Zach Eflin’s season could be in jeopardy following both a positive COVID-19 test and a recurrence of his right knee injury. Phillies manager Joe Girardi told reporters (including The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Matt Breen) that he doesn’t expect Eflin to be doing much throwing during the right-hander’s mandatory 10-day minimum quarantine period, giving Eflin even less time to get prepared for a return to the mound before the regular season is up.
Eflin hasn’t pitched since July 16 due to patellar tenditis in his right knee. He was activated from the 10-day IL on Thursday for an expected start, but he was scratched from that outing due to more knee problems. Eflin was then placed on the COVID-related injury list the next day in the wake of his positive test.
It remains to be seen if Eflin will miss only 10 days recovering from the coronavirus, though he has already been fully vaccinated. This 10-day break could essentially serve as a shutdown period that may have been required anyway, considering the sudden return of Eflin’s knee issue. Still, the first step of that knee rehab can’t really begin until Eflin is COVID-free, limiting his chances of returning.
The righty has enjoyed a solid season, posting a 4.17 ERA over 105 2/3 innings and 18 starts in the Philadelphia rotation. After a career-best 28.6% strikeout rate in 2020, Eflin’s K-rate returned to career norms with a below-average 22.4% mark this season. However, Eflin has been better at ever at limiting free passes — his 3.6% walk rate is the lowest of any pitcher in baseball with at least 100 innings pitched in 2021.
Eflin’s potential absence for the remainder of the season won’t help the Phils in their attempts to make a late run at a playoff spot. Philadelphia entered today’s action with an even 64-64 record, 5.5 games back of the Braves in the NL West and six games out of a wild card spot. Eflin had been a solid No. 3 pitcher behind Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola in the Phillies’ rotation, though trade deadline acquisition Kyle Gibson, Ranger Suarez, and Matt Moore now look to be rounding out the starting five for the remainder of the year if Eflin can’t make a comeback.
The Phillies were further hampered by the loss of Rhys Hoskins to season-ending abdomen surgery earlier this week, and the club plans to use J.T. Realmuto help fill the void at first base. Getting out from behind the plate could also help Realmuto manage an injury of his own, as the All-Star catcher told MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki and other reporters that he has been battling some soreness in his right shoulder.
Realmuto described the issue as “normal everyday wear and tear,” to the point that he even downplayed the position change as a way to keep him fresh. “Everybody on the field is feeling some sort of tired or some sort of pain right now,” Realmuto said. “Mine just happens to be in my shoulder. I feel it a little bit hitting. I feel it sometimes throwing, but I don’t think it’s actually affecting my play at all.”
Considering Realmuto has an .874 OPS over 87 plate appearances in August, he certainly doesn’t seem any worse for wear. For the season, Realmuto is hitting .263/.351/.447 with 14 homers over 422 PA. Realmuto is no stranger to first base, having played 40 games at the position over the last five seasons.
Archie Bradley is also dealing with right shoulder discomfort, Girardi said, though the problem isn’t considered serious. Bradley hasn’t pitched since Tuesday, when he allowed two runs in an inning of work against the Rays. Bradley has a 3.12 ERA over 40 1/3 innings out of the Phillies bullpen this season, with a 54.4% grounder rate helping paper over some unimpressive Statcast metrics.
I find it sad that the NLE winner might not be WC2
Going into the season, I was convinced that the NL East was a better division than the AL East.
Ooops.
Had a few things wrong; discounted the red sox, thought the mets, Nationals, & Phillies were better than they are.
Injuries definitely hit this division hard.
But that’s true of everyone this year.
Should be an interesting off-season. All 5 teams are trying to win.
I knew from day 1 Phillies were a .500 team and I knew the Mets wouldn’t live up to the hype. I was wrong overall though because I picked the Marlins to win the division.
Shows how much you actually know then, lol.
Say what you want, I’ll take the track record I’ve had three years in a row.
The Phillies’ .500 record (1 game over for now) is not at all surprising. What’s surprising is how they got there. They set themselves up nicely for a shot at the division, but then fell apart against some of the worst teams in the league. They own the best in-division record in the NLE, something that usually leads to a division lead, but they squandered away easy opportunities and actually sit 4.5 games behind the Braves. Braves are a better team no doubt, but it’s just wild how the Phillies beat themselves. It’s like they’re destined to be .500 and saw they were outperforming expectations so they just tanked for a week.
Cardinals won 2 world series when this was the case.
And the off season begins……..Don’t expect much in September and the Phils won’t bring up the farm to play (for a change of pace…?) So it’ll be day after day of sending out a line-up with 2-3 first division players….ouch….
More brutal pa’s from worn down vets and back-ups, but I’ve hung in for decades….and I’ll hang is some more..
They are 4 & 1/2 games out and even without Eflin, the rotation seems to have stabilized. The bullpen seems to have stabalized as well. They may have even upgraded defensively with Realmuto at first and Marchan starting behind the plate. This team will be in it to the end of September so it hardly makes sense to bring any of the kids up at this point.
You might be right. BUT, too many things appear to be going the wrong way for the the Phillies!
“Only the B team in NY have key injuries in 2021”.
– Signed MetsFan22/23l
War lost ! The Mets have the most war lost since the axis powers or something like that
That was funny
At the end of the day, winners win. Losers always find a way to lose. Speaking of the Angels and Mets.
just throw Bradley on the IL and reevaluate in 10 days.
knew it was all smoke and mirrors when they started winning, just going to let us all down into September
feel let down tonight?
I felt let down when they got swept by this trash diamondbacks team. They are supposed to beat the worst teams.
Even good times don’t have it sometimes, but the Phillies aren’t good. I have no delusions there. They are better than they played this month, but not as good as the team that won 8 in a row.
The biggest issue with the Mets this year has been their lack of production offensively. Going into the season, Mets fans on MLBTR had no real concerns about their offense at all. Most of their concerns were with their 3rd-5th starters and the bullpen. While losing deGrom and Cookie certainly hurt, the Mets pitching staff has done quite well this season.
Their real issue is on the offensive side of the ball. Lindor was horrendous all season before he went down. Jeff McNeil (who people thought could win a batting title) has been brutally disappointing this season. And the worst of the worst has to be Conforto. Mets fans were certain that Conforto would have a monster season and that the Mets needed to lock him up to a long term deal. There’s no question that Conforto’s 2021 has cost him at least $100M or more in potential, total contract value come free agency. He’s been so bad that I’m not sure the Mets even offer him a QO this offseason. You can go down the rest of the healthy roster and see just how bad they have been offensively. Even Alonzo’s season could be better (based off his rookie season). So while I agree the Mets were hit hard with injuries this season, the real blame for their failures lies with the players and their inability to hit. You can blame the head coach, the hitting coach or even the injuries, but at the end of the day, the real blame falls with their ‘star’ players (Conforto, McNeil, Lindor, JD Davis, Dom Smith, etc..) who have played well below expectations when available to play.
Someone had to say it. As they say, reality bites!
Amazing post! Worth the long read
I like your posts! keep up the good work!