High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Four Ways the Phillies Can Fix Their Lineup | WIP Daily

Episode Date: June 2, 2023

Joe Giglio lists four different options the Phillies could consider to jump-start their abysmal lineup. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Crypto trading involves risk of loss. See kraken.com slash legal slash ca dash pru dash disclaimer for info on Kraken's undertaking to register in Canada. Whether the action is at the link or the bank, there's never an off day on Broad Street. It's the biggest news of the day, every day, with takes from someone who's never short on them. It's WIP Daily with Joe Giglio. Welcome on in. WIP Daily for a June 2nd. Joe Giglio. Welcome on in. WIP Daily for a June 2nd. Joe Giglio with you.

Appreciate everyone following the show. WIP Daily, wherever you get your podcasts. Of course, the video feed as well. 94 WIP's YouTube page. And it's time to get drastic here with the Phillies. It is time to get drastic with this Phillies team that is now 25-31. Another loss swept out of New York. The Phillies through 56 is now 25-31. Another loss swept out of New York. The Phillies through 56 games are 25-31

with a minus 45 run differential. And I just want to point this out as we get into some drastic measures. I think it's time to take care for the Phillies to really save this season and save the future of the team. If you are still clinging to this is like last year, it's similar to last year, you're clueless on this. I mean, I'm going to give you some numbers here that are actually drastic. Okay. So again, last year at this point, the Phillies were in the upswing.

It was already post the fire of Girardi. The win streak had begun. They were in the upswing. They are falling right now, not an upswing. The Phillies right now have a minus 45 run differential. Last year through 56 games, they were 27 and 29. So there were two games better in the standings, but their run differential was plus 29. You could see that team was better than its record and things could and obviously did turn around. This team is not better than its record. And the difference in run differential through this many games this year to last year is 74 runs. 74 runs different this year to last year at the same juncture in terms of run differential. To put that in perspective, that's the difference about the difference right now between the Astros and the Nationals. That's the difference between

last year's team and this year's team at the same juncture. It's the difference between this year's Astros team versus this year's Nationals team. A team that just won the World Series versus a team that is not a contender. That's what it is right now. It's time to get drastic. I've got some ideas for the Phillies to change things and things that they should do right now. Number one, blow up the lineup. Whatever the idea has been, it's not working. They're not getting a base at the top.

It's historically bad at the top of the order. Here the idea has been, it's not working. They're not getting a base at the top. It's historically bad at the top of the order. Here's what I'm doing, and I'm going to let this run for two weeks to see if it has any impact. And quite frankly, I don't care about the rest of the lineup. I'm going to give you the top three. I don't care. You line up 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, any way you like. For me, right now, moving

forward for the next two weeks, I'm putting Brandon Marsh number one, Nick Castellanos number two, Bryce Harper number three. They have been the Phillies' three best offensive players. And I don't believe there's been one day this season where the three of them hit back-to-back-to-back. It's a lefty, a righty, a lefty, and naturally separate them. I know Marsh doesn't probably have much, if at all, experience hitting leadoff. I don't care. Bryce is your best on-base guy, but I think probably the least moving part

is just leaving Bryce at number three and letting him be. Marsh, Castellanos, and Harper. Let them cook the three of them together. They're the only three that hit in this lineup. They're the only three that get on base in this lineup. They're the only three that have above average or well above average adjusted

OPS in this lineup. Marsh is healthier now. I thought it was egregious to pinch hit for him with Drew Ellis in the ninth inning of the game on Thursday. I mean, really, we're letting a guy who just got here pinch hit? I mean, sometimes we go a little platoon heavy, and I'm guilty of this as a fan, like, oh, lefty-righty, lefty-righty. I don't need to see Drew Ellis hit there. Marsh, Castellanos, Harper, one, two, three.

It's time. It's time. It's time to stack the three best hitters in the lineup and see if it generates any sort of offense. And my guess is if they continue, let's just say we do this for two weeks. The Phillies do it for two weeks. And for two weeks, they hit like they have in totality for the season.

The team will score more runs because those three will generate innings. They will generate offense, whether it be with a dinger or just getting on base, single, double, sack, flight, whatever it is, it will generate some offense. And this team desperately right now needs some offense. All right. Number two, the second thing I'm doing right now, and this pains me to say it because you guys know I'm a fan of his and I think he's a winner. I know he's a leader. I know he's a winner. I know he's a leader. But I think and believe now it is time to decrease Kyle Schwerber's playing time until he gets going. Now, I say this with the caveat that it's June,

and June has been his best month, and I'm not looking to sit him down all the time. I'm not benching, quote unquote, Kyle Schwerber, but I am going to sit him against lefties, and I'll let him come in those games as a pinch hitter later. Saturday, they face Mackenzie Gore. He wouldn't start the game for me. He just wouldn't. Against lefties this year, Kyle Schwerber has a 35% strikeout rate. It's unacceptable. I mean, it's unacceptable for Kyle Schwerber to be in the lineup against left-handed pitchers at this point on the season. I mean, these are the numbers for Kyle Schwarber against lefties this year. He has a 143 batting average. He has a 669 OPS.

And he has struck out 35% of the time. I will leave him in there against right-handed pitching every single day. And when the Phillies are facing a lefty, I will not start him. And as soon as the lefty comes out of the game, I insert him back in. I'm just trying to create some sort of advantage because right now they have none of this offense. It's a bad, bad offensive team right now that can't do anything well. I mean, in the month of May, Kyle Schreber hit 115 with a 668 on base percentage. 115 with a 668 on base percentage. It's just an OBS on base plus slugging. It's just, it's not going to work. That's not good enough. So I'm willing now to sit Kyle Schroeder down against lefties to start the

game. Again, when the lefty comes out and they bring a righty in, Schroeder goes back in, but I'm going to try to get a platoon advantage the first three, four, five, six innings of the game. Again, when the lefty comes out and they bring a righty in, Schroeder goes back in, but I'm going to try to get a platoon advantage the first three, four, five, six innings of the game, get his bad defense off the field when it's not producing any offense anyway, put a righty bat in there, get better defense with Dalton Guthrie in the outfield, and maybe clear

his head so he only focuses on hitting righties right now and gets himself back on track. I'm sitting Kyle Schroeder against lefties where it's just been. I know he's got six home runs against lefties, but at bat to at bat, it's been pretty rough to watch. And a 35% strikeout rate is just too much. All right. So Marsh, Castellanos, Harper, one, two, three, every day for two weeks, number two, sitting Schwerber against lefties. And maybe it all sends a little message. Like the past doesn't matter. Your track record doesn't matter. It's what you're doing now. If you're not

producing now, you don't play every day. And I do think there would be something to, in a way, making Schwerber a platoon player that would get the eye of the clubhouse. It really would. At this point, I wish I could sit down. I really wish I could sit down Trey Turner, but

with the injury to Boehm and Sosa having to play basically every day over at third base, there's really not a mechanism right now to sitting down Trey Turner. I mean, they don't have the depth. They don't have the players. They don't have another infielder. And that's a disgrace, but it is what it is. So he's got to keep playing, at least with Schwarber.

I think I could send a message, do right by the team, maybe actually get him going. And it's kind of a soft benching because how many, if he's my one or two lefties a week, he's going to miss four to six plate appearances before he's right back in the game anyway in those games. So I don't think it is a gigantic deal, but it does kind of open everything up to changes coming here if we don't start playing better. So that's number two. Number three, the Phillies have to make a move. I mean, I can't believe a team with a $247 million payroll calls up a player that I don't know who he is yesterday

and bats him in the ninth inning of a game they need to win in Drew Ellis. And this isn't a knock on Drew Ellis. It's a knock on Dave Dabrowski. It's a knock on the organizational depth. It's a knock on, I believe, what is laziness around the 40-man roster. I mean, there are roster and waiver moves every day in Major League Baseball. Every single day, players are placed on these waivers, designated for assignment. And the Phillies, I believe, have been pretty lackadaisical when it comes to trying to churn the bottom of the roster and get better, whether it is just upgrading

from the 39th guy and the 40th guy to better 39th and 40th guys. That matters. The Eagles do this all the time. NFL teams do it all the time, churning the back end of the roster. And you never know when that back end of the roster becomes something. Let's just use the Eagles example. I think it was 2019, around there, the Eagles claimed and landed Marcus Epps on waivers. I believe he started his career with the Minnesota Vikings. And Marcus Epps eventually became a starter and I would say a solid starter on a Super Bowl team and NFC Championship team

for the Eagles. The Phillies rarely pay attention to this. I believe it is a blind spot of Dave Dombrowski blind spot of this front office perhaps they're trying, perhaps they're locked into too many of these contracts and players they can't kind of remove and move up and down from the 40 and you're risking losing

someone. I get that. But there's got to be something better than what they have right now because some of the call-ups they've made this year, like, you know, when I'm watching Dylan Covey and I'm watching Drew Ellis, you know, it tells me that something's not right and they're not doing enough here to fix the back of this roster.

So, I am going to make a move here, and two players were DFA'd recently. Jesus Aguilar and Luke Voigt. And of the two, I'd probably rather have Aguilar at this point. Luke Voigt was the guy, I think it was

2020, the COVID year. He led baseball on home runs. It was 60 games. I mean, anyone could kind was the guy, I think it was 2020, the COVID year. He led the, he led baseball on home runs. It was 60 games. I mean, anyone could kind of hop out to 60 games this year. Did not hit with the Milwaukee Brewers. Really was poor. 221 batting average,

27 strikeouts, four walks, zero home runs. Aguilar's the more impactful hitter, I believe at this point, and would have more of an impact here. Get him in. Sign Jesus Aguilar,

bring him in, play him at first base against lefties or DH him against lefties. You can DH him against lefties too. I guess Bryce has to do that. But first base against lefties. And I think if you roll a lineup out there against lefties where you have Aguilar at first base,

you have Sosa at third base, right? Boehm's out right now. You have Guthrie in left field. Gashorba's not playing. And the only lefty really you'd have out there, I'd let Marsh go out there and play, is really Marsh and Stott. That's it.

Everybody else would be righties in the lineup. I think it'd give you a better chance. They're going to face Mackenzie Gore coming up on Saturday in Washington. He's turned the corner as a young lefty. They got him back in the Soto deal last year. Got good stuff. He was a top prospect a couple years ago. I mean, he really has some good stuff.

He will not be easy to face. And, you know, the bottom line is, like, I'm not sure when they get all these guys in here and turn this over. But they need to start having a little bit more of a sense of urgency for the roster and really just the ability to start adding and fixing this team would go such a long way. Because right now, it's just like every day is the same thing. So I'm trying to look at the Tigers, what they have coming up. They're not listing their starters for Monday, Tuesday when they come in here, but I know they're going to face a lefty on Saturday.

So I want to go out and pick up a guy like Jesus Aguilar to help with the office. We'll pop. I mean, even if it's for a couple of weeks before boom gets back, these games matter. I mean, this, this season is, is on the, the brink of falling apart and that they got to do something here to fix

this immediately. So Marsh, Castellanos, Harper, one, two, three, let's go stack the top three guys.

Number two, sit Kyle Schroeder against lefties to start those games. Send a message and really get him and everyone else to wake up here. Nobody's safe, not even Schwarber. I'd pick up Jesus Agler. I like him better than Luke Voigt on waivers. And the fourth thing I'm doing if I'm Dave Dombrowski, and this one is probably not an easy one, but it's his job. It's time to start making calls, trade calls. And when I say that, I mean both ways. it's time to start making calls, trade calls. And when I say that, I mean both ways.

And both ways means acting and thinking as a buyer, which the Phillies obviously still right now should and will and likely will portray over the next month or so, but also start having those trade conversations in case they are a seller. Okay, if the Phillies do not turn this around, they should absolutely trade Aaron Nol at the trade deadline. He's a free agent to be. There's two things involved here. Number one, him staying through the season does not mean anything in terms of when free agency begins.

He could still leave. And if the Phillies trade him, they could always try to bring him back if that is what they want to do and that is what they hope to do. It could be a two-month thing where they get something back for him and then bring it back anyway if they really want to do it. So I think Dave DeBrasi needs to start acting in his mind and starting the conversations as a buyer and a seller. Go call the Guardians about Shane Bieber. Call the Cubs about Marcus Stroman. Start to see what is going to be out there. What is the cost for starting pitching? Start to have those conversations around baseball for when it's time to pull the trigger on a deal. But let's just play it out.

Let's say over the next six weeks, the Phillies do not turn it around, but Aaron Nola does. The Phillies continue to be a below average team, not a good team. But Aaron Nola kind of starts getting himself back on track at pitches like the Aaron Nola that we're used to. Aaron Nola will be a very, very sought-after pitcher. In fact, I think he'd be the most sought-after if he pitches to his level. Because right now, with the way Bieber's trending, I think the Nola we saw at the end of last year and all of last year is a better pitcher. With the way Bieber's trending, because he's really trending in the wrong direction, strikeout rate, so is Nola. But those two kind of would go hand-in-hand.

I'd rather have Aaron Nola on my team if I'm pitching in a playoff game, the best of Aaron Nola than Marcus Stroman. So I think Nola would be right there, if not the top pitcher available, one of the top two pitchers available. They would get something for him. And you think about teams that are in the race, teams that are trying to go win a championship this year. I mean, I really believe, you go look at it,

right now, a team like, let's just go to this, a team like the Arizona Dimebacks trying to take that next step, a team like the Dodgers, who are a little bit short on pitching this year. Imagine if they got healthy and lined up, Arias, Kershaw, Nola, May in a playoff series. I mean, they would feel like they could win anything. You go to the American League, the Baltimore Orioles, who are trying to win and go over the top to the playoffs,

they would love a guy like Aaron Nola. The New York Yankees would love a guy like Aaron Nola. The Houston Astros, who look like they're a pitcher short right now, and saw Nola firsthand last year, would love Aaron Nola. The Mariners might need another arm, would love Aaron Nola. So these teams would do a jump attack. So I think Dave Dabrowski needs to play both sides of this and be ready mid-July to strike either way. If they're buyers, well, he already knows what the cost is for Bieber or Stroman. And if they're sellers, he's got the teams lined up, the packages lined up for Aaron Nola. That's got to be the objective

here. So for the Phillies, it's pretty clear. Four things, and they're all drastic, but it's time. Marsh, Castellanos, Harper, 1, 2, 3. Starting today, it should happen. Sit Kyle Schroeder against lefties. Go pick up a guy like Jesus Aguilar to put a first base, this Drew Ellis thing, enough. And start making those trade calls both ways in case

it's time to pivot here. It's a tough time for the Phillies, and this team's not even close to what they were last year at this time, and that's saying a lot. Hopefully it's a better weekend. Hopefully things turn around. We'll talk again on Monday. Thank you so much for listening to WIP Daily. Follow the show wherever you get your podcasts.

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