The Philadelphia Phillies have punched their ticket to the 2023 postseason and have a date with the Marlins in the Wild Card round at Citizens Bank Park. Miami dealing with the injuries they're dealing with while having nowhere near the talent Philadelphia has when healthy makes the Phillies a heavy favorite heading into the series.
While the Phillies should be able to take care of business against that division rival, the rest of the National League bracket is a tough one to navigate. Teams like the Braves, Dodgers, and Brewers all finished with better records than the Phillies and would have home field.
We've seen the Phillies make an unlikely run before, and could easily see them do it again. Most of the postseason roster is likely set at this point, but there are three players who are currently on the active roster who should not be on the postseason roster. Nick Nelson is another one, but he's rather obvious.
Phillies player who has no business being on the postseason roster: Cristian Pache
Cristian Pache was at one point in time, a top prospect in the Braves system who was the headliner in the deal that brought the Braves Matt Olson prior to the 2022 season. His stock depleted so much to the point where the A's opted to DFA the young outfielder after Spring Training. Yes, the 50-112 Athletics had no room for Cristian Pache.
The Phillies claimed Pache and he started to show flashes of why he was so highly touted. He played excellent defense (as he always has) but shined with the bat as well. He had a .957 OPS in his first 49 at-bats with the Phillies, primarily serving as a lefty killer. He missed the entire month of May during that span due to injury, but had seemingly played his way into a very real role as a starter against lefties and a defensive replacement late in games.
Pache unfortunately landed on the IL once again in July and didn't return until September. We all know about the emergence of Johan Rojas in the months between, so Pache is without a real role now. He's gotten to play a bit down the stretch with the Phillies having locked up postseason positioning early, but he has just four hits in 35 at-bats since returning.
Weston Wilson hasn't played much, but he's more formidable of a hitter and the Phillies really don't need Pache's defense or speed with Rojas and Brandon Marsh in the outfield. Pache is worth holding onto past this season and could be a fine replacement option in the event of an injury, but he shouldn't have a spot on the initial roster.