Don't look him in the eye..
No! Stop it! What are you doing?!
NOOOOOO!!!!
(Aaaaaaand he just signed Bobby Abreu. Way to go, reader.)
by Nick Opich
Do you remember when the Phillies
won the World Series in 2008? How about when they were the best team in
baseball in 2011 when they went 102-60? Time passes and players age but for Philadelphia , it has been
anything but graceful.
A year after giving a 30-year-old
Ryan Howard $125M guaranteed, he tore his achilles tendon and hasn’t been the
same player since, Chase Utley has been slowly deteriorating as he struggles to
stay on the field consistently, and despite an elite pitching staff, General
Manager Rueben Amaro Jr. has struggled to put together a cohesive and
competitive team. That’s a long way to fall in a short amount of time.
The Phillies made some interesting
moves this offseason. They quickly signed the resurrected Marlon Byrd and, after
some lengthy negotiations, secured a deal with Cuban defector, Miguel Alfredo
Gonzalez. They also lost Roy Halladay to retirement and gave 35-year-old catcher,
Carlos Ruiz, more guaranteed money than the Miami Marlins gave the younger and more
productive, Jarrod Saltalamacchia. The Phillies tried to find a suitor for
Jonathon Papelbon’s massive contract but no team was foolish enough to take on
that headache.
So, are the Phillies a better team
in 2014? Maybe, but it is unlikely that they are good enough to compete with
their division rivals, the Washington Nationals and Atlanta Braves. An
optimistic Phillies fan will try to find some silver lining like “hopefully
Dominic Brown continues to play like he did last year” and “maybe Cody Asche
will be a productive major league third baseman.” Ultimately, this is very much
the same team it was last year except everyone is a year older and Howard’s
annual salary increased by $5M staying at $25M each of the next three years...guaranteed.
1.
Last Season & Offseason
a.
73-89
b.
Signed A.J. Burnett, Marlon Byrd, Miguel Gonzalez, Re-signed Carlos Ruiz,
Bobby Abreu, Roberto Hernandez
c.
Traded for Brad Lincoln with Toronto
d.
Roy Halladay retired
2.
Line up / Rotation
Lineup:
1.
Ben Revere CF
2.
Jimmy Rollins SS
3.
Chase Utley 2B
4.
Ryan Howard 1B
5.
Marlon Byrd RF
6. Domonic Brown LF
7.
Carlos Ruiz C
8.
Cody Asche 3B
Rotation:
1.
Cole Hamels
2. Cliff Lee
3. A.J. Burnett (Added after the recording of this podcast)
4. Miguel Gonzalez
4. Miguel Gonzalez
5. Kyle Kendrick
6. Roberto Hernandez*
3.
Favorite/Least Favorite
a.
Nick's Favorite – Phillie Fanatic
b.
Hayden's Favortie – N/A
c.
Nick's Least Favorite – Money to bad
investments
d.
Hayden's Least Favorite – Everything
4.
High heat Impact Player
a.
Domonic Brown
b.
Single or a Home Run guy:
d.
Must walk more
e.
If you’re going to just pull everything, be everything Ryan Howard
used to be.
5.
Prospect to Impact team
a.
Maikel Franco
i.
Could be a midseason call up
ii.
Great offensively at weak position for Phillies
iii.
Good arm, decent defense
6.
Midseason Status
a.
Begging teams to take Howard and overpay for Cliff Lee
b.
Domonic Brown regresses from his 2013 self.
c.
Injuries plague a team of elders
7.
Bold Predictions
a.
75-87
b.
Trade with Mariners – Papelbon and cash for Danny Hultzen
(LHP)
Podcast Playlist:
"17 Crimes" - AFI
"Heart of Glass" - Blondie
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