If we're going to shuffle the farm, I'd rather find a quality SP. Berrios and Bieber would be awesome if both teams become sellers.

Phillies are a team with not enough homegrown talent...we are trying to buy our way to a good team (only impact homegrown players are Nola, Neris, Hoskins and Kingery)....everyone else including maybe even the last 3 of the 4 are question marks. We probably should have been bottom feeding a few more years building prospects before we started overspending on the Harpers, Wheelers and Arrietas of the world.

Oh well - guess this is what happens when you have a mixed-message ownership team. They could still win but it will be a bunch of things just falling the right way.

Go Phils!

Grotewold wrote:

76erfan wrote:bad luck every year happens though.

Well not really. Some years you have good luck overall, others somewhere in the middle. Losing McCutchen and eight of your top nine relievers was pretty rough. None of the young pitchers improving really, although that could easily happen again.

and 5 or 6 games where they lost when leading with one strike left. i'm sure that's a high number.

They probably want to find out if Arrieta is a waste of $20M, a #2 starter, or somewhere in between. And to see if McCutchen can run/play every day. And to see how Segura handles 3B. And if Howard or Bohm step up in spring. And who's healthy in the bullpen. And if Price helps Pivetta or VV.

Then use the excess assets we have (Segura? Bohm? Haseley? Hoskins? a SP?) to fill in gaps we actually have.

It's a long ass season, and you don't have to be finished building in December, or even May.

Making up as many games as we need to make up, and with 3 teams ahead of us, is also a lot of wishful thinking. Nearly everything would have to go well and the other teams would need to have their luck drop. It's hard to make up that many games.

I'm not saying we weren't unlucky, we certainly were, but that bad luck carries into this year to a certain extent because those injured players have to come back healthy. The two years are not completely independent events. It's not like rolling the dice two separate times.

Plus, maybe some of what appeared to be bad luck was actually bad design. I would guess that's almost certainly the case.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the collection we have at 3B, SS, and 2B, as a unit, is going to be one of the worst in the league this year offensively. And we have no idea what we'll get out of Haseley in CF or if Cutch will come back at full strength. That's a lot of ifs on a team that needs to make up a lot of ground. And that's before we even start to talk about the pitching.

Add to that, the Braves core should be getting better, not worse. They were lucky with injuries last year, but any drop off in that department should be offset by the core developing.

Looks to me like we are taking a longshot flier to sneak into a WC spot. That rarely turns out well.

MFP wrote:Rule 5 Draft about to start. Wouldn't mind seeing Bryan Price get a chance to make something out of someone like Alec Hansen.

One thing we should really look forward to even if there are no more moves is we have a real pitching coach now.

Well, the Phillies website has an article from Zolecki saying that big moves are done. Really frustrated with the bullpen. I know things vary year to year in that respect, but to just go in with what failed us last year is troubling. Maybe they don't think that bullpen arms are a "big move"?

You have to ask yourself this question: Why blow big money on the bullpen after spending $30 million on Robertson, Hunter, and Neshek and getting absolutely nothing out of it?

[Quinn has] been on the IL 10 times since the team selected him in the second round of the 2011 draft.

Seem light. I guess the stays must have been substantial.

Nats and Braves are in on Bryant. Fun.

TempleFan22 wrote:Nats and Braves are in on Bryant. Fun.

disagree.

CFP wrote:You have to ask yourself this question: Why blow big money on the bullpen after spending $30 million on Robertson, Hunter, and Neshek and getting absolutely nothing out of it?

Yankees spent a lot of money for their pen and it worked out pretty good for them

thephan wrote:

[Quinn has] been on the IL 10 times since the team selected him in the second round of the 2011 draft.

Seem light. I guess the stays must have been substantial.

Gonna rename it the Quinjury List

Bill McNeal wrote:

thephan wrote:

[Quinn has] been on the IL 10 times since the team selected him in the second round of the 2011 draft.

Seem light. I guess the stays must have been substantial.

Gonna rename it the Quinjury List

IR stands for injuried roman

Phillies let go Scott Sheridan and his assistant Chris Mudd says someone I never heard of

Ace Rothstein wrote:Phillies let go Scott Sheridan and his assistant Chris Mudd says someone I never heard of

Was it Alowishus Devadander Abercrombie?

Ace Rothstein wrote:Phillies let go Scott Sheridan and his assistant Chris Mudd says someone I never heard of

think they did that right after the season. they hired someone from the Red Sox the other day to take over.

https://www.inquirer.com/sports/phillie ... 91212.html

Kris Bryant trade rumors won’t fade.
Now that Rendon is an Angel, Josh Donaldson will soon sign with the Nationals ... or the Braves ... or the Rangers. Regardless, there’s about to be a loser in the game of musical third basemen.

That's where Bryant comes in.

The Cubs want to clear payroll space and appear unlikely to agree on an extension with the 2016 NL MVP. They surely will want a haul of prospects and big leaguers, and a ruling on whether Bryant is eligible for free agency after 2020 or the following year isn’t expected for weeks.

The Phillies have run from trade talks involving third-base prospect Alec Bohm. Getting Bryant also would push them into luxury-tax territory. But Middleton loves superstars, and Bryant is pals with Harper. So, until he’s dealt to another third base-needy team, Phillies fans might as well stay tuned.

Seems like mostly wishful thinking.

Grotewold wrote:FWIW Gelb said yesterday the team thinks it was dealt some bad luck last year, and would be willing to make a bold move in July

I think WILLING is incorrect, “might be willing” which is far less certain and this was part of a discussion about the Luxury Tax being assessed at the end of the season.