Brownie19

Then so is Tapia. At least Gurriel can hit (better). I think this team currently has enough versatility between Springer, Merrifield, Teo, Gurriel, Biggio, etc. Merrifield can be the backup CFer when Springer needs the day off - and of course, if we want to carry a 5th OFer like Zimmer or JBJ - that gives us what we need to allow Gurriel to be the primary 4th OFer (ie, getting the 450 PA's that Tapia did this year) if we add another OF and move Gurriel to the 4th OFer position.

The Phillies OF was so s***** this year that Bradley Zimmer, in all of 9 games and 16 PA's was actually one of their most productive backup outfielders (52 wRC+ and 0.2 WAR). They just started Castellanos (-0.7 WAR) and Matt Vierling (0.0 WAR) last night in the ALCS.

I agree with this. No thank you to Kirk for Varsho.

Big W against a very good team. Nice start to the season.

I hear you Term. It's all good man. This truly is a realistic trade for both teams. I just don't love it at first glance. Perhaps Urquidy has more upside than I realize.

Abreu is great, but I'd like to see us get something more than a stud bullpen arm (because bullpen arms are so volatile) and a #5 starter for one of our stud catchers. Urquidy doesn't move the needle and Meyers isn't much better than Zimmer to be honest (yes that sounds crazy). Just sign Jake Marisnick instead of trading for Meyers. If that's all that Jansen is worth, then I'd rather see what we could get for Kirk or Moreno.

I would think so, but the East is a deep division, so who knows. And yes, Embiid is a POS.

I'm really happy the Phillies pen shut down SD last night. If they come back to win that, the massive rage over pulling Wheeler would be unbearable.

Obviously we're going to need to re-sign Stripling or add another starter or 2, but it seems unlikely we're going to target a top of the rotation arm with Gausman, Manoah and Berrios manning the Top 3 spots. Mitch White isn't as a bad as the results indicate. He's going to be kept as starting depth for this team and it will be interesting to see what they do with Kikuchi. It appears there will be a couple of options on their way through the farm system also that will certainly help with our depth issue.

And keep in mind those players were the starters. Philly's 4th OFer, Matt Vierling also gave them 0 WAR in 357 PA's.

That can't be true! I'm told that only teams with great bullpens win in the playoffs. I mean look at the Yankees and their lockdown pen!

Wow - I never realized that Gurriel and Castellanos fell off a cliff this year. Gurriel is old, so not surprising, but Castellanos just signed that massive deal. Barf.

Season starts tonight, with the Raps first game tomorrow night. It's a pretty amazing time of the year of sports fans. Can't wait to watch the Raps develop this year.

That's all fair. Is there an argument that by moving him to RF (and letting him DH more) that we could actually get more production out of him? Would that move give him a high probability of staying healthier and thus in the lineup more? Will his defense continue to decline to the point he's a liability in CF? Perhaps it's not a dire need in 2023 and perhaps that should be the only focus because of the impending FA's after that - but I have a hard time not looking past that as I want a sustainable winner. We don't really have any obvious candidates in the minors who we can rely on, nor a plethora of top prospect depth we can use to trade for a CFer. The catcher position seemingly gives us our best chance to fill a hole on this team. I don't think you want to use one of our catchers to add a back end starter, reliever or a lefty bat (who isn't an impact starter). IMO, we're moving a catcher to add an impact core player to this team and for me - CF seems like a great target for that player (with a young, top of the rotation type starter being the other).

I hope that Jansen and Moreno both hit enough that we want them both to use up a decent % of the DH role. If not, then we should probably trade them instead.

I would disagree with that. We need a long term CFer. If Kirk is worth more and he is able to land you a young stud CFer (but Jansen won't) then that's something you'd have to consider.

They are also really close to being a very solid team. They are loaded with great young prospects. Not sure why they would trade their 27 year old ace who's under control for 3 more years.

I care. Omar is making some pretty interesting claims about the team culture. It's appears those claims aren't based on facts (if mphenhef is correct). I don't understand how fans believe they have anywhere near enough information to comment on something like the team culture. Fans barely have access to the tip of the iceberg.

One could argue that if there is no actual penalty to the defender (in this case the 1st baseman) than you're encouraging him to bend the rules as far as he can, hoping to get a judgment call to go his way because there are no consequences for attempting it. If the runner was awarded a base (regardless of whether they were trying to advance on the play) than the defender would really think twice about breaking that rule. If there was no penalty for balking and the ump just called time and said you can't do that - then pick off moves would always be right on the verge of balking...because, why not? (and maybe you could say for lefties that they already are on the verge of it)

This. This is correct Boxy. I think there was someone ahead of Adams in the tunnel already too. Adams ought to have stopped and helped the f***ing guy up and he's a dick for not doing that. But the camera man ran the red light - so no, I don't think he should be able to sue Adams and receive some large cheque simply because he's rich. If this collision happened between 2 people random cameramen, that guy wouldn't be suing anyone. You know some scumbag ambulance chasing lawyer was in this guys ear like 10 minutes after the incident telling him what to do and say so they both could cash in on the event that this f***ing camera caused himself. It's BS.

I think in this case, the argument is the runner wasn't trying to advance to 2nd base and thus shouldn't be awarded it on an obstruction call. That's my guess.

If memory serves correct, I believe Rizzo moved his leg to block it before he had the ball, which would support the idea that you can't block it (or start the motion to block it?) until you have the ball? I wasn't aware that was a rule at any base/plate. I don't understand why they allow you to block any base/plate at any time. It was weird because the ump seemingly just called a dead ball when this happened as Gimenez got up to dust himself off while Rizzo still had the ball. The broadcasters didn't seem to know what was happening or why. Their only stupid comment was that if players want to block it like that - next time you come in spikes first (which is essentially impossible on a pickoff attempt at 1st base).

I'm re-posting this here as I know some avoid the GDT's like the plague. Did you guys see the Gimenez pickoff call at 1st base? Umpire ruled him safe because Rizzo put his whole leg down in front of the bag. I'm very curious about this as you see 3rd basemen do this on steal attempts and throws from the OF from time to time and I've never see an umpire rule the player safe because he was blocking 3rd. Is there actual a rule that prevents a fielder from blocking the base? If so - I think that's great and that's how it should be. Is it for all bases? Anyone know?

Did you guys see the Gimenez pickoff call at 1st base? Umpire ruled him safe because Rizzo put his whole leg down in front of the bag. I'm very curious about this as you see 3rd basemen do this on steal attempts and throws from the OF from time to time and I've never see an umpire rule the player safe because he was blocking 3rd. Is there actual a rule that prevents a fielder from blocking the base? If so - I think that's great and that's how it should be. Is it for all bases? Anyone know?

Most Thursday night game blow - but this one is particularly horrible. Matchup of 2 of the shittiest QB's in football.