Phillies Mailbag: Painter, Walker’s Pen Role, Harper-less Phils

We are back once again with the 97.3 ESPN Phillies Mailbag.  Each week we take your questions and answer them on The Sports Bash with Mike Gill.  Tune in Tuesday afternoons to hear your questions answered on the air.

What was the point of pitching Andrew Painter all this time if they were just going to shut him down?
~Dan

The Phillies this week announced that top prospect Andrew Painter would "pause" his season at Triple-A Lehigh Valley.   Essentially, he will take just over a month off, and then resume in July.  The hope is still that by the end of July he would be able to help join the major league staff.

I personally found it a bit surprising that Painter took the promotion to Triple-A when he did.  Painter continued to build up his pitch count and was able to pitch into the fifth inning.  It seemed that he was getting close to the major leagues.

Now that he will take a break, he would need some time to ramp up his pitch count before joining the big league staff.

The Phillies starting rotation, meanwhile, still has some depth to it.  Taijuan Walker is going to move to the bullpen to try to save the troubled right-handed reliever corps.  Mick Abel is now a member of the rotation, with Aaron Nola ramping up to return.

I think the overall objective is the same, despite the pause: with a limited number of innings available coming off of Tommy John Surgery, the Phillies want as many of those innings as possible in the major leagues.

Do you think Taijuan Walker will work out in the bullpen?
~Jay

The Phillies will transition Taijuan Walker to a bullpen role.   However, this is not necessarily a demotion.   Left to work in a fifth starter role, without a regular turn in the rotation, Walker still managed to put up good numbers.  The Phillies hope that he will help the Phillies in the back-end of the bullpen.

The Phillies made it clear that Walker will be used as a "one-inning" reliever.   That mean he will not be a long man.  Instead, they will look to him to get some late inning outs that they have not been able to get consistently from some of their other right-handed arms.

Jose Ruiz was designated for assignment this weekend, somewhat of a surprise since he pitched pretty well for the Phillies last year.   That had to send a message, as the veteran Ruiz was expected to be a big part of the Phillies bullpen this year.

Orion Kerkering has not been able to be the same pitcher inning in and out. Though he came up with a lot of great promise, Kerkering has a 1.5 WHIP through 23 games.  Those walks and hits have led to inherited runners scoring more than the Phillies would prefer.

Carlos Hernandez has had to be used in high-leverage situations at times, and he is very inconsistent.   The late Spring waiver claim was not intended to be in this role.  And Joe Ross was to be the long man in the bullpen.   He as been mostly okay, though not wonderful.

In the short time that Walker pitched out of the bullpen, I was impressed.  Someone who relies on his velocity, he can let his full velocity go, instead of trying to pace himself throughout a start.

I think that this has a chance of being something good for the Phillies.  What remains to be seen is how well Walker will embrace this role.  If he's all in, then I think he's all in.

Isn't it a little concerning that the Phillies would be this bad without Bryce Harper?
~Michael

The Phillies lost their superstar Bryce Harper after Braves ace Spencer Strider hit him in the elbow with a fastball in the series opener last week.   Since then, the Phillies went 1-4, including a sweep at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers.  While I don't think they're "bad" per se, I think they have a couple clear holes on the offensive side to address.

A lot of the story in the Milwaukee series was not the offense, but the pitching.  That Jesus Luzardo was allowed to stay in a game and give up 12 earned runs was the concern that the Phillies bullpen was not going to be able to make it through the afternoon.  The only bright spot in the bullpen was two scoreless innings from Weston Wilson.

But speaking of Wilson, I think the Phillies need to do a little better on their bench.  I think they still need one strong bat who can be a semi-regular.  The Phillies seemed to have backed off their idea that Max Kepler was able to play every day against both lefties and righties.

Wilson is batting just .071 in his last seven games and .179 on the season.  That's not going to cut it.

I think the Phillies need a right-handed bat who can play left field and make an impact.  It seems to be the annual need.  Last year the Phillies did not get much out of Austin Hays. Hays, by the way, is have a nice year for the Cincinnati Reds.

And, I think there is some real room for improvement from center field as well.  Brandon Marsh has cooled off after having rebounded the first half of May after an 0-for-April.  Johan Rojas is batting just .175 the last 30 days.

I think that Justin Crawford could replace the two of them and free up a roster space for another bench piece.  Crawford is batting .338 with 20 stolen bases at Triple-A.  I think the Phillies even have a #4 jersey with his name on it ready for action.

So there are moves to be made to clean up the roster other than Harper.  But I think it is really fair to say that the Phillies are better with Bryce Harper than without him.