2018 was a year of ups and downs for the Philadelphia Phillies

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Aaron Nola broke out to become the Phillies 2018 top story

It’s New Year’s Eve, and as the sand runs out in the hourglass of the year 2018, this would be a good time to take a look back on the year as it played out for the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Phillies entered the calendar year of 2018 with the echoes of their successes in the previous decade, successes which had spilled over to the first years of the present decade, growing fainter and fainter.

After finishing in last place in the National League East Division standings in three of the previous four seasons, the Phillies began putting a roster together they hoped would begin reversing that trend early in January.

On January 3, the Phillies invited 10 non-roster players and newly signed free agents to spring training. Among those players were Pedro Florimon, who would appear in 50 games during the regular season, and Mitch Walding, who would appear in the first 13 games of his big-league career.

Before the month of January was out, eight more non-roster players or new free agent additions would also receive invitations to join the Phillies in Clearwater. Among those were Scott Kingery, who would end up as the Phillies starting shortstop for much of the coming season.

Once spring training got underway, changes to the roster continued to shed the players who had contributed as regulars during the recent losing history when Tommy Joseph and Cameron Rupp were each designated for assignment during March.

The Phillies made a big, late free agent addition on March 12 when the club came to agreement on three-year contract with Jake Arrieta. The 32-year-old right-hander had won the 2015 NL Cy Young Award and would bring a much-needed veteran presence to the team’s rotation.

2018 SEASON OPENS WITH HOPE

As the season opened, the club had little hope. Most fans would have considered a .500 finish during a season in which young players made strides towards the future as a positive step forward. But the club played well early, bolting out to a 14-7 mark over the first three weeks.

A hot stretch in early May pushed the Phillies record up to 29-20 and into first place in the division on May 26. However, the club began to slump at that point, losing seven of eight games to open the month of June. They continued to fight, and at the MLB All-Star Game break the Phillies were 53-42 and back in first place by a half-game.

That All-Star break was a fun one for Phillies fans, with starting pitcher Aaron Nola rewarded for a phenomenal first half by being named to the National League squad for the first time.

Nola would prove the best individual story of the season, going 17-6 with a 2.37 ERA and 0.975 WHIP. He allowed just 149 hits over 212.1 innings with 224 strikeouts. For that performance, Nola would finish third in the NL Cy Young Award voting.

Phillies have 10 remaining arbitration-eligible players

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Franco is one arbitration-eligible who should return in 2019

With the announcement this weekend that Pedro Florimon was outrighted from the 40-man roster, cleared waivers, and opted to become a free agent the Philadelphia Phillies have 10 arbitration-eligible players remaining.

Five of the seven are pitchers: right-handers Aaron Nola, Vince Velasquez, Jerad Eickhoff, and Hector Neris and lefty Adam Morgan. The two position players who I believe should return are third baseman Maikel Franco and outfielder Aaron Altherr.

Seven of those 10 players should be back with the team next season, especially considering the value they are likely to return on the contracts that each is likely to receive.

Three players who are eligible for arbitration should be moving on: second baseman Cesar Hernandez, first baseman Justin Bour, and pitcher Luis Garcia.

The pitchers should all be no-brainers. Nola is the current staff ace, a legitimate Cy Young Award contender. Velasquez, despite his continued command and control issues, has a valuable arm that could help the club at the back end of either the rotation or the bullpen.

Neris also still has a big-time arm. As Corey Seidman for NBC Sports Philadelphia pointed out in his own look at the arb-eligibles a few weeks back, Neris had the second-highest strikeout rate in the National League this past season behind only Josh Hader.

While Eickhoff and Morgan might seem like interesting choices, neither is likely to be expensive. Matt Swartz of MLB Trade Rumors estimates Eickhoff at $1.7 million and Morgan at $1.1 million for 2019. Those are relatively inexpensive salaries.

If Eickhoff returns from his injury-lost campaign and returns to his 2016 level of performance, the price is a steal. Even just as a back-end rotation option or experienced arm at Triple-A waiting to help in the event of injuries, it’s not an outrageous sum.

Morgan is a favored whipping boy for some Phillies fans. However, turning 29-years-old at the start of spring training and with 301.2 innings over four big-league seasons he offers an experienced left-handed arm in the bullpen.

This isn’t just a “lefties are hard to come by” vote for Morgan. For a second straight season, Morgan struck out more batters and allowed fewer hits than innings pitched. After the all-star break, the 101 batters who Morgan faced hit just .242 with one homer off the southpaw.

At the price of just over $1 million for one season and considering that the Phillies hope to actually contend next year, I would bring Morgan back and hope that he continues to grow. He could prove to be a bargain.

In his arbitration breakdown, Seidman write this on Franco:

“Signing Franco and then trading him seems like the best route. Franco is coming off of his best full season in the majors but there are only so many starting jobs in the infield. If Rhys Hoskins moves back to first base, it will likely mean Carlos Santana plays third. Franco will be easier to move and could fetch more in a trade than Santana.”

Here is my problem with this line of thinking. Yes, there are only so many starting jobs in the infield. But one of those jobs, the third base job, is Franco’s. It has been for most of the last four years, and as Seidman said, last year was his best.

At age 26, Franco is just now entering his prime years. He cannot become a free agent for three more years. The Dominican native has legitimate 30-homer, 100-RBI potential.

MLB, NFL, and college football to join those affected by Hurricane Florence

Hurricane Florence (upper right) approaches the Carolinas
(Photo: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center via Wiki Commons)

The Philadelphia Phillies have an off-day in the 2018 schedule today. Thursday will be spent at their homes, with the slumping club in the middle of the final lengthy home stand of the season.

As the Phillies sit at home, the Miami Marlins are on the road. Today they will be making the short trip down I-95 from New York to Philadelphia following a series there with the host Mets.

After completing their sweep of the Phillies last night, the Washington Nationals headed back south to their home in the nation’s capital. The Nats will host the Chicago Cubs to make-up a game postponed during a series affected by weather just last weekend.

The Nationals, who have now pulled within a single game of the Phillies in the loss column in the National League East Division standings, then go on the road further south for a five-game trip to Atlanta and Miami.

All of this Major League Baseball action up and down the east coast comes at exactly the same time that Hurricane Florence will be reaching the United States.

The massive storm is expected to strike directly at the North Carolina-South Carolina border late Thursday and into Friday leaving destruction and likely death in its wake thanks to high winds, storm surge, flooding, and related issues.

The weather forecast in Philadelphia is looking good for this weekend, with no more than a 20% chance of rain at any point. That is thanks to a high-pressure system, one that will actually be a major contributor to the problems experienced by others.

That high-pressure system will keep Florence to our south, holding it in place in the Carolinas longer. This means heavy rainfall and flooding will continue inland for days after the storm makes its initial landfall at the coast.

But for their division rivals and for at least one of the Phillies own players, the storm will still be having an effect. In fact, because of the proximity to the storm area and even the slight chance that it could track a bit further north, the Cubs wanted to have their trip to D.C. postponed until October 1.

Whitney McIntosh with SB Nation described how the whole Nationals-Cubs situation developed in the first place, and why this particular date was selected for the make-up game:

“…all stemmed from a rainy weekend in D.C., which involved more than 10 hours of rain delays over multiple days. Including a Friday night debacle (September 7) where the Nationals wanted to call it early and Cubs players held out in the hopes the rain would move on. Frustration abounded and fans were confused as the delay dragged on into the night. That all led to a late-night postponement and a true doubleheader played on Saturday (which was also delayed!), followed by yet another postponement on Sunday. With Thursday the only shared off day for both teams, it was the easiest and only choice for a rescheduling.”

Bottom line, MLB did not want to risk the chance of rescheduling on October 1, which was the Cubs preference due to the storm. What if that game proved vital to the standings and was itself postponed by weather? Such a scenario could then back-up the entire postseason schedule. “Our voices have certainly been heard, but we don’t have any control,” said Chicago GM Theo Epstein per McIntosh.

Phillies may still have one final playoff push left in their 2018 season

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Asdrubal Cabrera's addition failed to help Phillies stay in contention

Frankly, I’m tired of thinking in terms of what this 2018 Philadelphia Phillies ball club can’t get done. 

I really don’t think they are a playoff team just yet. But I’ve also always been a glass-half-full guy. So, it’s time to examine the possibilities once again.

Much has been made of the Philadelphia Phillies sudden inability to win a series. They have now lost nine in a row going back to an early-August four-game sweep of Miami at Citizens Bank Park.

What you may not realize is that it was exactly one month ago today that the team’s 2018 hopes had crested. Fans had little reason to suspect what was about to happen next and unfold over this past calendar month.

On Wednesday morning, August 8, the Phillies woke up in Phoenix, Arizona as a first-place team. They were tied in the loss column with the Atlanta Braves, but had played and won three more times. Their lead was at two games in the loss column for an NL Wildcard playoff berth.

The club had defeated the host Arizona Diamondbacks the previous night by a 5-2 score when Nick Pivetta matched Dbacks ace Zack Greinke pitch for pitch. What had been a 1-0 pitcher’s duel was busted open with a four-run rally in the top of the eighth against former Phillies reliever Jake Diekman.

It was a sixth victory in seven games for the team. The lone defeat had come in the series opener on a 14th inning walkoff. The last defeat prior to the winning stretch had been a 13th inning walkoff at the hands of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.

The Phillies were winning baseball games and playing good teams tough on a regular basis. And there were signs that the club might finally be scoring runs on a consistent basis, something which had eluded them for much of the season. The Tuesday night victory was the fifth straight in which the club had scored at least five times.

Then on that Wednesday night the Phillies were shutout by Arizona’s lefty ace Patrick Corbin. No shame there. Corbin was an NL All-Star this season and was emerging as one of the top pitchers in all of baseball.

After an off-day the Phillies moved on to San Diego to face the Padres, the last place team in the West Division and owners of the worst record in the entire National League. Once again, they were shut out, this time by rookie Jacob Nix.

Those consecutive white-washings proved to be the beginning of a month-long 9-17 collapse leading up to last night’s opener at Citi Field in New York.

The month of losing had left the Phillies staring up at a three-game deficit to Atlanta in the division and had dropped them four games off the final Wildcard pace with four teams between them and that last-chance playoff spot.

But here we sit on Saturday morning, September 8, and the Phillies are still very much alive. The Braves faced a tough schedule this week, playing the Red Sox and Diamondbacks. They have gone just 1-4 to this point. Atlanta has lost seven of their last 10 overall, nine of their last 14 games.

With the Phillies 4-3 win over the Mets last night coupled with a Braves 5-3 loss to Arizona the division deficit has been cut to just two games in the loss column. There are still 22 games remaining for the Phillies this season, including seven of the final 11 as head-to-head battles with Atlanta.

The Phillies still have not resolved a huge negative issue that has plagued the team all year long. They still are not scoring on a consistent basis. 

Prior to last night the lone Phillies victory of the past week came when the offense erupted for nine runs in Miami. But in the other four games, all losses, the team managed to score just a single run in each.

Management tried to help by bringing in veterans Asdrubal Cabrera, Wilson Ramos, and Justin Bour to bolster the attack and provide greater depth. It really hasn’t helped very much.

Matt Klentak might be wise to look into lefty reliever Francisco Liriano

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Francisco Liriano could help the Phillies as a lefty reliever

There is a great deal of warranted interest and excitement every year around the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline in Major League Baseball.

Teams can deal away players up until 4:00PM EDT on that date without first subjecting them to the waiver wire.

Once that deadline passes it doesn’t mean that trades cannot be made. After that point players can still be dealt. However, they must first pass through waivers.

Non-contending teams frequently will put a player they are interested in dealing on waivers during the month of August. Each of the other 29 clubs in MLB have an opportunity to make a claim in reverse order of the current standings.

If no one claims the player, he enters into a status of having “cleared waivers” and he can then be traded. If the player is claimed, the team who waived him can let him go to the claiming team, can pull him back, or can work out a trade with the claiming team.

It happens every year that some players are dealt in this manner. Phillies fans may remember that a couple of the 2008 World Series heroes, Chase Utley in 2015 and Carlos Ruiz in 2016, were each dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers during the month of August.

Phillies already made one August move
this year, adding Bour’s veteran lefty bat.

Phillies general manager Matt Klentak has already moved once this month to help strengthen his club. The Phillies GM obtained Justin Bour on August 10 from the Miami Marlins in exchange for prospect pitcher McKenzie Mills.

Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors has reported that veteran left-handed pitcher Francisco Liriano of the Detroit Tigers as cleared waivers. 

Adams describes the value that Liriano could bring to a team such as the Phillies:There is another player out there who has apparently cleared waivers who could also help the Phillies, and who might come at a similarly reasonable cost.

“…he’s held left-handed pitching to a terrible .141/.247/.239 slash through 81 plate appearances. With $984K still owed to him through the end of the year, he’d be a reasonably affordable lefty specialist for a contending team’s bullpen.”

Liriano is a 34-year-old now in his 13th big league season. He was originally signed as a teenager by the Minnesota Twins, and broke in with the Twins in the 2005 season.

In his first full season with Minnesota in 2006, Liriano went 12-3 with a 144/23 K:BB ratio over 121 innings in 28 games, 16 of those as a starter. He made the American League all-star team and finished third in the AL Rookie of the Year voting.

He would go on to have big years with the Twins in 2010 when he finished 11th in the AL Cy Young Award voting, and then in 2013 when he finished 9th in the NL Cy Young voting as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

At the July 31, 2017 non-waiver deadline, Liriano was dealt from the Toronto Blue Jays to the Houston Astros. A member of the Jays rotation, Liriano became a lefty specialist with the Astros, making 20 appearances out of the bullpen for manager A.J. Hinch and helping the team nail down the AL West Division crown.

During the postseason he tossed 2.1 innings over five total appearances across the ALDS, ALCS, and the World Series, helping Houston win its first ever championship. He allowed one run, a homer to Rafael Devers of the Boston Red Sox in Game Three of that American League Division Series at Fenway Park.

Liriano signed with the Tigers as a free agent just prior to spring training opening back at the end of February. Pitching mostly as a member of the Detroit starting rotation he has compiled a 3-8 record, allowing just 89 hits across 97.1 innings. He flirted with no-hitters twice this season.

Jake Thompson dealt by Phillies to Milwaukee Brewers

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Jake Thompson dealt from Phillies to Milwaukee Brewers

The Philadelphia Phillies “traded” pitcher Jake Thompson to the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday. 

In exchange the Phillies received…cash. Not an intriguing prospect named “Cash”, just plain cash, as in money.

In effect, the Phillies sold Thompson to a National League Wildcard playoff rival. There is no other way to color this transaction than the Phillies giving up on Thompson.

Though details on the exact “why” were not announced, the likelihood is that the Brewers claimed Thompson after the Phillies designated him for assignment on Friday. That move was done in order to make room on the roster for the newly acquired Justin Bour.

With the claim, the Phillies would have three choices. Pull him back and DFA someone else. Let him go to the Brewers for nothing. Or cut some type of deal with Milwaukee.

GM Matt Klentak was obviously offered some amount of cash that he felt comfortable receiving back from Brew Crew GM David Stearns in order to surrender Thompson.

All of this begs the question, why Thompson? Why did the Phillies choose to DFA a 24-year-old pitcher who in seven minor league seasons has surrendered fewer hits than innings pitched, has produced a 3.55 ERA over 669 innings, and who just two years ago was the 2016 International League Most Valuable Pitcher?

There were other options. The club could have chosen to DFA someone like Mitch Walding, a soon-to-be 26-year-old. Walding is enjoying a nice season with the AAA Lehigh Valley IronPigs. However, he is nowhere to be found on any list or discussion of top Phillies prospects. He is an “organizational” guy available for positional depth at best.

The club could have chosen from a number of other similar pitchers rather than Thompson. Right-handers Ben Lively, Mark Leiter Jr, Yacksel Rios, and Drew Anderson. Lefties Adam Morgan or Jose Taveras.

These would have been the other candidates. You can make a legitimate argument that none has higher upside than Thompson. It’s hard to see any reason that Taveras was kept over Thompson other than the age-old baseball love for left-handed pitchers of nearly any skill level.

If you’re wondering whether the Phillies could have chosen to DFA catcher Andrew Knapp, the answer is both yes and no. The backup backstop turns 27-years-old in early November and has slashed .217/.310/.354 while demonstrating questionable defensive ability at best behind the plate.

However, with Wilson Ramos still on the DL at the time that the Bour move needed to be made, Knapp and Jorge Alfaro were the lone catchers on the 40-man roster. There is no way that you can play with just one legitimate catcher. So, while results and upside might mean Knapp could go, short-term practicality meant that he could not.

None of this is to say that Thompson didn’t have his own issues, command and control chief among them. With the Phillies, Thompson had allowed 4.7 walks for every nine innings pitched. Over 16.1 innings with the big club this season that BB/9 average was at the unsightly 6.1 mark.

His minor league record reveals just a 3.2 BB/9 figure over 144 games, 118 of those starts. However, this year his 5.0 mark revealed regression. Perhaps the Phillies simply didn’t think that he was fixable.

There is also always the possibility that some situation was going on behind the scenes to which we aren’t privy. Some personal or disciplinary problem. But that would be nothing more than pure speculation.

What we do know is that the Phillies now have given up on half the return which they received from the Texas Rangers in the Cole Hamels trade three years ago.

Thompson was considered a big part of that deal at the time. He had been the Detroit Tigers second round pick in the 2012 MLB Amateur Draft out of a Texas high school. Detroit dealt him along with Corey Knebel at the approach of the 2014 trade deadline to the Rangers in exchange for reliever Joakim Soria.

Almost exactly two years ago at this time, Thompson was making just his second MLB start. In earning his first big league win with a five-inning effort against the Colorado Rockies at Citizens Bank Park he also made a little Phillies history.

Thompson struck out four Rockies batters in the second inning of that contest. In doing so he became the first Phillies pitcher ever and the 80th in MLB history to accomplish the feat.

Also gone from the Hamels deal is lefty pitcher Matt Harrison, who was never going to pitch for the Phillies. He had career-ending injury issues that the club new about at the time of the trade, and his inclusion was simply the Phillies taking on a contract in order to obtain a better prospect package.

Right-handed pitcher Alec Asher was basically given away to the Baltimore Orioles. He was dealt at the end of spring training in 2017 for cash considerations or a player to be named later who was never named. Odds are that some small amount of cash was passed between the two organizations.

Remaining with the Phillies are the current starting right fielder Nick Williams, starting catcher (for the time being) Jorge Alfaro, and injured pitcher Jerad Eickhoff.

The Phillies are not likely to miss Thompson very much in the long run. That they felt capable of giving up on a talented pitcher who still projects to have some upside says something positive about the state of the organizational pitching options.

Originally published at Phillies Nation as "Phillies give up on pitcher Jake Thompson"

Phillies management will face tough choices in fixing lineup and roster issues

Phillies offense and defense have been poor in 2018

The Philadelphia Phillies are showing signs that the offensive and defensive struggles which have plagued the team all season may finally be ready to derail hopes for an unexpected 2018 playoff berth.

Friday night’s 2-0 shutout at the hands of the NL West cellar-dwelling San Diego Padres served to reveal symptoms of what have been season-long weaknesses. One of the biggest manifested itself once again as the club left 10 men on base.

The club has been shut out twice in a row. They haven’t scored now in 19 innings. The Phillies offensive attack is actually not inconsistent. Truth be told, it is virtually non-existent. That is especially so when compared with most other contending teams.

Those shortcomings have been pointed out previously, but it’s educational to take an updated look at where the Phillies offense stacks up now that we are into the season’s fifth month.

Keeping the comparisons within the National League where lineups are not bolstered by a Designated Hitter is probably fairer. But even just within the senior circuit, the Phillies do not fare well in statistical comparisons.

The Phillies current team ranks within the 15 teams of the NL in various key offensive statistics are as follows: Runs (11), Hits (14), Extra-base Hits (11), OPS (11), and Stolen Bases (14). The team’s hitters are second in the league in strikeouts having whiffed 1,099 times, just nine behind the Padres for the worst mark in the league.

Over the last two weeks the Phillies have fashioned a 6-7 record. They have fallen from first place with a 2.5 game lead to now trailing the Atlanta Braves by percentage points in the National League East Division race.

In that time the offense has scored 40 runs, or just over three runs per game. On the season the Phillies are now averaging about 4.33 runs per game.

Defensively things are no better. With 83 errors the Phillies rank 28 of the 30 teams in Major League Baseball. Those are just the charged miscues. There have been a number of other misplays and poor judgments made. The catchers failing to handle offerings that have been charged as wild pitches. It has been an almost nightly comedy of literal errors.

There are many culprits when you glance up and down the Phillies lineup. One of the biggest is the 32-year-old, $60 million first baseman, Carlos Santana. He is on pace to hit roughly 25 home runs and produce 95 RBI. Some will tell you that makes him worth the contract.

Santana will drop statistically in a number of categories for a second straight season at age 32.

However, Santana is also hitting an anemic .217, and his slugging percentage is more than 40 points below his career average. Across the board from those AVG and SLG marks to OPS, doubles, hits, total bases and more, Santana is going to drop for a second straight season.

As Santana ages to 33 and 34 over the next two years and $40 million owed, for anyone to expect a reversal of that trend would be foolish. This was a bad signing when it happened, and it is likely only to look even worse over the course of the next two seasons.

The problem isn’t just in Santana’s numbers and age, but it is also with Phillies management. Their judgment in awarding such a contract commitment to such a limited player is disturbing. What would be even more disturbing? Their inability or unwillingness to admit a mistake and to take a corrective measure.

Justin Bour obtained by Phillies in waiver trade with Marlins

Bour adds a lefty power bat to the Phillies mix

The Philadelphia Phillies have acquired first baseman Justin Bour in a waiver trade from the Miami Marlins according to multiple reliable sources this afternoon, including MLB insider Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

Bour turned 30 years of age back on May 28. He was selected originally by the Chicago Cubs with their 25th round selection in the 2009 MLB Amateur Draft. In December 2013 he was selected by Miami after the Cubs had left him unprotected for the Rule 5 Draft.

Bour would finish fifth in the 2015 NL Rookie of the Year voting after hitting .262 with 23 home runs and 73 RBI as the Marlins starting first baseman.

That is the lone defensive position played by Bour during his big-league career. He has appeared in 413 games at first base across parts of five seasons. The Marlins also used him as their DH during Inter-league games on 10 occasions.

Bour leads the Marlins this season with 19 homers and 54 RBI. He also has 23 doubles, giving him a .412 slugging percentage. While he is hitting just .227, Bour has a .347 on-base percentage thanks to his 69 walks.

Miami made Bour available on waivers, and he was claimed by Phillies GM Matt Klentak, who then worked out the trade details. The minor league pitcher going back to Miami has not been made public as of this time, but it is not believed to be one of the Phillies top prospects.

Ken Rosenthal

✔@Ken_Rosenthal

Bour owed about $900K, the balance of his $3.4M salary. Two years of control after this, so #Phillies might trade or non-tender him. #Marlins could have simply let him go on trade waivers, but included cash in deal to acquire minor-league pitcher. Not simply giving him away.

2:19 PM - Aug 10, 2018

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With Carlos Santana seemingly entrenched as the starting first baseman, it would appear that Bour has been added as a power lefty bat option for manager Gabe Kapler.

Phillies fans can expect to see Bour as a pinch-hitter, especially late in the game against right-handed relievers. He will also likely give Santana the occasional breather at first base.

It's a role that Bour found success in back on May 1st against the Phillies. He clobbered a pinch-homer off Zach Eflin at Marlins Park to tie that game at 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth, with Miami eventually winning it 2-1 in 10 innings.

The Phillies have now added three veteran hitters to their mix over the last couple of weeks as they attempt to hold on to first place in the National League East Division. The addition of Bour follows those of infielder Asdrubal Cabrera and catcher Wilson Ramos.

As the Phillies enter a three-game weekend series beginning Friday night in San Diego, they stand a game up on the Atlanta Braves in the division. The Phillies and Braves are tied in the loss column, with Atlanta holding two games in hand. The Washington Nationals are now 5.5 games back.

Originally published at Phillies Nation as "Phillies reportedly acquire Justin Bour from Marlins in August waiver deal"