The Philadelphia Phillies have had their share of ups and downs this season. At times, they've looked like a team built to win the World Series. On other occasions, they've been overmatched. Overall, they're a team that's really good in some areas and really subpar in others. With that in mind, improvements to bolster the weaknesses should be made sooner rather than later. Those moves will result in these three players losing their spots on the Phillies roster.
The Phillies have arguably the best starting rotation in the majors, so they don't need to improve there. They also have several high-end batters in their lineup, particularly in their infield and at the DH spot. Their outfield and bullpen, though, are areas of concern, as is the backup catcher spot.
These three players shouldn't be long for Philadelphia's roster if they plan on seriously competing this season.
For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop between now and the MLB offseason.
3) Michael Mercado, relief pitcher
The Phillies' bullpen was already a weakness, but Jose Alvarado's suspension made it even worse. There are some talented pitchers in the 'pen, but for the most part, the unit leaves a lot to be desired. Michael Mercado is part of that.
Mercado is inexperienced as he only has seven appearances in his MLB career, two of which have come this season. In those outings, though, he's allowed 18 runs on 20 hits in 15 innings pitched. This season, he dealt a scoreless inning in his first outing, but allowed two runs in an inning six days later.
He hasn't had much exposure to the majors, but what he's done with his cups of coffee hasn't been good enough to stick around. That, in addition to his 5.31 ERA in Triple-A this season, makes it likely that he's long for Philadelphia.
2) Rafael Marchan, catcher
Rafael Marchan made the Phillies' Opening Day roster over fan favorite Garrett Stubbs to be J.T. Realmuto's backup catcher because he's out of options, and Stubbs is not. It made sense to give Marchan a long look in the majors, especially because Stubbs doesn't do much offensively, but he has looked overmatched this season.
Marchan has slashed .163/.281/.265 with one home run and five RBI in 20 games this season. Realmuto plays as much as any catcher, but all catchers need days off once in a while. It's really hard to justify giving Marchan any playing time with how much he has struggled offensively.
Stubbs isn't a great option either, but he has familiarity with this Phillies pitching staff, and as bad as he's been as a hitter, he's been better than Marchan has this season. If they don't think Stubbs should be the backup, a better option shouldn't be hard to acquire on the trade market. The Phillies have given Marchan almost three full months on the roster to prove himself. At this point, it's safe to say he isn't cut out to be relied on as the backup catcher.
1) Joe Ross, relief pitcher
This is the controversial one. Joe Ross signed a one-year, $4 million deal with the Phillies, coming off a solid season with the Milwaukee Brewers. He was supposed to provide the Phillies with quality length coming out of the bullpen, but his tenure in Philadelphia hasn't gotten off to the best of starts, and has only been getting worse.
Ross has a 4.98 ERA in 25 appearances and 34.1 innings of work, and again, he's only struggled more lately. He's given up eight runs in his last 11 innings of work spanning his last eight outings. He's issued nine walks in that span and given up three home runs. It has not been pretty.
Ross is presumably still in town because he's making $4 million, and the rest of the bullpen is far from stellar. Even with the bullpen's shortcomings, Ross has been used almost exclusively in low-leverage situations, and he's been worth -0.2 fWAR. His negative fWAR shows that he's been worse than a replacement-level player. We've already seen the Phillies part with a pitcher they badly wanted to see thrive in Philadelphia in Carlos Hernandez. It wouldn't be surprising if they did the same with Ross sooner rather than later.