September has arrived and with it comes expanded rosters for all 30 MLB teams. The lawless days of full 40-man rosters are long gone, but each team is still granted the use of one extra position player and one pitcher for the season’s final month. That could be a tremendous boon to a club in the heat of a division race, but unfortunately the Philadelphia Phillies wasted their opportunity on a redundant backup catcher who adds no value to the team.
The Phillies’ catching situation is quite a conundrum. Franchise legend J.T. Realmuto is a shell of his former self at the age of 35, but in spite of that was signed to a three-year, $35 million contract last winter. Considering the fact that there are zero catching prospects of note in the upper levels of the farm system, the aging Realmuto is the club’s best bet for the next few seasons.
Behind the future Wall of Famer on the depth chart are a pair of valueless options in Garrett Stubbs and Rafael Marchán. The former is best known for his boisterous personality and clubhouse presence, while the latter was once a prospect of some note who has faceplanted at the major league level.
Marchán has spent the past five weeks on the Injured List due to a knee injury, but hadn’t done much of anything prior to that with a woeful .312 OPS across 32 games. Stubbs has been shuffled back and forth between Triple-A and the majors this year and has been equally ineffective with a .371 OPS in 30 appearances for the Phils. Between the two of them, the Phillies have perhaps the worst backup catching situation in baseball.
So why is it that the front office decided to double the amount of light-hitting backstops on the major league roster? Familiarity of course. Both Stubbs and Marchán have been off-and-on parts of the club’s current competitive era, and they clearly don’t want to lose either one.
The Phillies should have used their extra roster spot on a player whose skillset helped the team instead of Rafael Marchán
In fairness to the Phillies, it’s not unusual for teams to use their extra roster spot to bring in a third catching option. Still, they could have done so much better. Neither Stubbs, nor Marchán provide any value whatsoever aside from adequate defense behind the dish (and occasionally pinch running in the case of Stubbs). Neither player is a realistic pinch hitting option late in games, and penciling either one into the lineup on the rare Realmuto off day results in a handful of free outs for the opposing team.
Critics may ask, did the organization have better options for that roster spot? The answer to that question is yes. The Phillies’ lineup that has been mashing the ball lately still skews lefty-heavy, and the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs employ a handful of right-handed bats that offer a bit of upside.
First base prospect Keaton Anthony doesn’t have much left to prove in the minors, and at 25 years old deserves a chance to prove himself in the bigs. Utilityman Otto Kemp was handed an Opening Day roster spot and did nothing with it earlier this year, and he hasn’t been amazing at Triple-A, but his positional versatility and solid wheels would at least make him useful as a late-game replacement. The same could be said for Colby Thomas and Kameron Misner, a pair of fourth outfielders who were acquired at the trade deadline and can run well and play solid defense.
Ultimately, the 28th man on the roster is of little importance, as he isn’t likely to see much playing time and will not be on the postseason roster. Still, the Phillies had a chance to add a player that could at least help out in certain situations, but they instead chose to run it back with the same tired face that has failed them before.
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