Thanks to the presence of rookie Roman Quinn, Phillies outfielder Odubel Herrera has recently shifted from center field to right. It’s unclear whether that alignment will hold up in 2019, but manager Gabe Kapler said Saturday (via Todd Zolecki of MLB.com) that he wants both players to enter next season prepared to handle center. Kapler also suggested that Herrera hasn’t been at top physical condition this season, per Zolecki, saying: “I think he can come into camp in better shape in 2019 than he came in 2018. … This is something that he and I have discussed and will continue to discuss. I think he can be in incredible physical shape. We’ve seen it from him in the past. If you look back a couple years you see a version of him that is fast, athletic, explosive and I think that’s in there and I’m excited about helping him and supporting him to bring that out.”
Going by fWAR (1.1), this has been a dud of a season for Herrera, who posted between 2.9 and 3.8 in that category from 2015-17. Perhaps Herrera will be an offseason trade candidate, then, though the Phillies would be “selling low” on him, Zolecki points out. He also notes Quinn’s history of injuries could make it all the more difficult to part with Herrera, who’s set to turn 27 in December and has four guaranteed seasons left on the five-year, $30.5MM extension he signed prior to 2017.
Here’s more from the East Coast…
- Major League Baseball has issued a five-game suspension to Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia and a three-game ban to Rays right-hander Andrew Kittredge, Daniel Kramer of MLB.com was among those to report. Both players will serve their suspensions at the beginning of the 2019 season, if they’re upheld through the appeals process. Sabathia was ejected from a win over the Rays on Thursday after throwing at catcher Jesus Sucre, a retaliatory move which served as a response to Kittredge nearly hitting Yankees backstop Austin Romine in the previous half-inning. Sabathia’s ejection may have cost him a significant amount of money, considering he was cruising through five innings and was only two frames away from notching 155 for the season. Had Sabathia reached that mark, he’d have secured a $500K bonus. It’s still possible the 38-year-old will earn that money, though, with George A. King III of the New York Post noting the Yankees could use him for a couple innings Sunday in Boston in a postseason tuneup. However, Sabathia told reporters on Saturday that he’s not interested in doing that (via Erik Boland of Newsday). “Nah, man, the season’s over for me. I’m ready for the lights to come on,” he said.
- Blue Jays righty Marco Estrada won’t make his scheduled start Sunday on account of a sore back, per Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com, meaning the pending free agent may have thrown his last pitch as a member of the team. The 35-year-old Estrada, a Blue Jay since 2015, said he’d “love to hear from” the club again and is “comfortable” in Toronto, though he’s not sure whether the club’s interested in re-signing him. Thanks in part to the Jays’ youth movement, not to mention Estrada’s struggles this season, a parting of ways may be in order. Estrada had been a quality starter for the Jays from 2015-17, but he only managed a 5.64 ERA/5.44 FIP over 143 2/3 innings this year.
lmao mlb suspends CC 5 games but only gives that piece of trash kittredge 3 games for blatantly throwing at a players head? wild.
Although I support what CC did, and respect it immensely … perhaps the difference is in how blatant CC was in hitting Sucre. He made no secrets about his intentions and that was basically asking for it. Honorable as it may be … you can’t be that forthcoming about hitting someone and not expect a heavy handed suspension.
So the guy who doesn t hit a player intentionally with a pitch is the POS, but the pitcher that did probably shouldn’t be suspended and instead be commended in a national ceremony, huh?
CC shouldve been suspended for 10 games, minimum. We all know papa Torre won’t allow that to happen.
So you are saying it should be allowed that pitchers can blatantly throw at hitters heads? Troll
No, I just don’t live in this delusional world you live in.
never said CC should be commended, just think it’s worse when a player blatantly throws at someone’s head
All I thought after reading “5 games” BS, Torre wants to shed his “Yankee-friendly” image.
1 game less than Urena (who hit Acuna Jr. in the elbow, on purpose for being great player, not defending a teammate)
“who hit Acuna Jr. in the elbow, on purpose for being a great player” can you please stop using the word “great” for everyone. Dude hasn’t even played a full season yet, next year he just might be back in the minors.
At the time of Urena’s suspension, Ronald Acuña Jr. is the youngest player ever to…
Homer twice on back-to-back days
Homer 8 times in an 8-game span
Homer 6 times in a 5-game span
Homer in 5 straight games
Homer to lead off 3 straight games
Hit 5 career leadoff homers
Have those records been broken since then? Even if he is cooling, you missed the point. He was hit on purpose by a **** for being great. Btw, in my book, he’s stil great
mobile.twitter.com/StatsBySTATS/status/10295580343…
It’s kinda hard to break those when they just happened. Maybe next year someone does, and maybe they don’t. Perhaps you could say, he’s done great things as a rookie, or he’s had a great rookie season. That doesn’t make him a great player yet. MLB history is littered with players who’ve gotten off to great starts to their careers only to disappear. What word do you use to describe an actual player who’s done it consistently like a Mike Trout ?
I’m saying it forshadows a great career and he’s been great so far. My point was a coward scared to vs. hottest hitter on the planet at the time, is a much worse reason than CC sticking up for his teammate against a head hunter. Urena deserved (much) more games, and CC deserved (much) less.
The word I would use to describe Mike Trout is “special”
I thought the same thing about Joe Charboneau.
There’s a blast from the past. How about Mark “the bird” Fidrych? I get cereals point about it being ridiculous.
Might want to hold off on the hyperbole.
Great player don’t get hit all the time. He got hit for having an amazing series.
Was Kittredges throw on purpose?
U can’t tell he threw at someone’s head how stupid are you
It was pretty obvious
Uhm I wasn’t watching the game and only saw a replay so I have no idea what led up to it but there’s been dozens of instances where guys get buzzed up and in unintentionally. Am I stupid for believing Fiers didn’t mean to hit Stanton a couple of years ago?
Well said!
Wow!!!! I/we agree. In 2 words , you actually said something legit.
After a compliment I cant wait to here your back to back response.
Didn’t it go behind the batter? I’d say roughly 87% of the time a pitch goes behind a hitter, the pitcher is trying to hit them
It looked like it,
Throw a 90+ MPH hardball at a dudes head and it’s 4 to 5 games suspension. “Allegedly” hit a woman off the field and it’s most of your season and perhaps your career. Not saying this is right or wrong, just an observation.
Not a single suspension has been “most” of anyone’s season. Nor has it ended anyone’s career yet. Just because a witness or abuse victim doesn’t want to file charges or cooperate doesn’t mean the events didn’t happen. Osuna is a perfect example with his peace agreement to get charges dropped.
Maybe “most” of the season wasn’t correct, but a huge chunk for sure. And I said “perhaps” your career. Because it can definitely put a huge tarnish on your career and seriously threaten it. But you’re right, it hasn’t happened yet. My only point was kinda that violence (throwing at someone) in one sense means only missing a few days of work, but in another situation it only takes allegations before you can miss a huge part of your season and have your career threatened. Not saying in many cases the allegations end up being true or not, just saying that the player starts missing a lot of time before the investigations are concluded. Again, not a finished thought and not opining if it should or shouldn’t be this way … just an observation.
Never thought much of Herrera until he caught my attention when he had an amazing first month or two of this season. He faded hard after that. If I’m gonna take fitness criticism from anyone, it’s Gabe Kapler though. It’ll be interesting to see which direction Herrera’s career takes next year.
You never thought much of Herrera until this season? Really?
Not sure how long the Phillies can live with Kapler. Started and ended the season on the wrong foot. A bit of luck in the middle but faded down the stretch.
Phillies: I can live with Herrera. He has upside as does Quinn. Other than Nola and Hoskins though, blow it up if there is value. I love Santana as a person and player, but he is not the right fit for this team in 2019. Great guy and good for the kids on the team, but a guy like Wilson Ramos is more needed to help the young and inexperienced catchers.
I think we move on from Herrera and give Quinn the everyday CF job. Torito makes too many bone head mistakes and I like the idea of leading off Quinn on a daily basis. Kingery needs to be at 2nd full time and Cesar needs to get moved (as much as I love him and appreciate what he’s done). Hoskins needs to play 1B and we need to get rid of Santana! I don’t want to see him play 3B regularly, he’s had too many throwing errors this season including one last night at 3rd that almost cost the game! I absolutely bring back Ramos to be a more solid back stop and a mentor to Alfaro, who has ways to go in terms of development. Besides those 5 guys, it’s up in the air who else rounds out the field/lineup. That’s where guys like Machado and Harper come into play.
How can you rely on Quinn if he can never stay healthy. I think it is asking for trouble if they trade Herrera and make Quinn the starting CF.
Quinn has always had non baseball injuries for the most part. Freak accidents. I don’t think he’s injury prone for things out of his control
Can you elaborate on “non baseball” injuries? Because, if he’s doing stuff outside of baseball that’s getting him injured WOULDN’T that be WITHIN his control?
Quinn is a great player.
LOL, just feeding the trolls.
Good to know that CC is a hero because Yankees fans will down vote your comment otherwise. You don’t throw the ball at a player, regardless of the circumstances. If your player gets thrown at, storm out of the dugout and exact justice yourself. Don’t just hit the other teams backup catcher because they almost hit yours. It’s petty, and if you want to fight someone in sports, go play hockey.