When the Philadelphia Phillies announced their game of musical chairs following the acquisition of Luis Arraez, the primary concern was the defense. The biggest threat to the defensive performance, something that was already a weakness, was moving Bryce Harper back to the outfield. Now, though, we're learning that might be a secondary problem, as Harper's knee hasn't responded well to roaming the grass.
It was originally Harper's arm that made the move from the outfield to first base necessary, but now, all these years later, it's knee pain that makes playing the position an issue. Harper doesn't experience pain on the bases or while hitting, but something about the sudden starts and stops in the outfield has caused him problems. Continuing with the experiment would be playing with fire.
So where do the Phillies go from here? The solution is simple: ditch Alec Bohm from the equation, move Harper back to first base, and lean into using actual outfielders in the outfield, like Bryan De La Cruz and Derek Hill.
The Phillies benching Alec Bohm and moving Bryce Harper back to first is what is necessary to avoid disaster
At this point, it is fair to question why Alec Bohm is even in the lineup. He hasn't hit for basically the entire season; he's even hitting below-average against lefties with a .700 OPS against southpaws, and over just 98 innings at first base, he has already posted -2 outs above average and -2 defensive runs saved. The eye test backs up these metrics, to say the least.
Meanwhile, Hill has shown a flair for the dramatic and has hit reasonably well since coming over from the White Sox, despite a concerning 38.1% strikeout rate. De La Cruz has been outstanding in his limited action, hitting .346/.406/.615 through his first 12 games with the Phillies. His career track record suggests he'll cool down, but you might as well ride the hot hand while you can and hope he never comes back down to Earth.
More importantly, giving the right field opportunities to those two will help preserve Harper's health, which in turn will have a more powerful effect on Philadelphia's mercurial offense than the presence of any of these other players in the lineup. That should be the primary concern.
Beyond that, moving Harper back to first and playing these guys in right field shores up the defense in two spots. There's still the weirdness with Bryson Stott at third base; in the grand scheme of things, that's relatively minor.
The question then is, what becomes of Bohm? If he's not playing every day, what value does he really have? He can't serve as a defensive replacement. He doesn't punish left-handed pitching. He doesn't really work as a pinch hitter, either.
It might be time to simply DFA the free-agent-to-be and find a better use for that roster spot. The Phillies have other options who could fill the outfield, such as Gabriel Rincones Jr. or the recently acquired Colby Thomas, should De La Cruz and/or Hill falter, and they might have more value even on the bench than Bohm would.
Sometimes, the most obvious path is the best path, and for the Phillies, it should be obvious that the Harper outfield experiment isn't working and that Alec Bohm's lack of value should make him the odd man out of Philadelphia's roster math.
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