Big Fella, Bigger Problems

Ugh, what now with my hometown Philadelphia Phillies?

I mean, honestly, take your pick? Having an insane hot streak only to drop two to the Padres? Bryce Harper having his best week as a Philly and then getting pulled out for dehydration? Jake Arrieta deciding he'd rather just be horribly injured for about a year than help this team out? It's all just wonderful.

And then, when you start to look at this team, the people who were doing well start looking crappy by comparison. Rhys Hoskins is only batting .237? Aaron Nola's the only active opening day starter left that hasn't been shifted to the bullpen at some point? Even Scott Kingery and J.T. Realmuto have broken 100 strikeouts?

And yes, it's all well and good that Bryce Harper has turned things around, and is headed for a 30-HR/100-RBI season, which...is well-deserved. But the whole point of this deal was not for Bryce to be the only horse in this town. The whole point was for the pre-established team to help out with the oncoming contracts, and really only Aaron Nola, Cesar Hernandez and Hoskins have made any effort to do that. This is why the 2015 Padres failed, this is why the 2012 Marlins failed, this is why the 2013 Blue Jays failed- you can't add a bunch of contracts and expect them to automatically be compatible with an existing roster. That shit takes time! I don't care who the contracts are for!

And yes, it's nice that you get people like Jay Bruce and Andrew McCutchen to help out, but if they're gonna be injured for most the year, what's the damned point??

Good news is, as the Phils begin to bobble whether or not they're really pushing for a wild card spot, the former Rays duo of Corey Dickerson and Logan Morrison have rejoined, and are hitting like it's 2017. Both of those guys and Adam Haseley have been fantastic additions to an ailing lineup, while Jason Vargas has been solid in 4 starts, and the three bullpen additions of Mike Morin, Jared Hughes and Blake Parker, who were all arguably steals in my opinion, have all been consistently strong, something that has been a key missing ingredient to this year's Philly bullpen.

Will they pull it together? I kinda hope so, but...seeing as the NL Wild Card race also features two other NL East teams, and one of those teams is the Nationals...it's gonna be tricky.

Coming Tonight- More proof that the Royals have come 360 back to where they were around 2004- against all better judgment, they're starting a guy named Bubba.