Philadelphia Phillies: 5 fatal flaws that will come back to bite them

The atrocious Philadelphia Phillies defense is going to be as bad as advertised.

The Phillies were already a poor defensive team. So when they added Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos this offseason, it was a bit of a surprise. Both of them have been praised for their offense and jeered for how they played defense. Each should have ended up as a DH. Instead, they joined a team that already had candidates for the position.

Each day, the Phillies have at least three guys with a poor defensive reputation standing on the field hoping the ball doesn’t get hit to him. At least Schwarber, Castellanos, or Bryce Harper will occupy two of the corner outfield spots. This leaves the Phillies with Hoskins still at first base and Didi Gregorius at shortstop. If a lefty is on the mound, it also means Alec Bohm is over at third base.

It’s an ugly defensive alignment. This is a major flaw that only got worse because of the additions they made during the winter. It also prevents the Phillies from giving J.T. Realmuto a break behind the plate to simply keep his bat in the lineup.

One could have the thought that the Phillies took advantage of the DH by adding more options. On the contrary, they backed themselves into a corner by giving themselves too many options. Made worse by this decision is the fact that the offense hasn’t clicked.