Christmas is still more than three months away, but Phillies manager Pete Mackanin is pretty sure what he’s looking for this holiday season.
The waning weeks of the 2016 season has taught him — at the very least — that his team needs more offense. That’s obvious. But he is looking for help from outside the organization.
On Mackanin’s wish list is at least one, and as many as two, veteran hitters for the middle to top of the batting order for the 2017 Phillies.
“No question about it, I’d like to get two professional hitters,” Mackanin said Monday afternoon. “As many as I can. I think it takes pressure off the young guys. When you have (Tommy) Joseph, (Cameron) Rupp and even (Maikel) Franco in the middle of your lineup to produce runs, that’s tough to do. Your first year in the big leagues is tough. To be called upon to be the run producer is tough.
“So if you have a guy that you can count on to give you quality at-bats consistently, that’s important. And the other players see it. It’s just as important to have that in the lineup as it is in the rotation.”
Mackanin was asked about the subject on the heels of a report last week that indicated the Phillies and general manager Matt Klentak will indeed be looking for experienced help for their lineup in the offseason.
The report linked the Phillies as potential suitors for Ian Desmond and Martin Prado. Each would slot immediately into the top-six of the batting order and would be a difference-maker for a young team that entered Monday losers in 10 of 13 before winning 6-2 against the Pirates.
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In those 10 losses, the Phillies had scored two runs or fewer seven times. They need help.
Mackanin thinks Franco has been pressing a lot this year because he feels, as the go-to guy in the middle of the lineup, he has to do it all. Odubel Herrera has struggled mightily in the second half after earning an All-Star nod. Both guys are 24 years old. Joseph is 25.
Young hitters like Roman Quinn, the hero in Monday’s win, Jorge Alfaro (who will start Tuesday night) and others are on the way. Cesar Hernandez has been brilliant in the second half. Freddy Galvis is showing rare power.
But mostly all the aforementioned players are young and have limited MLB service time. It’s unfair to think the Phillies' rebuild will be powered solely by prospects and players already in their system.
Think along the lines of Jeremy Hellickson when considering how the Phillies will go about tinkering with their offense for 2017.
The Phillies brought in Hellickson in an effort to get innings out of a veteran starter, but they also wanted him to anchor a pitching staff full of young and unproven starters. He’s been that and more this year. The Phillies elected not to trade him at the trade deadline and Mackanin again reiterated Monday he’d like to see Hellickson back next season.
"You learn from a veteran pitcher by talking to him and asking him questions,” Mackanin said. “By observing and talking about what kind of pitches he throws. Knowing basic situations.”
The same idea can be applied to hitting.
“With hitting, it's moving a runner from second to third without just giving yourself up with a ground ball to the right side,” Mackanin said. “A deep fly ball to center will get that runner over. With two strikes, what is this guy going to try to do with me? What am I going to do? With a hard thrower, instead of swinging from your heels, take him up the middle or the other way. All those little things determine how good you are at this level."
Both Desmond and Prado could easily fit that type of role. And they’re both versatile, which will be necessary considering it’s not yet known which Phillies players will be where when the 2017 season starts.
Other free-agent hitters include Yoenis Cespedes, Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Reddick and Jose Bautista.
Obviously it would take some creativity to lure any one of those players to come to a rebuilding team. However, the pitching staff, despite injuries, has shown its worth for much of 2016. The Phillies, dead last in runs scored, are a few offensive pieces away from getting a step closer to competing.
It’s almost time to go shopping.
