This Phillies team seems poised to break its lengthy playoff drought with one of the most potent lineups in baseball. Owner John Middleton finally really opened his wallet and spent $179 million on slugging outfielders Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber.
They signed two relievers with bona fide closing experience in Brad Hand and Corey Knebel. Former closer Seranthony Dominguez is back as well, finally healthy and throwing as hard as ever. The bullpen has been historically bad the last couple of years, so it has to be better, right? Right?
This team is going to hit, big time. Check out this lineup:
Schwarber
Realmuto
Harper
Castellanos
Hoskins
Gregorius
Segura
Stott
Vierling
I'll put those first seven guys against any pitcher in baseball and have a pretty good feeling about it.
The starting pitching is solid, but the depth is thin. If any of Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Zach Eflin, Ranger Suarez, or Kyle Gibson goes down, there's not much help down in the minors. So health is key.
I'm really looking forward to seeing rookie infielder Bryson Stott. He's the best position prospect the organization has produced in years. And I feel absolutely awful for Mickey Moniak, the young outfielder who had struggled for years in the minors after being the top pick win baseball in 2016. He had a fantastic spring and made the team, only to suffer a hairline fracture in his wrist on Wednesday in the last spring training game. He'll be out for at least six weeks. Poor kid.
The big question mark is the defense. It's not really a question mark, because everyone assumes it's going to be pretty terrible. If they can just be league average in the field, this team could do some really good things.
So on to the predictions. I see 88 wins for this team, and a wild-card playoff berth. The Braves look too strong and the Mets will probably be the Mets we've all known to love and giggle at. One more prediction–the Phillies will hit 206 home runs this season. Ring the damn bell.
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