Hurts named starter for game against Cardinals
As part of a week-long, league-wide series of media Zoom sessions with MLB’s 30 field generals, the Phillies’ Joe Girardi stepped up Monday and delivered an early eyebrow raiser from the comfort of his home office.
Right at the top, while discussing his longtime acquaintance with new team president Dave Dombrowski and their conversations in recent days, Girardi casually said, “We’ve talked about the areas we feel we need to address. Obviously, we lost our shortstop, we lost our catcher, we still have Jean (Segura), that can play short...”
Back it up, because J.T. Realmuto fans, who might outnumber Phillies fans in this city, might have missed that.
It took a while, but Girardi did qualify what seemed at first like a closing statement on his All-Star catcher and one-season shortstop Didi Gregorius.
“The reason I say we lost them is that they’re free agents and they’re not on our roster right now,” Girardi said. “That doesn’t mean that they won’t be on our roster.
“... I’m sure we’re paying attention to those guys because they were successful in Philadelphia but it’s not 100 percent that they’re going to be back, because they haven’t signed a contract, right?”
With serious doubts in their starting rotation beyond top-three starters Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Zach Eflin, and, oh yeah, with the worst bullpen in baseball, the Phillies have enough roster holes on their hands for any team even pretending to be a contender.
Gregorius, who played for Girardi in New York and was very solid (.284 with an .827
OPS in 60 games) last season after being signed as a shortterm solution, would be looking for a hefty long-term deal. He remains one of Giradi’s favorite players, though, renowned for being an upbeat clubhouse presence.
Then there’s Realmuto, who both offensively and defensively stands out among the major league catching crowd. If he doesn’t return, that leaves career backup Andrew Knapp as the lone major league catcher on the Phillies’ roster. And among a bevy of potential Realmuto suitors, only the Mets are off the board after reportedly agreeing to sign free agent James McCann to a reported four-year, $40 million deal.
That more or less sets a market price that should be surpassed in a Realmuto deal amid a free-agent market undercut by revenue uncertainty.
On that subject Monday, Girardi typically kept it real.
“We’ve had struggles in our bullpen and he’s aware of that and a lot of that will come down to what our payroll is going to be,” Girardi said with a reference to Dombrowski. “You
don’t just have endless amounts of money to spend. I know he’s talked about a lot of different ideas. ... He wants to win but he also wants to build a consistent winner, not just a one year fix. So I’m not sure how that’s going to manifest itself.
“A lot of times you can talk about signing free agents but it takes two sides. The other side has to want to sign, too, and a lot of times it will come down to money or a number of different things. But he’s well aware that we have areas that we need to address. You have to look at the bullpen as a big focus. I think you have to look at what’s going to happen behind home plate and at shortstop. Those are things that we’re going to have to address.”
Indeed, the thought of signing Realmuto alone and still having enough salary flexibility to try to fix all the pitching problems seems a tall challenge for Dombrowski, much less adding Gregorius to that needs list.
That list, of course, was significantly impacted by a 2020 coronavirus season without fans in the stands in which the
Phillies reportedly lost some $150 million. And yet ...
“We have flexibility in finances,” Dombrowski said on a Zoom call last week. “But when I say that, I don’t think it’s an unlimited amount of money. You always realize there’s some type of budget attached to that.”
To that end, Girardi is only doing now what he can: Killing time prior to a spring training that may or may not start on time in the ongoing pandemic. But he’s already mulling a lineup around what’s left of the Phillies’ roster.
He says first baseman Rhys Hoskins, coming off offseason surgery, could be a touch late to spring training but in general is recovering nicely. And as for third base, Girardi said he’s “excited” at the prospect of it being Alec Bohm’s to lose.
As for the middle infield without Gregorius, there is Jean Segura and Scott Kingery penciled in at shortstop and second base, respectively. Or is that second base and shortstop, respectively? Girardi said that’s a point yet to be determined.
At least there’s flexibility to work there and in the outfield. But as far as those other roster issues ...
“We understand that we really only have one major league catcher ready to go right now in Andrew Knapp. That has to be addressed,” Girardi said. “I’m sure the market is going to have a lot to do with things as we move forward. I don’t know how fast the market is going to move because of the uncertainty of when fans might be in the stands again affects how you might spend this winter (for free agents). So I think there’s still a lot of things up in the air.
“We will figure out where we are over the next week or so and continue to try to improve our club.”