Bryce Harper’s sore knee has put the Phillies in a spot they can’t keep ducking: Alec Bohm’s place in the lineup needs to be reconsidered.
The chain reaction started when Philadelphia added Luis Arraez at the MLB trade deadline to try to spark the offense. Arraez has been a little uneven lately, but his arrival did help Harper at the plate, where he’s been walking much more than he had before the move.
The catch was on defense. To make the pieces fit, the Phillies shifted Bryson Stott to third base, pushed Bohm to first, and sent Harper back into the outfield. That arrangement is now causing a problem.
According to Charlotte Varnes of The Athletic, Harper has been dealing with a sore knee that flared up after the move to the outfield. Varnes wrote, "In the aftermath, he dealt with soreness in his left knee that lingered into the Home Run Derby the following week," and added, "The pain eventually subsided until he started playing the outfield again last week."
Harper acknowledged the issue himself, saying, "I was not feeling it, but the more I've ramped it up, I've gotten sore. I think the more I play, I think it'll help me - just getting in condition more."
Even if Harper thinks the soreness can fade with more reps, the Phillies have to weigh the bigger picture. Keeping him in the outfield to preserve Bohm’s spot feels like the wrong tradeoff.
Bohm’s season has been rough enough that the numbers don’t leave much room for debate. His -1.2 bWAR is the fifth-worst mark in the majors, and he’s done it over 116 games. No one else in the bottom five has played even 80.
At the plate, he’s hitting .228 with a .649 OPS. He hasn’t helped on the bases, and his glove hasn’t made a case for him at either first or third. He’s also grounded into 16 double plays, the third-most in baseball.
That’s why the current setup makes so little sense. Harper shouldn’t be taking on extra injury risk in the outfield just to keep Bohm in the lineup when Bohm has been one of the least productive players in the sport this season.
The cleaner answer is to move Harper back to first base or DH and let Kyle Schwarber handle first. That would also open the door for the Phillies to use other outfield options, including Edmundo Sosa, Derek Hill, Bryan De La Cruz, and even minor leaguers Gabriel Rincones Jr. and Felix Reyes.
However they choose to do it, the point is the same: the Phillies need to stop forcing this experiment. Harper’s knee issue is not something to gamble with, and Bohm’s production hasn’t come close to justifying the cost. Whether that means a benching, a DFA, a release, or an option to the minors if he’ll accept it, Philadelphia has reached the point where moving on makes more sense than continuing to protect a struggling bat at Harper’s expense.
In Other News...
Phillies Already Created A Bryce Harper Problem They Couldnt Afford
The Phillies built this latest infield shuffle around a simple idea: get Alec Bohm to first base after the Luis Arraez acquisition and slide Bryce Harper back to the outfield to cover the rest. In theory, it gave Philadelphia a cleaner alignment and let the club keep its bats in the lineup. In practice, it quickly reminded everyone why moving Harper off first was never going to be painless, especially after he had not played the outfield since early 2022.
Harpers return to right field has already come with a health concern, and the timing only sharpens the scrutiny on the rest of the arrangement. Bohm, meanwhile, remains entrenched in the middle of the order even though the production has not followed, leaving the Phillies with a spot that is both awkward defensively and underwhelming offensively. For a team trying to sort out its post-deadline shape, that is the kind of problem that can linger if the answers do not start coming soon. [Read more 🡒]
Phillies Farm Shakeup Just Put One New Arm In The Spotlight
The Phillies farm system took another hit when the club sent right-hander Ramon Marquez to the Giants in a deal that brought back second baseman Luis Arraez and right-hander Caleb Kilian. Any move that trims pitching depth tends to ripple quickly through an organization, and this one arrives at a time when Philadelphia is already leaning hard on its upper-level arms. That has helped push a few newer names into sharper focus, including Juan Parra and Alex McFarlane, both of whom have climbed into the teams top 10 prospect mix.
McFarlane, in particular, has turned enough heads with his work between Triple-A and Double-A to land on the radar for a possible major league look, especially with bullpen injuries creating openings. The Phillies have reason to monitor him closely now, because the path from depth piece to real option can open fast once the big league relief corps starts thinning out. And while Parras rise is a story in its own right, the more immediate question is which arm Philadelphia trusts next if it needs help sooner rather than later. [Read more 🡒]
Phillies Turn To Intriguing Bullpen Arm As Relief Pressure Mounts
With the bullpen taking on a heavier workload in recent games, the Phillies made a fresh move to add another arm to the mix by recalling right-handed pitcher Alex McFarlane from Triple-A. McFarlane has put together a strong minor league season, posting a 1.83 ERA across 36 outings, and he already has one scoreless appearance in the majors on his rsum.
The shuffle gives Philadelphia another option to help manage the late innings, even if the exact role is still taking shape. To make room on the roster, the Phillies sent Alan Rangel back down, leaving the team to see whether McFarlane can turn his recent run of consistency into a meaningful boost at the big-league level. [Read more 🡒]