Last night, 6 of our 8 starters had OBP between .323 and.335. That is so fucking mediocre it’s absurd. I wonder how Gabe has won so many games with this squad.

“It wasn’t the easiest conversation. I think he took it hard,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “I think Nick is a developing young man, and specifically I think he’s still really learning 100 percent accountability.”

“Well, I think the most important thing a player can do in these situations is look themselves in the mirror and say, ‘What can I do better?’ And that’s what I mean by accountability,” Kapler said.

Translation: Nick thinks the demotion is unjustified and he blamed everyone else.

That's about as hard as Gabe is going to be on a guy.

Ace Rothstein wrote:Nicasio to the IL

Pivetta to Lehigh


Garcia and Davis recalled

Glad Pivetta is gone but what compromising pics of Phillies executives does Davis have? Sick of seeing him in a Phillies uniform

MoBettle wrote:That's about as hard as Gabe is going to be on a guy.

Yeah, I was trying to remember if Gabe's ever been this publicly critical of a player before.

philliesphhan wrote:

Ace Rothstein wrote:Nicasio to the IL

Pivetta to Lehigh


Garcia and Davis recalled

Glad Pivetta is gone but what compromising pics of Phillies executives does Davis have? Sick of seeing him in a Phillies uniform

Davis is the last Halladay pupil, so he’s got that going for him

Corey Dickerson doesn't walk a lot, but it's still pretty remarkable he hasn't walked once with the Phillies in 61 PA. He came into tonight's (Saturday's) game with a .250 BA and .246 OBP. Both went up, and thank goodness for that, but he managed to avoid walking on back to back nights when the Marlins walked 10.

Interesting article about Eflin going back to throwing more sinkers and the way he was pitching early in the year when he was actually pitching really well. Sounds like some Phillies coaches/officials were trying to fix what wasn't broken. Why? Reasons, I suppose.

The performance was Eflin’s best since mid-June. He had a horrendous month of July and was demoted to the bullpen. That demotion led to his taking stock in himself as a pitcher. He concluded that he was throwing too many four-seam fastballs as he tried to satisfy those who wanted the strikeouts and swings and misses that are in vogue in today’s game. Phillies officials preach throwing four-seamers up in the zone as a way to combat hitters looking to launch and the approach does have merit with pitchers who have fastballs in the mid-90s. Eflin, in fact, has had success, at times, with that approach. But after struggling so much in the middle of this season, and having trouble going deep into games, Eflin decided he needed to get back to his comfort zone. He threw 79 pitches Saturday night and 37 of them (a season-high 47 percent) were sinkers. He got 10 outs on the ground.

Who leads the NL in complete games this season? Leake, Buehler and Eflin with two a piece. There’s talent in him. Just needs someone to help him bring it out. Maybe not Chris Young.

We should try to get that Krabitz from the Braves.

sounds like a std

Phillies officials preach throwing four-seamers up in the zone as a way to combat hitters looking to launch and the approach does have merit with pitchers who have fastballs in the mid-90s

So our pitchers, who have good, but not great, velocity are being told to throw four-seam (i.e., straight), high fastballs. IOW, throw so-so fastballs, with no movement high in the zone.

Is it any wonder they’ve gotten their brains bashed in all season? Is it any wonder that a guy like Pivetta who has zero movement on his fastball might struggle with such an approach? Does no one consider that perhaps this top-down, one-size-fits-all approach might not work for this staff, especially considering they’re not really upper 90’s kind of pitchers?

Eflin has at least proven in multiple seasons that he can pitch well, and go deep into games, without getting Ks.

Pivetta is just an arm w a ten-cent head. Not sure he's any use to this franchise going forward.

Think this coaching staff is going to get canned. Gabe will prob survive, but seems like a reset is needed.

Slowhand wrote:Interesting article about Eflin going back to throwing more sinkers and the way he was pitching early in the year when he was actually pitching really well. Sounds like some Phillies coaches/officials were trying to fix what wasn't broken. Why? Reasons, I suppose.

The performance was Eflin’s best since mid-June. He had a horrendous month of July and was demoted to the bullpen. That demotion led to his taking stock in himself as a pitcher. He concluded that he was throwing too many four-seam fastballs as he tried to satisfy those who wanted the strikeouts and swings and misses that are in vogue in today’s game. Phillies officials preach throwing four-seamers up in the zone as a way to combat hitters looking to launch and the approach does have merit with pitchers who have fastballs in the mid-90s. Eflin, in fact, has had success, at times, with that approach. But after struggling so much in the middle of this season, and having trouble going deep into games, Eflin decided he needed to get back to his comfort zone. He threw 79 pitches Saturday night and 37 of them (a season-high 47 percent) were sinkers. He got 10 outs on the ground.

I saw that as well. Seems like we have some really dumb people working for this organization. It definitely seems like their approach too because it's almost always their go-to with an 0-2 count on a hitter

philliesphhan wrote:

Slowhand wrote:Interesting article about Eflin going back to throwing more sinkers and the way he was pitching early in the year when he was actually pitching really well. Sounds like some Phillies coaches/officials were trying to fix what wasn't broken. Why? Reasons, I suppose.

The performance was Eflin’s best since mid-June. He had a horrendous month of July and was demoted to the bullpen. That demotion led to his taking stock in himself as a pitcher. He concluded that he was throwing too many four-seam fastballs as he tried to satisfy those who wanted the strikeouts and swings and misses that are in vogue in today’s game. Phillies officials preach throwing four-seamers up in the zone as a way to combat hitters looking to launch and the approach does have merit with pitchers who have fastballs in the mid-90s. Eflin, in fact, has had success, at times, with that approach. But after struggling so much in the middle of this season, and having trouble going deep into games, Eflin decided he needed to get back to his comfort zone. He threw 79 pitches Saturday night and 37 of them (a season-high 47 percent) were sinkers. He got 10 outs on the ground.

I saw that as well. Seems like we have some really dumb people working for this organization. It definitely seems like their approach too because it's almost always their go-to with an 0-2 count on a hitter

Zolecki had a similar article, as well. Maybe that's why we're leading the league in HR allowed?

Yeah if they were throwing more sinkers our horrible pitchers would be great

Once again, I’m convinced Gabe has no idea what he’s doing.

joe table wrote:Yeah if they were throwing more sinkers our horrible pitchers would be great

Probably not, but I think the point to take away is that they took a guy who was having success pitching one way, and decided to completely change it because you gotta watch out for that launch angle. It just seems like a solution in search of a problem, one size fits all approach.

The B1G Piece wrote:Once again, I’m convinced Gabe has no idea what he’s doing.

It's possible, but I am more convinced that they need better players no matter who the manager is.

Slowhand wrote:

joe table wrote:Yeah if they were throwing more sinkers our horrible pitchers would be great

Probably not, but I think the point to take away is that they took a guy who was having success pitching one way, and decided to completely change it because you gotta watch out for that launch angle. It just seems like a solution in search of a problem, one size fits all approach.

Exactly. While I'm sure I don't understand everything that goes into analytics I'm guessing there is something in the process that takes the fact that not all players are the same. To ask a sinker ball pitcher to throw high fastballs depending on the count doesn't make much sense. In fact, it's pretty damn stupid, when you consider the usual reason they are sinker ball pitchers is they don't have a very good fastball.