Phillies Rumors

Injury Notes: Luplow, Brown, Darvish

By Darragh McDonald | June 24, 2024 at 1:47pm CDT

Outfielder Jordan Luplow, who signed a minor league deal with the Phillies in March, is done for the year with a right knee ACL tear. The account @Kram207 was among those to relay the info on X.

Luplow has mostly been a small-side platoon guy in his career, as the right-handed hitter has a line of .227/.338/.495 against lefties over several seasons. This year, he had stepped to the plate 254 times at the Triple-A level with a line of .255/.343/.450. His splits were closer to even with the IronPigs, though in a small sample of 184 plate appearances against righties and 70 against lefties.

Perhaps there would have been a path to playing time in the Philadelphia outfield. Johan Rojas struggled enough to get optioned down to the minors. Brandon Marsh and David Dahl are lefties with notable platoon splits. The right-handed counterparts in their platoons are Whit Merrifield and Cristian Pache, who are both struggling.

With this season-ending injury for Luplow, that won’t be an option for the Phils to even consider anymore. Perhaps Edmundo Sosa will be a factor on the grass, since he has a bit of experience out there and played well while Trea Turner was on the IL. The Phils don’t have a lot of holes heading into the July 30 trade deadline but adding an intriguing righty bat to the bench could be one target, especially with Luplow no longer there as a depth option.

Some other notable injury updates from around baseball…

The Cubs placed right-hander Ben Brown on the injured list a couple of weeks ago with a neck strain, though subsequent reporting provided the more ominous-sounding diagnosis of a stress reaction in his neck. The timeline was and is murky, but Brown was able to throw from 90 feet recently, per Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune. Brown says that he was told at the time of his diagnosis that he’s already through the worst of his ailment. Montemurro describes the prognosis as a “two- to three-month burnout period,” with the first month being the worst. Brown and Jordan Wicks hit the IL within a week of each other, thinning the Cubs rotation and forcing Kyle Hendricks back into a starting role. The club is 37-41 but that still has them two games out of a playoff spot in the weak NL race. The club will try to ramp Brown up from here as long as there are no symptoms and hopefully get him back into the mix as his body allows. He has a 3.58 ERA on the year through 55 1/3 innings.
The Padres are another club in that NL race with some rotation injuries but Yu Darvish will be back tomorrow, with AJ Cassavell of MLB.com relaying the word from manager Mike Shildt on X. Darvish had made 11 starts with a 3.20 ERA before landing on the IL with a left groin strain. He and Joe Musgrove landed on the shelf at the same time, forcing the club to use less experienced hurlers like Randy Vásquez and Adam Mazur. With Mazur posting an ERA of 7.10 in his first four starts and getting optioned recently, the return of Darvish should give the San Diego rotation a boost. The Friars are 41-41 and currently holding the final Wild Card spot in the National League, but there are seven clubs within three games of them.

Phillies Place Taijuan Walker On 15-Day Injured List

By Nick Deeds | June 23, 2024 at 9:06am CDT

The Phillies announced this morning that they’ve placed right-hander Taijuan Walker on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his right index finger. Right-hander Michael Mercado was recalled to the majors in a corresponding move. Mercado’s first appearance will be his big league debut.

Walker, 32 in August, has had a difficult 2024 season as he’s dealt with both injuries and ineffectiveness. A shoulder impingement delayed his season debut until the tail end of April, and he’s struggled considerably in ten starts since then. The righty sports a 5.60 ERA and 5.77 FIP overall on the season, figures that are 37% and 40% worse than the league average respectively. Just two of Walker’s ten appearances have been quality starts, and opponents have batted an eye-popping .278/.353/.511 against him in seven starts dating back to May 16. In other words, Walker’s opponents have teed off in recent weeks to achieve results roughly comparable to those Guardians star Jose Ramirez (.271/.330/.528) has posted this season.

Walker’s struggles came to a head Friday night against the Diamondbacks, when the righty allowed four runs on five hits and three walks across just four innings of work while striking out only three batters. Manager Rob Thomson told reporters (as noted by MLB.com’s Injury Tracker) yesterday that Walker was dealing with a “hot spot” on his finger and suggested that the issue has “been probably going on for a while.” Specifically, Thomson suggested that the injury may have impacted the efficacy of Walker’s splitter. The splitter was Walker’s most commonly used pitch last year, when he threw it 33.2% of the time according to Statcast. That usage has dropped to just 17.4% in 2024, and MLB.com notes that he’s thrown the pitch just sixteen times total over his past two starts.

That drop in usage has corresponded with a drop in efficacy. 2023 saw opposing hitters hit just .205 against Walker’s splitter, with a .295 slugging percentage and a .257 wOBA. Those strong results are a far cry for what the right-hander has produced with the pitch this year, as opponents have hit a whopping .426 with a .704 slugging percentage and a wOBA of .477. That .426 figure is the highest average allowed by Walker on any pitch this year, in sharp contrast to last year where his splitter boasted a lower average against than any pitch in his repertoire except for his rarely-used sweeper.

Given the fact that Walker’s finger issue has seemingly impacted his ability to throw his most important pitch, it’s hardly a surprise that the right-hander has suffered such extreme difficulties to this point in the season. Going forward, the Phillies will sit the righty down for at least the next two weeks in order to give the inflammation time to settle down. It’s surely a fairly easy decision for Philadelphia to not have Walker continue to try and play through the issue given the presence of right-hander Spencer Turnbull. Turnbull has been excellent for the club this year while swinging between the rotation and the bullpen, with a 2.63 ERA and 3.57 FIP in 51 1/3 innings across 16 appearances (six starts).

While Turnbull has not started a game since late April, the righty threw 49 pitches in his most recent outing on Friday and figures to be able to step into the rotation and offer the Phillies solid production in Walker’s stead. That leaves the long relief role out of the bullpen to Mercado, who is set to replace Walker on the club’s roster. Mercado was the Rays’ second-round pick in the 2017 draft but did not make an appearance at the big league level with the club before being traded to the Phillies back in November. Philadelphia swiftly placed Mercado on their 40-man roster and sent him to Triple-A to open the season, where he’s excelled with a 1.71 ERA and a 22.8% strikeout rate in 47 1/3 innings of work split between the rotation and bullpen at the level.

Dave Dombrowski Discusses Cristopher Sanchez Extension, Ranger Suarez’s Future

By Nick Deeds | June 23, 2024 at 8:18am CDT

When the Phillies announced a four-year extension with young left-hander Cristopher Sanchez yesterday, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski revealed to reporters (including Matt Gelb of The Athletic) that the deal isn’t one they would have considered making if Sanchez and his agent, Gene Mato, hadn’t approached him about the possibility of a long-term deal. Even at that point, Dombrowski noted that he had some reservations about negotiating in-season.

“As much as we’d love to have him, during the middle of the season, it’s not normally something that I would like to get into,” Dombrowski said, as relayed by Gelb. “Because it can be a distraction for the player.”

Fortunately, the extension talks didn’t take very long as Gelb notes that it took just one week of negotiations before the sides settled on the four-year, $22.5MM guarantee with two club options that could extend the club’s window of control over Sanchez through the end of the 2030 campaign. The smooth negotiations between Dombrowski and Sanchez’s camp appear to have been crucial in pushing the deal across the finish line given the Phillies’ stated concerns that a protracted negotiation process could become a distraction from the season at hand.

That apparent trepidation with regards to in-season extensions could serve as a clue for how the Phillies will approach left-hander Ranger Suarez, who Gelb notes the Phillies have interest in extending. Suarez is currently slated to hit free agency following the 2025 season, but Gelb notes that talks have yet to progress between the sides and appear likely to wait until after the 2024 campaign has concluded. For his part, Dombrowski noted that the club “love[s]” Suarez and that they “hope that he’s part of the organization for a long time,” but also declined to discuss the state of negotiations with the lefty.

If the Phillies want to extend Suarez, it’s sure to come with a much heftier price tag than the Sanchez extension. Sanchez’s deal is more or less in line with the low end of what pitchers in his service time bracket have received in extensions, just ahead of the $18.8MM guarantee the Red Sox gave to right-hander Garrett Whitlock but a far cry from the $50M+ guarantees afforded to Boston’s Brayan Bello and Cincinnati’s Hunter Greene. Suarez, who will be just one year from free agency this offseason, is in a completely different realm of contract expectations.

The two hurlers to sign extensions with just one year to go before free agency in recent memory are Mariners right-hander Luis Castillo and Blue Jays right-hander Jose Berrios, both of whom did so shortly after being dealt to new teams the previous summer. Castillo signed a $108MM guarantee over five years with Seattle, while Berrios signed in Toronto on a seven-year deal that guaranteed him $131MM. Both hurlers had a much longer track record of success in the starting rotation at the time of their extensions than Suarez, who didn’t become a full-time starting pitcher until the 2022 season.

On the other hand, however, Suarez has undeniably been more dominant than either hurler in the years leading up to the start of extension negotiations. The lefty has pitched to a 2.91 ERA (142 ERA+) with a 3.39 FIP in 478 2/3 innings of work since the start of the 2021 season. That eclipses the work of both Berrios (118 ERA+, 3.78 FIP) and Castillo (132 ERA+, 3.43 FIP) on a rate basis in their final four years before signing, though both Castillo and Berrios had 120+ additional innings of work over that same timeframe. Much of Suarez’s ultimate price tag will surely depend on how he finishes the 2024 campaign; the lefty currently leads all of MLB with an incredible 1.75 ERA through 15 starts this year and figures to find himself in the thick of the Cy Young conversation at year’s end if he can keep anything close to this production up over a full year.

Phillies Extend Cristopher Sanchez

By Mark Polishuk | June 22, 2024 at 10:55pm CDT

3:25PM: According to The Athletic’s Matt Gelb, the extension will guarantee Sanchez $22.5MM in total. The club option year for 2029 is valued at $14MM, while the 2030 club option is worth $15MM. Gelb adds that the price of both options will rise if Sanchez manages to finish in the top 10 of NL Cy Young award voting.

10:33AM: The Phillies have officially announced the extension, with no financial terms released. Sanchez’s deal covers the 2025-28 seasons, and Philadelphia has club options on his services for both 2029 and 2030.

9:10AM: The Phillies and left-hander Cristopher Sanchez are in the final stages of completing a four-year contract extension, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports (X link). Sanchez is already under team control through the 2028 season, so the deal will give the Phils some cost certainty over those upcoming four years and beyond. Heyman indicates there are multiple club option years, so the Phillies can now control at least two of Sanchez’s free agent seasons. The 27-year-old Sanchez is represented by agent Gene Mato.

The signing continues Philadelphia’s penchant for locking up arms, as all of the extensions signed during Dave Dombrowski’s tenure as president of baseball operations have come on the pitching end. These deals range from shorter-term deals to avoid arbitration to the much pricier three-year, $126MM extension Zack Wheeler signed last March, and Sanchez’s deal should fall somewhere in between.

Considering Sanchez’s relatively advanced age (he turns 28 in December) and the fact that he isn’t even eligible for arbitration until the 2025-26 offseason, an extension is an aggressive move on the part of Dombrowski’s front office. While the southpaw was lining himself up well for some nice salaries in his arb years, having a relatively inexpensive arm in the rotation could have helped balance out the much larger luxury tax hits of pricier players like Wheeler, Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, and Aaron Nola, all of whom are signed through at least the 2027 season. Nick Castellanos and Taijuan Walker also on the books through 2026, J.T. Realmuto and Kyle Schwarber through 2025, and the likes of Ranger Suarez, Alec Bohm, and Bryson Stott have also played well enough to merit consideration for long-term commitments.

The Phillies surpassed the luxury tax threshold in each of the last two seasons and are set to do again in 2024, as the team has shown it is more than willing to spend big in pursuit of a championship. Against this backdrop, it isn’t surprising that the Phils are again opening the checkbook to retain a player they like, and who they feel might end up being something of a bargain over the course of the extension, considering how Sanchez has emerged as a starter in 2023-24.

An international signing for the Rays out of the Dominican Republic in 2013, Sanchez was dealt to Philadelphia in November 2019 in a one-for-one trade for Curtis Mead. An under-the-radar move at the time, it has become a pretty intriguing deal in hindsight given how Sanchez has developed as a capable MLB starter, and how Mead went on to become a top-100 prospect in Tampa’s farm system (and a big leaguer himself, albeit in only 50 games to date).

Sanchez showed some flashes of his future ability as a starter and a reliever during his time in the Rays’ farm system, and the Phillies used him mostly as a starter during his time in the minors. He made his MLB debut in 2021 and still worked as a reliever in all but four of his big league outings (52 2/3 innings over 23 appearances) in 2021-22, but some injuries opened the door for Sanchez to eventually step into the Philadelphia rotation himself last season. The result was a 3.44 ERA over 99 1/3 innings, supported by a 24.2% strikeout rate, a four percent walk rate, and a 57% grounder rate.

That success has largely carried over to this season, as Sanchez has a 2.91 ERA, 20.3% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate, and a 59.4% grounder rate. While the walk rate is no longer elite and Sanchez’s K% is now below average, he is still generating tons of grounders, and could even be considered somewhat unlucky since he has a .342 BABIP. Sanchez is doing a solid job of limiting hard contract and in particular of keeping the ball in the park — after allowing 16 homers in his 99 1/3 innings in 2023, Sanchez has given up just one home run in 77 1/3 frames this year. While not a particularly hard thrower in relation to the rest of the league, Sanchez has added quite a bit of velocity, now averaging 94.3mph on his fastball after averaging 92.1mph last year.

This grounder-heavy and relatively low-strikeout skillset could lend itself to some variance if the ground balls start finding holes in the infield, or if Sanchez’s newfound success at limiting homers doesn’t continue. That said, the Phillies are obviously confident enough in Sanchez as a viable rotation member that they have now firmed up their commitment to him for much of the decade.

From Sanchez’s perspective, he’ll now land the first big payday of his professional career. Since he wouldn’t have entered free agency until after his age-31 season, Sanchez will gain some life-changing financial ability now, rather than run the risk that an injury or a dip in form might’ve scuttled his future chances at a big multi-year contract.

Looking at the bigger picture of the Phillies’ pitching situation, extending Sanchez creates some new questions about whether or not retaining Suarez is also in the team’s plans. Suarez is eligible for arbitration one more time before hitting the open market after the 2025 campaign, and the left-hander’s breakout as a Cy Young Award candidate this season will surely elevate his asking price. With so much money already committed to the rotation in particular, retaining Sanchez could be the Phillies’ way of creating a hedge if Suarez does depart in free agency, though it wouldn’t be surprising if the Phils again break the bank to keep Suarez on yet another noteworthy extension.

With so much of their rotation now locked up, the Phillies have limited room on paper for top pitching prospects Andrew Painter and Mick Abel. This could make Philadelphia more open to moving young pitching for more immediate help at this year’s trade deadline, though it should be noted that Abel hasn’t performed well at Triple-A this season and Painter won’t pitch until 2025 due to Tommy John surgery. Until the Phils have more clarity on their top young arms in particular, Dombrowski would certainly be wary of dealing from the starting ranks. Spencer Turnbull has excelled when used as a starter this season as well, though he is only signed through this season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Cubs Acquire William Simoneit From Phillies

By Darragh McDonald | June 18, 2024 at 5:55pm CDT

The Cubs have acquired catcher William Simoneit from the Phillies, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The backstop has been assigned to Double-A Tennessee for now. He wasn’t on Philadelphia’s 40-man roster and therefore won’t require a spot with the Cubs. The Phils receive cash considerations in return.

Simeonit, now 27, signed with the Athletics as an undrafted free agent in 2020. From 2021 to 2023, he got into 244 minor league games from High-A to Triple-A. He produced a combined batting line of .259/.359/.408 in that time, which led to a 108 wRC+.

The Phils nabbed him away from the A’s in the minor league phase of the 2023 Rule 5 draft. His results have fallen off since the organizational switch, as he’s hit .145/.286/.306 between Double-A and Triple-A this year, striking out in 39% of his trips to the plate. The Phillies recently lost some catching depth with J.T. Realmuto requiring knee surgery but still decided they would rather have the cash than Simoneit.

The Cubs have received very little from their catching position this year, something that manager Craig Counsell recently discussed. As of today, Miguel Amaya is hitting .185/.248/.267 on the season while Yan Gomes has a line of .154/.179/.242. Neither of those two can be optioned and the club doesn’t have another catcher on the 40-man.

Alí Sánchez is in the system as non-roster depth but Simoneit will now join him in that capacity. It’s obviously been rough going to start this year for Simoneit but perhaps he can get back to into his pre-2024 form.

Phillies Option Johan Rojas

By Darragh McDonald | June 17, 2024 at 2:35pm CDT

The Phillies announced today that shortstop Trea Turner has been reinstated from the injured list, a move that was reported over the weekend. To open a roster spot for Turner, outfielder Johan Rojas was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

Rojas, now 23, was promoted to the majors last summer from Double-A, skipping over the Triple-A level. He had long been a notable prospect thanks to his speed and defense, and he definitely showed those traits in the second half of the 2023 season. He stole 14 bases in 15 attempts while also being credited with 15 Defensive Runs Saved and six Outs Above Average in center field.

That was a key development for the Phillies, as they had some defensive challenges, particularly in the outfield. Bryce Harper was returning from Tommy John surgery last year and was able to come back as a designated hitter before being able to play the field. That left the Phils with Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos, who are both considered subpar defenders, in the outfield corners most days.

On top of those contributions, the offense from Rojas was better than expected. Rojas struck out in 25.6% of his plate appearances and only walked at a 3% clip, but he managed to slash .302/.342/.430 for a wRC+ of 109. That was largely held up by an unsustainable .410 batting average on balls in play, but any offense was likely considered a nice bonus by the Phillies, since they largely wanted Rojas out there for his glove.

That performance earned Rojas a chance to take the everyday center field job this year, but it has not gone well. He has reduced his strikeout rate to 15.8% but his batted ball luck has disappeared. He has a .273 BABIP on the year and still isn’t drawing walks, leading to a .235/.271/.295 line and 62 wRC+. Bizarrely, his defense has also regressed, with tallies of +1 DRS and +2 OAA so far this year.

The Phils are having a great season, currently sporting a record of 47-24 that has them atop the National League, but the outfield has been their primary weak spot. Rojas has been a part of that but Castellanos, Whit Merrifield and Cristian Pache are also having rough seasons while Brandon Marsh spent some time on the injured list with a hamstring strain. David Dahl was called up to help out and has looked good, but in a small sample of eight games after several years of injury-related struggles.

Rojas and Marsh are the only two players in that group who can be optioned to the minor leagues. Marsh is now off the IL and is having a good season overall, leaving Rojas as the odd man out. He’ll head to Triple-A for the first time and try to get back on track.

The Phils have plenty of justification for making this move based on the lack of performance from Rojas this year, but it’s possible that it will impact him from a service time perspective. He got 80 days of service last year, putting him 92 shy of the one-year mark. He has banked 81 so far this year, meaning he’s still just under that line. He should be able to get back over if he’s recalled at any point but his potential free agency could be pushed back if he stays down for the rest of the year.

For the Phillies, they will now proceed with some combination of Castellanos, Marsh, Pache, Merrifield and Dahl in the outfield. The return of Turner could also perhaps push Edmundo Sosa into that mix, as he has a small amount of outfield experience and was hitting well in covering for Turner. Marsh and Dahl hit from the left side while those other outfield options are righties, perhaps allowing the club to use platoons to get everyone into the lineup.

Phillies To Activate Trea Turner On Monday

By Nick Deeds | June 16, 2024 at 1:26pm CDT

The Phillies are planning to activate shortstop Trea Turner from the 10-day injured list prior to tomorrow’s game against the Padres, manager Rob Thomson told reporters (including Matt Gelb of The Athletic) earlier today. Turner has been on the shelf due to a hamstring strain since the beginning of May.

The return of Turner to the Phillies lineup should serve to further bolster a team that has emerged as a juggernaut in the first half of the 2024 campaign. The Phillies have stormed to an NL-best 47-23 record with excellent production on all fronts. They sport the third-best pitching staff in the majors this year by ERA with a 3.11 figure that sits behind only the Yankees and Orioles, while their 110 wRC+ on offense is tied for sixth in the majors with the Brewers. That they’ve managed to do all that without their star shortstop for the past six weeks is all the more impressive, particularly given the hot start Turner got off to prior to his injury.

In 33 games prior to his trip to the IL, Turner was slashing an incredible .343/.392/.460 (145 wRC+) with 10 stolen bases in 11 attempts. That lengthy stretch of success extends all the way back to the All Star break of last year. Turner had scuffled through his first half-season in a Phillies uniform with below average numbers across the board, but caught fire down the stretch to help lead the club to their second consecutive NLCS appearance. Since mid July last year, Turner’s .309/.363/.522 slash line is good for a 142 wRC+ that’s 17th-best among all major league hitters and trails only Mookie Betts, Bobby Witt Jr. Gunnar Henderson, Corey Seager, and Jose Altuve among middle infielders.

That type of production will surely be a welcome addition to the Phillies lineup. While the club’s infield mix of Bryce Harper, Alec Bohm, Bryson Stott, and Edmundo Sosa have all performed very well this season, adding Turner’s potent bat back into the lineup should provide a shot in the arm for the offense in Philadelphia. The return of Turner appears most likely to come at the expense of Sosa, who has performed phenomenally as a fill-in at shortstop while the star has been on the shelf. Sosa has slashed an excellent .280/.343/.512 in 138 trips to the plate this year, including a .286/.348/.524 slash line since taking over the everyday shortstop job while Turner has been injured.

That sort of strong production is hard to remove from a lineup, although it’s worth noting that Sosa has slumped in the month of June with a lackluster .216/.256/.324 slash in 39 trips to the plate. With Turner re-entering the fold, Sosa figures to return to his bench role as a contributor around the infield as a backup to each of Bohm, Stott, and Turner. His sensational .340/.426/.723 slash line against left-handed pitching seems likely to earn him regular playing time against southpaws even with the team’s lineup returning to full strength.

Speculatively speaking, Sosa could spell Stott, who has hit just .250/.357/.333 against same-handed pitching this year, at second base against some lefties or perhaps even work into the outfield mix, where he has made brief cameos in both left and center field during his time with the Phillies. The Phillies will need to move a position player off their active roster tomorrow to accommodate the return of Turner. Of note, only outfielder Johan Rojas has options remaining among the club’s current bench mix, which also includes fellow outfielder Christian Pache and veteran utility man Whit Merrifield.

Phillies Activate Brandon Marsh

By Mark Polishuk | June 15, 2024 at 12:05pm CDT

The Phillies announced that outfielder Brandon Marsh has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list, with utilityman Weston Wilson heading to Triple-A in the corresponding move. Marsh was placed on the IL on June 3 due to a right hamstring strain, so he’ll return to action after just slightly beyond the 10-day minimum.

While the NL-leading Phillies haven’t slowed down in Marsh’s absence, getting the outfielder back is obviously good news for a team that has taken a few injury hits. Trea Turner has missed over six weeks recovering from a more serious hamstring strain, but the star shortstop is reportedly close to returning as well, and could be activated from the IL within the next two or three days. Catcher J.T. Realmuto will miss the next month due to knee surgery, and utilityman Kody Clemens has also been sidelined for the last two weeks with back spasms.

Marsh was hitting .265/.344/.426 over 186 plate appearances at the time of his IL placement, pretty much matching the solid numbers he has posted since arriving in Philadelphia as part of a deadline trade with the Angels in 2022. While the Phillies have tried to limit his exposure to left-handed pitching, Marsh has gotten the lion’s share of playing time as the regular center fielder in 2022 and 2023, and as the regular left fielder this season. Where Marsh plays now that he is back on the active roster could be an interesting situation to observe, as the Phils could opt to give him more time in center field, thus making Whit Merrifield and David Dahl the regular left field platoon.

Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer noted that Marsh played in center field during his brief Triple-A rehab stint, and though Phillies manager Rob Thomson said that usage was more about giving Marsh more leeway to test his hamstring, it isn’t hard to see why Marsh might be the Phils’ preferred choice over Johan Rojas in center. Rojas has hit poorly this season, and the stellar glovework that earned him the center field job in the first place has also regressed. He has a -10.8 UZR/150 over 473 1/3 innings in center field this season, and while the Outs Above Average (+2) and Defensive Runs Saved (+1) metrics still have a positive view of his defense, even those numbers are well below his totals from 2023.

A broader decision on the center field job probably doesn’t have to be made until Turner is ready to be activated, and Lauber feels Philadelphia could then option Rojas to Triple-A or designate Cristian Pache for assignment. Pache is out of minor league options and thus would have to be DFA’ed first if the Phils wanted to send him to the minors, so to avoid losing Pache on a waiver claim, the Phillies could instead simply option Rojas to Triple-A to see if his bat can catch fire in the minors.

NL East Notes: Dombrowski, Phillies, Gallo, Minter

By Mark Polishuk | June 15, 2024 at 8:51am CDT

Three unnamed teams have offered catching help to the Phillies since the news broke earlier this week about J.T. Realmuto’s knee surgery, as president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told The Athletic’s Matt Gelb. While Philadelphia is expected to look for some kind of short-term depth in Realmuto’s absence, Dombrowski didn’t sound too enamored by the options available thus far, noting that the three clubs approached the Phillies about the available catchers: “That’s usually probably not a good sign, that they’re trying to get rid of them. Rather than the opposite way where you’re pursuing them.” Since Realmuto is slated to miss roughly a month, Dombrowski seems content to “take a look at our young guys” like backup catcher Rafael Marchan in the interim, so the Phils don’t necessarily feel much pressure to make a trade.

Philadelphia’s outstanding 47-22 record also provides a bit more breathing room, as the Phillies have the National League’s best record and look like a lock to return to the playoffs. Dombrowski naturally expected his team to be good, but admitted that a .681 win percentage even exceeded his expectations, especially considering that the Phils have been without Trea Turner for the majority of the season. Turner’s impending return is an upgrade on its own, and in terms of other possible trade deadline additions, Dombrowski said it’s “way, way, way, way, way too early” to start accessing how the market might take shape. Dombrowski cited bullpen depth as one possible area to explore, and doesn’t seem to think the Phillies will pursue a “we’re going to trade three top prospects” type of blockbuster trade. The PBO is also cognizant of how adding and subtracting from the roster might impact team chemistry, as obviously Dombrowski doesn’t want to disrupt what has been a winning formula for the Phillies to date.

Yankees, Dodgers, Phillies, Orioles Among Teams Interested In Tanner Scott

By Steve Adams | June 14, 2024 at 4:15pm CDT

Marlins closer Tanner Scott has already been drawing trade interest for several weeks, and Jon Heyman of the New York Post lists the Yankees, Dodgers, Phillies and Orioles as just some of the many teams showing interest in the hard-throwing lefty. Will Sammon and Katie Woo of The Athletic suggested this morning that Scott could be the next notable name to be moved — although that doesn’t necessarily indicate a trade of Scott is nearing the finish line. But the Marlins already showed their willingness to act early on the trade market when they moved Luis Arraez just five weeks into the season, and power bullpen arms are among the most sought-after commodities on the trade market every year.

That said, Scott alone isn’t likely to fetch the Marlins a sizable haul on his own. He clearly has trade value and should net some minor league talent, but the 29-year-old southpaw is in his final season of club control and will reach free agency at season’s end. The Marlins were willing to pay down nearly all of Arraez’s contract in their trade with the Padres, and doing so on Scott’s $5.7MM salary could help to enhance his appeal, but there are concerns even beyond the southpaw’s dwindling club control.

Command has always been an issue for the hard-throwing Scott, and 2024 is no exception. Quite the opposite, in fact. This year’s 16.8% walk rate is the highest of Scott’s career (excepting a 1 2/3-inning debut back in 2017). As noted here back in late May, he’s been slowly paring that number back since issuing an alarming swath of walks early in the season, but Scott has still walked 12% of his hitters dating back to May 1.

That’s not as troubling as a nearly 17% mark, but it’s still three percentage points higher than the average reliever — and the gap between that mark and last year’s career-best 7.8% mark is even wider. Scott has also seen his swinging-strike rate drop from a mammoth 17.4% in 2023 to 13.5% this year, while his opponents’ chase rate on pitches off the plate has fallen from 36.1% to 28.8% — a possible indicator that he’s missing by a much larger margin when he’s failing to find the strike zone.

To Scott’s credit, he’s been on an exceptional run of late. He surrendered a walk-off home run to Mets designated hitter J.D. Martinez yesterday, but those two runs were the first he’d allowed since April 30. Dating back to May 1, Scott has a minuscule 1.17 earned run average and huge 32.8% strikeout rate in 15 1/3 innings. Overall, the lefty touts a 1.93 ERA, 26.1% strikeout rate and 52.5% grounder rate in 28 innings this year (in addition to that bloated 16.8% walk rate). He’s also averaging 96.9 mph on his heater.

Scott’s trade value would surely have been higher in the offseason, when he had a full year of club control and was fresh off a 33.9% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate in a career-high 78 innings. But the Marlins made the playoffs last year, and even after turning over their front office and largely idling throughout the winter, presumably wanted to see if the team could play its way back into postseason contention. A catastrophic 1-11 start to the season emphatically answered that question.

The Marlins could potentially package Scott with another trade candidate, such as coveted starter Jesus Luzardo, and look to extract a huge package by combining two sought-after players in a single trade. They could also hope that by moving Scott early, they can catch lightning in a bottle in the same manner that the Royals did last summer by moving Aroldis Chapman in late June — a trade that netted them current No. 1 starter Cole Ragans. (To be clear, Ragans was seen as a buy-low candidate at the time, and the Royals deserve credit for completely turning the former first-round pick’s career around.) Hitting that kind of jackpot almost certainly won’t happen, but that trade is illustrative of the fact that Miami could potentially get some MLB-ready help in return for Scott — provided the player in question is viewed as something of a project.

With regard to the teams linked to Scott, any of the bunch is a sensible target. The Yankees load up on bullpen arms every deadline they’re in contention, and they’ve regularly shown an affinity for ground-ball pitchers and power lefties. Scott checks both boxes. The Orioles know Scott better than any team in the game, having originally drafted and developed him — only to trade him to Miami in a deal they’d like to take back (Kevin Guerrero and Antonio Velez went to Baltimore in the deal). Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is always intrigued by high-end velocity and doesn’t need much help in the rotation right now, making a deeper bullpen a logical focus. The Dodgers have several notable relievers on the injured list at the moment (Brusdar Graterol, Joe Kelly, Ryan Brasier) and lack this type of flamethrowing left-handed presence in their current bullpen.

There’s some overlap between the clubs eyeing Scott and those reportedly eyeing White Sox closer Michael Kopech, which is only natural. Playoff hopefuls always look to beef up the relief corps around the trade deadline, and with so few sellers on the market at the moment, the few teams that are willing to deal should see increased demand.

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