As the offseason continues to kick into gear, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Silver Sluggers to be announced:
The Silver Slugger award winners for the 2023 season are set to be announced this evening. Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez, Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, Mariners outfielder Julio Rodriguez, and Astros DH Yordan Alvarez will all have the opportunity to win the award in back-to-back seasons after winning the award in 2022 and being finalists this season. In the National League, Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado, Phillies shortstop Trea Turner, Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts, Phillies outfielder Kyle Schwarber, Padres outfielder Juan Soto, and Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto will each have the chance to repeat as winners. The awards will be announced at 5pm CT this evening on MLB Network.
2. How will Harper’s position change impact the Phillies?
Phillies superstar Bryce Harper is set to take over first base for the club on a regular basis, per comments from president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski yesterday, with Schwarber set to continue in his second-half role as the club’s everyday DH in 2024. The confirmation regarding how the Phillies will fill out their lineup card next year raises questions about how the club will look to supplement the lineup headed into next season. Not only does the decision seemingly close the door on a reunion with longtime first baseman Rhys Hoskins, but it leaves both Brandon Marsh and Johan Rojas likely to play on an everyday basis next year barring an addition to the club’s outfield mix. Should the Phillies look to add a bat to the outfield corners, the class is headlined by Teoscar Hernandez, with the likes of Tommy Pham, Eddie Rosario, and Adam Duvall among the other options available.
3. Which managerial seat will be filled next?
The Angels filled their managerial vacancy yesterday by hiring Ron Washington to replace Phil Nevin in the dugout. It’ll be the first time Washington, 71, has managed since departing Texas back in 2014. With the Angels now having joined the Giants, Mets, Guardians, and Cubs in hiring new managers this offseason, three vacancies remain around baseball in Houston, San Diego, and Milwaukee.
All three remaining vacancies are fairly recent; Dusty Baker retired only after the Astros lost Game 7 of the ALCS last month, while the Padres and Brewers are replacing managers Bob Melvin and Craig Counsell who were hired away by their division rival Giants and Cubs, respectively. The Padres appear to have made the most progress in their search, with internal candidates Ryan Flaherty and Mike Shildt widely seen as favorites for the role. That being said, the club is reportedly pondering a run at recently-dismissed Cubs manager David Ross for the role. If the Padres delay their decision to meet with and consider Ross, could the Astros or Brewers wind up the next team off the board?
Adam Duvall would mash in that park. Hoping he stays in Fenway.
4 30-HR seasons on 3 different teams…he will hit them anywhere.
Duvall would be scary getting half his AB’s at Citizens Bank Park. 11 career Home Runs in 115 AB’s in that park would bring nice balance to the lefty/righty power in the lineup. Plus Duvall isn’t horrendous in the field so thats a bonus
Duvall had such a great start. It makes you wonder what kind of year he would have had if he hadn’t hurt his wrist.
Give Harper a run at 3B and trade Alec Bohm to a 3B needy team in exchange for whatever the Phillies want. I don’t know what need the Phillies would prioritize. Starting Pitcher? A real OF and not just a bat that only wears a glove because you can only have 1 DH?
Just don’t say Reliever. The money isn’t worth it. Dumpster dive, have 4 guys that throw 100, an elite spin rate breaking ball, a lefty, and pray. Splurge on an Ace or something
Harper is not straining his arm at 3b…..
By that logic, Sandy Alcantara isn’t going to strain his arm pitching in 2025. Come on now
His arm is fully healed and he’s a good OFer with a plus arm. I get why he is targeted for a lot of 1B, but he is one of the best OFer’s on the team.
Harper was never a good fielding OF’er. Defensively he was average at best, with an elite arm. Marsh, Rojas, Pache, NC, are all substantially better on the defensive side that harper. Statistically he’d be one of the worst. Harper moving the 1B full time gives much more flexibility to the team.
But the reason Harper is playing first is to limit strain on his surgically repaired wing. Given that info, moving to third would be crazy.
“Limit strain on his surgically repaired wing” Don’t be a (it rhymes with witch)
He’s the best defensive OFer on the team and Bohm is bad enough at 3B that Harper would be better there, as well. Don’t waste his athleticism when there were two DHs penciled into the OF last year way too many times
If you are paying Harper’s salary, you want him in the batter’s box 600+ times a season. Witch or not…
While you don’t want to put him in bubble wrap, you also want to give him every opportunity to stay healthy.
Hey guys, I found the idiot
Harper aside, it wouldn’t take much to be the best defensive OFer on the Phillies.
Athleticism at 1B is not a waste, even if historically that’s where teams have put the Danny Burgers type. We’re seeing good value in metrics for a guy who can stretch with a good wingspan and has a quick react to a lefty hot smash. Only harpers throwing arm won’t be fully utilized at 1B.
“Best defensive OFer on the team” He’s not even in the top 3. Marsh, Rojas and Pache are all way above average. Casty isn’t great rangewise, but had 0 errors last year. I love Harper, but as we saw last year, the team is significantly better with him at 1B.
In 2023 Rojas had a 15 DRS in small sample size, Pache a 5 DRS in a small sample size, Walsh a 0 DRS.
In his last season in the OF Harper had a -5 DRS. In his last 3 seasons he has a -8 total. Harper is not the best defensive OF on the Phillies.
So you would rather jettison a guy making steady improvements at the position and replace him with a guy who’s never played the position but you think he be better just because?
Obviously the Phillies and Harper know something we don’t that this decision was made in the first place. The only possible upgrade at 3B available is Matt Chapman but he’s probably not worth whatever his asking price is at this point
Rsix: What’s wrong with Bohm at 3b? The Phillies have had great success the last two seasons with the players they’ve got. Why change things? Their biggest problem will be Nola if he signs somewhere else. Him and Wheeler are as good as it gets (and please don’t throw analytics at me). Then there’s a bit of a drop off to Suarez. After that, bullpen game.
BizzyDat: Does Harper have the range and quickness to play 3b? I know he has the arm, being a RF. He made some pretty good plays at 1b in the PO, and playing first didn’t effect his hitting.
Reliever.
You get that the skill/arm needed for 3B is different than the skill for the OF, right? 3Bs move to the OF, not vice versa, especially not to 3B. That’s one of the more difficult positions on the D spectrum.
Not sure if the Brewers will try to compete, do a soft retool or full rebuild. Whichever lane they choose to go in will determine the manager
If Rebuild then Ross is not their guy.
Jake: Ross oversaw the cubs’ rebuild starting in the second half of 2020, after the team got rid of all of their top tier talent. Ross spent 2021 testing players, dfa’ing a lot of them and holding onto the few with potential. That had to be very difficult for him and I admire him for it. Players like Hoerner, Happy, etc. emerged
as dld Steele. Then Rickets, who said he would open his wallet, got them Swanson, Bellinger, Stroman. They almost made it to the PO this year. So I think Ross will do alright managing a rebuild, if that is what the Brewers are doing, and if Ross becomes their manager. I’m pretty sure he’ll be managing somewhere next season.
I can see a soft retool. They have some pieces, but they will be really young and inexperienced team. Need some seasoning. They should be selling all expiring contracts to help expedite
My guess is that the Brewers probably won’t go full rebuild. They’ve still got a decent enough group to go for a playoff birth this season as long as they can fill a couple spots with decent low risk moves, and still get a decent return if they traded Adames and Burnes at the deadline if things didn’t go their way.
Though, I’d probably trade Adames now if he’s not looking to extend within their offer, to get max return out of him. Although offense has been their key weakness for several seasons, it’s still a bit easier to try to replace offensive production than it is pitching for them on their budget.
brewsingblue: I understand the Brewers will need some help at SP with Woodruff out, but trading Burnes and Adames will definitely put them close to a full rebuild. Those two pitchers got Milwaukee to the PO this year.
Ron Washington is a solid hire for the Angels as long as he doesn’t Josh Hamilton it in LA.
He needs to stay away from any parties…..
I like the Washington hire. He’s a good manager. I just hope his age doesn’t work as a negative.
Insane: Here we go again with age. Dusty Baker got the Astros to the PO every year under his tenure. The Astros won a World Series under him. Was he too old? If Washington was too old, the Braves would have fired him years ago. Don’t judge people by their age. Judge them by their ability.
As for Managers want to see Espada for Houston. Time to wake up Crane and hire him. You do not need Bagwell to make your choices. Look at Abreu for that. Do not want to see Ross, Showalter or Ausmus, or that Montgomery guy for Houston.
Ross would be a disaster
Two thoughts: Maybe Phils rrade for Soto to fill LF? Second, Wash better keep his nose clean!
There’s a rumor Phillies would be willing to trade Castellanos. That works open the door for Soto or whomever. I have mixed feelings on that, not because of Soto. I just think Casty can be special if he tweaks his approach.
Castellanos and Abel for Soto?
Good for Ron, good baseball guy. With Bryce at 1st, JT can take a break from catching and go to 1st, that allows Harper to DH. Im not familiar with the Phils farm system, do they have a catcher on the way up to the bigs?
Rafael Marchan’s out there, but tends to be injury prone. Frankly, Garrett Stubbs has been reasonably good as a backup to Realmuto, doing what he needs to in that role.
I was going to write that, with Harper sticking at first, Verdugo might be a Phillies trade target. But comparing his numbers with those of Marsh, it seems a wash. Both bat left, and I’m not sure which is the better fielder. Probably makes sense to stick with Marsh, who is two years younger.
Great for Washington, but concerned that he’s now going to have to deal with Moreno’s way. It hasn’t ended well for any manager recently.
I agree it’s not a great situation, but Wash is forthright enough to let Arte know what he thinks and probably unafraid to get canned if Arte doesn’t want to hear it.
inkstain: Hopefully any concerns Wash had were discussed during his interview. Someone like Grifol just said yes when he was offered the Sox job. He just wanted to manage. He didn’t think it through, asking whether Reinsdorf was willing to spend to get him some decent players, and it shows. Grifol is in way over his head. He’s not the guy to lead a rebuild, and he’s not the guy to stand up to Getz and Reinsdorf. But I digress…
There’s only 30 jobs and when one is offered you can’t be picky as a first timer. Luckily, the old boy network will keep you in the conversation when future openings occur. Ausmus is a great example. Failed twice but his name keeps popping up.
If brewers trade Burnes and adames and don’t offer arbitration to woodruff you are looking at a team payroll at 60 million. Not a good look when asking taxpayers for 500 million at same time you wouldn’t match counsels deal with cubs. Might as well move to Nashville
I don’t think the coaching dominoes have stopped falling yet. David Ross, who lives in Tallahassee, was seen in Miami today.
BaseballisLife: Odd, since he lives in Florida.
ok that made me chuckle
Ummmmm Tallahassee is in Florida. Just a long way from Miami. 483 miles. Which is further than Boston to DC.
He is also across the continent from the GM meetings in Phoenix if the rumor is true.
The Phils road to their next world series championship – 1) Replace Nola, their ace pitcher, with whoever is left after the more aggressive teams sign Yamamoto, Snell, Rodriguez, and Montgomery first. 2) Watch a more aggressive team sign Hader as their closer and then settle for someone else. 3) Play Harper, their top hitter, at a position where he has already shown a propensity for getting injured. 4) Gift the DH to Schwarber, a .197 hitting NL strikeout king for two years running. 5) Bench guys like Realmuto, Harper, and Turner when they’re tired rather than allowing them to DH because that position belongs exclusively to Schwarber. 6) Stifle their very successful running game because Schwarber is the leadoff hitter despite being a very slow runner. 7) Trade 2023 all-star, Nick Castellanos, one of their best hitters, run producers, and defensive outfielders, because he didn’t have a great series against the Diamondbacks. 8) Expect starter, Taijuan Walker, to pitch enthusiastically after he wasn’t used a single inning in the 2023 playoffs. 9) Play the 2024 season with the delusion that losing in the NL playoffs in 2023 to the Diamondbacks and not significantly improving the existing team will be enough to win the world series. 10) Hope that the Braves, Mets, Marlins, and Nationals won’t improve their teams either.
Lots of truth here.
onthebucks: If they did that, they would have to change their name to The Philadelphia Swiss Cheese because of all of the holes your theory provides.
Need to hear Joe Madden’s name come up more in conversations about managerial vacancies.
Vegas Odds to sign Shohei:
Dodgers -110
Giants +500
Mariners +700
Mets +700
Yankees +750
Rangers +850
Red Sox +1300
Angels +1500
Cubs +1500
Phillies +1800
BlueJays +2000
Padres +2000
FIELD +2000