Rise and Phight: 9/16/2021

Last night, there seemed to be a lot of vitriol directed at Didi Gregorius online.

It’s justified. Gregorius has been bad this year. Not below average, bad. The issue is that the team still has him on the books for next season, so barring a trade, he’s going to be back on the team. The role that he occupies remains to be seen, but it’s hard to imagine it’s an everyday one. We still don’t know if the team will fixate on one of the big free agent shortstops that will become available, but if they do, it remains to be seen where exactly Gregorius will play. Is he a third baseman, moving Alec Bohm to the outfield? That feels like the most likely scenario, but it would behoove Gregorius to take some infield groundballs at all four infield positions this winter.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• Huzzah! The team reached the 85% vaccination rate. It’s already a little late as there was an outbreak that cost the team games, but at least they reached it.
• Looks like Connor Brogdon’s season is going to come to a close with his hitting the injured list.
• On 0-2 pitches, the Phillies have allowed 16 home runs. It’s one of the more troubling trends this season ($).
• Are the Phillies playing tight in September yet again? Sure looks like it.

MLB news:

• It’s likely that the Mets will be making Michael Conforto a qualifying offer this offseason. He might want to think about taking it.
• How desperate are the Padres for pitching? Desperate. Very, very desperate.
• Yesterday was Roberto Clemente Day, and it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if MLB retired #21 across the sport.