1 hour ago, John Blutarski said:

I could be wrong but I don't think Bryce's decline is that severe compared to where his contract will be. He missed 30 games this year and still put up 27 HR, 75 RBI. Avg was down a bit at 261. He's making 27M the next 2 years then 23M after that so as salaries increase across the league each year, its not horrible. I really think getting a cleanup hitter behind him would help him a lot and some adjustments so he's not always trying to blow the game open with a HR swing could help his avg and reduce chance for injury. Easier said than done to change a hitter at this age but he's certainly capable. For this roster at this time, he's not my biggest concern. If he gets 30+ HR and OBP back up to 370+ in the 3 hole that's fine with me. Not sure what your definition of a big bat is.

Why would you project him to miss less time and have better per at bat stats with another year of age?

21 hours ago, eagle45 said:

The goal should be to shed the entire team. I was about to say whole team minus Sanchez, but he’s 28 and could likely fetch a massive prospect in return.

This team isn’t competing in the next 2 years. That renders Harper, Turner, Wheeler, and Schwarber all totally useless to us.

Firesale is the fastest way to get them back to contention.

Firesale? Hell no.

That would be a 10 year death spiral to rebirth cycle.

We competed this year.

We will retool a bit and compete next year.

We need to spend more money.

4 hours ago, eagle45 said:

Why would you project him to miss less time and have better per at bat stats with another year of age?

I said if they finally get a cleanup hitter to give him some protection and he doesn't try to get a HR every at bat with the violent swing I think he'll have less chance for injury. Also was trying to point out that his stats aren't out of line with his contract. You expect him to fall off a cliff with a severe decline. I don't.

34 minutes ago, John Blutarski said:

I said if they finally get a cleanup hitter to give him some protection and he doesn't try to get a HR every at bat with the violent swing I think he'll have less chance for injury. Also was trying to point out that his stats aren't out of line with his contract. You expect him to fall off a cliff with a severe decline. I don't.

Fall off a cliff? The numbers I predicted are only a modest regression from 2025 and consistent with his year over year decline we've already seen.

2 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

Fall off a cliff? The numbers I predicted are only a modest regression from 2025 and consistent with his year over year decline we've already seen.

Ok

I fear some of you still believe in this team and are setting yourselves up for another year like this year. Some of you need those pods from invasion of the body snatchers you need to become emotionless zombies about this team. Trust me it’s much better this way. Accept it.

10 minutes ago, Joe Shades 73 said:

I fear some of you still believe in this team and are setting yourselves up for another year like this year. Some of you need those pods from invasion of the body snatchers you need to become emotionless zombies about this team. Trust me it’s much better this way. Accept it.

I dont think they make the playoffs this coming season.

2 hours ago, John Blutarski said:

I said if they finally get a cleanup hitter to give him some protection and he doesn't try to get a HR every at bat with the violent swing I think he'll have less chance for injury. Also was trying to point out that his stats aren't out of line with his contract. You expect him to fall off a cliff with a severe decline. I don't.

I’ve been saying get a cleanup hitter since Rhys has gone. It probably wins them that dbacks series cause game 3 was there for the taking and if you had that one extra bat it could’ve gotten you that win. They’ve needed it for 3 years. It’s the thing that pushes their lineup to have guys in the right order in the lineup. Bohm was their best hitter in the playoffs. However the issue is he’s not a cleanup hitter and other team are ok with singles and doubles with no one on.

Add on Harper clearly doesn’t trust the guy behind him. even in past postseason‘s when he’s had Jt or Castellanos behind him, he’s taken more walks. This series he could’ve had three or four more walks, and instead he went chasing and pressing because he doesn’t trust Bohm to come through. It’s a problem. Hopefully they recognize it and fix that problem. Cause then you also have a guy that can go deep to change a game if they don’t pitch the Harper and Schwarber.

Mariners take a 1-0 series lead as they beat the blue jays who tried the Phillies strategy of scoring 1 run and getting minimal hits

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

Mariners take a 1-0 series lead as they beat the blue jays who tried the Phillies strategy of scoring 1 run and getting minimal hits

Horrible display

this is like sixers organization want to run it back, not hire great front office people and coaches because they dont know how to win and probably dont care and just take your money away.

Ef this team. 4 time world series champ Bruce Bochy is out there waiting to he had and the Phillies bring back this idiot. Wow. Unfathomable.

39 minutes ago, vsptroops said:

Ef this team. 4 time world series champ Bruce Bochy is out there waiting to he had and the Phillies bring back this idiot. Wow. Unfathomable.

Philles made the post season each of the last 4 seasons. Hard to call the guy an idiot just because we're not getting the result we want

1 hour ago, JohnB said:

Philles made the post season each of the last 4 seasons. Hard to call the guy an idiot just because we're not getting the result we want

He manages a team that is top 5 in baseball in salary. Not hard to do. His in-game managed decisions, especially in the post season are as egregious as it gets, starting all the way back in Game 6 of the 2022 World Series when he took out Wheeler for Alvarado. Using Kimbrel multiple times in the 2023 NLCS when everyone with half a brain knew he was cooked. That was also a team that he managed that blew a 2-0 and 3-2 series lead, with games 6 and 7 at home. Last year against the Mets, this year against the Dodgers. Refuses to fire his hitting coach. Same ole same ole with this guy. He's the current version of Danny Ozark. Let me ask you a question. Who would you pick to lead your team if you had a choice- Rob Thomson or Bruce Bochy?

2 minutes ago, vsptroops said:

He manages a team that is top 5 in baseball in salary. Not hard to do. His in-game managed decisions, especially in the post season are as egregious as it gets, starting all the way back in Game 6 of the 2022 World Series when he took out Wheeler for Alvarado. Using Kimbrel multiple times in the 2023 NLCS when everyone with half a brain knew he was cooked. That was also a team that he managed that blew a 2-0 and 3-2 series lead, with games 6 and 7 at home. Last year against the Mets, this year against the Dodgers. Refuses to fire his hitting coach. Same ole same ole with this guy. He's the current version of Danny Ozark. Let me ask you a question. Who would you pick to lead your team if you had a choice- Rob Thomson or Bruce Bochy?

I rather have Bochy. That said not sure he wants to manage in Philly. If i had my choice I’d go him.

That I’m more upset at Dave. His spending for the amount of resources Middleton has given him is bad. If he spends half of this money better we probably beat the dodgers (this doesn’t include what it actually is after highest luxury tax threshold)

Walker $18 mil — 0.2 IP in playoffs last 3 years

Castellanos $20 mil

Kepler $10 mil— literally has identical stats to Kody Clemens who is making 1.1 mil

Romano $10 mil

Ross $4 mil

Nola $24.5 mil

That’s $86.5 mil before luxury tax so nearly over $150 mil on those guys. If you spend better we probably aren’t over reliant on Kerkering or Robertson to be good enough. Probably also have another bat in that lineup that could help. Dombrowski has made good moves of luzardo, Duran and signing schwarber but he’s also basically pissed away a ton of resources that have plagued this team.

I’ve said this before fire Rob or keep Rob, i don’t really care cause any manager coming in here with a bullpen of just strahm and Duran and a lineup missing an obvious cleanup hitter for 3 years is going to likely wind up same result. Bigger issue is Dombrowski’s poor spending and roster construction.

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

I rather have Bochy. That said not sure he wants to manage in Philly. If i had my choice I’d go him.

That I’m more upset at Dave. His spending for the amount of resources Middleton has given him is bad. If he spends half of this money better we probably beat the dodgers (this doesn’t include what it actually is after highest luxury tax threshold)

Walker $18 mil — 0.2 IP in playoffs last 3 years

Castellanos $20 mil

Kepler $10 mil— literally has identical stats to Kody Clemens who is making 1.1 mil

Romano $10 mil

Ross $4 mil

Nola $24.5 mil

That’s $86.5 mil before luxury tax so nearly over $150 mil on those guys. If you spend better we probably aren’t over reliant on Kerkering or Robertson to be good enough. Probably also have another bat in that lineup that could help. Dombrowski has made good moves of luzardo, Duran and signing schwarber but he’s also basically pissed away a ton of resources that have plagued this team.

I’ve said this before fire Rob or keep Rob, i don’t really care cause any manager coming in here with a bullpen of just strahm and Duran and a lineup missing an obvious cleanup hitter for 3 years is going to likely wind up same result. Bigger issue is Dombrowski’s poor spending and roster construction.

and that's why i was never on dd train because he always neglected the bullpen, he never tried to get some great hitters that you didnt have to overspend on, always getting these trash players that couldnt do anything, actually i can put all the blame on this disaster on john middleton especially on the 10 plus year drought when gillick retired, he should never have given the keys rubben, he should have went and got a different gm that knew how to rebuild and contend and when charlie couldnt last, he should have went and got a quality manager and coaching staff and maybe that team would still be contending. everything middleton has done just doesnt seem to understand on how to build a championship contender accept waiting for big fas to become available and that just doesnt work

like i said if middleton stops obsessing on huge spending on players and start spending on quality manager, coaching staff and front office, maybe this phillies team wouldnt be in this mess especially with that 10 year drought.

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

I rather have Bochy. That said not sure he wants to manage in Philly. If i had my choice I’d go him.

That I’m more upset at Dave. His spending for the amount of resources Middleton has given him is bad. If he spends half of this money better we probably beat the dodgers (this doesn’t include what it actually is after highest luxury tax threshold)

Walker $18 mil — 0.2 IP in playoffs last 3 years

Castellanos $20 mil

Kepler $10 mil— literally has identical stats to Kody Clemens who is making 1.1 mil

Romano $10 mil

Ross $4 mil

Nola $24.5 mil

That’s $86.5 mil before luxury tax so nearly over $150 mil on those guys. If you spend better we probably aren’t over reliant on Kerkering or Robertson to be good enough. Probably also have another bat in that lineup that could help. Dombrowski has made good moves of luzardo, Duran and signing schwarber but he’s also basically pissed away a ton of resources that have plagued this team.

I’ve said this before fire Rob or keep Rob, i don’t really care cause any manager coming in here with a bullpen of just strahm and Duran and a lineup missing an obvious cleanup hitter for 3 years is going to likely wind up same result. Bigger issue is Dombrowski’s poor spending and roster construction.

Oh I agree that DD doesn't catch enough heat. My point was that maybe if they had a better tactician these past 4 years, it is possible the Phillies could have have won a title in this time.

Just now, vsptroops said:

Oh I agree that DD doesn't catch enough heat. My point was that maybe if they had a better tactician these past 4 years, it is possible the Phillies could have have won a title in this time.

I think tactical stuff may have helped in the dbacks series. Nothing was helping them in the Mets series. Literally every bullpen arm was crap, they couldn’t hit and Ranger gutted out 4+ as Nola was not good. this series he shouldn’t have bunted. That was the big mistake. Frankly their bullpen had 2 reliable guys in Duran and strahm. I can blame him for bullpen stuff but if the Phillies weren’t a bullpen consistent of 2 reliable arms it makes decisions look much better. Everyone else wasn’t reliable even banks has bad splits vs. RH. IMO they didn’t lose game 4 cause of thomson’s moves (argue marsh batting 5th but multiple times it’s been discussed it’s not just made by manager. It’s a collaboration).

Games 1 and 2 Thomson is at fault. He’s with DD and the lineup. however when strahm fails and prior to him your two best options out of the actual BP constructed are Robertson and Kerkering that’s a massive problem. You use Ranger there probably don’t have Ranger for the amount he went in game 3. Most managers if they have more than just strahm and Duran probably aren’t going to Kerkering who sucked last 2 months and Robertson who’s 40 and cooked. That’s why i Blake DD more. That bullpen has been an issue for 4 years

Tbh if they had wheeler it actually makes more sense game 1 to piggyback him with Ranger and game 2 have Luzardo ready when Sanchez was removed. I can’t believe I’m saying it but wheeler pitching may have helped them get this to a game 5 as their bullpen isn’t as dog crap due to luzardo and ranger ability to be used out of the pen more

The Phillies' chance to win was 2022 (early arrival, but they got to the WS), 2023, and 2024. The offense just couldn't sustain it in the playoffs.

2025 team was never as good as its win total and never really had a shot. There was no reason to ever believe in this team...and those who are most angry right now are the ones that did.

Short of some absurd sequence of blockbuster deals, there is absolutely no move that can be made to not only offset the continued decline of the nucleus of this team, but to actually improve the team and get them over the top. It can't be done. And if you think it can, you are just going to be more enraged at Thompson and DD.

Not shocking. next up 10 year contract for Schwarber

3 hours ago, vsptroops said:

He manages a team that is top 5 in baseball in salary. Not hard to do. His in-game managed decisions, especially in the post season are as egregious as it gets, starting all the way back in Game 6 of the 2022 World Series when he took out Wheeler for Alvarado. Using Kimbrel multiple times in the 2023 NLCS when everyone with half a brain knew he was cooked. That was also a team that he managed that blew a 2-0 and 3-2 series lead, with games 6 and 7 at home. Last year against the Mets, this year against the Dodgers. Refuses to fire his hitting coach. Same ole same ole with this guy. He's the current version of Danny Ozark. Let me ask you a question. Who would you pick to lead your team if you had a choice- Rob Thomson or Bruce Bochy?

well I have a personal grudge against Bochy because I live in SF Giants country and while most of our fanbase particularly hates teams like the Mets and Nationals, I kind of hate the SF Giants (as well as the 49ers in football) with a disdain that surpasses our disdain for the Cowboys. That being said, I would certainly consider him. He's also 70 years old maybe the primary reason why he's even available is because he's burnt out. I'm speculating about that last part but it seems possible.

45 minutes ago, JohnB said:

well I have a personal grudge against Bochy because I live in SF Giants country and while most of our fanbase particularly hates teams like the Mets and Nationals, I kind of hate the SF Giants (as well as the 49ers in football) with a disdain that surpasses our disdain for the Cowboys. That being said, I would certainly consider him. He's also 70 years old maybe the primary reason why he's even available is because he's burnt out. I'm speculating about that last part but it seems possible.

I agree with you about SF teams. I hate them as well. I know Bochy is 70 but I'm thinking if you could get him for 3 years, why not. If you cant win it with him in those 3 years, well then you just tear it down and reset. Hey, I still have scars from the 2010 NLCS. Lincecum, Cain, Cody Ross, that stupid bearded closer, and that crybaby Posey. Ughhh.