Most MLB teams are constantly tweaking their active roster in an
effort to find the best mix that suits the club and gives the best results as a
collective, be it offense or defense they have to compliment each other to the
fullest. I believe the Philadelphia Phillies have finally put together a group
of players around the diamond that fits that description.
It all started back 2004, Rollins was already well established
as the short stop, it was towards the end of the season when the then 1st
baseman Jim Thome got injured which gave Ryan Howard his debut, for Howard there
was no looking back, it was a year earlier we first saw Chase Utley come out to
play, but it wasn’t till 2005 that the 3 of them would have the majority of
starts at their respective positions. It was then between late 2005 and early
2007 that Carlos Ruiz finally took over the full time catching spot from the
Phillies favorite Mike Lieberthal, after a mix of Pratt, Borajas and Coste.
I’ve already covered expectations for Jimmy
Rollins and Carlos
Ruiz in the upcoming season, the other 3 members of the infield are as
important if not more so for this team to once more be the top contenders in the
NL East, it is for that reason they must continue as a collective group and
remain the Phillies….
….inner circle. I believe the final piece of
this puzzle was Polanco, who many wanted to move to 3rd base back in 2005, and
trade David Bell, that wasn’t to be, but as the saying goes ‘what goes around,
comes around’ and Polanco returned last year to play the hot corner and add
stability and consistency to that role.
Polanco can mix it up with the best of them, he
handles himself with solid defense and is a nice fit with his sure fire offense,
given the optimistic view that he’ll stay healthy we should see him hitting in
the number 2 spot and hopefully end the year with about a .300 avg and hopefully
a .350 OBP.
Howard had big shoes to fill, but then again he
has big feet. Following Jim Thome, Howard has excelled at 1st base. He
has consistently improved his defense and since he has reach milestones with his
offense quicker than any other player, it’s fair to say he is one of the top 1st
basemen. I am by no means laying claim to him being the best, with Pujols
and Votto out there it would be hard for anyone else to claim the number
1 spot at 1st base. Ryan does need to find his stride and swing his bat the way
we expect, he’s had time to adjust, he spent most of last season adjusting, it’s
time for him to once more dominate the offense in the National League and take a
shot at breaking the club home run record for the season, in addition to keeping
his SO’s down and keeping his RiSP up.
Utley is the one Phillies infielder that could conceivably
put up the argument as the best 2nd baseman. The last couple of years has shown
that he isn’t Mr. Invincible, that he can get hurt and not play through it, his
only down side is when trying to play through and injury he can have a
concentration lapse at the most inopportune time. Providing Chase can reproduce
some sort of similarity to the type of numbers he put up between 2005 to 2009,
then coupled with the rest of this inner circle the Phillies should have a
killer infield.
The Michael Young Saga – Fans at times really amaze me as well as
leave me shaking my head thinking WTF are they drinking or smoking. It was made
known via ESPN that the Phillies front office made a brief call to the Texas
Rangers to get the scoop on Michael Young, according to the story
on ESPN.com “One source said the discussions were
“brief” and amounted essentially to “tire kicking” on the part of
the Phillies.”
This not only prompted a slew of blogs and reports to be posted
with ‘Tire Kicking’ in the title it generated a range of comments from Phillies fans
to such a point it has prompted me
to actually even mention the brief communication between the Phillies and
Rangers. I read and heard
things like, ‘maybe if we offered Ibanez and Brown, and what if we could send
Utley and Rollins, or include Blanton, I even heard someone hyping Young as if he was the modern day
Babe Ruth but better.’
Now anyone with a brain or even half of one (human of course,
maybe) knows Young is
good, but not that good, in fact if you haven’t smoked anything or drank
anything or you haven’t consumed any type of mind bending hallucinatory drug
that could or would impair your judgment and you would still consider or suggest
a deal for Young that included a member of the Phillies infield or didn’t
include the Rangers eating at least 70% of Young’s salary for the next 3 years,
then I would suggest you go straight to the nearest asylum and check yourself
in, or start using one the many means of hallucinatory drug consumption methods,
because you obviously need some sort of help. Alternatively you could cut your
loses and trade all your Phillies gear for Nationals gear and go follow a team
that will pay huge sums of money for a player that is over hyped.
It all reminds me of a recent post I read by a fellow MLBlogger,
Wrigley Regular called Radio
GM’s, I thought it was funny.
It seems the road trip that just ended with a 4 game losing streak was some of the worst batting stats seen since the 60’s by the Phillies. Some may look on it as a bad thing, and by no means does the 2-1 victory over the Rockies in any way constitute the end to the offensive slump. Placing a positive spin on this, with so many of the last few games being decided by 1 or 2 runs against quality teams, I can’t help but wonder what might have been had the Phillies been Swinging hot bats.
Phillies Outside 