Alec Bohm, Bryson Stott, Brandon Marsh, Jake Cave, Garrett Stubbs, Rodolfo Castro, Johan Rojas, Cristopher Sánchez, Gregory Soto, Seranthony Dominguez, and Andrew Bellatti (now Yunior Marte).
That is the complete list of players on the Phillies 28 man roster than can be sent to AAA without their permission or being subject to waivers. You can remove Bohm, Stott, and Marsh from that list because they are key members of the lineup. Sánchez can technically be sent down, but has been an actually good starting pitcher. That leaves us with 4 bench players, 2 pitchers that should be critical parts of the bullpen, and the rotating guy they have sent up and down. This situation has meant the Phillies have been playing with a non-ideal roster for over a month and no real end in sight.
The hitting problem comes down to a series of unconnected moves, all of which are mostly defensible in isolation, but together make a train wreck.
It starts with the trade acquisitions of Edmundo Sosa and Cristian Pache. Both were acquired for cheap because they are out of minor league options, and both have had their moments against LHPs, but they are hitting .232/.272/.359 and .125/.263/.313 vs RHPs respectively. Both are primary backups at premium defensive positions, so they have value on an individual basis.
Then at the trade deadline the Phillies acquired Rodolfo Castro from the Pirates. Castro is a switch hitter who historically has crushed LHPs and struggled vs RHPs, but was mired in a slump when acquired that has continued. The Phillies have kept Rodolfo Castro on the roster because he has been in the minors for 15 days, which is 5 days short of using a minor league option. If they do not option him this season, he retains his last option for next year.
That really only leaves Jake Cave and Johan Rojas. As we just detailed that Phillies have 3 hitters on the bench who cannot hit RHPs, that leaves Jake Cave as the only LHB on the bench and the only AAA options as Kody Clemens, Darick Hall, and Simon Muzziotti. This gets to Rojas, who is their best defender and base runner, and really can’t hit consistently. He is highly redundant with Pache and his lack of playing time shows that. All of this combines to create a bench that can’t hit RHPs, that also needs to have someone in the lineup everyday.
Until the Phillies decide to either not value the 2024 version of Rodolfo Castro or actually realize they are not using Rojas and Pache the situation is not going to improve. They can certainly move the deck chairs on the Jake Cave situation (especially if Bryce Harper is going to play a lot of first base), but just swapping one poor LHB for another isn’t really going to solve the problem. This is a problem of their own making, and it is time they realized that.