Phillies Facing MASSIVE Decision...

The Philadelphia Phillies have to take a hard look in the mirror and make some significant decisions if they are to improve at their desired level. With pitchers and catchers set to report to spring training right around the corner, this team is still evaluating what the next steps are to take them over the edge and have a chance at the World Series. I want to break down why the lineup conversation, in particular the leadoff hitter, continues to be at the forefront of discussion and why it's kind of shocking to me that Rob Thompson seems more open to this than we've heard from him at any other point during his tenure as Phillies manager. In general, he has stood 10 toes down on the take that Kyle Schwarber deserves to be the leadoff hitter, and I won't even argue with him there. We see the leadoff home runs. I agree with the sentiment that there is nothing better than starting the game with a 1-0 lead, but it does feel like that is a shakeup that's coming. So let's get right into things. I do want to start off with this article here. Shout out to Brad Wakai here, who writes, this major reason is why Philadelphia Phillies won't use Youngstar as leadoff man. So this was specifically referring to Bryson Stott. He is a guy who's gotten plenty of buzz and potential other options that the Phillies could utilize in that slot there. But it does not seem like that is the direction that Rob Thompson will go. The layout exactly why that is the case here. Thompson says, quote, The thing is that we're so left-handed and you want Harper and you want Schwarber getting as many at-bats as you can. Now you put Stott in the leadoff spot. Now you're really left-handed at the top. And it might cause a problem. Even if you're facing a right-hander, everyone's got three lefties in the pen, it seems. And they'll just start matching up on you, he said on the Phillies Show podcast. That makes complete sense. having three of the four hitters to be left handed three of the top four hitters to be left-handed or even the first three if it was Stott Harper and Schwarber would be an easy matchup for any modern bullpen later in the game now granted for this conversation as a whole i think a lot of times there's a little bit too much made about the right-handed and left-handed splits obviously i understand the basis of it that it is more difficult for lefties to hit left-handed hitter hitter left-handed pitchers right-handers to hit right-handed pitchers saying that that kind of sentiment that applies there but in general i'm about putting your best players in the right spot succeed but I do still kind of hear the logic here now to continue walking through this do want to point out a couple lineup options that are in store that this same article kind of theorize here so number one would be Trey Turner at the top and he does have these for both option Trey Turner kind of a clear counter to this as he is a right-hander at the plate has experienced batting leadoff dating back to his time with the Dodgers and I think all of us were kind of surprised there was not a more legitimate chance of him earning this role in the long run we saw a couple games of it but really became clear that Schwarber was the story there but a A couple example lineups that have been tossed here at the top, Trey Turner leading off, Kyle Schwarber batting leadoff, hitting second, Alec Boehm hitting third, Bryce Harper in the cleanup slot, Nick Castellanos fifth, Max Kepler, JT Realmuto, Bryson Stott, and Brandon Marsh. So to go through this example, we go right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, left. So pretty clear balance that is in the lineup there. Another option that was theorized there, I will be honest, I'm not crazy about Boehm in the three spot. I understand separating Schwarber and Harper there. But I kind of think you're better off rolling the dice, keeping what I would consider your two best hitters attached to each other to utilize behind each other. But nonetheless, to consider the second option that this article theorizes, Trey Turner bat and lead off Bryce Harper hitting second, Alec Boehm third, Kyle Schwarber at cleanup, Nick Castellanos fifth, Max Kepler, JT Realmuto, Bryson Stott, and Brandon Marsh. So the same kind of pattern at the plate here as it goes right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, left. So sort of the same premise overall. But the other key part of this story is the future of Kyle Schwarber, as he does enter this season on the last year of his contract. Will be interesting to see how the organization decides to go about this. They do have some big picture conversations to have, but Kyle Schwarber has made his opinions on the topic clear. And why do I say that? He came in with this quote saying that Philly's star slugger is hoping to ink extension now. Quote, it feels like home. And for what exactly he said, he says, quote, I've enjoyed my time so much, Schwarber said, per Kyle Odgird of Sports Talk Philly. I was with the Cubs for how many years, and then I signed the one-year deal with Boston. Being here, it feels like home now. I'd love to keep that going as long as I can. Hopefully, we can win multiple World Series in the years to come. And he also had another quote I did want to highlight here, saying, once spring training begins, those extension talks may start getting serious. Quote, I haven't gone down to spring training yet, but there's interest on my side, and we'll see if there's interest on their side, Schwarber said. We'll go from there. If I'm the Phillies, and I have a guy who led the league in walks and had a .366 OPS last season, I waste no time in extending him and giving what he wants. Keep the Schwarbombs coming at Citizens Bank for years to come. So obviously, a bit of the writer's sort of perspective. And I do agree with the overall sentiment here. Now, to dive into what we've seen from each of these sort of leadoff options at the plate here for Trey Turner specifically, still not quite living up to what the contract would command there. That 21 home run, 62 RBIs last year in his 505 at bats had 149 hits. He did steal 19 bases and only struck out 98 times. certainly a better season for Trey Turner this year than was the case in his first year in Philadelphia but still not the guy that I can seriously look at as the co-star to Bryce Harper in the way that I really think this team is designed that is probably the largest x-factor overall we can have the conversations about what the lineup how to stagger these hitters what the pitching rotation should look like the uses of Andrew Painter there are a million variables playing into this Philly season but if Trey Turner is not ready to take another stride forward in his level of production be in that you know MVP caliber range while he will never probably be a true top tier MVP candidate to be sort of in that mix is really what the hope is from a Phillies perspective that has not been the case so far and I am hopeful that this is the year that changes but to reflect a little bit doing a highlight what Schwarber did and kind of the numbers that he left at the plate 38 home runs this year 104 RBIs in his 573 at bats had 142 hits and 106 walks there. Really good stuff. He's still just 31 years old. And to be perfectly honest, I think the years are still coming for Schwarber. This is not a guy that's just hanging on at the tail end of his career. Thought he lost some weight last year. Thought he was moving around the base path pretty well whenever given those opportunities. And it wouldn't shock me if this guy has like five, six, maybe even more than that as far as years left in the tank. He looks like he's fully invested in continuing to play baseball. If that is the case, I think that should continue happening in Philadelphia, whether that be in the leadoff slot or otherwise. Now, the other option that I did want to dive deep in is Bryson Stott. This is a guy who's gotten plenty of buzz for potentially being that leadoff role. I know Luke Arcani right here on the channel that he's talked about. That would be his preference. We talked about the left-handed versus left-handed kind of conversation already, and that seems to be the biggest thing working against Stott. But just to lay out his argument from a pure numbers standpoint, had 11 home runs and 57 RBIs last year. In his 506 at-bats, had 124 hits, 32 stolen bases from Stott, which I don't think is talked about nearly enough there. also added 53 walks still just 27 years old and I would say this would probably be a step in like the long-term future that you're looking for him to be the guy for the foreseeable future versus if you are kind of making this Turner and don't get me wrong Trey Turner is going to be here for quite a long time as well but I would say this is more of a win now focus which should still be the focus of this Phillies team that don't get lost in the Pete Alonso signing and Juan Soto signing and the Braves getting healthy there's a lot going around of going down around the MLB but in reality all this Phillies organization can do is focus internally and how are we going to get better what what can we do to bring our best baseball to the plate and have our best chance at actually winning a world series those are the questions that need to be answered and that is why we're talking some leadoff hitters today so when I'm kind of laying this out as a whole I sort of sit on the if it ain't broke don't fix it conversation that if Kyle Schwarber is getting the job done at the high level which has been the case during the vast majority of his experience at leadoff I don't think I would touch that there now granted is there an argument to be made that you know having him a little bit deeper in the lineup that those solo shots that happen so frequently turn to two run or three run or grand slam type caliber home runs there that is absolutely valid there but I also think that we're going to get a little bit too lost in this conversation of making sure the lineup is structured right that we're kind of overcompensating for the actual caliber of talent I think my overall takeaway here is while Alec Boehm is going to be certainly another x factor for the season and after all the trade rumors I'm very curious what his mentality is showing up to spring training this year but I think I would keep Harper and Schwarber attached in the lineup bat them back to back and if that means that one of them has to battle off a lefty late in games so be it they're your two best hitters and they kind of earned that respect in my mind there but still a lot of moving parts and obviously these lineups are far from finalized there could there is a world where another move happens and all of a sudden we're talking about a completely different lineup there's also some other moving parts and pieces who knows if the Max Kepler experiment works out all these conversations are still to be had but do you want to get kind of a pulse of you guys as we're starting to get closer to seeing some live baseball excited to start to hear some of these quotes flying out of spring training and having a little bit more to talk about in the Phillies world overall but if you were Rob Thompson right now and have to turn in that lineup card do you want to hear what your guys thought process for who you have taken that first plate appearance there let me know in the comments as always make sure you're smashing that subscribe button and dropping a like appreciate each and every one of you guys tuning in this video is here thank you for keeping on rocking with us through the dead time of this Phillies season hopefully some real baseball and real storylines around the corner soon but i'm gonna keep chopping it up and talking about whatever we have to work with and let me know your thoughts on the leadoff hitter below once again talk to you next time right here on Phillies Digest peace