Rise and Phight: 7/8/2023

Even with the excitement surrounding the team’s 13th road win in a row, there was the sobering news about Andrew Painter yesterday that provided a speedbump on the road to happiness.

By this point, it would have probably been around late August before Painter was going to appear in an MLB game anyway, but even if the news around his sore right elbow is that he doesn’t require surgery just yet, he’s probably not going to pitch this year at all anywhere, majors or minors. That’s a much larger issue when it comes to developmental path. Pitchers need to pitch, even if briefly and no matter how good said prospect is, missing a whole year is an issue. He’s a valuable pitcher to the team’s plans, so they’ll proceed carefully, but it just goes to send you a reminder of the famous acronym:

TINSTAAPP.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• Again, the news right now is that Painter is just having tests. Nothing is determined just yet, but it’s not great news.
• Interesting. John Middleton has been named to the relocation committee to see if the A’s should go to Las Vegas.
• Trea Turner has struggled this year, but he firmly believes that a turnaround for him is coming this year.

MLB news:

• It’s almost the unofficial midpoint of the season and you know what that means? Midseason awards, of course!
• The MLB Draft used to be much longer than its current iteration of 20 rounds. The magic of those Mike Piazza-type picks is now gone.
• The All-Star Game needs to be more exciting, right? Here are some thoughts on how MLB could liven things up.