The Phillies wrapped up getting swept against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim last night and headed to Denver. The Phillies struggled to keep Mike Trout and Albert Pujols along with others inside the ballpark. As the team assembles in Denver to take on the Colorado Rockies, the roster will look a little bit different.
Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer noted the presence of two Phillies not yet activated:
Jorge Alfaro is here in Denver. So is Ricardo Pinto. No roster moves yet.
— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) August 4, 2017
One is easy to explain; the other may be a tad more difficult.
During last night's finale,
Phillies catcher Andrew Knapp left last night's game in the second inning after taking a foul ball off of his hand. While the news was good early this morning, as an x-ray showed no break, it looks like Knapp will take a disabled list stint. The only other catcher on the 40-man roster other than Cameron Rupp, who replaced Knapp last night, and Knapp himself is Jorge Alfaro.
As for Ricardo Pinto's presence, one must wonder if the Phillies are replacing Jake Thompson in the starting rotation but are waiting to fill it. Thompson surrendered seven runs (all of them in one single inning) on Wednesday in Anaheim and was optioned to Triple-A. Now that Pinto served 10 days in the minor leagues, he is now eligible to re-join the Phillies bullpen. The Phillies could instead let Mark Leiter, Jr., Ben Lively, or Zach Eflin take Thompson's rotation turn when it comes up Tuesday, or simply skip that spot in the rotation and use the extra bullpen arm since Monday is a day off.
As Gelb mentioned, there has not been a roster move announced, so we will find out the details soon.
UPDATE: The Phillies announced that they have optioned utility player Ty Kelly to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. That means the Phillies have three catchers for now. Knapp, however, may get some time to heal before he catches again.
