Sad news: The head coach of Philadelphia Phillies sheld tears as two of his best player’s has made a final decision to terminate their contract
PHILADELPHIA: The Phillies of 2022 finished 14 games out of first place, got hot in the bloated playoffs, then went back to their level and famously floundered before pledging to come back and try it all again.
The Phillies of 2023 finished the regular season 14 games behind the leaders, got a little hotter in the bloated postseason, then fell back to earth and had a famous collapse.
To kind of quote that old football coach, “cut through all the lies about the fans—fair weather frauds, too many of them—and the ballpark noise and dubious choice of a theme song, and the Phillies were what everyone knew they were in 2023.” Despite their willingness, they were ineffective.
They also lacked a manager who could have helped with the repair quickly. They were strike-out-prone, erratic, and designed to counter illegal defensive shifts. They had slow-afoot double-play carriers in their everyday lineup, which was unclean in an era when pitchers had fewer chances to keep runners close to the plate and bigger bases. Their defense was adequate, if not spectacular.
Rich from John Middleton’s mad money, Dave Dombrowski tries every year to fill in the gaps in a bullpen by trying players like Sam Coonrod and Archie Bradley here, Corey Knebel and Brad Hand there, Yunior Marte and, surprise!, Craig Kimbrel here, there, and everywhere. That would work if there had to be a manuscript for wild-card contention. However, the ruling party practically went all out last week with its self-congratulations on Josh Harris’s “huge success.”
“When you”have a good team, start looking through the haze,” Dombrowski remarked.
That’s the issue in that area. Too many people are either ignoring the haze or actively contributing to it with their habitual post-game clubhouse smoke show after each regular-season victory.
There was no immediate call for managerial change, even though Dombrowski was willing to let Rob Thomson start the season on the final year of his intriguing two-year contract, suggesting the props department keep a Wawa bag on hand in case of the yearly slow start.
The suggestion that Johan Rojas will start the upcoming season in the minors learning how to—wwait for it—hhit was the closest any of them got to acknowledging overreach.
To their eternal credit, consider Ed’s resolve.The Phillies will attempt to win a Stanley Cup once more in the offseason, as Snider used to demonstrate.
Recommitting to Aaron Nola will be their first move, along with accepting his high strikeout rate during the season and preparing for the one inning that will end far too many of his starts. It makes sense that they will let Rhys Hoskins go, as long as they use the money for other purposes. For a 31-year-old coming off an empty season and soon to turn 31, there is no spot in the order unless Kyle Schwarber plays left field every day—that was some ballet, wasn’t it?
There will be upgrades after that. Dombrowski might acquire Mike Trout or Juan Soto through trade, but the Phillies will still be in first place otherwise (annual overstatement alert).
mostly unaltered for the upcoming season. Again, the bullpen will be adjusted. An upgrade is required for Centerfield. Even on this day of no pinch hits in DH, the bench still needs some help.
However, if Thomson persists in leading off Schwarber or is confused about when to use Zack Wheeler, then what will actually change? To put it another way: Does he, like in 2022, remove him too soon during an elimination game? Or, like in the last NLCS championship game, does he wait until it is too late to use his one and only trustworthy pitcher? That’s also not being picky. As the Phillies lost Games 6 and 7, Thomson—who shamelessly stuck with the same lineup the night before after going without a hit in the 2022 World Series—became even more obstinate.
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