Today, on August 9, the Phils are 59-56, tied with the Mets for third place, 8 games out of first, 1/2 game out of the wild card, with a run differential of -31. So in the span of 3 months, the Phils have lost 12 games in the standings, are 3 games under .500 and have been outscored by 62 runs.
Their longest win streak of the season is 4 games. 4. That's it. They've lost 5 of their last 7. There are 7 weeks left the in the season and the chances of making the playoffs look bleaker every day.
So what do you do? I say give the kids a chance. When Jay Bruce was activated from the injured list, the Phillies demoted Adam Haseley, their hottest hitter, so he could play regularly in the minors. What? Haseley needs to be in the majors to make sure he's for real.
Next move? Bring up minor league power machine Alec Bohm, who has a .905 OPS in 3 levels in the minors. The third baseman has 18 homers and 69 RBI in 103 games and just 59 strikeouts. To make room for Bohm, get rid of Sean Rodriguez. He's useless. But, you say, he's the infield utility guy. Who fills in if someone gets hurt? Cesar Hernandez.
Cesar should have been traded 2 winters ago when his value was highest. The Phils know what they have with him. Move Cesar to the bench and put Scott Kingery at 2B, his natural position.
Here's your lineup:
CF - Adam Haseley
SS- Jean Segura
RF - Bryce Harper
1B - Rhys Hoskins
LF - Jay Bruce
C - JT Realmuto
2B - Scott Kingery
3B - Alec Bohm
Give it a go and see what happens. To quote Monty Python's Life of Brian, how could it possibly get any worse?
No comments:
Post a Comment