2017-2018 Offseason

ADDENDUM - 10:50 PM Tu 11/28: See my post from earlier today for details but my projections were pretty spot-on here: four were protected.

In this post, I project the Opening Day Roster and some of the names on the pre-Rule-5  40-man roster.

Dropped from 40-Man (initially) - double star is 60-day DL (not on 40-man currently):

• P Appel (non-tender)
• P Buchholtz** (F.A.)
• IF Alvarez
• IF Blanco (F.A.)- might return
• OF Kim (F.A./ release) - aqrd in July trade deadline
• OF Florimon (?)**
• OF Daniel Nava** (F.A.?)

Current 60-Day DL:

• P Velasquez
• P Therrien
• P Eflin
• P Eichkoff

Four dropped from 40-man and four need to be added. Not looking good for players in the minors. I'll say that 3-4 more players will be dropped due to a miss on my part or for the sake of adding 2-3 prospects to protect from the 40-man. Aschelman is one I think and Kingery is not since he's got one more season to qualify for the 40-man, I think. He'll be on the 40-man in July. I think Pivetta is on the 40-man but starts in AAA and one of Morgan or Garcia could be the odd men out as good as they've been this year. Bench player Ty Kelly and AAA OF D. Cozens (lack of plate discipline) are also probably out.

Catchers:

• Possible Free Agent or Cameron Rupp
• Jorge Alfaro
• Andrew Knapp

Line-Up (defensive order):

1. Pitcher
2. Catcher
3. 1B Joseph
4. 2B Hernandez
5. 3B Crawford
6. SS Galvis
7. LF Hoskins
8. CF Herrera
9. RF Altherr

Bench:

• OF Williams
• IF Franco

Considerations:

The offense is set including Kingery coming up mid-year and shuffling around defensively is easy since most players can play at least 2 positions.

It seems inevitable based on the crowded infield (even in Mar/ Apr), crowded 40-man and pitching needs that Franco, Joseph, Galvis and Hernandez are actively shopped. I'll be bold here and say that two of them are gone. Joseph will probably be shopped the most (Hoskins moves to 1B and allows Williams to be in the OF) followed closely by Franco (last chance) and Galvis (Free Agent). At the very least, I think trading Joseph needs to happen to allow the Hoskins-Williams situation to rectify and add a pitcher.

There is only room for Aschelman and two more prospects. I do not have that list. Once the 40-man roster is emptied, I'll either have a new post or edit this one, plus discuss the OD Roster Projections. I don't think we can add via F.A. or Rule 5 this year, but we don't need to if we can trade.

Over/under (a.k.a. number to beat): 83.0 for 2018... thoughts?

Go Phillies!