#892: Zack Wheeler Denied Again & Hot Stove Rumblings w/ Scott Lauber

Hittin' Season: A Philadelphia Phillies podcast

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27d ago 42:20

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On Episode 892 of Hittin' Season, host John Stolnis of The Good Phight and BillyPenn.com assesses another Zack Wheeler second place finish in the NL Cy Young Award voting. What's this guy gotta do to win one of those things? Also, Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer joins the show to talk about Juan Soto meetings and the latest on what the Phillies might do in free agency and the trade market, John runs down some big roster decisions made this week, and which free agents would cost the Phils draft picks by refusing the qualifying offer?

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Show notes:

ZACK WHEELER CY YOUNG VOTING

Wheeler loses to Chris Sale 198-130
Sale got 26 of the 30 first place votes, Wheeler only got 4, but had 25 runner up votes
It’s Wheeler’s second runner-up finish… also in 2021, when he lost to Corbin Burnes despite pitching 46.1 more innings than him
This time he only pitched 23.1 more innings than Sale, but that’s still about 4 starts’ worth if you average 6 innings a start.
This vote should have been MUCH closer.
Is Wheeler going to go down as this generation’s Chase Utley, only for pitchers? He’s obviously one of the very best over this seven-year trend, but he’s never won any hardware, other than a Gold Glove, and he won’t have the counting stats some pitchers in the past had, same as Utley
Christopher Sanchez finished 10th in the voting, earning 2 5th place votes
Aaron Nola received one 5th place vote
Sanchez should have been higher, probably above

SCOTT LAUBER PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

Everyone wants to know… what are you hearing about any meeting the Phillies are planning with Juan Soto?
What odds would you give the Phillies being the one ending up with him?
Do you get the sense they will make him a competitive offer? And if so, how high do you think they’d be willing to go? Or how high can they go?
There’s been a ton of rumors about Alec Bohm out there… how available is he?
What other members of the roster are most available?
Do you think Dombrowski is going to make a big splash this winter?

ROSTER MOVES

Phillies added three pitchers to the 40-man roster in order to avoid them being exposed to the Rule 5 draft.
Mick Abel (23)
Gotta hand it to the Phillies Player Development twitter account for trying to put a positive spin on Abel’s last three years
He’s thrown 100+ innings with 115+ strikeouts every season the last three years
He’s been durable, just not terribly good
He was just awful last season, 6.46 ERA in 24 starts (108.2 IP), 5.47 FIP, 22.7% K-rate, 15.1% BB-rate, .275 AVG allowed, 1.81 WHIP
Moises Chace (21)
Acquired in the Gregory Soto trade that looks like it’s going to be a steal for Dombrowski and the Phillies
Right now, Chase is a better prospect that Abel
Baltimore was using him in a more limited role, as a piggy-back starter only going four innings at a time, but the Phillies decided to make him a more traditional starter
He struck out 43% of batters in six starts for the Phils
Jean Cabrera (23)
Made 19 starts (106.2 IP) for Jersey Shore and Reading, 3.80 ERA with a 110/33 K/BB ratio
In 6 games and 29.2 IP for Reading: 4.85 ERA, 19/8 K/BB ratio
The Phillies did NOT protect
Griff McGarry, who was flat out awful last year and showed no signs of improvement in the Arizona Fall League
Eiberson Caetellano, named the org’s minor league pitcher of the year last year… it’s doubtful someone will draft him and put him the starting rotation all season long
Phillies now have 39 players on the 40 man roster

MLB QUALIFYING OFFER DECISIONS

Only one player accepted the qualifying offer: Reds right-hander Nick Martinez, so he signs a one-year, $21.05 million deal)
11 other players declined… meaning if the Phillies were to sign any of these players, they would give up some draft pick compensation
Juan Soto
Willy Adames
Pete Alonso
Alex Bregman
Corbin Burnes
Max Fried
Teoscar Hernandez
Anthony Santander
Sean Manaea
Nick Pivetta
Luis Severino
Christian Walker
Free agents who do NOT have a QO attached to them
Paul Goldschmidt
Walker Buehler
Shane Bieber
Jurickson Profar
Ha-Seong Kim
Tyler O’Neill
Gleyber Torres
Blake Snell
Justin Turner
Justin Verlander
Max Scherzer
Carlos Estevez
Jeff Hoffman
Tanner Scott

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