Parent: Trade tinkering should be Phils’ macho move
PHILADELPHIA » With a half-game lead over the Atlanta Braves as the schedule resumed Friday following a “first half” that was surprising to say the least, the management team at Phillies, Inc. is stepping up its game.
No, nothing seems imminent with a week and a half to the nonwaiver trade deadline, but that didn’t slow general manager Matt Klentak and on-field manager Gabe Kapler from launching into the usual late-July game of denying the seemingly obvious.
“We have everything we need,” Kapler said prior to the Phillies’ homecoming game against San Diego Friday night. “We talked about that coming out of spring training. If we make additions, fantastic. But what we have is all we need.
“(I’m) really impressed with the group. We’re in first place for a reason. We didn’t get there with anybody but the men we have in that clubhouse right now.”
Very true, but for obvious reasons of argument, a quick statistical review...
■ The Phillies (5342) had lost two in a row heading into the All-Star break, then despite Klentak’s best prospect-spending efforts, failed in an effort to acquire Manny Machado.
■ The Phillies may have entered what everyone illogically calls “the second half” with one more win than the second-place Braves. But they also have one of the worst defenses in baseball and an offense that showed to be statistically mediocre.
For proof of the former, go see a game.
Otherwise, in batting average, the Phillies were tied with Texas for 25th out of the 30 MLB teams (a whopping .236), or 22 percentage points south of fifth-place Atlanta. In OPS, the Phillies were ranked 22nd (.709). In runs produced, 21st with 411, or 4.3 per game.
In starting pitching ... hey, they’re pretty darn good. But then, Jake Arrieta gave up four runs in the first inning Friday night en route to a short and bitter outing against the woeful Padres. Which, of course, brings us back to that Phillies offense, and the supposed non-need to make a change after the mad Machado chase ended with the Los Angeles Dodgers sacrificing five prospects, including highly regarded outfielder Yusniel Diaz.
The supposition is that the Phillies stopped short of including power pitcher Sixto Sanchez in their offer, leaving them shy of L.A.’s deep gulp of a bid.
Of course, temper that with the reminder that Machado is a pending free agent who currently qualifies as a classic “rental.” He fills a need, as regular Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager is out for the season after Tommy John surgery. Oh, and one more thing: The Dodgers, last year’s MLB runners-up, think Machado will be the difference in their search for an elusive World Series title.
The future is now for them. As for Klentak and Kapler, their optimism might have been mostly fueled by the knowledge that they didn’t have to burn a big chunk of the future for a rental like Machado during a growing season for a team that isn’t ready to win it all.
“I would like us to score more runs and I’d like us to allow fewer runs,” Klentak said. “... But we also need to keep in mind the development of our players and not just what that means for right now but what that means for future years.”
Despite obvious weaknesses, the Phillies showed very quickly Friday how they can trend toward improvement.
Their defensive deficiencies contributed to Arrieta’s sloppiness as the Padres put up a four-spot in the first inning. But before the second inning came to an end, the Phillies’ offense had put up seven runs, Carlos Santana’s three-run bomb to center being the key blow.
So while the first-half stats would indicate their run production remains fair-to-middling, there is an argument of optimism to consider.
“The way I see it, one of the benefits of having a very young group is that young group is developing all the time, and in theory, getting better,” Kapler said. “So Maikey Franco, we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks, he’s been a really productive third baseman. We all expect that Scott Kingery is going to continue to improve on offense and be better in the (second) half than he was in the (first) half. He’s that talented and gifted of an athlete.
“I see no reason to believe Carlos Santana won’t continue to produce. Rhys Hoskins, we seen him carry our club in stretches as we have Odubel Herrera. And both those guys we’d say weren’t at their hottest at the end of the first half. So the theory is our young players continue to get better.”
Of course, Kapler knows Klentak would still like to improve this club prior to July 31.
A veteran skilled in the art of RBIs is a vital need. And a left-handed starter would be nice, but another reliever would be nicer (hey, J.A. Happ can be both).
Klentak only lightly lamented losing out on Machado — “Yeah, we made a pretty strong run at it ... but being active in the rental market is not the best place to be,” he said. Then he almost admitted he’s still in search mode.
After talking at length about the recent improvements from several regulars, Klentak added, “If I had to bet I would guess we would make a move between now and the 31st. It’s just not as clear to me today as it may have been a month ago.”
If he needs clarity, Klentak should know that the geniuses at Bovada installed the Phillies as the seventh-likeliest team to win a World Series in their latest meaningless side-bet odds.
Indeed, even to the observant eyes of the fans, this resurgent Phillies team isn’t all that close to championship ready, which is why not including Sanchez in the offer to Baltimore was a welcome decision by Klentak. Especially since he could still be given the opportunity to act macho about Machado when free agency starts.
So a tinker trade or two before the end of the month could prove beneficial. But in the larger scope of things, the future isn’t now. The rebuild of the present is much more important.