’s Hoffman? 

🤷‍♂️

[Joe Shades 73]

Wheeler's velocity is down this year so far

[Diehardfan]

1 minute ago, Joe Shades 73 said:

Wheeler's velocity is down this year so far

But the important thing is they extended him in his 30s

[iladelphxx]

4 hours ago, Joe Shades 73 said:

Wheeler's velocity is down this year so far

It's April..... And 45 degrees. And raining with 20mph+ wind gusts... 

 

https://pbsccs.org/baseball-performance-in-cold-weather-facts-and-recommendations/#:~:text=Cold%2C in combination with the,mph and decreases spin rate.

Cold, in combination with the loss of sensation in the fingers and hands, reduces pitch velocity by 1-2 mph and decreases spin rate.

 

[eagle45]

Way too early to worry about any individual players aside from the confirmation that Rojas can’t hit major league pitching.  The only concern is that they are going to create a hole for themselves with the slow start, which will cost them the division.

[John Blutarski]

Wheeler is the least of my concerns at this point. The bullpen stinks on ice, Nola is garbage and we're stuck with him for 7 years, Castellanos stinks as usual, Rojas sucks, they're a clown show on the base paths and Topper is a moron. Other than that they're doing swell.

[vsptroops]

I heard that Rojas hasn't hit a ball out of the infield yet this season. His 1 hit was an infield single last night. How pathetic is that? 

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

5 hours ago, John Blutarski said:

Wheeler is the least of my concerns at this point. The bullpen stinks on ice, Nola is garbage and we're stuck with him for 7 years, Castellanos stinks as usual, Rojas sucks, they're a clown show on the base paths and Topper is a moron. Other than that they're doing swell.

Yeah, I’m less concerned with Wheeler. I think he’ll wind up being fine and even so he’s still really good. He gave up 1ER. If not for errors that’s a great start. 

their bigger issue is the same problems as last year. They aren’t good enough with runners in scoring position. Their stats get skewed because they’ll have these one or two games every 7 to 10 days where they’ll just go off. But then the rest of the time if they’re not hitting homers, their ability to hit with runners in scoring position isn’t where it needs to be. That’s what happened in the playoffs. When the homeruns started to dry up after game two of the NLCS, they couldn’t win games because they couldn’t manufacture enough runs with RISP. Besides kimbrel blowing games, they struggled with runners in scoring position. Partially because Nick Castellanos is a free swinger and isn’t consistent. He still hasn’t fixed that problem. Rojas can’t hit. And you don’t actually have a cleanup hitter to protect Bryce Harper. Your cleanup hitter should be Kyle Schwarber but they don’t wanna move him out of the leadoff spot. Jt Realmuto is not a cleanup hitter anymore (really never should have been). Alec Bohm is not a cleanup hitter. Nick castellanos  shouldn’t be a cleanup hitter, cause he’s  not consistent enough. Really they should’ve just paid Hoskins for a year and let Harper play OF for a year. It wasn’t going to ruin him and it’s for a year until you likely go after Soto. 

[John Blutarski]

3 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

Yeah, I’m less concerned with Wheeler. I think he’ll wind up being fine and even so he’s still really good. He gave up 1ER. If not for errors that’s a great start. 

their bigger issue is the same problems as last year. They aren’t good enough with runners in score position. Their stats get skewed because they’ll have these one or two games every 7 to 10 days where they’ll just go off. But then the rest of the time if they’re not hitting homers, their ability to hit with runners in scoring position isn’t where it needs to be. That’s what happened in the playoffs. When the homeruns started to dry up after game two of the NLCS, they couldn’t win games because they couldn’t manufacture enough runs with RISP. Besides kimbrel blowing games, they struggled with runners in scoring position. Partially because Nick Castellanos is a free swinger and isn’t consistent. He still hasn’t fixed that problem. Rojas can’t hit. And you don’t actually have a cleanup hitter to protect Bryce Harper. Your cleanup hitter should be Kyle Schwarber but they don’t wanna move him out of the leadoff spot. Jt Realmuto is not a cleanup hitter anymore (really never should have been). Alec Bohm is not a cleanup hitter. Nick castellanos  shouldn’t be a cleanup hitter, cause he’s  not consistent enough. Really they should’ve just paid Hoskins for a year and let Harper play OF for a year. It wasn’t going to ruin him and it’s for a year until you likely go after Soto. 

You're right, for how high powered we keep hearing this lineup is or is supposed to be the only legit cleanup hitter is hitting leadoff and they will never move him to the cleanup spot even though there's at least two other guys on the roster who could be above average leadoff hitters.

I don't want to continue to see each year them getting into a hole early and then digging their way out of it later in the year. That's not a strategy you can rely on. I shouldn't be surprised since Dombrowski ran back basically the same roster + Merrifield and - Kimbrel.

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

3 minutes ago, John Blutarski said:

You're right, for how high powered we keep hearing this lineup is or is supposed to be the only legit cleanup hitter is hitting leadoff and they will never move him to the cleanup spot even though there's at least two other guys on the roster who could be above average leadoff hitters.

I don't want to continue to see each year them getting into a hole early and then digging their way out of it later in the year. That's not a strategy you can rely on. I shouldn't be surprised since Dombrowski ran back basically the same roster + Merrifield and - Kimbrel.

The issue with running it back with a veteran type team outside of Rojas, Bohm and Stott is the other guys in that lineup are very unlikely to break the habits that they have. Nick Castellanos isn’t changing who he is at 30 years old. He is what he is. You should have traded him after 2023 because he had a decent year. Somebody would have taken him for the last three years of that contract. You might have had to eat some of that contract, but it would’ve been better to clear up that space and more flexibility to bring back Rhys.

to me, the Phillies lineup has always been somewhat overrated because they’re over dependent on hitting home runs. The game is played that way now but you also have to be able to just hit with RISP. The Phillies can hit homers but are not good enough with RISP.  you can say you can win a World Series just hitting homers, but it’s really hard to be that dependent on home runs for a four week stretch in playoffs against some of the best in the league and be brutal with risp. That’s why they lost the diamondback series. Kimbrel was part of it, but really their offense dried up in terms of Home runs besides game five after game 2.

I remember in the blog (after game 2) I said, the Phillies better hope these home runs continue at this rate because if they dry up, the Phillies are in a world of trouble cause they couldn’t hit with runners in scoring position and hadn’t done a great job in that aspect all playoffs. 

just look at their Risp in the playoffs 

3-14

2-9

2-8

2-8

3-10

0-6

2-10

5-7

0-4

2-7

1-6

1-7

1-10

The fact that they won the Braves series being 7 for 32 (.219) is pretty incredible. Because that was way below what our season average was.  I’m guessing most teams  don’t hit under 220 in a series with runners in scoring position and managed to win. Really the dbacks they got worse. Game 2 really skewed it. They were 12-52 (.235). Outside of game 2 they were 7-44 (.159) 

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

also not talked about enough is that Dombrowski‘s last three off-season of free agent signings has been less than stellar based of what they paid guys and production they got. look at the names and how many hits or guys who have lived up to their contract.

schwarter— hit

castellanos— I’d argue not living up to that contract 

familia— whiff 

Hand— hit

Odubel— whiff

camargo— whiff

Corey Knebel— solid til got hurt  

Turner— hasn’t lived up to that contract

Walker— whiff

Straham— hit

kimbrel— got half a season from him.

Hoffman—hit 

Nola— jury still out (hate 7 years)

merrifield— jury still out 

[Bwestbrook36]

Lol you guys are really gonna keep biotching about the same team as last year? 

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

1 hour ago, Bwestbrook36 said:

Lol you guys are really gonna keep biotching about the same team as last year? 

Idk i ****ed about the same thing last year saying it would ultimately catch up to them in the end and it did. So running it back probably feels like they are destined to the same fate. 

[Bwestbrook36]

20 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

Idk i ****ed about the same thing last year saying it would ultimately catch up to them in the end and it did. So running it back probably feels like they are destined to the same fate. 

I'm gonna watch but, I'm not gonna bother getting upset about it because I already know what is going to happen lol

[vsptroops]

Why would any team throw the Phillies anything in the strike zone? I would be willing to dare the Phillies to be patient and if they work the occasional walk, then so be it. Their lack of situational hitting will eventually bite them in the rear and will just continue to swing at garbage off the plate. That's the way to beat this team. Heck, I would fine any pitcher that throws Castellanos, Turner, and JT anything in the strike zone. 

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

53 minutes ago, Bwestbrook36 said:

I'm gonna watch but, I'm not gonna bother getting upset about it because I already know what is going to happen lol

I mean, I think it’s inevitable what’s gonna happen. Frankly, I think they’re gonna take a step back and not get as far as they did the last two years. To me the bigger issue is you weren’t good enough last year and lost to an inferior team, there should be no reason to just run it back especially when teams like the dodgers, Braves and dbacks improved.  your only addition was merrifield. To me that is inexcusable. And this Bs excuse that they spent money this off-season, no you poorly spent money this off-season because you didn’t read the market well with Aaron nola. If you would’ve let the market play itself out would have never gotten close to seven years. Blake Snell and Montgomery might not be nola in the analytics, but they aren’t that far off that those two could only get one year contracts and nola to get 7. 
 

also what irritates me is Dombrowski had a press conference after the Phillies lost to the Diamondbacks, saying they weren’t gonna have the same type of approaches where they’re just free swinging. Because that’s what cost them that series. You are not changing Castellanos this late in his career to not do that anymore. He is what he is. So if you’re gonna bring him back then what you said during that press conference means absolutely nothing. The only way you’re gonna change that is to get him off the team and then go replace him with somebody completely the opposite.