What should the Phillies be concerned about most?
Chase Utley's hip
actually this is kind of a big deal. I'm Utley superfan #1 and think his health is critical to the success of the Phillies. He was a bit of an injury liability last year, and I'd love to know about the state of his body. But if I came looking for journalism, I came to the wrong place, there's not even a mention of this in the article.
Cole Hamels elbow
meh, a slight blip perhaps.
The Braves and Mets
the existence of opponents in their division, one of the most common causes of a team not winning games, it is true.
Who's the fifth starter?
who fucking cares? It's starter number five, you don't even need one some of the time, and every team has an issue with their fifth starter. You think the Mets are out there like "I'm really happy with what Livian Hernandez brings to this team, his 6.05 ERA, 67 K's in 180 innings, huge upside"? Plus, this is obviously the weakest area of the team, that was the case last year also - no one argued their starting pitching was especially strong, so the fifth starter, I guarentee the Phillies could care less. Also, the fifth starter is Kyle Kendrick, just 24 years old, who went 10-4 with a 3.87 ERA two years ago and actually does have the possibility of being good. So yeah, shut the fuck up poll question.
Ryan Howard K's
I'm not even going to bother - you know what I'm going to say.
The following article is a "special"to Fox Sports...more like specially stupid. Nailed it.
Phillies have growing concerns all over
Charlie Manuel is not happy.
The Philadelphia Phillies begin defense of their World Series championship in less than three weeks. The manager does not like what he sees.
Sloppy play. A 50-game suspension for valuable left-handed reliever J.C. Romero for violating the performance-enhancing-substances policy.
A roster disjointed because of injuries and the World Baseball Classic. Routine fundamental matters such as bunt defenses that have not been addressed because the full team has not yet been together.
won't somebody please think of the bunt defenses!
Even the middle-infield combination has been in separate area codes. Second baseman Chase Utley has been recovering from offseason hip surgery while shortstop Jimmy Rollins has been playing with Team USA.
yeah, let's talk about that Chase Utley thing because that actually could be relevant. If he plays only 100-110 games, the Phil's might be in trouble. They really need that high octane offense going if they are going to take the NL East again. I need someone with access to update me on how that's going, because I haven't followed the story as closely as I probably should - little help?
"We're going to have to get a lot of things done the last 10 or 12 days,'' Manuel said.
And then there is lefthander Cole Hamels.
and just like that, whatever chance this article had for redemption has blown away.
The Phillies ace spent Tuesday undergoing an examination to find the cause of persistent pain in the left elbow. The organization pitched it as a routine matter that was not a cause for alarm.
feel the terror!
Anything involving the talented Hamels, a hothouse flower, is cause for alarm within the Phillies. His innings total, including the playoffs, rose by 38 percent to 262 1/3 innings. That is a huge increase for a 25-year-old pitcher with a history of injuries.
love the frustration of the facts simply not suiting the argument he's trying to build. They just said they weren't alarmed - it's no big deal, there's absolutely no reason to believe otherwise unless you have access to some information they don't, and you don't have that or it'd be in this article rather than just vague, ominous suggestions.
Hamels is a true ace. He won 14 games and had the National League's fifth-best ERA (3.09) last season. The other Philadelphia starters, including 46-year-old lefthander Jamie Moyer, were 45-37 with a 4.58 ERA.
be very grateful to anyone willing to put in the work to see what every other playoff's team rotation was when you remove their ace, I'll put $500 down it's at the very least comprable. This was actually better than what I would have guessed.
Hamels kept the Phillies from descending into losing streaks by going 10-3 with a 2.61 ERA for starts after a team loss. The Phillies had a full turn through the five-man rotation without a win only once last season.
...yep sure is good he plays for them. Or is it actually a cause for alarm?!?!?!
Repeating under the best of circumstances is difficult. For the Phillies, the task becomes more challenging with each day.
"The biggest thing is we can't let what we did last year affect how we play today,'' Manuel said.
"We still have to play, and we have to play harder because we are on the top of the mountain. The other teams are going to come gunning for us. They're going to push us and try to be aggressive with us.
"They're going to try to beat us because we are the champions.''
can we use some kind of shorthand for this now? Literally every player/coach/manager/general manager says this exact thing, almost literally word for word the pre-season after the team wins a championship. Manuel could have said "blah blah blah blah blah" and I would have been exactly as informed as I am now.
New general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. has done relatively little tinkering with the club that won 27 of its final 36 games, including playoffs, last season. The Phillies made a change in left field with Raul Ibanez in place of streaky but productive Pat Burrell and added righthander Chan Ho Park as a swing man for the staff.
The season might ride on Cole Hamels' elbow.
(The team that signed Park as a free agent after he had pitched well for the Los Angeles Dodgers quickly regretted the move; Park went 22-23 with a 5.79 ERA in four seasons with Texas.)
yes, the Phillies were very unwise to put him in the crucial position of long relief. So what Gerry? Honestly, Park fucks up, fine, no big deal, bring up a AAA kid to bend over a barrel when the Marlins go up 8-1 in the third inning in August, who gives a fuck?
Philadelphia's moves pale in comparison to what some East rivals did.
Atlanta overhauled a rotation that went 50-60 with a 4.60 ERA last season by adding Derek Lowe and Javier Vazquez, both of whom consistently pitch more than 200 innings. The bullpen should also be better with the return of lefthander Mike Gonzalez and righthander Rafael Soriano, both of whom were injured last season.
Atlanta weren't flash last year, at all. They were mediocre at best, and their lineup looks punchless if you ask me, especially if Francouer doesn't rebound. They didn't improve that at all, and both the Mets and Phillies can put crooked numbers on the board, I'm a little sceptical. These are good players they have brought in, for sure, but it's hardly anything to really worry about until we can actually see this team play.
The Phillies dominated Atlanta last season, going 14-4 against the Braves.
The New York Mets also addressed their main problem by acquiring a pair of closers: J.J. Putz of Seattle and Francisco Rodriguez of the Los Angeles Angels.
A year ago, Philadelphia went 79-0 when leading through eight innings in the regular season.
The Mets had seven losses when leading through eight innings, most in the majors.
I'd argue that the Mets have had the best team on paper in the NL for three years...hasn't delivered as yet. They added the best pitcher in baseball last year and still finished second in their division and out of the playoffs. There's the possibility the September problem is real, the Mets have their own questions. It's an interesting division, sure, but channelling Chicken Little is not a convincing way to go about analysing it.
"Nobody's walking around with their chest out or a ballooned head,'' said Rollins, the team leader. "Everybody's still working. We're still trying to win respect. We know we're winners, but we're fighting for respect as a champion.
blah-de-blah-de-blah-blah
The World Series has been owned by a different team every year (since 2000). It would be nice to hold onto it for a while and be known as the champs the way the Yankees were in the '90s.''
Phillies ownership did give the payroll a significant goose, raising it by 25 percent to $130 million. Most of that went to multiyear deals for first baseman Ryan Howard, outfielder Jayson Werth, reliever Ryan Madson and Hamels. The Phillies committed a total of $96.5 million to them.
That is the price for managing success. The risk is that financial security will make this club comfortable. In winning two consecutive East titles, the Phillies have played with a hard edge that the Mets lacked. The difference showed during strong stretch runs by the Phillies. They made the Mets blink.
shamelessly blind speculation.
"You can get away from what your main priority is,'' Manuel said of the season after success.
"There are going to be distractions. Any time you get distractions, it can definitely become a problem. That's my concern. Not that we have guys who don't love to play. We've got guys who love to play.
"They've got a reputation now, and they've got to live up to that.''
The challenge starts soon. The Phillies race the clock to get ready for it.
...I'm still waiting to hear about Chase Utley...hello?
4 comments:
Who is Chase Utley? Really, what would the potential absence of an ex-MVP have to do with the Phillies and repeating as World Champions?
If the biggest problem the Phillies have is who their fifth starter is going to be, they are in great shape. I laughed when you said the existence of opponents in their division is a common cause of teams not winning games.
The Phillies are not exactly counting on Chan Ho Park to provide 200 innings and 15 wins this year. Anything they get from him is gravy. They did not sign him to a massive long term deal.
Now about calling the Atlanta lineup punchless...don't tell Frank Wren that...why pay Dunn $10 million when you can give $3 million each to Glavine and Garrett Anderson?
Kyle Kendrick will be no where near the starting rotation for the Phils this year. It will either be Happ or Park.
Otherwise, I agree with your points.
JS is so much angrier then Ben, it's amusing. I imagine him stalking around with a stick waiting to hit the writers, where Ben is just shaking his head and muttering "WTF are they talking about? Are they really typing in english, or does it just look like the native tongue...."
My buddy Davey is a huge Phillies fan, and so my thoughts are more a reflection of his, and those are something along the lines of "not sure if Raul will be the right replacement for Burrell, the team becoming a little lefty dominated, the bullpen was really effective last year and doesn't look as strong this year, and bench depth is a concern if Utley is going to be out for 30-40 games along with other assorted and unexpected injuries". I still like them more then any team in the East.
I feel angry when I type, I think J.S. just expresses his anger better than I do in writing. That would be great if he walked around with a stick and tried to hit the writers though. I would advocate that.
The only problem I really see for the Phillies is that they are a LH dominated offense and I really don't know where the power from the RH side is going to come from outside of Werth. That is being really nitpicky. I think they will win the East. That being said, I am worried about the Utley injury if I am them.
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