Rise and Phight: 6/9/2022

Yesterday, the Phillies made a minor trade with the Giants, sending Austin Wynns to the Bay Area in return for a minor league left hander. Subsequently, the Giants brought Wynns to the majors while sending Joey Bart down to the minors.

This deal doesn’t meant a whole lot to the current roster as Michael Plassmeyer, the return for Philadelphia, may not be much more than roster depth. Here is what Fangraphs had to say about him:

Plassmeyer is already on his third organization and nothing has changed about his scouting profile as a low-ceiling extreme strike thrower with sub-standard stuff. His 89-91 mph fastball features a bit of sink, and while he’s tried to cover the heater by adding a cutter to his profile, it’s yet to develop into a true weapon. His slider and changeup both fall into the average bucket, but what makes Plassmeyer stand out is his ability to throw strikes, as evidenced by a career professional walk rate under 5%. He not only fills the box but locates within it as well, which allows everything to play up a bit. Every system has one or two of these guys and only one or two out of that entire pool end up being precise enough to survive in the big leagues.

Getting Plassmeyer is not the big story here. The bigger story is how the front office is finally doing what the smart teams do: stockpile depth somewhere in order to move for depth somewhere else.

Wynns is a solid minor league catcher who might be someone who makes a good backup, but on the Phillies, he really doesn’t have much of a spot with the two spots in the majors taken up well, the minors leagues having solid prospects all around and another offseason pickup in Donny Sands probably ahead of him on the pecking order anyway. But this offseason, the team made a concerted effort to get better depth and now that they did so, they can use it to add to somewhere else they might feel they are lacking. While Plassmeyer has some attributes, the team might see something they believe they can get right. So, they can grab a cheap relief option by utilizing the depth they have behind the plate. This is one of those marginal moves that, adding up over time, can help the team get better on the field down the line.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• The trade deadline is still pretty far away, but it’s never too early to look at some possible targets for the Phillies.
• There are a lot of prospect notes here, but there is also some updates to the Phillies’ version of the list.
• For now, Corey Knebel will remain as the closer. This is a mistake.

MLB news:

• The Angel Hernandez lawsuit had some interesting tidbits in it where he claims MLB manipulates replay reviews to discredit minority umpires.
• The Braves won an arbitration case and lost one.
• Mike Trout may have left Tuesday’s game early with groin tightness, but it doesn’t look like it’ll be much of an issue.