So Why Didn't The 2019 Phillies Work?

Well...I think it's time to really examine this.

The Phillies will probably not be making the playoffs. Unless something miraculous happens, which doesn't happen often in Philly, we're gonna be missing the playoffs for the umpteenth year. This also means that even WITH Bryce Harper, JT Realmuto, Jean Segura, Jason Vargas and Andrew McCutchen, we still can't make the playoffs.

So what went wrong? Well...a few things.

1. The pre-existing outfield let us down. Before the deals started happening, we figured we'd be going into 2019 with an outfield of Nick Williams, Odubel Herrera and Roman Quinn, with Aaron Altherr as a swing. Once the signings populated the lineup, none of those four decided to be productive in 2019. Altherr .034 in 22 games, then left for San Francisco and Queens. Herrera hit .222 before bowing out thanks to sexual assault charges. Williams has been hitting .157 in 61 games. Quinn has been hitting .213, and is currently on the IL.

The overall point here is that, much like the 2015 Padres, the transplant of an entirely new outfield of McCutchen, Harper and Kingery was not compatible with the initial outfield, and so the initial outfield buggered off. Thankfully the rest of the lineup didn't have this problem, as the infield is pretty compatible with Jean Segura, though Franco had another shoddy year.

2. Relief pitching. The veteran presence of Pat Neshek, David Robertson, Blake Parker and Juan Nicasio didn't amount to much. The onslaught of young relief pitching from last year, including Seranthony Dominguez, Victor Arano and Edubray Ramos, didn't carry over to this season, and a lot of converted relievers like Ranger Suarez and Cole Irvin had to pick up a lot of their slack. We also had to make a lot of late moves for relievers, and while Parker and Mike Morin worked initially, their numbers faded over time. At least Jared Hughes is a pretty cool pickup, though.

As even if Hector Neris has a career-high of 28 saves this year, I still don't trust him as a consistent reliever. He still blows saves, he still has streaky moments, and he still feels like a holdover until we sign an actual closer (and...we did, it was David Robertson. He just won't stay healthy).

3. The other teams were just better. The Braves are gonna be a dangerous playoff contender, the Nationals are a sneaky WC team, and even the Mets have more moments of spontaneity, and Pete Alonso. What do we have? An okay year from Harper and Realmuto, an okay year from Aaron Nola, and a lot of okayness from everybody else. And you can't win a division by being okay.

...except if you're the Cardinals.

Coming Tomorrow- Took me all year to find a good photo of this guy, but he's one of his team's last solid assets...and he's on the last year of his contract.

Uncustomed Heroes of 2018: Phillies

This was my first year living consistently in the Philly area since high school, so I got to witness the Phillies' rise and fall first hand. They rose in May, thanks to Herrera, Nola, Arrieta, and some amazing bullpen work. They fell in September, thanks to the Braves, the Nats, and the failure of the lineup to do anything. But in between, it was definitely a fun season, as the Phils added a ton of bullpen talent from the get, and a ton of trade deadline pickups as well.

But...seeing Pat Neshek back as a Phillie after the sad departure last year felt...right. Neshek's 2018 wasn't as good as his 2017, but he was great whenever he was on the mound. Still had a 2.60 ERA in 30 appearances. Not bad at all.

Zach Eflin was the fifth man of the rotation, and while he came nowhere near the awesomeness of the Nola-Arrieta-Velazquez-Pivetta combo, he still posted solid numbers, with an 11-8 record and 123 strikeouts.

 Scott Kingery, seen here in a very cool custom with a very cool sabermetrics-inspired graphic tank top, didn't especially live up to expectations as 'shortstop of the future', but still got 102 hits, and played over 140 games, so...got your playing time in, rook. Good luck backing up Jean Segura.

 Another fun rookie from this year who'll likely be covering the bench is Roman Quinn, who finally hit well in the majors, with a .260 average in 50 games. I still expect him to get some starting time next year, even if it'd be shared with Nick Williams.

And then there's Seranthony Dominguez, who FINALLY took the reigns from Hector Neris in the ninth, after posting great middle relief numbers, and came up with 16 saves in 20 opportunities, a .93 WHIP, and some closing dominance that hasn't been seen since Papelbon. Hope he keeps it up.

...Then there's the deadline additions...

 Asdrubal was the first to make an impact, giving modest but not Mets-level numbers, and being a definite upgrade at shortstop. He hit .230, with only 17 RBIs. Not great, but for a rental, not terrible.

 Wilson Ramos' acquisition took a bit to kick in, as his injury left him out for a lot of August, but when he got here? Even if we didn't really NEED an upgrade from Jorge Alfaro, he was pretty fantastic, hitting .337 in 33 games, with only one catching error compared to Alfaro's...11. We will miss Ramos, no matter where he lands.

 Then, after the deadline, we snuck Justin Bour out of Miami, which must have been nice for him, but...he could have done better than his .224 average. He was basically a classy bench addition, and notched 5 RBIs when he could. He mostly deferred to Santana though, which...may not have ULTIMATELY been the goal, but...kinda was.

And then...there's Joey Bats.

Bautista's not one of my favorites, so to see him suit up for one of my teams was...odd. Very odd. And even if it was for a month, I still couldn't really wrap my head around Jose Bautista in Phillies colors. He only hit 2 of his trademark homers over 27 games, though he hit a fine .244 average. I'm not sure if he's done after this year, but...I'm glad his Philly tenure wasn't a complete disaster (as his Atlanta tenure was).

Coming Tomorrow- They were listless, then for a while THEY WERE FANTASTIC...and then suddenly they were in fourth again. Fun team, though.