Signing you in

The Phillies announced that right-hander Brad Keller has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to July 13, with a tear in the ulnar collateral ligament of his right elbow. Fellow righty Seth Johnson has been recalled to take his spot on the roster.

It’s rough news for Keller and the team. The club hasn’t yet announced whether or not Keller will undergo surgery. A torn UCL doesn’t always require surgery but even non-surgical rehab usually takes many months, so Keller should be expected to miss the remainder of this season. If he does ultimately undergo Tommy John surgery, that would put next season in jeopardy, as it often takes 14 months or more to recover from that procedure.

Keller was once a solid big league starter but injuries derailed that, with the righty undergoing surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome in 2023. He reinvented himself as a reliever with the Cubs last year, tossing 69 2/3 innings with a 2.03 earned run average, 27.2% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 56.1% ground ball rate. He became a free agent and the Phillies made a bet on him, giving him a two-year deal with a $22MM guarantee.

There’s now a chance that investment is mostly wasted. Keller has put up a lackluster 4.02 ERA this year, with his strikeout rate down to 23.7% and his ground ball rate at 44.3%. In mid-June, forearm tendinitis sent him to the IL. He was reinstated a week ago and made one appearance before the All-Star Break. Now it seems he’s set for a far longer stint on the IL.

Even before this news, Philadelphia seemed likely to be targeting bullpen help at the deadline. At 54-43, they are firmly in buyer position, currently holding a Wild Card spot in the National League. Their relievers have a collective 4.44 ERA on the year, putting them in the bottom third of big league teams. Jhoan Duran, Orion Kerkering, Jonathan Bowlan and Tim Mayza are pitching well but adding another arm or two would be prudent, especially with Keller likely done for the year.

Just $710k per inning of 4.02 ERA ball ($22 mill. for 31.1 IP)!

Do you think teams have access to a crystal ball or employee psychics, and can forsee injuries???

I highly doubt it. But I believe their eight ball has told them numerous times the past couple of years…”Outlook not so good”

Come get Robbie Ray. Start with a package including Wen-Hui Pan

Ray would be a solid risk for the Phils – it is the price that will be hard to put together. For anyone looking to acquire him, he is now a somewhat underwater asset (salary vs. actual performance and risk) and is only controlled for the rest of the year. What is that worth to a buyer? A couple of lottery tickets (not Pan).

To the Giants and their fans, they will obviously have a somewhat different opinion. And this is why it is so hard to put trade deals together.

Ray has a 4.4 BB/9. His personal worst (excluding 2023) since 2018. There’s a reason his era is 3.33 and his FIP is 4.70. The lucks gonna run out. I’d be hesitant to give up too much.

CarverAndrews, Not necessarily for Ray, but do you see any scenario where the Phils might include Painter in a trade package? Or do they remain committed to his potential?

I believe that DD, at this point, would listen in (and has been) regarding Painter. But I hope that the only thing that he sells him for is to grab a long-controlled impact player…period. Otherwise, there is simply too much upside, even if the downside is zero due to the potential for ongoing injury concerns.

I err on the side of being a prospect-hugger, but Painter is simply as good of a minor league arm that I had ever seen at the age of 19 and the raw capabilities are still there. A homegrown potential ace is hard to give up on at this point, even if the bloom is now slightly faded due to a long rehab from TJS.

Philly has a bunch of pitching prospect from 7-19…SF pays down Ray’s remaining contract by $5 Mill…deal?

Keller was the backbone of the Cubs bullpen last year. Other people may have gotten the saves, But Keller was the guy Counsell turned to to get the tough outs to get them there. He was worth the investment as much as any P is. It’s the risk you take with any P in that his next pitch might be his last for a year and a half. Same mistake the Cubs made with Ben Brown by taking him out of the 8th inning. Those guys are just as hard to find as Closers.

Did he tear it during rehab at AAA, or did they simply miss it when he went on the IL? Enquiring minds want to know…🤔

I’ll chose the third door. The player/team/doctor had a concern of it being severe in June, but downplayed it to the fans, in hope he could rest and then play through it. Then the 2 innings of rehab told everyone ‘no, season’s over’.

Yep… I know that’s in bad taste, but every time he takes the mound the Bucs have next to no chance of winning.

I’m betting the players and owners won’t come to an agreement and baseball will dissolve because fans will find other things to do with their time waiting for the greedy two to settle their disagreement.

That’s how I felt about the CBA entering 2022. I was so sure we wouldn’t have Baseball that year, yet the season was delayed by only a week.

Money drives everything, and if there is a lockout, then everyone loses.

I feel like pro baseball struggles with having “Fans” like ‘ayeah’ who hate the players this much more than any other sports aside from pro basketball

I told you, if you perceive the players as greedy, go find another sport.

But didn’t you to tell me what to do. I can make my own decisions. Thank you very much.

Their middle to late inning relievers were already terrible. Mercy

How do you figure that? The Sox are hot in a weak AL. Even if they sell, what makes you think Philly will get him?

Especially with Duran as the closer. I doubt Chapman would accept a trade to anywhere he won’t close games. Sox are playing good ball right now so it’s unlikely Chapman, Gray, or Contreras (who already told the front office he has no interest in waiving his no-trade clause) are going anywhere

Well, if Boston wanted to trade Chapman, he does NOT have a no trade clause, so if doesn’t matter if he would accept it or not. He would be packing his bags and going, or retiring.

Please forgive my lack of knowledge but i never understood why injuries like this are initially assigned to the 15 day IL knowing it’s a season ender.

You can only put someone on the 60-day IL if you are adding somebody else to the 40-man roster and the 40-man is full so the move gives you the necessary 40-man space.

It’s mostly a question of roster flexibility and buying time to make a decision.

If you put the injured player on the 15-day IR, they’re removed from the active roster but stay on the 40 man. The downside to doing that is that you can’t bring in a player through a trade or waiver wire to replace that person because they’re still counted against the 40. However, since the 40 is likely comprised of some replacement-level players in AAA, the team can just shift one of them from inactive to active and have them replace the injured player (this is where you see teams signing vets to major league contracts but stashing them in the minors). This move buys the team some time to see if the injured player- with further testing and perhaps some initial rehab- might make it back before season end. If a team remains relatively injury-free, they can coast like that for awhile, just subbing in inactive players to spell active players. And it’s not like there’s a max on the IR. The 15 (and 60) day designations are minimums, not maxes. A player can ride indefinitely on the 15.

The move to the 60 day IR is gonna happen when doctors are definitive about the injured player’s season being over, and maybe the organization starts thinking about finding a replacement via trade or wire. But even then, they might not. For one, you get a replacement, you’re gonna run into an issue when the injured player is ready to return to the active roster, and now a team has got to find someone to jettison off the 40 man entirely. If the replacement player was a rental who becomes a free agent at year end, then there’s no problem. But, again, that’s why the team might carry the injured player on the 15 indefinitely… wait and see if, in fact, they need to be replaced by someone other than a rostered inactive player, and if so, see what kind of contract a replacement player via trade or wire might bring into the fold.

Rehab won’t do it have surgery maybe return September of next year.

That’s another $22 million of Middleton’s stupid money wasted by Dombrowski.

Ah, the old perfect 20/20 hindsight. Everyone was happy with the move when he was signed, and people were actually praising Dombrowski believe it or not

Do Phillies dangle Aiden Miller as the headliner in a package for Mason Miller?

Phillies currently have the 10th worst era at 4.44 in the mlb.

The Padres will get a strong package if they decide to trade Mason Miller. Aiden Miller probably wouldn’t be enough to beat other offers.

Aiden Miller and Gage Wood would be a good starting point to a Mason Miller package. But yes the bidding war could get very high for his services.

That’s selling low, considering he’s not returned from back surgery. I wouldn’t mind if Bohm.finally goes to KC for any live arm.

Phillies could look at some buy low options like Bryan Abreu or Emilio Pagan, or go all-in for a Josh Hader or Aroldis Chapman. Have faith in Orion Kerkering as our primary RHRP in the 8th inning, setting up Duran. Chapman or Hader would make a good bullpen, damn near elite.

So guess you missed the last paragraph of the article that pointed out the Phils pen is in the bottom in ERA? They don’t need Miller, Chapman, or Hader – they need multiple pieces and in multiple places. They’ve been rather fortunate at -10 in runs and 19-6 in 1 run games. Nice top of the rotation so playoff dangerous, especially in short series, but short lineup too.

This happens every year with the Phillies and their medical team. What exactly is forearm tendinitis? Tendinitis basically are micro tears in the tendon. I had it myself and got surgery. As soon as they put them on the IL for forearmed and tonight, I knew it was UCL. Not hard to figure that stuff out. I guess they brought them back, hoping he could pitch through it and they probably made it worse.

Is a two year deal at 11m per year for a guy that’s not a closer. Almost unheard of. Wonder who his agent is……

The Phillies have dog poop luck with relievers, always chasing the flash in the pan guy. Hunter to robinson, 10-13 million a year = UCL.

This leaves the Phillies even more in need of a reliever at the trade deadline. Open the pockets, John!

22m- 2 years for a guy that’s not a closer. Was also cut by the 2024 White Sox

Keller was phenomenal with the Cubs last year, and was used in tons of high-leverage situations, including as closer. The signing isn’t working out for Philly, but this wasn’t some crazy off-season pickup. Keller showed dominant stuff last year.

Since he’s not going to be back in a lineup any time soon, what would be the reason for backdating the IL placement?

I wanted the Braves to grab him as a “cheap” back end of the rotation type. Glad we didn’t. Pitching is such a gamble

Sadly, to bring back anything significant? the Phils will have to surrender their only good pitching prospect Gage Wood.

Couldn’t Wood be either a bridge or setup man in the majors right now or after a few weeks of AAA? A one inning heat thrower for a month?

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