Phillies Offseason Part 1: The Infield

Now that he World Series has ended and Phillies fans were treated to the sight of Hunter Pence celebrating a World championship (I sight we surely would have rather witnessed last year), the question turns to what should the Phillies due to insure they are not on the outside looking in during next year’s playoffs?  This is a difficult question to answer. Today we will look at the infield, future posts will address the outfield and the pitching staff.

 Essentially, they are locked in on 4/5 of their infield (if you include  catcher), and none of their outfield. Utley and Howard, due their  injury history and the size of their contacts are untradeable, Ruiz was their MVP this year, both offensively and through his value to the pitching staff.  Rollins, despite a decline from his MVP years , is still one of the top shortstops in the majors. Realistically, who could the Phillies acquire that would be better?  (I’d love to  get Troy Tulowittzki from the Rockies, but I just don’t see it happening.) Third base is the obvious area for improvement where  Placido Polanco’s option will not be picked up and he will not be back. However, the best available free agent, Kevin Youkilis of the Chicago White Sox, is aging, injury prone, and has had declining production over the last several years.   Trade possibilities include Chase Headley of the Padres, a good to very good player, but one who will be expensive to acquire in a seller’s market and  Matt Carpenter of the Cardinals, an intriguing offensive talent who would provide questionable defense.  The team could make due with Kevin Frandsen, who performed well over the last two months, or Freddy Galvis who has displayed a superior glove (if little offense) at two different positions.  They have a solid prospect in the minors Cody Asche, who played well at Single A Clearwater and Double A Reading, but he is not quite ready for Prime Time.

It won’t make the splash that the Phillies typically have in the offseason while Ruben Amaro has been GM, but that course of action is exactly what I would recommend. Give Frandsen and Galvis the chance to prove their worth while developing Asche in the minors and don’t overspend on marginal upgrades in talent when potentially sound, and inexpensive alternatives exist within the organization. Keep the money in reserve so a big move can be made at the trade deadline when the teams needs are more sharply in focus. Third base may not be their biggest area of need.

Andy Unable or Unwilling to adjust

I haven't been this angry about a game in years..Watching the Eagles-Cardinals game yesterday.. Vick's getting killed and apparently likes to fumble, the line is having trouble pass blocking, with two inexperienced players, and theyhave one of the best backs in the game. Seriously...run the ball!

Is Reid so tied to his game plan that he can't see what is so obvious to everyone else, even us armchair quarterbacks?  Are no other coaches on the staff able to save him from himself?  Once gain, his inability to make in-game adjustments bites Reid in his considerable posterior and the Eagles lose a game they should have won.

Major League Baseball trade Deadline Day

Trade deadline day is one of my favorite days of the year. I love the team building, the planning for the future, the balancing of current needs against the need to be competitive down the road.  Today, the Phillies, quite unlike the previous five years, have become sellers, not buyers. The real goal is to position themselves to rebound in 2013, to make 2012 a one year aberration, not the start of a downward slide. The Phillies have enough core talent to be contenders next year, but they have myriad holes.  One of their biggest issues, at least to my eyes, is complacency.  The core is used to winning, are they too comfortable and perhaps not putting forth the effort displayed in previous years? The constants, the players whose dedication is never questioned, Chase Utley and Roy Halladay, have been injured. Others, are not displaying the same drive seen in years past, Rollins, Victorino. Despite being fond links to the Phillies glorious recent past, a shakeup may be in order. (As of this writing, Victorino is almost certainly gone, traded to the Dodgers for a middle reliever). It will be fascinating to see how general manger Ruben Amaro responds, who he decides to build around, will he incorporate some of the remaining Phillies prospects,  looking to see if their youthful enthusiasm and real opportunity to win a job provide a spark, and a springboard into next year?  Further tuning will be required in the offseason, but the rest of this year will help determine whether it is a refurbishment or an extreme makeover.

Flyers are still the Broad Street Bullies

Once again, the Flyers are the Broad Street Bullies in the NHL, if not on the ice, then certainly in the offseason.  More appropriately, they are acting like the New York Yankees, buying the best available players by structuring offers in such a manner that smaller market teams cannot match them. Unlike the Yankees, this strategy has yet to pay dividends in the form of a Stanley Cup championship (the drought is 37 years and counting). The offer in question is to arguably the best all-around defenseman in the NHL, Shea Weber, the small market team that will be hard-pressed to match is the Nashville Predators, who have already lost premier defenseman Ryan Suter(on whom the Flyers also bid) to the Minnesota Wild.  As a Flyers fan, I’m always impressed by the Flyers constantly swinging for the fences, going all-out to win the ultimate hockey prize, the Stanley Cup.  But, I can’t help but feel that pilfering the small market teams , teams in regions where hockey is trying to get established, build a fan base, is not good business for the NHL as a whole.  On the other hand, baseball’s small market teams have proven that a well run organization in a small market (the Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins,  and this year even the Pittsburgh Pirates),  can still be relevant. So my feelings are mixed, I’d love to have Weber in orange and black, love the fact that the Flyers are always trying to win it all, but, as a fan of the sport as a whole, I’d like to see the smaller market teams throughout the league have a chance, give their fans a thrill rather than the constant feeling of hopelessness (a thrill the league-owned Phoenix Coyotes gave their fans this year in making the Western conference Finals before losing to the eventual champion L.A. Kings) that must result when your star players are always pilfered by the leagues “Bullies”.

Could Lee’s first win be the sign the Phillies season is turning?

I know, it’s just one game, but yesterday’s 9-2 win over the Mets, a victory credited to Cliff Lee, his first in 13 starts this season, had plenty of hopeful signs.  The first was Chase Utley , displaying his vaunted drive to win by putting the team on his shoulders and hitting the tying home run.  Carlos Ruiz continued his season long brilliance by putting the Phillies in the lead, hitting his second back to back home run combo with Utley , who has been back in the lineup less than a week.  Cliff Lee, who had pitched competently in this game through six innings, then took it to another level, as Mets catcher Mike Nickeas said "Once they took the lead, we saw a different side of him," .  The Phillies kept pouring it on, scoring three runs in each of the last three innings, a killer instinct that had been missing much of the season. My favorite example was slow-footed Ty Wigginton hustling home from second on Hunter Pence's single off shortstop Ruben Tejada's glove in the eighth, the kind of aggressive baserunning that can force the other team into errors.   Hopefully, this is the start of a return to the type of baseball we’ve been privileged to see in Philadelphia over the last few seasons, and the impending return of Howard and Halladay from the disabled list can only help if this season is to be resurrected. The Phillies must start now, to paraphrase the great Yogi Berra, “it’s gotten late early around here”.

Should the Phillies be buyers or sellers?

The MLB trading deadline is less than one month away. Should the Phillies be looking to add talent (and payroll) to keep their 5 year playoff streak going, or should they write this year off as a lost cause and trade talent with an eye toward building for the future?  It’s not an easy question, and as usual, is predicated on your ability to predict future performance, an inexact science at best. The Phillies have been lucky in recent years as deadline acquisitions Joe Blanton, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Hunter pence have contributed mightily to their success.  The Phillies have been buyers, dealing prospects for help at the major league level.   If they reverse the trend, selling major league talent to rebuild their depleted minor leagues, they will essentially be giving up on this year in the hopes of starting a new run in the years to come. They could trade impending free agents Shane Victorino,  Juan Pierre, even Cole Hamels for prospects, (although as rental players they won’t bring in the haul they normally would), or perhaps Hunter pence, who will not be a free agent, in the hopes of bringing a larger return. 

Many people think this is precisely what they will do.  However,  a trade deadline selloff is not what Roy Halladay and Cliff lee signed here for, nor will it hlp entice future free agents. Additionally, prospects are iffy at best.  Of all the minor league players the Phillies traded to acquire the players identified above, only one,  Cleveland backup catcher Lou Marson, is currently in the majors.  To be sure, others are still considered good prospects (Travis D’Arnaud, Anthony Gose, Jonathan Singleton), but others stock has fallen considerably (Jason Donald, Michael Taylor), so you never know.  Finally, the Phillies are expected to make three additions before the deadline that will be better than anyone any other team will be able to acquire, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Roy Halladay all should return, and if healthy, these stars should push them into playoff contention.  It’s not yet time to sell, the Phillies window remains open, and perhaps with some acquisitions to help the bullpen, they can return to the top of the division they have owned for the last 5 years.

The Time is right, for Price

Twin Valley baseball player Jared Price must be sitting on pins and needles.  Tonight is the first round of the amateur baseball draft, and Price, a right-handed pitcher, is projected to go anywhere between the late first round and the 10^th round.  Already having accepted a full scholarship to the University of Maryland, Price is in the catbird seat. If he is not drafted in a round he likes, or by a team he favors, or if he is not offered a large enough signing bonus, he can merely head of to Maryland, receive high level college coaching, compete in the ultra-competitive ACC, and get drafted again, hopefully at a higher level than this year. Alternately, if he is drafted and offered a big enough bonus (something in excess of $1 million) he can accept the money, forgo college, and begin pursuing his lifelong dream of playing in the major leagues.  Jared has achieved this enviable position through hard work and dogged determination to achieve his goal. However it turns out, Jared has earned his opportunity, and we in raider nation wish him the best of luck.