👋 Good morning! Credit where due, this was funny.

Gather ‘round, all ye seamheads, today’s newsletter is gonna have a lot of Phillies talk. The on-field product this weekend, and really for the past few months, has lagged behind the game ops. The Phillies are 20-21 since June 1st.

As always, you can reach me at [email protected]

Third time’s the charm?

David Robertson is back, and Jamie reacted y’all here. Credit to Matt Gelb for pointing out that D-Rob’s salary will cost $5.5 million… but he really will cost the Phillies $12 million because they went over the fourth luxury-tax threshold. Not one, not two, not three…

That is a lot of David Robertson. And this is his third stint here:

  • 2019: Big-money free agent, pitched two weeks and then needed Tommy John surgery. Disaster. Those two weeks were the only two weeks Robertson pitched on a two-year contract.

  • 2022: Came over from the Cubs at the trade deadline and pitched well. Robertson even saved Game 1 of the World Series, an escape I still have no idea how he pulled off.

  • 2025: Chilled for the first half of the year, threw in front of a bunch of scouts at his home in Providence, then got paid by the Phillies. Nice life.

I am of two minds on this. On one hand, it does not feel great. I have poked fun at D-Rob a bunch since we began the newsletter. When the Phillies were teeing off on him with the Marlins, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Robertson is also 40 years old.

On the other hand, Robertson was legitimately good with the Mets (part of 2023) and Texas (all of 2024). It was only the Miami stint that went poorly. Plus, the Phillies are so desperate for bullpen help. And the big one, all Robertson costs is money. Now, he cannot be the only reliever that the Phils acquire. They need to pay with prospects for another one of those high-leverage relievers, one that does not throw in the low-90s. And they need to figure out which starter (*coughLuzardocough*) will play best out of the ‘pen in October. But I guess this provides them with more flexibility and another arm in the ‘pen.

One thing that I remember from 2022: You do not want to overtax any pitcher, but especially Robertson. Throwing him two innings is a complete no-no, for instance.

I am going to save my larger trade deadline thoughts for tomorrow, but this appears to be the first move and a precursor to The Move(s). Hard to judge it until we see the full picture.

Ringzzzz: The Eagles had their ring ceremony on Friday night, and wow, these things are huge. All class from Mr. Lurie, you would expect nothing else. They have actual wings, too, which I did not know you could do with rings.

I like that most of The Departed showed up: CJGJ, Mekhi, Milt, Slay, my guy Fred Johnson. Champions, all of them. I did not see Sweaty in the social media shots, but I am sure they can ship his to Arizona if he was not there.

Over the weekend, the Phils lost two of three to the Los Angeles Angels of Los Angeles. Three straight series losses, which is not great. Lots of things to get to, some news and some observations…

Alec Bohm is hurt: Bohm is headed to the IL for a while, with a fractured left rib. The injury actually happened on a HBP right before the break in San Diego. But Bohm felt good enough to give it a go, and lasted all of one game. Rob Thomson said that it could be three or four weeks until Bohm is back. Some thoughts:

  1. Bohm has been pretty good! Bohm is far from perfect, and I cringe every time he comes up with a runner on first base and less than two outs. Slower than molasses. But after a disastrous first two weeks to the season, Bohm has a .791 OPS in his last 78 games. I really do not like removing average-to-decent hitters from this lineup, considering what is at the bottom of it.

  2. Déjà vu? Remember when Bohm suffered that weird left hand injury late last August? He missed two weeks before returning, but it never felt like he was the same. Bohm then got benched in the playoffs, which preceded the front office throwing their full support behind him (*winks*) in the offseason. I hope this injury does not linger like that one seemed to.

  3. Otto Kemp time: This is probably the most exciting part, Kemp and Edmundo splitting the playing time at third. Kemp looks the part of a Professional Hitter, plus he keeps willing to get beaned Utley-style. The biggest downgrade might actually come on defense, where the advanced numbers generally say Bohm has turned himself into an average to slightly above-average defender. That jibes with the eye test. Even if third base is Kemp’s natural position, he is not exactly Brooks Robinson over there.

Rough starting pitching weekend: Three straight lackluster starts, and I am not even mad. Oh, so that’s what that’s like. Taylor Ward and Jo Adell completely wore them out. I looked it up, and the Phillies actually are a better offensive team on the season than the Angels. Did not not feel like it this weekend, particularly, against the starters.

  • Jesús Luzardo: 4.2 innings of four-run ball, and frankly, a tough pitcher to figure out. Feels like one step forward, one step back with Luzardo. Adell did hit a super-impressive homer on what was a decent pitch low and out of the zone, but still. One worry I have for Luzardo is that his fastballs (four-seamer, sinker) are both getting tattooed this season. Maybe Luzardo is just a 3 or 4 in a rotation and his incredible first two months got our hopes up too high, but the volatility from start-to-start is not easy to process.

  • Taijuan Walker: A much easier pitcher to figure out. Tai was very fortunate to make it through four innings with just three runs allowed (on nine hits and a walk), because the Angels were ALL OVER HIM. But for the second straight year, a top Phillies prospect (first Mick Abel, now Andrew Painter) is faltering in Triple-A, allowing Tai to stay in the rotation. Groundhog Day!

  • Ranger Suárez: Worst outing since his first outing, so we can cut him some slack. But Ranger was pretty brutal on Sundee. Was there a missed Strike 3 call to Mike Trout that ended up being a four-run mistake by the home-plate ump? You betcha, and that would have absolutely been overturned by the ABS system. But Ranger’s command, which is usually pinpoint, was just not there. In particular, his changeup was missing by a mile. I was wondering why Raffy Marchán kept calling for it.

The rare busy weekend for the bullpen. Let’s hope it stays that rare!

Speaking of Mick Abel… He might have struggled in Triple-A last year, but not anymore. In one year, Abel has basically gone from the worst pitcher in the International League to the best pitcher in the International League.

The Mick struggled in his recent appearances with the Phillies, but it is hard to argue that Taijuan should be in the rotation over him. I wonder if the Phils keep Abel down there for another week in an effort to keep his trade value higher. Now, how much would one more dominant Triple-A start move the needle compared to a so-so MLB start? I dunno, that is just a theory. But there is clearly nothing else for Abel to do in Allentown… unless he has never been to Dorney Park, or something.

The good news: Bryce is en fuego. It was literally two weeks ago when everyone wondered when Bryce Harper would get going. And not even two weeks full of games, there was a full All-Star break in the middle of this stretch!

Even with a 0-fer on Sunday, Bryce’s last seven games: .429 batting average, 12 hits, seven doubles and four homers. Yowza. There truly is nobody that gets quite locked in like Bryce. I loved this at-bat on Friday: Eight pitches, full count, and then he hammers a hanger above the zone into the right-field seats. Awesome.

I have the same worries about Bryce aging as everyone else, and I understand that he always seems to have a cold spell after returning from injury. But until this is not the case, we have to expect that Bryce will break out of that cold spell in a major way. So far, he always has.

I stole this one from John Kruk, but… Daniel Robert looks a little like Dirk Nowitzki.

Kyle Schwarber, monster: Five homers on the week for Kyle. This particular salami felt a lot like this one against Miami last year, when the Phils were also in a rut. John Middleton, pay this man his money.

Get Max Kepler out of here: After another dreadful series (0-8 at the plate, terrible defense), how is this guy still here? Every time that Kepler makes an out, you can tell that the fans have had enough.

The Phillies clearly have, too! With the Phils trailing in the sixth inning on Saturday night, against a righty reliever, Topper let Johan Rojas hit with the bases loaded and one out… instead of pinch-hitting Kepler. If Kepler is not gonna pinch-hit in that spot, what are we even doing here?

Summer Sixers 87, Summer Nets 83: No VJ, no Johni Broome, no Justin Edwards… so I followed Kyle’s lead and sat the Sixers’ summer-league finale out.

Felt like former Villanova guard Mark Armstrong had a pretty solid summer league for the Sixers. I thought he would have a better college career.

Union 1, Houston 1: Always tough to play in a soccer-mad city like Houston, but a road point ain’t gonna kill ya. For the first time in a long time, the Union are not in first place in the Eastern Conference. Now one point behind FC Cincy, but with a slightly easier schedule the rest of the way. We are not worried.

Good to see Ale Bedoya get his first goal of the season.

Today is the last day until February 9th without Eagles football. I mean, is training camp and the watered-down preseason really “football?” Maybe not. But I am happy for our Eagles show, who soldiered through the long summer and made it through to the other side. Starting tomorrow, they will have practice notes, position battles and Vic Fangio soundbites to chew on. Winter is coming.

Speaking of Uncle Vic, it is AL East Week for his beloved local nine. Sawx, then Yanks.

Big series for the Phils, welcoming in Boston for three games. The Raffy Devers-less Sawx were en fuego before the break, but hopefully the time away cooled them off a bit. The good news? The Phillies rotation is set up nicely for this series, plus they are avoiding Garrett Crochet. And no pressure, I am declaring this a MUST-WIN series for the Fightins. That starts tonight, with Zack Wheeler against Walker Buehler (6:45 p.m., NBC Sports Philly). Gotta have it.

Your tentative Monday schedule at ​PHLY​:

  • 🎙️ Philly Philly with Jon Marks: 8:00 a.m.

  • 🎙️ The Anthony Gargano Show: 9:00 a.m.

  • 🏒 Flyers: 12:00 p.m.

  • ⚾ Phillies: 1:00 p.m.

  • 🦅 Eagles: 2:00 p.m.

  • 🏀 Sixers: 3:00 p.m.

Let's make it a good one.

Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
PHLY SPORTS

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