Philadelphia Phillies

Even though the Philadelphia Phillies have played well in the small two-game sample since Joe Girardi was fired as manager, things haven't been going great for everyone.

Third baseman Alec Bohm suffered a cut on his neck after slamming his bat into the bat holder in Philadelphia's dugout in the first inning of Saturday's game against the Los Angeles Angels.

Alec Bohm cut himself after slamming his bat in the dugout pic.twitter.com/X2u9fxhZaN

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) June 4, 2022

This is the second notable incident involving Bohm so far in 2022. He was seen mouthing "I f--king hate this place" in reference to Phillies fans sarcastically applauding him for making a routine play after committing two errors in an April 11 game against the New York Mets.

Phillies fans gave Alec Bohm an ovation after making a routine play at third 😅

He made two errors right before this play. pic.twitter.com/YmsQpSsV2Q

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) April 11, 2022

Bohm did apologize for that while speaking to reporters before the next game against the Mets.

The first inning Saturday was a rousing success for the Phillies. They scored five runs and sent 11 batters to the plate against Angels starter Michael Lorenzen.

Bohm didn't get in on the action, as he struck out on three pitches. The 25-year-old is in the midst of a two-week slump that has dropped his overall stat line to .257/.298/.352 coming into Saturday.

In his first 33 games of the season, Bohm was hitting .315/.353/.435 with eight extra-base hits.

Even though there was a line of blood on Bohm's neck after he slammed the bat, he was able to stay in the game.

The Phillies began the post-Girardi era Friday night with a 10-0 win over the Angels.

Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper feels at least partially responsible for the firing of manager Joe Girardi, who was relieved of his duties Friday after a 22-29 start to the 2022 campaign.

Harper told reporters:

I think it definitely falls partly on the players. In all sports, any sport, the coach gets the dagger. It's usually partly on the players and partly on the staff, as well. As much as it's on us, it's on him, as well. It's on both of us and at this point he took it.

It all comes down to winning, and we just haven't done that. As a team, there's blame on us, as well. There's not just blame on Joe. We haven't played to the best of our ability. We haven't done the things to be the team that we should be.

The Phillies have lost seven of their last nine games and are 12 games behind the NL East-leading New York Mets despite boasting a lineup that includes the reigning NL MVP in Harper and two 2021 All-Stars.

Philadelphia also has the fourth-highest payroll in baseball at $233 million, per Spotrac. The three teams with higher payrolls—the Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees—all sit atop their respective divisions.

That said, the Phillies have struggled with injuries this season.

For one, Harper has been dealing with right forearm soreness and has mostly played as the team's designated hitter because of it. In addition, second baseman Jean Segura is sidelined with a broken finger.

Still, Harper has been solid as the team's DH, hitting .303/.359/.584 with 10 home runs and 32 RBI in 45 games.

Despite their struggles, the Phillies still have time to turn things around and make a push for a wild-card spot. Nick Castellanos noted that the team has to use Girardi's firing as a wake-up call.

"It better be," Castellanos said. "Because everybody in the clubhouse now knows that sh-t's not going well so changes were made. It's a sad day when somebody loses their job because we're not performing, and I take that hard.

"Unfortunately, it's what happens when teams that are supposed to win don't win—sad things like people losing their jobs happens."

The Phillies named Rob Thomson interim manager, and he'll immediately get to work on Friday night in the first contest of a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels at Citizens Bank Park.

Joe Girardi did not last three full seasons as the Philadelphia Phillies manager.

The team announced the 57-year-old's firing Friday, and bench coach Rob Thomson will take over on an interim basis.

The Phillies have relieved Joe Girardi of his duties as manager today. Bench coach Rob Thomson has been named interim manager for the club through the end of the 2022 season. In addition, coaching assistant Bobby Meacham was also relieved of his duties. pic.twitter.com/lVL60RrSnJ

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) June 3, 2022

Girardi talked about the move during his weekly appearance on MLB Network Radio, per Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Joe Girardi is doing his regularly schedule appearance on @MLBNetworkRadio. Here's what he said about his firing: "I think you understand it better as you go through it more times. And we underperformed, and that falls on me. So this is what happens."

— Alex Coffey (@byalexcoffey) June 3, 2022

The Phillies hired Girardi ahead of the 2020 season after he previously managed the Florida Marlins for one season in 2006 and the New York Yankees from 2008 through 2017. He won a World Series with the Yanks in 2009 and helped guide them to the postseason six times.

Philadelphia went just 28-32 and finished in third place in the National League East in the shortened 2020 season during his first year at the helm.

It took a step forward in 2021 at 82-20 and second place but still missed the playoffs.

That did nothing to temper expectations heading into the 2022 season. The Phillies have the fourth-highest payroll in the league and added sluggers Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber to a roster that included Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola.

Those elevated expectations are why Girardi's job security was such a topic of discussion following a May 29 loss to the New York Mets. The Phillies were swept in the three-game series and fell to 21-27 and 10.5 games back in the division.

"I don't worry about my job," Girardi told reporters at the time. "I've never worried about my job. I don't worry about my job. I've got to do my job. It's the business of being a manager. I don't worry about it."

Castellanos also turned heads when he said, per Coffey: "I don't know how to describe the energy now, but it's obviously not where it needs to be. Because we're not playing like we should be."

Perhaps the front office believes changing the manager will provide the energy that Girardi didn't for a franchise that has consistently underperformed.

Girardi finishes his run as Phillies manager with a record of 132-141. Their 22-29 mark this season is tied with the Chicago Cubs for the fourth-worst record in the NL.

Philadelphia's last playoff appearance was in 2011, and Girardi won't be the one to snap the drought.

The knives had been out for Philadelphia Phillies manager Joe Girardi, and it was frankly hard to come up with reasons for why he shouldn't be fired.

It was no great surprise, then, when the Phillies decided to do exactly that on Friday:

The Phillies have relieved Joe Girardi of his duties as manager today. Bench coach Rob Thomson has been named interim manager for the club through the end of the 2022 season. In addition, coaching assistant Bobby Meacham was also relieved of his duties. pic.twitter.com/lVL60RrSnJ

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) June 3, 2022

Yet this alone isn't going to get the Phillies to where they want to be. Namely, back in the playoffs for the first time since 2011.

Girardi was on the hot seat precisely because this is looking like a long shot as of now. At 22-29, the Phillies are 12 games behind the New York Mets in the National League East. And the ship has only been taking on more and more water of late, with the Phillies having lost 12 of their last 17 games.

This alone was arguably good enough grounds for Girardi's dismissal. When the Phillies hired the former New York Yankees skipper in October 2019, he was supposed to be the guy to get the team over the hump after back-to-back .500ish seasons under Gabe Kapler. Instead, it went 110-112 under his watch in 2020 and 2021 even before the disastrous start to this year.

Of perhaps equal concern is that the Phillies' clubhouse culture under Girardi had become headline fodder. If it's looked like the team just isn't playing with much energy, that may be because that's actually the case.

“[Nick] Castellanos had a family member who said the same thing,” veteran starter Kyle Gibson said to Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Why does it not look like we’re having fun?”

To take things even one step further, the Phillies' Pythagorean record—which is based on their positive run differential—is a relatively respectable 26-25. That lends credence to the notion that they're a good team that's been held back by an ineffective manager.

But even if said manager is now out of the picture, to conclude that the Phillies are now free to be the good team that they truly are misses the mark. This team's problems extend well beyond its management, and the big ones aren't exactly cloaked in mystery.

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A New Manager Isn't Fixing This Defense

Just how bad is the Phillies defense in 2022? Oh, about as bad as pretty much everyone expected it to be during spring training.

Granted, that cohort didn't include Girardi, who said in March that he expected the team's glovework to be "just fine." Most other people, though, looked at the Phillies and saw what was already a defensively challenged team whose biggest offseason additions were two notorious bat-first, glove-distant-second players: Kyle Schwarber and Castellanos.

Cut to now, and the Phillies defense has its (sorry about this) defenders. Howard Megdal of FiveThirtyEight, for example, made a decent case for why it might be "good enough."

Its rankings in key metrics, however, tend to disagree:

• Defensive Efficiency: T-26th
• Defensive Runs Saved: 29th
• Outs Above Average: T-29th

These don't scream "good enough." They don't even scream "really bad." They just scream.

If Girardi's firing is going to lead to any positive changes on the defensive front, perhaps the hopefully improved energy level would result in fewer plays like this one, in which the flatulence in Jeurys Familia's brain short-circuited his instincts to cover first base:

https://twitter.com/BrodesMedia/status/1531829674879361026

Trouble is, there's plenty of data that underscores how the major malfunctions in the Phillies defense aren't related to fundamentals.

With Schwarber and Castellanos playing on either side of center fielder Odubel Herrera, range is unsurprisingly a problem for the Phillies outfield. They also have a leaky infield, with only the Washington Nationals having allowed a higher batting average on ground balls.

Now, it is possible for a team to go from bad to good in the field throughout the course of the season. A recent example would be Cleveland in 2015, which went from having perhaps the worst defense in the league early in the year to one of the best by the end of it.

Alas, these Phillies don't have a Francisco Lindor to call up to play shortstop. And unlike Cleveland in '15, they also can't just ditch their outfield for a new one. Schwarber and Castellanos are simply too good in the batter's box to move to the pine, and Bryce Harper can't relieve either of them until the torn UCL in his right elbow heals to a point where he can throw the ball.

On the infield, one possible solution is more frequent infield shifts. Phillies infielders are shifted on only 34.8 percent of the pitches thrown by the team's hurlers, which ranks 16th in Major League Baseball.

Yet this is less of a manager problem and more of a challenge for the front office. It's also another place where the club's athleticism issue is visible. With a standard infield alignment, the Phillies are allowing the fourth-highest average on ground balls. When shifted, they're also allowing the fourth-highest average on ground balls.

What makes all this that much more painful is that this is a bad year to be struggling defensively. Strikeouts, walks and home runs are all down from 2021. That means more frequent balls in play, which means defensive deficiencies are that much harder to hide.

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A New Manager (Probably) Isn't Fixing This Bullpen

The Phillies bullpen ranked dead-last in ERA in 2020. It then climbed to 25th in 2021 and has taken still another step forward in 2022. At 4.15, it currently has the 21st-best ERA in MLB.

The general sense of disappointment around the Phillies bullpen, however, is justified.

It's the one area of the team that got a thorough makeover during the winter, as only three of its nine members are holdovers from 2021. And one of those is Seranthony Dominguez, whose recovery from Tommy John surgery limited him to all of one appearance last year.

Complaints about Girardi's bullpen management weren't hard to spot if you spent more than a few seconds on social media during any given Phillies game or in a comment section under any Phillies-related article at any time. It's not easy to quantify how much merit they have, but Girardi's use of Corey Knebel is equal parts telling and damning.

He's ostensibly the team's closer, so it's hypothetically a good thing that he's tied for second in the league with 20 games finished. Yet he only has nine saves, which traces in part to how his usage is split nearly evenly between save situations (12) and non-save situations (10).

Other closers atop the games finished leaderboard simply haven't been used like that. To wit, here's how many batters they've faced in non-save situations all season:

• Jordan Romano, TOR (21 GF): 12
• Corey Knebel, PHI (20 GF): 39
• Taylor Rogers, SDP (20 GF): 10
• Edwin Diaz, NYM (19 GF): 26
• Liam Hendriks, CHW (19 GF): 20

Between this and Girardi's refusal to use relievers more than two days in a row, what should be Knebel's job has too often been outsourced to other pitchers. Apart from him, nine different Phillies have pitched in such situations.

Like with the defense, though, this is another facet of the game with which another manager would be challenged to do better.

There are more foundational problems at play in the Phillies bullpen, including the highest rate of walks per nine in the majors and the fourth-highest rate of hard contact. And apart from Dominguez and Brad Hand, nobody has done particularly well in high-leverage spots.

Put simply: Girardi's management wasn't good, but it's not his fault that even the Phillies' new-look bullpen still looks and performs like crud.

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Where There Is Hope

As they're now in their fifth year of trying to contend after five years in rebuilding, we may not be far off from a conversation about whether said rebuild has failed and, by extension, whether the Phillies need to blow it up and start again from scratch.

It's not time to go there just yet, though.

Even if the NL East crown is likely out of reach, the Phillies can still look at the broader National League playoff picture and see a route to October through the newly expanded wild-card field. They could nab one of the NL's three wild cards if they so much as finish with the sixth-best record. That's only one spot better than where they finished last season.

As far as what's going to propel this team forward, its starting rotation and offense make for two obvious rocket boosters.

The former only has a 4.02 ERA, yet it ranks second in fWAR. The latter is going to miss Jean Segura while he's out 10 to 12 weeks with a broken finger, but not as much if Schwarber and Castellanos get their numbers closer in line to the aggregate .934 OPS that they had in 2021. Meanwhile, it's a comfort that Harper's elbow isn't keeping him from putting up numbers (i.e., a .943 OPS and 10 HR) worthy of last year's MVP-winning effort.

In the short run, the Phillies don't have a ton to lose by axing Girardi. In the long run, though, the front office might consider taking a lesson from last year's World Series champions.

When the trade deadline comes, don't just sit there. Do something.

Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski typically doesn't need to be goaded into making impact trades, but we'll suggest a few anyway. If the Boston Red Sox continue to lag behind in the AL East, Enrique Hernandez would look mighty good out in center field at Citizens Bank Park. Bullpen-wise, whoever can pry David Bednar from the Pittsburgh Pirates will be getting the league's most underrated closer.

It is, of course, a lot to ask of a team that it not only change its manager but also dramatically remake its roster in the middle of the season. But if the Phillies want to finally break from their cycle of mediocrity, nothing less will do.

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Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.

Philadelphia Phillies manager Joe Girardi might be on the hot seat after a slow start to the season, but he isn't worrying about being fired.

"I don't worry about my job," Girardi told reporters. "I've never worried about my job. I don't worry about my job. I've got to do my job. It's the business of being a manager. I don't worry about it."

The questions arose after a three-game sweep against the division rival New York Mets, dropping the Phillies to 21-27 on the season. The squad entered Monday 10.5 games back in the NL East.

Girardi is in his third season in Philadelphia and has yet to reach the postseason.

The Phillies entered the year with higher expectations thanks to a $233 million payroll that ranks fourth in the majors, per Spotrac. 

The four other teams in the top five in payroll—New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees and San Diego Padres—have the four best records in baseball entering Monday.

With several former All-Stars on the roster including Bryce Harper, Zack Wheeler and J.T. Realmuto, Philadelphia certainly has enough talent to be competitive.

"I don't know how to describe the energy now, but it’s obviously not where it needs to be," outfielder Nick Castellanos said, per Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. "Because we’re not playing like we should be."

It could cause a change in leadership as the Phillies try to reach expectations.

Girardi is still not worried about the situation, having gone through the experience in the past.

The 57-year-old was fired after one year managing the Marlins in 2006 despite winning the NL Manager of the Year award. He led the Yankees to a World Series title in 2009, but he was let go after his contract expired in 2017.      

Philadelphia Phillies slugger Bryce Harper is not expected to play right field before the July 18-20 All-Star break, according to Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer. 

Harper had a platelet-rich plasma injection in his right elbow Sunday and has sat the last two games. According to Breen, the veteran was told Wednesday to not throw for six weeks following the injection. 

The reigning National League MVP has a small tear in his ulnar collateral ligament, which has relegated him to spending the majority of his time as designated hitter for the Phillies this season. Through 34 games, Harper has made just eight appearances in his usual right field spot. Phillies manager Joe Girardi told reporters Harper has a "number of weeks" before he resumes throwing.

The 29-year-old Harper is following his MVP campaign with a strong start to 2022. He's batting .305 with nine home runs and 27 RBI. He earned NL Player of the Week honors on May 14 after batting .609 (14-for-23) with three homers, six doubles, eight RBI and a 1.904 OPS in his previous six games.

The Phillies are second in the NL East with a 17-19 record entering Wednesday's game against the Padres.

Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper will miss Tuesday's game against the San Diego Padres after receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection in his right elbow for a small tear in his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL).

According to the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com), Harper received the injection on Sunday and could miss at least one more game beyond Tuesday. The Phils are hosting the Padres on Wednesday and Thursday before welcoming the Los Angeles Dodgers into town for a three-game set beginning Friday.

Harper's injury has limited him to just eight games in right field, though he has served as the designated hitter 26 times.

Despite the injury, he's hitting .305/.361/.634 with nine home runs, 27 RBI and six stolen bases in 34 games. 

The 29-year-old said his elbow did not bother him while he swung the bat, which is why he continued playing as the team's DH. However, he told reporters in early May that he missed playing in the outfield.

"I miss playing," Harper said. "I really do. I miss being out there with my team and playing on the field. It's been tough. I want to get back out there. I want to help this team on both sides of the ball. I miss playing right [field]. ... That's been a grind for me. Just worrying about hitting all day, instead of going out there and playing both sides of the ball."

In the meantime, Nick Castellanos will continue to fill in at right field while the six-time All-Star continues to recover. The former Cincinnati Reds outfielder is hitting .279/.343/.465 with five home runs and 21 RBI in 34 games.

Odubel Herrera may also see more time in right field should Harper remain out of the lineup.

The Phillies have struggled this season, sitting second in the NL East with a 17-18 record. Getting Harper fully healthy will be a huge boost to the lineup. 

Former Philadelphia 76ers and current Brooklyn Nets guard Ben Simmons sold his Moorestown, New Jersey, mansion to Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos recently.

According to Dirt.com's Mark David, Simmons purchased the 10,500 square-foot home in 2019 for $2.375 million and sold it to Castellanos for $4.55 million, although some or all of the profit may have been absorbed by renovations Simmons made during his time as owner of the home.

The mansion, which boasts six bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms, is located about 40 minutes away from Philadelphia.

Simmons is also trying to sell a Philadelphia condo at a price point of about $3 million.

The Sixers made Simmons the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft, and he went on to play four seasons in Philly, earning three All-Star selections during that time.

Simmons also finished second in the NBA Defensive Player of the Year voting last season, but after a disappointing second-round exit in the playoffs despite being the No. 1 seed, things went sour.

The Aussie didn't play at all for the 76ers this season and requested a trade. It was eventually granted with Philadelphia sending Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and draft picks to the Nets for James Harden.

A back injury prevented Simmons from playing for the Nets this season, and they were knocked out in the first round of the playoffs by the Boston Celtics. Meanwhile, the Sixers were eliminated in the second round by the Miami Heat.

Castellanos, 30, is a 10-year MLB veteran who played for the Detroit Tigers, Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds before joining the Phillies.

The one-time All-Star and Silver Slugger Award winner signed a five-year, $100 million deal with the Phillies in March.

Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper has been diagnosed with a "small tear" in his UCL, manager Joe Girardi revealed Thursday.

Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer shared Girardi's explanation:

Harper will have a PRP injection on Sunday. That’ll take him out of the lineup on Sunday, and possibly Tuesday.

— Alex Coffey (@byalexcoffey) May 12, 2022

He is still able to hit, and is going to DH today. Girardi said Harper will be out of the lineup on Sunday and potentially Tuesday because of the PRP injection, but expects him to continue to DH beyond that https://t.co/pAIz4582Zy

— Alex Coffey (@byalexcoffey) May 12, 2022

Harper was a bright spot for the Phillies last season, though he did deal with a minor injury early in the year. He missed two weeks from May 23 to June 4 because of a bruised wrist that required a stint on the injured list. He also was hit in the face with a pitch during an April 28 game against the St. Louis Cardinals, which kept him out for three days. 

Despite those speed bumps, the 2021 campaign was one of Harper's best. He hit .309/.429/.615 with 35 homers and 84 RBI in 141 games to be named NL MVP for the second time. 

He's continued to produce this season (.269/.326/.521, 6 HR, 19 RBI, 6 SB), but Philadelphia is off to a disappointing 14-17 start and sits third in the NL East.

Should the injury affect Harper at the plate at all, other Philadelphia players may be asked to carry the load. J.T. Realmuto is arguably the best all-around catcher in MLB. Rhys Hoskins slugged .530 in 107 games last season. 

The Phillies also signed Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos as free agents to provide more depth in the lineup. 

With Harper limited to DH duties, Castellanos will continue to get the bulk of the starts in right field.

All-Star outfielder Nick Castellanos has agreed to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan.

MLB Network's Jon Heyman reported Castellanos will earn $100 million over five years with the Phillies. 

Shortly after the Atlanta Braves defeated the Houston Astros in the World Series to bring the 2021 MLB season to an end, Castellanos opted out of his contract with the Cincinnati Reds. In doing so, he left $34 million over two years on the table.

His decision came as little surprise.

Cincinnati appears to be heading toward a continued teardown. General manager Nick Krall offered a telling comment after trading veteran catcher Tucker Barnhart to the Detroit Tigers.

Quote of note from #Reds statement:
Krall: "Going into 2022, we must align our payroll to our resources and continue focusing on scouting and developing young talent from within our system."

— LanceMcAlister (@LanceMcAlister) November 3, 2021

Sonny Gray, Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suarez have since been dealt as well, so the writing was on the wall.

Castellanos also enjoyed a career year at the plate; this was the time to cash out. If nothing else, he stood to collect the same amount of money he would have made with the Reds, albeit on a team with playoff ambitions.

In 138 games, the 29-year-old had 34 home runs, 100 RBI and a .309/.362/.576 slash line. Per FanGraphs, his .391 weighted on-base average was tied for sixth in MLB with teammate Joey Votto.

While a member of the Detroit Tigers, Castellanos vented his frustrations with the dimensions of Comerica Park, arguing they adversely impacted his production. The numbers back up his claims. After posting a .783 OPS with Detroit, he had a 1.002 OPS in his brief spell with the Chicago Cubs and a .893 OPS in Cincinnati, per Baseball Reference.

Some of his other advanced metrics are even more flattering.

Castellanos had an expected slugging percentage of .522 in 2021, the fifth time in the last six years he finished in the top 10 percent of the league in that category, according to Baseball Savant.

While 2021 was a bit of an outlier in terms of his offensive dominance, Castellanos has consistently been an above-average slugger. There's little reason to think that won't carry over to Philly.

His home and road splits do, however, raise questions as to whether some regression is in store for 2022.

Great American Ball Park is a hitter-friendly venue, and Castellanos certainly enjoyed playing in Southwest Ohio this past season. He had a 1.109 OPS and 23 home runs in 69 home games. Over the same number of games outside of Cincinnati, his OPS fell to a more pedestrian .772.

The Phillies won't be expecting Castellanos to offer much value in the field, either. He has been worth minus-10.0 defensive WAR on Baseball Reference since entering the majors in 2013. Designated hitter might be his best position at this point, though in Philadelphia, he might be asked to handle left field.

But his offensive contributions far outweigh his defensive limitations, and his arrival will provide an immediate boost to Philly's lineup.

Phillies star Bryce Harper made it clear he wanted the team to bring in outside reinforcements, and he spoke for a large section of the fanbase. A franchise doesn't hire Dave Dombrowski and decide not to invest significantly in proven stars.

Since those comments, the Phillies have signed sluggers Kyle Schwarber and Castellanos. 

Harper's second Most Valuable Player nod was both a testament to his performance and his value to Philadelphia. By the end, it was basically him and Zack Wheeler trying to carry the Phillies to their first playoff trip since 2011.

Castellanos will provide some much needed support for Harper in the middle of the order. Add in Schwarber, Rhys Hoskins, J.T. Realmuto and Jean Segura, and the Phillies have one of the scarier lineups in all of baseball.