The latest out of Philadelphia…
- The Phillies moved right-hander Vince Velasquez to their bullpen May 26, but they’re already giving him an opportunity to reclaim his old starting role. Velasquez will start Saturday, when he could “take control of the fifth spot for the time being,” manager Gabe Kapler told Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer and other reporters. The 24-year-old Velasquez hasn’t performed well as either a reliever or starter this season, evidenced by a 4.71 ERA/5.57 FIP in 42 innings. But with no obvious answer behind Aaron Nola, Jake Arrieta, Zach Eflin and Nick Pivetta, the Phillies are turning back to Velasquez. For the most part, Nola, Arrieta, Eflin and Pivetta haven’t been great either, which helps explain the Phillies’ recent tumble down the NL East standings. They’ve lost 13 of 19 since sitting a season-best 11 games over .500 on May 29, and now trail the division-leading Braves by 4 1/2 games.
- Philadelphia announced Friday that it has reinstated reliever Adam Morgan from the 10-day injured list and optioned fellow lefty Cole Irvin to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Morgan missed just under a month with a left forearm strain. Before that, the former starter pitched to a 1.96 ERA (with a less shiny 3.93 FIP) and logged 8.84 K/9 against 2.45 BB/9 in 18 1/3 innings. Morgan’s return is a bit of good news for a Philly bullpen which is still dealing with injuries to David Robertson, Seranthony Dominguez, Pat Neshek, Victor Arano, Jerad Eickhoff and Tommy Hunter.
- The Phillies have promoted young third baseman Alec Bohm to the Double-A level, per per the Inquirer’s Matt Breen. The 22-year-old Bohm opened the season at Single-A before jumping to High-A, where he raked with a .329/.395/.506 line (164 wRC+), four home runs, and 17 unintentional walks against 21 strikeouts in 177 plate appearances. Bohm, the third pick in last year’s draft and now MLB.com’s 39th-ranked prospect, could end up in the majors around September if he continues rolling in the minors, Breen writes. The Phillies are weak at third base, where Maikel Franco has managed awful production, though they could remedy that by the July 31 trade deadline instead of counting on Bohm as a late-season savior.
You forgot the biggest Phillies note, Mac and Chase finally got to play catch together.
lol
Exactly, let’s focus on the good!
Bohm opened the year at A-full, not A+, connor
Phillies have to go for gusto now! Or else all moves will be for naught. Time to cash in the farm for some more proven youth.
Or contact Yankee. Stanton for Harper, straight swap.
That would be stupid for the Yankees. Swapping Stanton for a bigger contract and worse player.
How’s that go?
Who would want Stanton’s contract and his injuries?
I think Bryce needs coach help for taking next step. Phillies are not strong coach team or good staff organization.
Phillies entire coaching staff is like two years old lol, and entire org was turned over since 2016
Is already too late. This team has quit.
Velasquez is 27 years old, not 24.
“For the most part, Nola, Arrieta, Eflin and Pivetta haven’t been great either…”
Actually Efflin had been behind solid.
Let’s wake up and take the next 2
Maybe next year Philly.
Eflin has been a pleasant surprise this year. Nola looked like Nola last night, albeit vs. a weak Marlins team. Arrieta is like Forest Gump’s box of chocolates, “You never know what you’re going to get.”. And we can put Pivetta in the same box of candy.
Velasquez was the obvious (Only?) choice to move up to fifths starter status. They say the stuff is there, but Velasquez has been maddeningly inconsistent. Last year he became the first starting pitcher in MLB history to start 30 games and pitch fewer than 150 innings. So expecting him to go deep into games isn’t in the cards.
We don’t have hardly anything to show for the Hamels and Giles trades, so it would be nice if Velasquez could seize the #5 slot and keep it all year. With a number of bullpen arms due back shortly, he probably doesn’t need to give us any more than five innings each night.
VV is 27 years old.
Eflin has a 2.83 era and a WHIp of 1.163.
With the talent on this roster, there is no way they should be slumping this bad. I know losing Cutch is mostly the problem. Somebody has to step up. Harper has to start earning his contract, I know he’s getting paid to hit home runs, but play small ball.
They addressed their offense this off season. They got Segura, JT, Harper and McCutchen. They also added Bruce and Kingery. They did nothing to improve the pitching. Either add a couple arms through trade, which I think they should do or wait till next year. Velasco hasn’t been terrible. Eflin has been good. Arrieta has been good. Two starters and maybe two bullpen arms and they’ll be solid..
Losing cutch is hurting more then they think, Segura has fallen off the planet, went from hitting .330 to .260
VelasQUEZ hasn’t been terrible, but he hasn’t been good either. He’s never lived up to his potential and he fooled us all with a 16 K game in 2016. Also, the Phillies never added Kingery, he’s home-grown and was signed to a 6-year MLB contract least spring.
Kingery was added to the major league roster.
Lost Cutch, lost Odubel, 3b has been missing.
The Phillies have Williams, Eickhoff and (part of) Realmuto from the Hamels trade. (Also some cash.)
6 game losing streak. Wow. This team is dying. No depth. Forget the post season. Can we avoid the basement even?
Time to package those minor leaguers …..MadBum to Philly