The Phillies never announced contractual lengths for president Andy MacPhail or general manager Matt Klentak upon hiring the pair to spearhead the organization’s baseball operations department, and Matt Gelb of The Athletic reports (subscription required) that the team was similarly quiet about a pair of previously unannounced extensions for that duo. According to Gelb, MacPhail signed a three-year extension back in 2017 that runs through the 2021 season, while Klentak was extended through the 2022 campaign four months ago.
The extension for Klentak came on the heels of an offseason in which he aggressively reshaped the Phillies’ lineup by signing Bryce Harper and Andrew McCutchen while acquiring several players via trade (headlined by J.T. Realmuto and Jean Segura). The Philadelphia offense has improved in 2019, though probably not quite to the extent the front office had hoped. Phillies hitters have posted a combined .245/.323/.423 batting line and scored 460 runs — up from .236/.319/.390 and 411 runs scored at this same point in 2018.
Philadelphia’s defense has seemingly improved as well. After turning in a stunning -146 mark in Defensive Runs Saved and a -8.0 UZR/150 in 2018, the Phillies have logged a collective +3 DRS and +5.1 UZR/150 to this point in the 2019 campaign.
Unfortunately for the Phillies, the pitching staff has gone in the opposite direction. The offseason efforts put into bullpen acquisitions have been torpedoed by a near-unparalleled level of injury among the Phillies’ relief corps. David Robertson, for instance, has been baseball’s bullpen iron man over the past decade. However, since signing a two-year deal with the Phillies due in no small part to that durability, he’s been limited to 6 2/3 innings as a result of elbow troubles. High-priced bullpen pickups from the 2017-18 offseason like Tommy Hunter and Pat Neshek haven’t been able to stay healthy in 2019. Promising younger arms like Seranthony Dominguez (UCL injury), Victor Arano (arthroscopic elbow surgery) and Edubray Ramos (shoulder impingement) have also fallen victim to injury.
As one might expect of a team that has essentially lost an entire bullpen’s worth of solid MLB arms, Philadelphia relievers are tied for the game’s fifth-worst ERA (4.97). But the more alarming struggles have arguably come in a rotation that went largely unaddressed in the offseason. While the modest price the club paid to extend ace Aaron Nola still looks like a shrewd move, the 26-year-old hasn’t been as dominant in 2019 as he was in 2018. Jake Arrieta, meanwhile, is pitching through a bone spur in his elbow with understandably mixed results. Zach Eflin has been solid but not spectacular. Beyond that trio, the Phillies have received a combined ERA well north of 5.00 from the group of Vince Velasquez, Nick Pivetta and Jerad Eickhoff.
The end result is a Phillies club that has underachieved to the point of falling 8.5 games back of the division-leading Braves. Philadelphia is still three games over .500 and holds a half-game lead over Milwaukee for the second spot in the NL Wild Card race, so the season is far from lost. But the quietly extended front office regime will also have its hands full in endeavoring to address some of the flaws that have led to the current predicament. Gelb writes that, to this point, the Phillies “have not displayed an overwhelming sense of urgency” in their efforts to do so, although they’re hardly the only team that has not jumped into action; to this point in the “trading season,” there have only been three deals of even moderate note consummated (Andrew Cashner, Homer Bailey and Martin Maldonado).
The extent to which the Phillies ramp up that level of aggression could well be dependent on the current roster’s play in the next couple of weeks, but it still seems likely that the club will function as a buyer in the next 14 days.
Guess they really do have “stupid money to spend”
You can say that again!
Yep
It’s spelled “McFail”.
VERY stupid money
Again, the Phillies spend $300M+ plus on a haircut, are a handful of games over .500, and yet the Mets are a joke and the Phillies aren’t.
Sure, why not?
The Phillies did say the have stupid money to spend but the Mets said “Come get us”.
Probably because the guy the Phillies overpaid for was about a decade younger than the one the Mets did? And only spent money to get him?
The Phillies are a disappointment because their pitching is unexpectedly bad. The Mets are joke because their pitching is unexpectedly bad and everything else is expectedly terrible, and a soap opera at the management level.
How is the Phillies pitching “unexpectedly bad”? Other than Nola, who could really be counted on? Arrieta’s over the hill (and that was shown last year), Velasquez has no idea how to pitch. Pivetta throws hard—which seems to be the requirement to be considered an ace in waiting—but not much else. And the rest of the staff were all question marks.
Mostly, though it’s all about the manager’s use of the pitching staff that has done the Phillies in two years in a row. They won’t let their starters develop stamina, they overuse their bullpen, and then when August/September rolls around everyone is out of gas and it implodes.
Last year I wrote here that Juan Soto was a better player on the Nats then Bryce Harper was. That was evident to anyone watching the Nationals games (particularly Mike Rizzo and his staff).
I wrote numerous times during the off-season that the Nationals would be better off without Harper.
Going into this year I believed that Victor Robles would be a better player then Harper.
Baseball Reference shows Robles’ 2019 WAR to be 27% higher then Harper’s, in spite of Harper playing about 15% more. While I can’t get the stats on Soto’s 2018 season, in 2019 his WAR is 62% higher then Harper’s.
WAR is not an exacting, be-all stat. But it often puts things in some sort of perspective and usually validate those that draw conclusions watching games.
Mr. Harper constantly says he “wants to win badly” (every single year) while not doing the things on the field to help his team win (he’s usually a liability outside of the batters box). Add in the special treatment he expects from managers, FO people, and even the owner, and it’s no wonder that teams he plays on are less then harmonious. This year the Nationals are playing solid fundamental baseball, the manager is in charge (for the first time in 6 years in DC), the team is winning, and the players are dancing in the dugout.
If Harper lasts out half his contract in Philly, it’ll be a shock. The question will be – can they find a losing team that needs a gate attraction willing to pay his salary.
“Not doing things enough on the field to help his team win”
Seems like he did enough to where the Nationals were positioned to win a few playoff series only to choke Was it Harper’s fault Drew Storen couldn’t hold a lead or when the mighty Max Scherzer and Gio Gonzalez for torched by the Cubs for 7 runs
Baseball is a team game. It’s not basketball where a superstar can carry his team
Phillies pitching was certainly good enough last season, so it was quite reasonable to expect they’d be good enough this season. If they weren’t hit by so many injuries they probably would be a lot better as it is
The problems on offense and defense that plagued them last season seem to have been addressed, so overall you can’t really blame management for neglecting the known problems
Kapler’s use of them is fair criticism
The dysfunction the Mets have shown is on another level compared to any other team this season.
1. less infighting
2. more reason to try to contend in the first place
3. have a GM with actual GM experience
etc
They are both a joke. They both always have much larger payrolls than the Braves and both are still about to watch the Braves run away with the division for the second year in a row. If the Braves had a payroll like the Mets or the Phillies they would have a 10+ game lead in the division right now. The Braves were pretty bad for a few years recently but that is because they were smart enough to understand they couldn’t contend then anyhow. That is how they were able to build a good core that is going to last a long time. Don’t try to buy or trade for a championship a year after you weren’t even coming close to winning the division. Build a team that will compete for the division every year to increase your odds of winning every year. I think the knock on the Mets is that they made headline grabbing yet nonsensical moves (like they always do) and then claimed they were the team to beat. Now the Mets are one of the worst 2 teams in the entire national league. That is very different from the Phillies who never made any such claims yet somehow still have a winning record and are at least in line to make the playoffs. The Phillies also don’t have to watch their former top prospects dominating for another teams farm system right now. That kinda adds insult to injury for Mets fans. The other kicker is the way the Wilpons run the Mets and the GMs they hire. They care more about stealing tabloid headlines from the Yankees in the New York Post every off season than they do about actually building a long-term contender. Any team that is consistently willing to trade its top future prospects in exchange for overpaid washed up big name players for the sole purpose of making a splash in the media will never win.
Troll bait and bitten, I see.
MacPhail. What a perfect name. It even has the “Ph” instead of the “F” to fit the Phillies. Also phails at making good moves for the team!
Phillies are disfunction and should sell most players
General Manager Matt Klentak is hardly Pat Gillick.
I saw an article a few months ago where an MLB scout was quoted as saying that the Phillies infielders were all below average defensively. He could have added that so are all their OF’s (Realmuto catching is terrific).
A team wins on pitching. Pitchers need to be supported by position players not on offense, but on defense. With pitches now being counted and rationed each game, players that do not make defensive plays force pitchers out of the game earlier as they have to face more batters which runs their pitch count up. That Phillies team may be attractive to ESPN and other fantasy-related media sites, but it will never win on the field. Same thing the Mets did – think positioning players on shifts would replace talent on defense.
Throw in the awful draft choices that Klentak has made; understand that with possibly a few exceptions the farm system is radically overrated; add that the Phillies “core” are a half-dozen average ML players; add in a manager that shows no ability to run a ML game; and I have no idea what the hoopla is over that team.
How is the farm system radically over-rated? No one is rating it highly. You were on a nice roll until you fell off a cliff of hyperbole. Plus check your anger at the door dude.
“The farm system is radically overrated”
They rank 23rd in baseball. Highly doubt it’s radically overrated
@Pax vobiscum and AndyMeyer;
I don’t look at farm system rankings.
But every time I read an article about the Phillies trading for a star veteran player, I’m told they have prized prospects in their farm system.
For the record, the last 2-3 years I’ve been reading about the Phillies vaulted farm system that they built during their rebuild. They got a couple of guys. So?
every team has “prized prospects”, doesn’t mean they’re actually all that good, just means they’re the best in a particular system.
Things like farm rankings can give you some badly needed context on who’s actually good and who’s just the best of a bad lot.
“General Manager Matt Klentak is hardly Pat Gillick.
I saw an article a few months ago where an MLB scout was quoted as saying that the Phillies infielders were all below average defensively. He could have added that so are all their OF’s (Realmuto catching is terrific).
A team wins on pitching. Pitchers need to be supported by position players not on offense, but on defense. With pitches now being counted and rationed each game, players that do not make defensive plays force pitchers out of the game earlier as they have to face more batters which runs their pitch count up. That Phillies team may be attractive to ESPN and other fantasy-related media sites, but it will never win on the field. Same thing the Mets did – think positioning players on shifts would replace talent on defense.
Throw in the awful draft choices that Klentak has made; understand that with possibly a few exceptions the farm system is radically overrated; add that the Phillies “core” are a half-dozen average ML players; add in a manager that shows no ability to run a ML game; and I have no idea what the hoopla is over that team.”
Except there defense has made huge strides this year. If you watched the games you would know Segura is solid and that Hernandez was the same up until this year. So basically your saying Rhys is below average at 1st (duh, he’s still better there than he is in the outfield). As for Franco, he is known commodity as a below average fielder and has been for some time now. This isn’t earth shattering analysis.
The point on their defense was made by a ML scout.
I’ve watched some Philly games this year. I watch a lot of teams on MLB.TV.
Sorry, but if you think the Philly infield is “improved”, not sure what you’re talking about. Segura is not a “solid” ML SS. Hernandez is not a good ML 2B (Kingery is better at both positions and he’s no gold glove candidate). And the fact that Rhys is better at 1B then he was in LF (possibly the worst OF corner defender in MLB in 2018) does not remotely make him adequate at 1B.
A major reason the Phillies pitching sucks because they are getting next to no support from the defenders behind them.
Your points make no sense.
Provable data and your eye test disagree
Provable data always wins in such disputes…
“A major reason why the Phillies pitching sucks is because they’re getting next to no support from their defense behind them”
The Phillies defense is ranked around the middle this season
Maybe the real major reason the Phillies pitching isn’t up to par is (as stated in above article) the fact that 3-5 have a combined ERA north of 5. They’re also ranked 3rd in baseball in home runs allowed
Why? He’s awful.
Klentak has certianly done some questionable things recently, (not adding pitching, trading Sixto, etc) but when it comes down to it, a lot of his additions simply have underperformed. yeah they could and should have added a 3/4 in the offseason, but there were few good options. Keuchel to ATL hurts, but that was a huge overpay that Klentak only would have offered had he knew the Braves were the frontrunners. not adding Kimbrel might be the most egregious mistake, but otherwise, what else could he have done?
“Klentak has certianly done some questionable things recently, (not adding pitching, trading Sixto, etc) but when it comes down to it, a lot of his additions simply have underperformed. yeah they could and should have added a 3/4 in the offseason, but there were few good options. Keuchel to ATL hurts, but that was a huge overpay that Klentak only would have offered had he knew the Braves were the frontrunners. not adding Kimbrel might be the most egregious mistake, but otherwise, what else could he have done?”
Harper has under performed. Cutch was amazing but got hurt. Robertson got hurt before he could prove his worth. Segura has been beyond solid. Bruce and Realmuto have been fantastic. It’s not the off season/in season moves that were the issue. It was finding out what we really had with the retreads that has been costing this team. Honestly its the previous off season signings of Neshak and Hunter that have hurt the most. That’s $18 million in dead money.
Wouldnt say JTR has been fantastic
Philly isn’t as bad as said, but they’re also not as close to being dominant as said. I don’t think this winter will fix all their problems. They want their prospects, but they’re going to have to trade them eventually. They can’t wait out the Braves. Atlanta will be good for years to come. Atlanta’s top Stars are like 5-6 years younger than Philly’s top stars. McCutchen will never be the same. He might be productive next year, but injuries won’t go away. They need 2-3 Starting pitchers, 2 Relief pitchers, perhaps another bat. Even if they sign 1-2 big names this offseason it still won’t make them better than Atlanta. With Washington’s pitching and owners who keep going all in u need to question where Philly is in all this. Philly’s time is now, but they’re acting like time is their friend, which is not.
What a train wreck this team is. At least last year when there were very little expectations, they remained competitive until September. A hex on all the pitchers, because you suck.
Ridiculous. Let’s see some on-the-field results first.
Andy MacPhail is career baseball fodder Matt Klentak has not encouraged the fan base. Phils’ have been woeful scouting/signing in Latin America, cannot identify high level high school players to sign and can’t develop starting pitching to save their lives. While these are trends that pre-date MacPhail and Klentak, they’ve done nothing to improve the picture. It’s a very mediocre front office and owner John Middleton, by these extensions, shows he’s part of the problem. It’s his money but he’s got the wrong guys spending it for him.