How will the postseason bench look; Andrew Painter update, and more Phillies notes

NEW YORK — Rob Thomson is a believer in the baseball gods, so he has largely refrained from answering any questions about the playoffs. But now that the Phillies have officially clinched a spot, those questions are fair game.

“Fire away,” he said Saturday afternoon.

Thomson has yet to meet with president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski to map out the roster. And, to be fair, there aren’t many open spots. But there are a few decisions to be made around the edges: mainly, how many pitchers the Phillies will carry, and what their bench will look like.

They carried 12 pitchers on last year’s roster for the wild-card round, 13 for the division series, and 13 for the league championship series. But it seems this year, they are learning toward carrying 12, in favor of adding a bench bat.

“Yes [there’s value in that],” said Thomson. “Because you can do some things — you can pinch hit a little bit more, you can burn a guy. You’d have to have conversations before the series on whether that’s a possibility, so they’re not caught off guard.

“I think we have more options, offensively, than we’ve had in the last two years. Right and left, there’s really good balance.”

Who those bench players would be will largely depend on the Phillies’ opponent.

“It’s still kind of up in the air,” Thomson said of the bench. “A lot of it depends on who you play. If you’re facing a team that’s loaded up with left-handed relievers, you’ve better have some right-handed bats on the bench.”

There are a few other factors to consider. With the roster largely set, Thomson would like to see how the bench players fare in pinch-hit situations. So, over the remaining seven games, he’s going to try to get those players in as many pinch-hit situations as he can.

“I think there’s something about being comfortable doing that, and being able to prepare properly,” Thomson said. “So, I think I’ll try to get some guys [in pinch-hit opportunities] more than I would in the past.”

Right now, the candidates are Weston Wilson, Cal Stevenson, Kody Clemens, and Buddy Kennedy, who was optioned to triple A on Sept. 17. Outfielder Austin Hays, who is recovering from a kidney infection and is in Lehigh Valley for a few rehab games, will also affect this decision.

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It’s unclear what Hays’ role would be in the postseason, but the Phillies say they aren’t concerned about his lack of recent at-bats. Hays hasn’t played since Sept. 1.

“He’s going out [on a rehab assignment] for a couple of days,” said Dombrowski. “I’m sure if everything’s OK, which it should be, he’ll play some this week. But it’s amazing how much more we do on that Trajekt machine nowadays, where it really replicates the live pitching. It’s why some guys don’t even go on rehab assignments anymore. And he’s been hitting against that for a while, and he can get as many at-bats as he wants against that.

“If we do get a bye, he’d get all the at-bats that week. So, no, I don’t think [there’s a lot of risk]. Now, if something comes back where he’s not doing well. ... but all indications are that he’s ready to go.”

Thomson said on Saturday that the next fifth start, on Tuesday against the Cubs, will likely be a bullpen game — regardless of whether they get a first-round bye. He expects Taijuan Walker, who has a 6.91 ERA through 82 innings this season, to participate in some capacity.

“We’re still mulling through that,” Thomson said. “I think it’s probably going to be some kind of bullpen game. But [Walker will be] involved for sure.”

Andrew Painter has continued to throw against live hitters at the Phillies’ facility in Clearwater, Fla. Dombrowski says the team has not made a decision on whether the pitching prospect will play in the Arizona Fall League, and says that there is a specific reason that decision hasn’t been made yet.

» READ MORE: How the Phillies’ path to a World Series is shaping up in a wide open National League playoff field

“We have not pushed him at all,” Dombrowski said. “There’s no set times. We’ve taken the approach of, let’s just let things happen naturally. No timeframes, no anything. Just see how you’re doing and we’ll go from there.

“I don’t want to put anything in front of him where he thinks, if I do this quicker, then I might go do this. None of that.”

Painter will throw another live round of batting practice on Monday.