How Phils’ big moves impact 2023 and beyond

This story was excerpted from Todd Zolecki’s Phillies Beat e-newsletter. To learn the total e-newsletter, click on right here. And subscribe to get it recurrently in your inbox.

Hint: It might change as soon as Bryce Harper rejoins the staff this summer season.

Phillies supervisor Rob Thomson and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski acquired requested a pair occasions on the Winter Meetings in regards to the 2022 workloads and potential hangovers for Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola, who drained or struggled late within the postseason.

First, they stated Wheeler and Nola are wholesome.

Then they stated they haven’t any plans to ease the pitchers into the season. They stated they anticipate them to start their throwing applications as regular and pitch as they usually pitch in Spring Training. Dombrowski stated he recollects one season with one staff after they tried to ease their starters into the season, following an extended postseason. He stated it backfired. Nobody was prepared. They began slowly. The bullpen acquired burned out.

“Pitchers got to pitch,” Thomson stated.

“We’re obviously a lot more athletic, and that’s taking nothing away from the guys that were here before,” Thomson stated. “Stott and Trea, they can cover a lot of ground, and it’s really important now that you can’t have three guys on one side of second base. Now you add Marsh in center field. You already had Vierling. You have the best catcher in baseball [J.T. Realmuto] behind the plate. Our defense looks really good right now.”

There are areas to observe and enhance, after all. Turner was -7 Outs Above Average in April/May, however +7 OAA the remainder of the season. He stated positioning improved his metrics, for what it’s value. Stott was +3 OAA in restricted motion at second base, which is encouraging. In middle area, Marsh and Vierling have blazing pace, however they should get higher jumps. Vierling ranked 103rd out of 105 middle fielders in response time. Marsh ranked 71st.

The Phillies issued a conservative timeline for Harper’s return from Tommy John surgical procedure. They stated they anticipate him again by the All-Star break. Others assume he might return weeks earlier than that.

“Our history with Bryce is he has super healing qualities,” Harper’s agent Scott Boras stated. “I just think there’s going to be an attitude on his part that as much as the doctors allow, I’m sure Bryce will get back on the field. I think with these types of procedures, you have to be cautious, step by step. You have to be delicate with it. You kind of measure it normally every couple of weeks as you advance. It’s kind of hard to say specifically. Could it be early? Could it be later? Those are really unknowns until you know how the status of his rehabilitation goes month to month.”