The Philadelphia Phillies can’t sit back and wait until Summer to receive some type of production from their centerfielders. With an already struggling offense, the Phils’ will need to make a move sooner than later in centerfield. The Phillies rank last in OPS at the centerfield position and the only other team with worse production at the position would be the Arizona Diamondbacks. There are eight teams in the National League that are getting more production from their pitchers at the plate than the Phillies are from centerfield.

Dave Dombrowski is concerned. I am too.

“Yes, I am concerned about a lack of production in center field. I mean, we need more production out of the position, there’s no question about it. We haven’t gotten the offensive production we need.”

Preach, Dave. The Phillies started the season with Adam Haseley, who has since left the team for personal reasons. Haseley had a .421 OPS in 21 plate appearances. Roman Quinn has been awful as well, posting a .285 OPS in 29 plate appearances. Mickey Moniak was just called up and so far, there hasn’t been anything positive from him either. He’s struck out in seven of his first 12 plate appearances.

Phillies starting centerfielders are now 0-for-33 with 11 strikeouts in the team’s last 12 games. Where is Odubel Herrera? Dave Dombrowski has given the Phillies the OK to promote Herrera, so what exactly are they waiting for?

“We had a lot of conversation on it. We just thought Moniak was playing a little bit better [now]. But it’s one of those [situations] where we go back and forth on that conversation. We just thought that he’d have more of an opportunity — he’d be playing on a regular basis somewhat. In Moniak’s case, for example, we’re facing a lot of right-handers, so he’d be playing more. That was really the reason. Herrera hadn’t really gotten going with the bat at the time. It’s almost day to day when you’re having those types of conversations, and at that time the decision was toward Moniak.”

I can’t really see the Phillies making any type of trade before bringing up Herrera or Scott Kingery but Dombrowski has taken notice to the lack of production and will keep an open mind when looking at other opportunities to improve the position.

“Nobody is doing the job at that particular moment. You have to keep your mind open to what other opportunities are outside the organization. We haven’t reached that point yet. You always got your mind open to that. But you also have to make sure if you’re making moves that they’re going to be what you consider an upgrade to your situation. We’re hopeful that Moniak gets going. He hit a ball [Friday], I think it would have been a home run if it wasn’t for the wind blowing in. Hopefully it’ll come from within at this point. If they don’t get going, we do have Herrera and we have [Scott] Kingery at Triple-A, and we’ll see how they’re doing at that time.”

Scott Kingery is 1-for-26 with 12 strikeouts so far, including an 0-for-2 appearance in Monday’s 6-1 loss to the Yankees taxi squad. There’s zero chance the Phillies bring him up any time soon as Jetpax SZN continues to rebuild his swing. The only option they have is Odubel Herrera and they just might have to bite the PR bullet and bring him up to get some kind of production from centerfield.

You are not wrong in saying that Odubel Herrera doesn’t deserve a chance to play on the Philadelphia Phillies. In fact, I would agree with that statement. I could also be in agreement that Odubel Herrera has served his suspension, completed rehabilitation classes, apologized to the organization, his teammates, and the city of Philadelphia, and most importantly, made amends with his girlfriend, who he is still with today.

Any way you want to cut it, the Phillies desperately need help in centerfield and they are paying Herrera $10 million this season. They might as well see what he can do on the MLB level. It literally can’t get any worse.

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