👋 Good morning! Congrats are in order for the Phillies’ third all-star, bat boy Adam Crognale. Beast. You can click that link and even watch a highlight reel set to Enter Sandman*.

*OK, it’s not set to Enter Sandman. But it would be funny if it was.

No Phils yesterday, but a good day for them since the Mets got swept in a doubleheader by the (*Wayne Jenkins voice*) Ohhhhs.

The Friday links. Spread the word:

OK, let's get you to the weekend. As always, you can reach me at [email protected]

Two very interesting pieces yesterday on the upcoming trade deadline from the local level (Matt Gelb) and national level (Jeff Passan). A couple of the key takeaways from both stories:

The trade deadline is in three weeks, and I imagine we will spend many a newsletter talking strategy and potential targets. It is the dog days, after all. But all through this season, reading Pat’s prospect updates on our site, I have had the same thought in the back of my head: Are they just gonna leave Justin Crawford in Triple-A all year?

And this, from Gelb, appears to give us an answer: No, they are not.

Crawford presents a fascinating case. As I have written about over the past few years, he a super-duper polarizing prospect. Crawford is in the Top-50 of some MLB prospect lists, and he is not on other ones at all.

I will start with the bad: Crawford has, like, no power…. and thus, is not considered a very modern baseball player. “A bit of a throwback,” the announcers will undoubtedly say. Feels like Crawford would have killed it in the 1980s.

Crawford consistently hits the ball on the ground 61-ish percent of the time. A lot. In 453 at-bats between Lehigh Valley and Reading (the latter of which is a hitter-friendly park), the kid has slugged a grand total five homers. Not a lot. Industry people seem to question if that profile will work against big-league pitching and defense. I am not saying they are right or wrong, just that I understand that point of view. Many think the gap between Triple-A and MLB has never been greater.

But even if Crawford is good at things that generally are not valued as much in modern baseball, the fact of the matter is that he has produced at every level. He is 21 years old and has an .853 OPS at Triple-A, which is the highest number of any regular on the team not named Otto Kemp. Buddy Kennedy has a lower OPS. Wes Wilson has a lower OPS. Garrett Stubbs, bless his heart, has a lower OPS. Gabriel Rincones has a lower OPS. Cal Stevenson has a lower OPS. And again, 21 years old. Producing at a young age, which has been the case at the last three levels.

Crawford can fly, too. If you are gonna have that powerless profile, you better be able to move. He can.

I think there are two legitimate arguments for bringing Crawford up.

Brandon Marsh has been good for almost three months, I would like to keep him around. Marsh is definitely better defensively in left, and you can stick him there in a platoon role if Crawford is in center. Crawford has been pretty good against lefties for most of his career, which I guess you would expect for a contact hitter with great bat-to-ball skills.

Anyway, who knows how Crawford will do? I understand the skepticism, I have it too. But the more I look at everything else, the more I would understand at least giving him a shot. The Phils very clearly have an outfield problem, but I also do not see a ton of obvious solutions.

The best weapons in the league: Slow time of the year for the Birds, until the madness starts up in a few weeks. Over at ESPN, Bill Barnwell ranked the top “weaponry” in the league (RBs, WRs, TEs). And the Eagles, who have been near the top of in recent years, came in at No. 1.

I do not have anything insightful to add, it is just nice to read in writing. Remember when Travis Fulgham was the go-to guy? That was not that long ago!

All-star snubery: I want to start this by saying that I respect David Peterson. Good pitcher, albeit one that the Phillies have kinda owned over the past few years… which is ironic, because he is usually the type of pitcher who would own the Phillies. Again though, good pitcher.

All that said, what are we doing here?

As VG pointed out, Cristopher Sánchez is pitching Sunday. That means he probably cannot pitch in the all-star game. But if that is the case, and you need Peterson’s inning that bad Rob Manfred, Sánchez should at least be named an all-star first. Their numbers are not particularly close. This is stupid.

Summer Sixers get smoked: Looked up at the scoreboard and saw this…

Jameer Nelson Jr. played for the Spurs, that was cool. But for the Summer Sixers, nothing was cool. Their guard play is absolutely atrocious, a bunch of shoot-first guys who are not even that good at shooting. Summer league legend Jordan McRae ain’t walking through that door. This summer run better be the last of The Jalen Hood-Schifino Experience in Philadelphia.

All that said, can I be a little disappointed that guys like Justin Edwards and Adem Bona cannot affect the game enough to not lose by 40? Like, even a little? I get it, these guys are role players on the real team and a real point guard would help… but you lost by 40, guys. Can we do a little better than that as second-year players?

Johni Broome has made his 3s, which is good. But I have him at 5-21 from 2-point range through four games, which is not a great sign for an older prospect. On a post touch last night, Broome shot a pretty brutal 16-foot hook shot that badly missed. That is just not gonna cut it at this level.

The guard play was terrible. Speaking of which…

Phils are in San Diego, the last series before the break. I will love falling asleep midway through tonight’s game. Poor Padres, they will have to face Ranger-Wheeler-Cris this weekend. Tough sledding. There will be Summer Sixers as well, please save us VJ.

Your tentative Monday schedule at ​PHLY​:

Have a great weekend. Let's make it a good one today.

Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
PHLY SPORTS