The Phillies have reinstated catcher J.T. Realmuto from the injured list, the team announced. Catcher Rafael Marchan has been optioned back to Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
As expected, Realmuto will have missed just the minimum amount of time after suffering a hand contusion. He is back in the lineup batting cleanup and catching today with a .294/.400/.494 batting line on the season. To no one’s surprise, he has been every bit the franchise catcher the Phillies expected when they re-signed him to a five-year deal this winter.
The 22-year-old Marchan held his own standing in for Realmuto with a .231/.286/.308 line across 14 plate appearances. Obviously, that’s a far cry from the production offered by Realmuto, but expectations come on a sliding scale.
Marchan actually brought a little more thunder at the plate than regular backup Andrew Knapp, who has struggled this year with just a .145/.205/.184 line. Knapp is in his fifth season as the backup catcher in Philly, but if he continues to struggle, the Phillies could give Marchan another look. Given Knapp’s longstanding role in Philadelphia, however, it’s more likely that Marchan will continue to get his reps in Triple-A unless there’s another injury.
Finally some good news. I like both Knapp and Marchan, but Knapp is getting exhausted and banged up, and obviously Realmuto is a significant improvement.
Knapp has not had a good year behind the plate or at it. He was really exposed over the extended period Realmuto was down. I think Girardi should have alternated Marchan More often but then again I don’t think Joe has really added anything to this team
It’s sad to admit, but you may not be wrong. There isn’t a huge noticeable difference between the play under Kap and Joe. Team is still playing around .500 baseball and has lots of laughable games.
Also, Marchan would be a great trade chip at the deadline if the Phillies were good, but alas they aren’t. Maybe holding on to Marchan is for the best.
Marchan could be a replacement for Knapp if he can hit .200. He’s easily superior defensively.
Getting back the ( arguably) best catcher in baseball is a huge upgrade. Hoping he stays healthy.
I don’t think it’s arguable. Realmuto is the man and then it’s the other guys.
I think Knapp is one of the better backups and a trade piece at the deadline . But I agree he may not yet be a 100 game/year catcher.
Sadly, I think the Phils are going to be squarely in the middle of the undecided buyers or sellers. With Marchan, they potentially have a backup for JT .
Knapp will probably have to be in a package , but he is better than a throw -in. Next year’s possible NL DH complicates things also. Do you keep Hoskins and move him more to a fulltime DH, with Harp and JT rotating in occasionally ? Or would he better valued in a trade ? They have a lot complementary trade pieces , but very few headliners .
2022 will need at least one SP, ( maybe two ) , one OF, and a rebuilt bullpen again with all the guys on 1 yr deals. The upper minors cupboard has a lot of empty spots unfortunately , with AA Reading starting the year losing 15 of 18, and AAA Lehigh not teeming with prospects.
I think the Phillies have one big advantage this year, and that is the schedule down the stretch. After August 13th they have 3 with the Reds, 7 with the Diamondbacks, 4 with the Rockies, 3 with Baltimore, 4 with the Pirates, and 7 with the Marlins. Most of those teams should be well under .500 and sellers at the deadline, so hopefully the Phillies can win a LOT of those games against teams that looks a step above Triple A rosters in some cases. If they could pull something like a 20-7 win-loss split on those teams, that would be HUGE.
Yup. Phillies had a brutal schedule up front. So the latter portion will makeup for it, but I don’t see this team making a run.
It depends on a few things. I think they will make a run if they add some difference making talent. It just depends on who.
This team is in clear need of an ace. If you can bump Nola, Wheeler, Efflin and Velazquez down a spot, this team is greatly improved. You can roll with those top 4 & recycle out 5th starters for a few years until Abel is ready.
For the bullpen, I think making Howard into a high leverage arm would be a good start. They are about 2 premiere arms away from a solid pen. Howard could be one of those arms.
They really need to improve their defense as much as possible. Odubel has actually been solid their this year. But buying out him and Cutch this offseason frees up a lot of money and some areas where we could improve. Getting someone in a defensive first mold for center would be great. They could also ship out Segura and have Maton take his spot. Maybe he ends up being what Kingery was supposed to be.
I do agree that their schedule down the stretch is favorable for a run. But they will also probably go 1-6 vs the Marlins during that time. Adding some Marlin killers to this team should also be a priority this offseason. Enough is enough with losing these winnable series.
The problem is, there’s not one thing to fix. The offense isn’t consistent. The bullpen has blown many games in the 8th. The defense is atrocious. I actually like their starting pitching to be honest, but ut’s not perfect. Team has so many holes that I can see another rebuild coming…which would mean you wasted Harper, Realmuto and Wheeler in their prime.
As far as the Marlins, I’m just hoping the law of averages catches up. If Marte, Dickerson, and Yimi Garcia are gone, plus potentially Miguel Rojas, that’s a help.
The first thing they should do NOW is make up for letting Tony Watson go and make a trade for him. Angels are basically out of it and he signed for 1-year, $1 Million. He had a bad outing against the Rangers recently where he gave up 4 runs while only recording 1 out, but prior to that he had given up only 10 hits in 16 innings….. 2.25 ERA., 12 Ks.
I feel like this team can be fixed without a full teardown. They have a lot of pieces they could flip at the deadline to free up space. Segura, Neris, Knapp, Velazquez and Hererra are all possibilities.
I see a scenario where they trade Segura and shift Didi to second. They’ll do that for a year with the idea of adding Trevor Story via free agency and improving the defense at SS.
Or they keep Didi at SS, trade Segura, have Maton take second and add Bryant. There are a lot of options to reshape this team.
Cutch and Herrera will no doubt be swapped out, whether traded of bought out. They need to have more balanced players taking both of those spots. So there are ways to fix the offense and defense. It just seems more likely to happen during the offseason.
What happened between the beginning of last year and right now that makes you believe the seven games against the Marlins are a cakewalk?