Gabe Kapler‘s tenure with the Phillies continues it’s rocky start:
Philadelphia Phillies new manager Gabe Kapler called on a reliever who hadn’t thrown a pitch to warm up on Saturday against Atlanta.
Kapler came to the mound to replace starter Vince Velasquez in the third inning and the Phillies down 5-2. Left-hander Hoby Milner apparently wasn’t ready to enter the game.
Kapler remained on the mound as Milner took some throws before leaving the bullpen. Braves manager Brian Snitker came out of the dugout to argue about the delay, and was ejected by umpire Jerry Layne, the crew chief.
Layne said he was trying to protect Milner’s health.
“For whatever reason the pitcher wasn’t even getting ready,” Layne told a pool reporter. “Who got crossed up, I’m not placing blame on anybody because I don’t know. He just wasn’t ready. Hadn’t thrown a pitch. … The last thing I want to do is get somebody hurt. It’s already a messed-up situation.”
Well, good for the umpire, although I don’t think he should have ejected Snitker. Philadelphia lost the game 15-2.
Phillies starting pitchers have faced 58 batters and been hit for a .354/.411/.479 slash line. Phillies relievers have faced 79 batters and been hit for a .303/.403/.545 slash line, allowing all four opposition home runs. Somehow, the Phillies managed to win a game.
Managing a baseball team is a lot harder than it looks. If this keeps up, Kapler’s tenure may be shorter than Tony Perez with the Reds.
Thank you for using my favorite Pee Wee quotation.
Jack Spellman » It’s one of mine, too.
i come not to praise Gabe Kapler, nor to bury him. However, there are some problems here.
1) Signing Carlos Santana was a move to protect Rhys Hoskins in the batting order. Kapler never bats Santana behind Rhys Hoskins. He always bats him 2d in the Order two batters ahead of Hoskins. Hoskins is already drawing a record number of walks because pitchers are throwing AROUND Hoskins. If you batted Santana BEHIND Hoskins, that might not happen as often.
2) Andrew Knapp has a higher on base average than Santana. Maybe he should be batting 2d.
3) Why not bat Odubel Hererra 2d? That’s where he batted the past 3 seasons, and he’s done very well there.
4) JP Crawford is off to a horrible start, both defensively and offensively. He can’t seem to field or hit. Kingery can’t really play SS, so they may need to put in Florimon and sent Crawford down for more seasoning.
5) Mikael Franco is a lost cause. Kingery should get all the starts at 3b and bat 2d or 5th.
6) Kapler is in love with Aaron Altherr, but Altherr has bad platoon splits vs RH pitchers, while Nick Williams has good platoon splits v RH pitchers. Those guys should be platooned.
7) On days you face lefties, you could start Kingery at SS, Franco at 3b, Altherr at RF and Alfaro at C. On days you face lefties, Florimon at SS, Kingery at 3b, Williams at RF, Knapp at C.
8) the batting order has to be Hernandez, Herrera, Hoskins, Santana, Williams, Kingery, Knapp, Franco, Florimon v RH; Hernandez, Kingery, Hoskins, Santana, Franco, Herrera, Alfaro, Altherr v LH. I don’t know why or how Kapler is deducing his batting order, but the Phillies are way down near the bottom in runs scored.
I won’t go into the obvious things, such as Kapler’s misuse of the bullpen, his mishandling of Aaron Nola, his blowing of a five run lead with 3 innings to go in Atlanta, and so on.
Pete MacKanin had a year to go on his contract. This move seemed foolish from the start. Now that we see plainly that Kapler has no clue how to manage, it seems sillier still.
On top of that, the Santana signing is actually blocking young talent on the farm–Dylan Cozens could be starting in LF with Hoskins at his natural position at 1b. Cozens has hit 70 bombs the last two years in the minors. And Nick Williams could be playing a great deal more. And why did they trade Freddy Galvis?
Too many questions, not enough answers.
Art Kyriazis, Philly
ajkbiotech@icloud.com