Phillies Top Priority for 2020 Season

Thread to discuss moves for next season.

I voted Starting Pitching, Explore trades, and Other.
Certainly kick the tires on Rendon, but we really need $$$ for SP.
If we can trade Cesar/Mikael/Haseley to acquire SP and chase Rendon, then I'm all for it.

We need to be going into 2020 with Eflin/Vinny as our 5th starter.
No way should we count on having both of them in the rotation.

Gotta upgrade the rotation and resign Realmuto.

Fire Gabe because his coaching hires suck.

Nola/Arrieta/?/?/? has not been good enough. Don't care if it's Gerrit Cole or not, but they need to get better at SP2 and 3.

I don't like spending money in the bullpen for the reasons we saw this year. I'd like to think that we'd be OK with Dominguez and Robinson coming back, anyway.

Guy Incognito said:

Gotta upgrade the rotation and resign Realmuto.

Fire Gabe because his coaching hires suck.

Nola/Arrieta/?/?/? has not been good enough. Don't care if it's Gerrit Cole or not, but they need to get better at SP2 and 3.

I don't like spending money in the bullpen for the reasons we saw this year. I'd like to think that we'd be OK with Dominguez and Robinson coming back, anyway.

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Kapler is the obvious scapegoat.
I just don't place a high priority on finding a new manager as I do on obtaining the best possible lineup and pitching staff.

Kind of like Brett Brown in the last year of the Process before Embiid/Simmons were healthy and playing together.
He's got the right ideas, just needs the right roster to work with....

kapler was a mistake. much like chip kelly, he's not built for the job. where as kelly eventually went back to the NCAA, kapler would make a solid bench coach. nothing more. maddon needs to be the #1 target this offseason. regardless of whether they can get him, kapler needs to be fired.

a bullpen tear down needs to be #2. too many old, inconsistent, injury prone guys. they should be loading up on average type workhorses in their mid 20's who can, at the very least, be counted on to show up consistently.

#3 is starting pitching. nola, arrieta, howard. eflin deserves a chance to fill it out. but reality is they really need two top of the rotation starters.. and eflin gets first shot when someone gets hurt. absolutely choked on not trading for mike minor last year. not only a lefty they desperately need, but he put together a monster year. now he's an ultra sell high candidate for the rangers.

#4 thinking outside of the box. sign rendon, trade hoskins for a pitcher and put bohm at 1st base.

_phiLLies_ said:

#4 thinking outside of the box. sign rendon, trade hoskins for a pitcher and put bohm at 1st base.

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The options for FA at 3B are limited.
I'm ok with trading either Hoskins or Bohm for SP and letting the other play 1B.

If Cesar has to be included in the trade, then you can slot Kingery at 2B.
If Cesar stays, then Kingery could play 3B.

I prefer not to go into 2020 relying on Bohm at 3B or Howard as a SP for production.
It's just too big of a risk.

Starting pitching......and...wait for it...........it's not even close. It's time to admit Arrieta is a bad fit. He can't get lefty hitters out and the ball flies out of CBP in right field. Either Arrieta or Eflin should be a 5th starter at best in their rotation. They definitely need at least one lefty starter. I hate to even suggest it because it is a classic Phillies move that doesn't work out, but I wonder how much Cole Hamels will be looking to get for next year? He is a much better fit for CBP than a lot of other pitchers with his experience here and the way he pitches. ( he's left handed and he pitches smart. i.e. he knows who to pitch to and who to pitch around. He knows he'll give up the homers but he makes sure most of them are solo hrs)

Next priority, I'd definitely make a run at Maddon too, but if not I'm good with Kapler.

And of course re sign Realmuto if it is reasonable. There's no better play than watching the opposing team get thrown out trying to steal a base.

Rendon would be nice but he might be getting some crazy money. In theory, Josh Donaldson is a free agent too so he may be more willing to sign a shorter deal. But we may have missed the boat on that one. Now that he's had success with Atlanta they may be more likely to keep him there.

Potato Salad? Sure, why the fuck not?

Apparently I missed something, and Chris Young deserves to keep his job.

World Series or bust next year. If they don't win the whole thing, fire every last one of them.

Guy Incognito said:

Apparently I missed something, and Chris Young deserves to keep his job.

World Series or bust next year. If they don't win the whole thing, fire every last one of them.

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Seems they've come to their senses, and Young has been fired. I think that both Kapler's choices for hitting coach and pitching coach getting canned in the same season shouldn't bode well for Gabe.

Top two pitcher FAs to be in 2020.

Gerritt Cole, 29, RHP, 6.1 WAR. Current 1-year $13 mill contract. Phils should make this guy top priority.

Steven Strasberg, 31, RHP, 6.3 WAR. Can opt out with 4 years and $100 mill remaining on current contract. Would like to see Phils steal him from Nats.

Heads are rolling and Kapler is gonso!

Retroram52 said:

Heads are rolling and Kapler is gonso!

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The only heads that matter are Klentak and MacFail.....

Look at how Washington skillfully built a winner over the past half-dozen years. Strasburg was a winner from the start, 15-6 in 2012, his first full year. Then they go out and get Scherzer in '15. Still not satisfied, they didn't sit on their hands, they signed Corbin and Sanchez for 2019. The emergence of Rendon and Soto lessened the effect of losing Harper. You can see the results watching the playoffs.

The Phillies should now hire Kurt Schilling who is interested in the manager job. He would bury the Dildoes for good. Don't wait around though because he is also interested in a pitching coach job with the Red Socks.

Retroram52 said:

The Phillies should now hire Kurt Schilling who is interested in the manager job. He would bury the Dildoes for good. Don't wait around though because he is also interested in a pitching coach job with the Red Socks.

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I’d prefer a real manger, Girardi or Showalter. In one Phils discussions yesterday, both Ben Davis and Corey Simon suggested Girardi. Somebody here, maybe northeast, also suggested him awhile ago.

jvett77 said:

I’d prefer a real manger, Girardi or Showalter. In one Phils discussions yesterday, both Ben Davis and Corey Simon suggested Girardi. Somebody here, maybe northeast, also suggested him awhile ago.

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GO for Joe! However Klentak will probably avoid getting a real baseball mind.

northeastphillyguy said:

GO for Joe! However Klentak will probably avoid getting a real baseball mind.

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That’s why Klentak should be booted out the door. Imagine Madden or Girardi listening to Klentak’s ideas.

That was not an encouraging press conference from Friday.
Are we to believe Middleton is calling the shots and Klentak/MacPhail are his lackeys?

If that's the case, how likely are they to pick a manager that will have no say in how things are done within the organization?

Sparhawk said:

That was not an encouraging press conference from Friday.
Are we to believe Middleton is calling the shots and Klentak/MacPhail are his lackeys?

If that's the case, how likely are they to pick a manager that will have no say in how things are done within the organization?

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Good questions. I think the Phillies will be in trouble for quite a while. Somebody had to take the fall and/or some changes had to be made. I'm not saying Kapler should not have been fired, I'm saying most of the problems were spread around - Klentak not picking up another proven starter and poor player performance. Unless people were born yesterday, we know why the team ended at .500 with no improvement over 2018 when Kapler and the team won 14 more after losing 96 games the previous year. We know why no gains were made in 2019. Just to rehash the obvious examples:

• All starters including Nola fell down on the job. They certainly didn't develop as I predicted they would. Eickhoff never recovered from finger problems, Pivetta was a joke, Arrieta, Eflin, Velasquez, unreliable off and on, etc. Starter ERA averages were over 4.50 to 5.00+.
  
• Relievers got injured, e.g., old man Robertson.
  
• McCutchen's injury ruined the leadoff position which had to by juggled the whole season.
  
• Franco after a solid start, was a dud, not the guy who I predicted would hit 35 homers.
• Both Hoskins and Franco hit for low average and .220 with RISP.
• Kapler did make mistakes and he seemed to over rely on analytics and didn't encourage moving runners along in close games.

With most of these player problems cleaned up even somewhat, the Phils easily could have won 10 more games and Kapler would still have his job. So, whoever gets the manager job won't do well unless the players do well and Klentak gets two solid starters. I just hope that some available solid manager out there will be attracted by the opportunity.