The Phillies stay all in favour of including a right-handed hitter with the commerce deadline approaching, writes Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Ideally, that acquisition can be a nook outfielder, although that’s contingent on Bryce Harper.
The Phils plugged Harper in at first base for tonight’s recreation in Cleveland. It’s the two-time MVP’s first defensive motion of the season. He had been restricted to 62 video games as a chosen hitter after final November’s Tommy John surgical procedure.
Hitting places far much less stress on the UCL in Harper’s proper elbow than throwing does. The Phils gave him two months of bat-only work because of this. They’re nonetheless not able to plug him again into proper discipline and it’s unclear if he’ll be capable to man the outfield grass at any level in 2023.
Even when he can’t play proper discipline, demonstrating a capability to constantly play first base over the subsequent week and a half can be a serious increase for the entrance workplace. With Harper at DH, the Phils have had to make use of Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber as their nook outfield pairing. Even with a wonderful defensive heart discipline mixture of Brandon Marsh and Johan Rojas (or Cristian Pache when wholesome), that’s a suboptimal defensive alignment.
Schwarber’s -18 Defensive Runs Saved ranks final amongst all main league outfielders. The Phils would definitely favor to maintain him at DH, the place he’s within the lineup tonight.
Assuming they’re snug with Harper’s type over the approaching days, Philadelphia may search for right-handed hitting outfield assist. Tommy Pham and Mark Canha have been the topic of commerce chatter with the Mets scuffling. There might be some problems in pulling off an intra-division swap, although the Mets are solely in place to contemplate transferring Pham and Canha as a result of they’re lengthy photographs to make the playoffs in 2023 regardless.
Randal Grichuk may transfer as an impending free agent on a final place Colorado crew; as MLBTR’s Steve Adams lately explored, Grichuk is having an honest season in opposition to left-handed pitching and can be a a lot better defender than Schwarber. The Mariners’ middling 12 months may cause them to take into account affords on Teoscar Hernández, although he’s one other bat-first participant with restricted defensive utility. Oakland’s Ramón Laureano remains to be hitting for some energy in opposition to lefties amidst a dismal season total; he has been on the injured listing for a month however appears more likely to be again earlier than the August 1 deadline since he’s on a rehab stint.
Philadelphia actually isn’t with out right-handed hitters who can do harm. Trea Turner, J.T. Realmuto, Castellanos and Alec Bohm all hit from that facet of the plate. However, the Phils have been a barely below-average lineup in opposition to lefty pitching. Coming into play Friday, they raked sixteenth with a .253 common in opposition to southpaws. They’re twenty fifth with a .306 on-base share and ninth in slugging at .434. That total offensive output, as measured by wRC+, ranks 18th.
