While we have spent much of the past few weeks lamenting the Phillies’ inconsistent, if not entirely piss-poor offense, their sloppy defense and inability to complete routine plays with professional-level regularity has also become a glaring concern as of late.

Overshadowed by the voluminous strikeouts and small villages of base runners left stranded with regularity by the Phillies’ lineup, the defense has simultaneously devolved into one of the worst in Major League Baseball. Jake Arrieta was right on Sunday in that the Phillies are far and away the least productive team when altering their positional alignments, but their defensive woes go well beyond failed shifts.

As a team, they entered the day having committed 44 errors on their way to compiling a .979 fielding percentage. Both figures are the fourth-worst in all of baseball, and that was before today’s 4-3 loss at Wrigley Field in which they committed three more errors to go along with a few other costly defensive mistakes. If they didn’t go 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position and leave 13 on base, those fielding miscues would have surely been more pronounced.

Check out this Odubel Herrera gaffe that came on the game’s very first pitch, leading to what was generously scored as a double:

There was also this sailed throw on a swinging bunt fielded by Nick Pivetta that became a critical part of the Cubs’ three-run fifth inning:

And then, well, there was Andrew Knapp, who had quite a day.

Here he is in the first inning committing his first catcher’s interference of the game:

Here he is in the fifth inning failing to provide Albert Almora Jr. a path to the plate which negated an outrageous throw from Dylan Cozens:

It’s a bullshit rule and a tough play for Knapp, but the umpires made the right call on an overturned replay that ultimately scored the game’s deciding run.

And, finally, here he is in the eighth inning again committing catcher’s interference:

That’s three (THREE!) different interference calls in one game. That is egregiously poor. I never thought I would say this, but I miss Cameron Rupp.

In terms of team defense, both traditional and more advanced analytic data reveal what our eyes can easily discern-this defense has been fucking brutal.

According to FanGraphs, they are a stunning -45 in DRS (Defensive Runs Saved), in front of only the Mets -58 DRS. In terms of DEF (Defensive Runs Above Average), a metric that evaluates a team’s defensive performance in relation to the league’s positional averages, the Phillies rank 27th with a -13.3 mark. For context, that number falls into the “poor” range, with -20 and below categorized as “awful.”

If you are a proponent of UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating), a metric that is used to compile WAR and also measures defensive performance relative to league average, the Phillies rate as the second-worst team in baseball at -16.3. None of this is good.

In terms of Defensive Runs Saved, here is the breakdown by position: 1B (24th), 2B (20th), SS (29th), 3B (25th), LF (30th), CF (15), RF (18). In other words, there are several positions that are plaguing their overall defensive performance, particularly to the left side of the field. Perhaps that explains why there is at least one ball hit to that side of the field every game that should seemingly result in an out yet does not.

Will it get better? Maybe. Defensive play at shortstop should be bolstered with the return of J.P. Crawford, assuming that Gabe Kapler opts to give him regular time there, but the prospects for drastic team-wide improvement do not look promising.