The Phillies announced that right fielder Bryce Harper is headed to the 10-day injured list with a forearm contusion. Harper was out of the team’s lineup both Sunday and Monday. Outfielder Roman Quinn is up from Triple-A to take Harper’s spot on the roster for now.
Harper, 28, got out to a brilliant start and still touts a very strong .274/.395/.489 slash through his first 162 trips to the plate. However, that slash line sat at .318/.449/.582 mark as recently as 10 days ago, before Harper fell into a 2-for-25 tailspin.
Manager Joe Girardi maintained yesterday that his absence from the lineup was not due to injury (link via MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki), but Harper was previously said to be battling various arm ailments (including shoulder and wrist troubles) and hasn’t looked right at the plate at all, punching out in 13 of 26 plate appearances during that woeful slump. The team will surely have more on his IL placement later today.
About time they did something regarding his situation. He hasn’t been right since he got hit in St.Louis. The Phillies have wasted time with the injuries to Didi and JT and now with Harper. They need all the help they can get and have played short handed for weeks.
Phillies really messed up the Harper/Realmuto injuries. They should have been placed on the IL almost weeks ago.
Which is what the Dodgers did. They went through an early swoon as a result, but will now be getting Bellinger, McKinstry, Pollock, and Gonsolin back at about the same time, provided each is 100% ready to go.
Not really.
Joyce out
Quinn out
Kingery out
Haseley inactive
Bryce toughed it out playing sparingly until some of our other studs were available…
IMO JT and Bryce are much more hurt than we know…
So a fastball to the face and he misses a couple days. A bruised forearm and he needs 10? Baseball injuries are weird.
The wrist/forearm injury actually stems from when he was hit in the face. It ricocheted off his face directly into his wrist.
I’ve noticed that Harper tends to swing more with his arms than with his face. Maybe that has something to do with it (but I’m not a professional, so I just defer to the coaches).
I think you missed his point there, dude. Tony Conigliaro swung with his arms too…
(look it up)
Hate to sound like an old man, but my 31 year old self misses baseball when players actually played and didn’t get hurt all the time.. Maybe cut the season down to 120 games so they can rest more, we see the best players play more and we don’t have to read about injury after injury.
Don’t lie. You love sounding like an old man.
Eh? What ya say, Sonny?
Get off my yard.
Stop watering my grass!
@Steven Nebraska is becoming one of my favourite posters. Pretty funny stuff a lot of times @Cey Hey, and @Ducky I still got love for you guys too. Some MLBTR veterans.
@Nebraska cracks me up too, @twotone.
Interestingly enough, cey hey is – thus far – the only poster I know that has muted me. So your pairing of us is certainly notable.
@Ducky
No kidding? That is pretty funny lol.
Yeah, well there’s a reason for it. Since that entire thread was nuked it remains nothing but a fond internet memory for me.
I pretty much had my fill with him & conducted myself as such.
Truthfully, & sadly enough, I would do it again.
My mute button – however – remains a virgin.
I like everyone.
Simp
This year was always going to be the year of injuries. Take a group of players used to 162 games, sit them for months after ST, play only 60 games, then expect them to bounce back for a 162 game season. Mix in the usual quirky things that happen in a large season.
Kje76, yep, and it’s just getting started.
I don’t know many who have played 162 since Cal retired.
No one in 2020!!
Oh, players still got hurt all the time – they just used copious amounts of painkillers to carry on. That was step 1 towards the opioid epidemic in the USA.
I think the biggest issue we are seeing is that players are stronger than ever because they are trying to get the most out of their bodies, but their muscles can’t keep up with sprinting, diving, swinging, throwing, etc.
Back before weight training became such a huge factor in sports, you had a bunch of shapeless dudes that trained to play baseball, not to be an explosive athlete. The exit velos, home run distances and pitching velocities might be higher, but so are the injuries.
No. What we are seeing is a a combination of more talent available to teams in terms of player depth and more knowledge on injuries. Players aren’t softer or too muscular (the dumbest argument of all time), they are more aware of injuries. These two things make teams and players more willing to sit out for a week to get right, rather than suck for 3 or 4 just to play through it.
Yep just a 60 game season and still the Dodgers fans think it was. Legit World Series. Bahahaha
I mean, I’ve worked in the fitness industry for over a decade now, and both my own personal experiences and numerous clients over the years that have found themselves infatuated with building strength and not supplementing it with flexibility has been and always will be recipe for injury. I’m not saying these players aren’t being trained/training properly, I just don’t know if flexibility is prioritized as much as the strength component.
There are more injuries to position players because of the more massive bodies and less flexibility in the parts that keep everything together.The pitchers’ injuries are exponentially higher because of the need to throw the fastest whereas control was previously considered more importantWhat baseball does not understand is control and ball movement are more important than pure speed to good pitching.
This results in way more injuries so that teams who do not have the wherewithal to have two sets of good players are doomed.
Along with the exorbitant length of games,the preponderance of injuries is severely harming our national pastime,whether posters realize it or not.The greater amounts of money made sooner push the best athletes to other sports.The existence of maybe ten teams with actual decent chances to win the WS will unfortunately doom this sport to a third class citizen in 20 years.
And that will be a shame.
You are 100% correct. However you CAN say these players aren’t being trained correctly. It’s nice to be strong, but baseball requires just as much flexibility.
I approach this from a different perspective. There were as many great extremely fit athletes “back in the day” as there are today. Have you seen Ted Kluszewski? Ever seen the actor Clint Walker? These guys were brick outhouses. Henry Aaron, Mickey Mantle, Ernie Banks, et al were all very athletic and gifted. I think the difference is that these guys from yesterday understood how to pace themselves over a 162 game season, How to play the game the right way, for the team, not for themselves. If they didn’t stay on the field it would hurt their financial future and their team’s success. Just a different mindsight about taking care of yourself.
Comparing the game 50+ years ago to now is apples to oranges. Those guys were tougher, absolutely, but strength wise it wasn’t even close. The average player today spends their entire offseason doing a weight training regimen, and back then, many players had to pick up offseason jobs.
Another huge factor is the financial component. Players weren’t such huge investments for teams back then, and players weren’t thinking of hundreds of millions of dollars if they stay healthy and perform, because that money wasn’t being shelled out back then, or even close to the equivalent when factoring in inflation.
Those players back then were training to play baseball, and while some were incredible athletes, many were baseball players. The majority of MLB players now are athletes that play baseball.
Let’s just say they got a winter job that super physically demanding. No workout in history will match that. So if guys were doing some hard labor jobs all day long they were a LOT stronger than these guys are today. No gym will EVER touch what you develop by working hard all day long.
My older brother used to unload lumber trucks and haul sheetrock onto construction sites. The guy could do 50 dips, or 50 pullups, or 50 pushups without breaking a sweat. He did those at 4:30 AM before work. Good luck getting a physical trainer to put you in that kind of shape. It won’t happen.
@Steve Nebraska No. The weight training is the problem. Flexibility is the key not muscles see Tom Brady. Are you suggesting that players were too stupid to know they were injured? Of course they weren’t they just didn’t get injured as much that’s a fact. By the way players are definitely soft these days. Can you actually claim that a bruise should keep a guy sidelined for weeks? I know at my job the older crowd come to work every day while the younger folks are constantly missing time for every little ailment. It’s the work less mentality and it spreads to all types of employment including sports and it’s going to get much worse.
And once again – there’s a difference between being able to squat with 400-500lbs on a barbell and hauling sheetrock, unloading lumber, etc.. one is gritty and makes you “farmer strong,” and the other makes you weight room strong.. show me the guys in the 1950s-1970s that looked like Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, Giancarlo Stanton, Tyler O’Neill, Noah Syndergaard and many others in today’s game.. they were few and far between. The guys today are training like athletes and focusing on building the best combination of power and speed through training as possible to allow them to be better at hitting a baseball harder and farther, whereas guys back in the day were focusing on hitting a baseball where the fielders weren’t. Yes, they were stronger on a farm back then, but not in a weight room. Not even close.
Downs-I think that your point is well taken that there are more very strong players now than before.
There is such an emphasis on home runs and strikeouts that the stronger men will attract the most attention.
I am not sure that that wins more games over an entire season.
And I know for sure that those players tend to be the ones that are hurt the most.
What good does it really do if you can throw 100 mph but you are going back for a second Tommy John surgery and lose 1 1/2 years.What good is it if you are a young pitcher with a lot of talent but who cannot stay healthy for more than a month?
The goal is to win games and you cannot do that consistently if your best players are not playing.
@cam
Yep that’s how I got started on them.
Wait until you’re 64
This Phillies are a mess. The ownership/FO, all the way down. Just a MESS
I’m not sure about the FO part. They and Joe G. inherited this team as it is. Sometimes it’s difficult for good baseball people to turn things around as fast as fan want.
On a side note, Harper is a weird player to analyze. I often feel he is way over overrated for his contract but when I look at his stats they’re not as bad as I think. Not $330 million good but better than I realize.
Harper is a hell of a player. Statistically, even the great Mike Trout has yet to match the Harper’s 2015 offensive output, although he came very close. The problem is that he is streaky and not nearly as consistent as Trout. His ceiling however is something to dream about for sure.
Building on this point, I often forget he is only 28. I often think of him as being 32 or 33. Starting young can give you this impression (the nasty beard doesn’t help either).
But yes, he’s good and too streaky. This is what separates good to very good players from HOFers.
Harper will be a Hall of Famer imo. He currently on that pace and should easily get 500 bombs as long as he doesn’t suffer a significant injury.
Fans blamed Gabe Kapler when he clearly wasn’t the problem. Just like Mets fans blame Luis Rojas, who has the makings of an excellent manager.
Kapler and Girardi have both made massive mistakes and deserve some fair criticism, but a good manager can’t fix an entire organization.
Kapler is a good manager. The fact that Zaidi would hire him spoke volumes to me given the fact he knew Gabe’s qualifications and makeup better than anyone. Mangers grow into the job and continually get better. Fans overdo the criticism with their second-guessing of in-game decisions. Look at the stuff Dave Roberts has endured from fans. He’s the best in the game right now and a future Hall of Famer. In-game decisions are a small part of what a big-leaguer manager does. It’s a long season, and in the modern game, their people skills are more important than ever. Not just in managing the players but in communicating and collaborating with the front office. More planning than ever before.
Let’s hold on Kapler who had the Phillies in first at this point of the season before suffering huge late season collapses.
Girardi’s team collapsed late, too, beginning with losing five-of-seven to a Marlins team that was coming off a 29-9 loss to the Braves. In both cases, it wasn’t because of the manager, but due to lack of talent. How does a Major League team go four straight seasons without a lefty starting pitcher? The Phillies built their team backward by going hog wild on free agents and marquee trades before building their foundation. That has never worked in MLB.
This is a common statement and while there’s a ring of truth, the falsehood is in saying the Phillies didn’t try to build a foundation. They were rebuilding for nearly a decade before spending on FAs. Their foundation just stunk. It’s not a new problem with Philly. They’ve failed to develop for decades and the few times they’ve had homegrown talent, they went on to win. I’ve libed through quite a few rebuilds in Philly. They’ve all failed, which is an organizational problem. The recent FA signings have been pretty successful. Wheeler is a legitimate ace. Harper has been worth his AAV. The years are debatable. But really I’d argue these hwve been 2 of the more successful FA signings…so far. They just don’t have the proper foundation, but they would have been a lot worse without the recent signings.
Let’s not give Kapler too much credit just yet. He destroyed that Phillies bullpen by getting pitchers up and not using them.
Then again, when you hire someone with zero experience, you can only hope he learns from his mistakes.
How great were steroids for baseball? Players didn’t get hurt as often, they hit for high averages, less strikeouts.. MLB keeps trying to create more excitement, and let me tell you – baseball was super exciting from the mid 90s through 2005 or so.
The home run chase between McGuire and Sosa was nonstop, exciting, must watch baseball. You don’t really get that now.
We have a pretty good HR battle now between Acuna, Guerrero Jr, and Tatis Jr, right now.
SoCalBrave, that pitcher for the Angels has a few HRs, as well.
There are more exciting young players today than there were then. People have been saying baseball is “broken” for about 115 years. I’m not buying it. Baseball is still the best North American sport and has been since its inception. Nothing else comes close.
@Cey Hey I beg to differ. There were a lot of fun players like Griffey Jr., Rickey Henderson, Ozzie Smith, Paul O’Neill, Mitch Williams, Bonds, Biggio, Dykstra, Thomas, Alomar, Ichiro, Gywnn, etc. to name a few.
Pitchers are so much better now than back then. Steroids are not magic they don’t turn 4th OFs in to hall of famers
a boon given how he was playing
He was hurt and everyone knew it. He was carrying the team before his injury. He should have still been on the IL.
Harrison Bader goes on the IL, followed 10 minutes later by Bryce Harper. A trade market for Jake Hager is developing rapidly.
Mitch Haniger will surely be dealt.
I’d take Haniger in StL. Not sure what it would take.
Going to be interesting as to managers purposely misleading media on injuries when sports betting becomes more of a thing
Betting is for people with bad habits. It won’t be a factor of any kind.
Wanna bet?
It’s actually becoming a factor. More and more stations and affiliates are going big on the gambling apps. Some stadiums are deciding to allow gambling as well. It’ll be interesting to see how the games and fandom change as a result of all this. I’m personally against it, but it’s here to stay.
I dunno man, sounds like the leagues are going to be directly involved so the times of things will need to be addressed
Cey Hey
Betting is for people with bad habits.
======================================================
That’s a bit like saying soda or ice cream is for people with bad habits. There is nothing wrong with responsible gambling. I go to LV every two years, and probably spend less than my friends that go on golfing vacations.
This isn’t going to help anything..This team is really strange…Tonights lineup speaks volumes..
Now that I wrote that, watch the Phils go out and beat the Marlins tonight..
Butttttttt, the Guppies have been beating the Phils like a drum for years..
Man, if we built a roster with the players in the NL East that have been on the IL, that team would be the NL East Champion.
Except that they are all injured 😉
The NL East is the very definition of mediocracy from middle to middle….
Manager Joe Girardi maintained yesterday that his absence from the lineup was not due to injury
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So, unless he got hurt sitting on the bench, I assume that his stay on the IL is also not due to injury? Another reason why I don’t like Girardi. You need to be able to talk to the press semi-honestly, without looking like a nimrod.
Anyone ‘we’ can realistically trade for to play CF? Maybe make the most of Velasquez and his outperformance?