Philadelphia Phillies: Familiar faces costing the team wins here in April

(Obligatory “it’s still early in the season” comment.) The Philadelphia Phillies haven’t looked like a particularly good baseball team here in 2021!

They got swept by the New York Mets, lost a series to the Kapler-led San Francisco Giants, and just recently blew a game against the talent-deprived Colorado Rockies – a team that many are projecting to be the worst in the MLB this season. The Phillies offense has the 4th highest strikeout rate in the National League at the moment, and their collective team ERA sits at 4.23 – a tick worse than the MLB average.

Andrew McCutchen is batting just .155 on the season, Alec Bohm just .235, Rhys Hoskins‘ OPS is in the .700s, and the center field position remains the equivalent of having a second pitcher in the batting order.

While it’s undoubtedly “still early in the season”, and Dave Dombrowski has a reputation of pulling all the right strings when it comes to the trade deadline, the manner in which the Phillies have been losing ballgames has been a concerning one.

More from Section 215

• 4 Eagles on the Bubble Who Have Clinched Their 53-Man Roster Spots
• Best Pennsylvania Sportsbook Promos: Win $650 GUARANTEED Bonus PLUS $100 off NFL Sunday Ticket
• 3 Punters the Eagles Must Target to Replace Arryn Siposs
• Cowboys Trey Lance Trade Proves How Screwed They Are With Dak Prescott
• Devon Allen Took Britain Covey’s Job on Eagles

Both Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto are hitting over .300, the pitching trio of Nola-Wheeler-Eflin has been rock solid, and some of the new bullpen additions have proven dangerous on the mound.

So what gives? With so many of the Philadelphia Phillies key roster members playing good ball at the moment, why are they sat below .500 at the moment?

The Philadelphia Phillies continue to be plagued by the same issues.

To put it rather bluntly, it’s been a lot of “familiar faces” who continue to hold this team back. Hector Neris has already racked up two losses to his name, Vince Velasquez has an ERA north of 6.70, and the previously mentioned duo of McCutchen and Hoskins haven’t lived up to their end of the bargain on the offensive side of things.

Throw in a weak bench, Matt Moore as the fifth starter, and a glaring hole at the CF position, and the Phillies weaknesses haven proven too much for Harper and Realmuto to overcome early on this season.

We saw a similar trend take place in 2019 and 2020, where it felt like Harper and Realmuto had to be borderline perfect at the plate every night if the Phillies were to win ballgames, and Nola/Wheeler had to consistently give the team Cy Young caliber starts.

While this year’s Phillies team has flashed potential (sweeping the Braves to start the season), a lot of the same issues that plagued them the past two seasons have started to creep up once more. An inconsistent bullpen, below average starting pitching depth, too many strikeouts, and not enough run production from non-star players.

While it’d be rather easy to write off last night’s loss to Colorado as a one-off thing, the brutal reality is that the Philadelphia Phillies are 4-9 in their last 13 games, only winning one series during that two-week period.

There’s plenty of time for the 2021 Phillies to turn things around over the next couple of days, starting with two more games against the Rockies at Coors Field, but a lot of their issues this season are ones that date back to early 2018, when Gabe Kapler was first hired to oversee the team.

At some point, the organization is going to have to make an attempt at addressing them.