The Philadelphia Phillies have (mostly) been on a roll ever since swapping out managers late last month, and will be pushing hard to get back into a playoff spot as the summer months pass by. If this success is to continue, they’ll need to dump their dead weight to make room for more productive players. Let’s dive into a few guys that will be off the roster by the end of the month.
These players won't be long for the Phillies' roster as difficult decisions loom
Alec Bohm
Third baseman Alec Bohm has been the subject of Phillies fans’ ire in recent years, and justifiably so, as the 2018 third overall pick has failed to live up to the enormous hype he came to the big leagues with. While Bohm has been a cromulent, if unspectacular, third sacker for half a decade, he’s completely cratered this season with a pathetic .433 OPS over his first 35 games.
Bohm has already started ceding playing time to Edmundo Sosa recently, and has clearly worn out his welcome with Phillies fans in his walk year ahead of free agency. Sosa is a decent stopgap solution, but he’d be miscast as an everyday player at the hot corner for a club with World Series aspirations.
In all likelihood the Phils will end up cutting bait on Bohm sometime soon if he doesn’t straighten himself out. If that happens, Sosa should get some run, but the team will need to swing a trade for a real bat to plug in down the stretch.
Rafael Marchán
Re-signing 35-year-old J.T. Realmuto for three years and $45 million was a ridiculous overpay this past offseason, but the alternative would have been so much worse. Realmuto’s primary backup, Rafael Marchán, is showing just how desperate the situation would have been if he entered the year as the starting catcher for the Phils.
Across his first 57 trips to the plate so far, Marchán logged just four total hits, giving him a comically bad .074 batting average. Vibes captain Garrett Stubbs has been nipping at Marchán’s heels, and the team is currently carrying three catchers now that Realmuto is healthy.
Devoting two bench spots to backup catchers who can’t hit is roster mismanagement, and with Stubbs outplaying and outvibing his competition, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski will likely have no choice but to pull the plug on Marchán.
Felix Reyes
Feel good story Felix Reyes clubbed a homerun off of future Hall of Famer Chris Sale in his first major league at bat, but has failed to do much outside of that in the following weeks. The 25-year-old was clearly rushed to the majors due to Dombrowski’s atrocious roster construction, and it’s shown.
Through his first 10 big league games Reyes has a paltry five hits in 32 plate appearances, and has been a rough defender in left field. Don’t be surprised if he ends up optioned back to Triple-A in favor of the red-hot Otto Kemp.
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