Usually, this is a time of hope for Phillies fans, “maybe this will be the year” type hope. But, last year was the year, so I’m not entirely sure what I’m supposed to be feeling right now. It’s really, really hard to repeat these days, so I guess I’m hoping for another division title, keeping the Mets at bay, and getting to watch some more playoff games.
While the expectations may have changed, the myriad of questions leading into the season have not (click here to see what was on my mind last spring training). Here are the biggest questions the team will be facing this upcoming season…
- Who will win the 5th starter spot?
- Will our all-left line-up be a positive or a negative?
- Can Raul Ibanez out perform Pat Burrell?
- How will Chase Utley recover from hip surgery?
- Can Jimmy Rollins bounce back to MVP-type form?
- Can Ryan Howard raise his batting average and improve his defense?
- How will Jayson Werth perform in his first full season as a starter?
- Does Jamie Moyer still have it at 46?
- Will Lidge blow a save?
- Will Madson still be throwing mid-90s?
- Will the economy affect attendance and therefore future payroll?
- Which Brett Myers will we get? And for how long?
- Will any of our top prospects, Carrasco, Marson and Donald, make an impact?
- Can Scott Eyre replace J.C. Romero until he comes back?
- Can we really repeat??
I honestly could have gone up to about 30-40 questions, but I wanted to leave it open for discussion.
- Which questions do you think are most important to the Phillies season?
- What is not on that list that concerns you?
- What do you think the answers are to some of these?
Pete I think a major question mark in my mind is which Phillies team will come to play in April/May? The team of years past who is battling late in the season to get into the playoff chase because of a subpar spring, or the team that just won the World Series?? Hopefully these guys have that winning taste in their mouths and come into the season hungry for more, a take no prisoners attitude.
I’ll admit it is highly enjoyable to watch a team catch up to the leader and surpass late in the season only to have the leader crash and burn (I’m talking to you Mutts, you choke artists). The emotion there is as good as it gets, but can we just win the division for once without giving us all a heartattack? Maybe be 8 games up at the end of the season or somehting like that?
More big ones:
How will Cole’s body hold up after such a strenuous season?
Will we have the money/assets to fine-tune the roster come July?
Will our bench bats continue to be as outrageously effective as they were last year, especially Dobbs?
Whatever the answers prove to be to these questions, as well as any others, I am pumped for the upcoming season.
Last night I purchased a 6-pack of tickets, that includes a game against the hated Mets, for me and my family.
I purchased a 5-game Sixers package in October to cover Christmas presents for the family. They have enjoyed going to the games so much that I sold them on buying the 6 Phillies games to cover everyone’s birthday presents for this year (not that my sons needed any arm twisting).
The seats are up in the 400 section, anywhere from 1st base all the way around behind home to 3rd base. They’re not the greatest, but we usually only make it to one or two games each year, so for 6 games I can live with it.
The games I chose are all on Sundays, as that works best for us. 5/10(Braves), 5/31 (Nationals), 6/21 (Orioles), 7/5 (Mets), 7/26(Cardinals), and 8/9 (Marlins).
I am going to make the same suggestion I did when I bought the Sixers tickets. That is, if anyone here is going to any of these games I’d love to meet up beforehand. We can meet face to face in Ashburn Alley and grab a beer.
Other than the honor and privilege of meeting Dannie, I have not met anyone else at a Sixers game yet, but I still have two games left to attend. I’m hoping to do better at the Phillies games. I’ll post a reminder here as each game approaches.
bski..I got the same package, but all my games are Saturdays.
Bummer, J Dubbz. I mean, I’m glad you got a package but we won’t be able to meet up. Sundays are ideal for us. My workplace is closed on Sunday, so there’s no problem getting the day off. Also, factoring in the travel back and forth on the turnpike, the 1:35pm start time works better because we won’t be on the road until 1am or possibly even later as we would if we went to a Saturday night game.
Just for fun, rapid-fire answers to the questions:
Who will win the 5th starter spot? Chan Ho!!!
Will our all-left line-up be a positive or a negative? When in doubt, go with the bski-nator – a positive!
Can Raul Ibanez out perform Pat Burrell? No clue, but Ibanez’s jersey won’t sell as well, and I wish we had gotten Manny Ramirez, that jersey would definitely have sold.
How will Chase Utley recover from hip surgery? By proclaiming, “This hip is f*cking healed! Yeah!!!”
Can Jimmy Rollins bounce back to MVP-type form? Nope, that season was an anomaly, but he’ll be better than he was last year in the regular season.
Can Ryan Howard raise his batting average and improve his defense? Nope, everything I’ve read says that’s not what Charlie asks him to do.
How will Jayson Werth perform in his first full season as a starter? Not good, the scouting will have caught up. I see a Jenkins/Werth platoon after the first third of the season.
Does Jamie Moyer still have it at 46? Yes, he’s still damn sexy. Did you see all those children? Look for him to start Philadelphia’s first polygamy sect.
Will Lidge blow a save? But he breaks Seth Rogen’s (I forget the actual guy’s name) consecutive saves record first!
Will Madson still be throwing mid-90s? Hell yeah – isn’t he in the prime of his career?
Will the economy affect attendance and therefore future payroll? They’re the only game in town right now; people are bored with the Andy Reid era, no stars for Sixers fans to get excited about, the Flyers need that dominant goaltender. So that’s a no.
Which Brett Myers will we get? And for how long? Again, go with the bski-nator – he’s in a contract year, he’ll be focused, and be dominant, and there’ll be articles questioning who the real ace of this team is, just for argument’s sake.
Will any of our top prospects, Carrasco, Marson and Donald, make an impact? Not Carrasco, but an injury will give Marson or Donald some playing time, and they won’t suck.
Can Scott Eyre replace J.C. Romero until he comes back? No way, Eyre’s stuff just isn’t as good.
Can we really repeat?? No – unlike Gillick, Amaro will make some sort of trade akin to the Matt Holliday deals the Phils were thinking about, and it’ll look better but it won’t work out the way the Blanton deal did.
Zack….Good answers and thanks for the nods. Much appreciated. I wasn’t going to go down the list, but since you did I’ll give it a shot as well.
5th starter: I read a couple quotes from Manuel about Happ (might have been in the Daily News yesterday or the day before). Anyway, they led me to believe that Manuel likes what he’s seen from Happ. This makes me think that as long as Happ has a solid spring, he’s got it. I know Park is all fired up and that he signed with the Phils because they were the only team that promised him a shot at starting but, unless he absolutely dazzles or Happ falters, I don’t see him getting the 5th spot.
All leftie lineup: Here is what I said a couple months ago…post #13. I know it probably smacks of Don Nelson, but I really think it might work to our advantage. This is how things change in the game. Somebody does something unorthodox, has success, and then others try to copy it. In some cases it even becomes the norm. Besides, I can’t stand all the L-L, R-R, R-L, L-R managerial maneuvering, pinch hitting, and pitching changes all made for the sake of getting a “favorable” matchup. I also think a large part of the reason that many leftie pitchers can’t get righties out or that leftie hitters can’t hit leftie pitchers is because they are not allowed to do it. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, a catch-22, or whatever you want to call it.
Ibanez outperform Burrell: I’m going to say yes only because I’m sensing that this is going to be another “Gillick” pickup where he sees what a guy will do for us.
Utley: He’ll recover fine (and quickly) and keep right on raking. He’s just that type of guy, IMO.
Rollins: Agree with you.
Howard: I think he can. I think he wants to. I think he has worked toward it this offseason. I also think that this has got to be the year. If he doesn’t do it this year I think he will be what he is for the forseeable future.
Werth: Defensively, no worries. The strikeouts scare me though. I’m hoping to see him be more disciplined.
Moyer: He’s still got it but, like I said before, I have no idea what we are going to get out of it.
Lidge: You really think he will break Eric Gagne’s record? I don’t. However I do think he will more than earn his money and we’ll be glad we have him for 3 years.
Madson: He said he was throwing that hard because he knew there were only a few more weeks in the season so he let it go. I can’t see him throwing like that for an entire season. I really don’t think I want him to either. I’d be too worried about him blowing out somewhere along the way.
Economy: What economy? I expect the world series champions to pack CBP almost every night. We have always supported winning clubs. I’m doing my part this year.
Brett Myers: I have no idea. I’m only hoping the contract year will keep him focused. Regardless, I can’t trust him any longer.
Prospects: I think that unless the Phils plan on having Donald take over 3rd next year, he may be more valuable to us for what he brings in a trade. I have a feeling that Carrasco is going to be in our rotation by the end of July. I’m thinking that the Phils are going to try to keep him in the minors as long as they can but either because of injury or ineffectiveness they will need someone to take a spot in the rotation. I think that, unless he is floundering, Kendrick might get a shot before Carrasco because of the experience factor, but I still say Carrasco finishes the season in our rotation.
Eyre: He might be able to hold the fort for a while. My concern is if he is overworked early he may be gassed and have nothing left toward the end of the season (meaning we will then need to overwork Romero).
Repeat: My heart says yes, but my brain says no. It takes a lot of things to fall the right way to win it all (health being #1). We have the talent, the makeup, and all that. I really like the fact that almost the entire team is back. They’ve grown into a tight group. They have a lot of heart. They know how to win together, which is big. I just don’t know if it will all come together again.
One question I have is how much will we miss Jimy Williams? Charlie got lot of credit for the job he did. I’ve often wondered how much Williams factored into that. We will see.
bski-
Yeah Pete, I don’t know exactly why Williams left. I remember reading an article saying that he wanted more money. I’m guessing Williams probably felt that his contributions to the club were worth much more than the Phils were paying him, maybe even to the point where he believed he was a co-manager.
There could be several reasons why the Phils decided not to meet his salary demands. Maybe they felt they they were being shaken down after winning a championship (Williams might have felt it was a reward for his invaluable contributions in winning a championship). Maybe they felt that it would be disrespectful to Charlie Manuel, either from the standpoint of money or the idea of who is actually running the ballclub.
Whatever. I just get the feeling that Williams thought that he was not being properly acknowledged for the role he felt he played in our championship run and the Phils felt that there was no way for them to meet his demands without causing some unwanted damage.
I just noticed that I forget to talk about Marson when I was answering the “prospects” question yesterday.
I think that, barring an injury to Ruiz, Marson will have an entire season to enjoy everything that life in Allentown has to offer. I say this for two reasons.
First, we all know that the Phils prefer to advance their prospects one level at a time. This means that they want to see, and evaluate, a full year at AAA from Marson. They also want him to play every day so, unless he can be the starter in Philly, he will be the starter in Allentown. One other thing. Marson is not pulling a “Ryan Howard” and destroying everything in his path in the minors, so I don’t see the Phils thinking that they must get this kid up to the bigs. If all goes well I expect him to be our starting catcher in 2010.
Second, and more importantly, Ruiz has established himself as one of “Charlie’s guys” and we all know how loyal Charlie is to “his guys”. Manuel has stated repeatedly that he loves the way Ruiz handles the pitching staff. Also, the way Ruiz stepped up offensively during the postseason matters. All of this has earned Ruiz a lot of rope. Unless he bottoms out, I can’t see Manuel kicking Ruiz to the curb.
I know I’m talking a lot here but please indulge me because pitchers and catchers are reporting tomorrow!
Lots of good Phillies stuff in today’s Daily News.
First off, I’m glad to hear that Gillick has been and will continue to be very involved:
“Over the offseason, he was still intimately involved in the day-to-day operations of the club, attending the winter meetings in Las Vegas and chatting by phone at least three times a week with new general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. Gillick, who retired in November after 3 years as the Phillies’ GM, will spend all of spring training in Clearwater helping evaluate the club. Once the regular season starts, he’ll shift into more of a scouting role, working for scouting director Marti Wolever on the amateur side of things. He isn’t ruling out a return to baseball administration. But, for now, he says he is happy.”
and:
“Q: Did you come close to taking a more permanent role in another organization in the offseason? Do you think you ever will?
A: No. And I really didn’t want to. I was comfortable here. It’s been a nice 3 years that I was here, so at this point I’m real comfortable here”
I found confirmation for my Marson theory with this:
“The Phillies will give serious consideration to carrying three catchers.”
“Maybe the Phillies’ search for a solid righthanded bat is already over. Backup catchers Chris Coste and Ronny Paulino have had success at the plate during their major league careers. Paulino hit .310 with a .360 on base percentage while a rookie with the Pirates in 2006. While his career has taken a downturn, leading to the Pirates’ decision to deal him to the Phillies in exchange for prospect Jason Jaramillo, there is no telling what a change of scenery might do.”
I also found confirmation on my suspicions (specifically how involved Gillick was) of how we ended up getting Ibanez from the interview with Pat Gillick done by David Murphy:
“Q: Did you push for the Raul Ibanez signing? Why?”
“A: Yes. Let me put it this way: He fits in our clubhouse. He’s a very positive guy in our clubhouse. He’s probably going to hit in our ballpark with more power than he did in Seattle. Fundamentally he is a very sound player who makes very few mistakes. He’s a hard worker, maybe to the point where he wants to be a perfectionist. But he brings a very positive approach to the clubhouse. Don’t ask me how, he drove in 110 runs over there (in Seattle) last year with a club that didn’t score a lot. I think he’s going to do well here . . . He’s a good hitter. And he hits well against lefthand pitching. The tough lefthanders are going to get guys out anyway. But I think Raul against the average to a little above average guys, he’ll handle them. The guys who are real good ones will give anybody fits. And as I said before, 80 percent of starting pitchers are righthanded in this league.”
Also…“Q: Do you view Ibanez as an upgrade over Burrell?
A: In my mind he is.”
Got a pretty good idea on the 5th starter:
“The Phillies spent most of last season trying to find a way to get Happ on the field, which leads us to believe that he will ultimately get the nod in the fifth game of the season.”
And that Carrasco is further down the list (sounds like he’s 3rd in line):
“J.A. Happ will enter the season as the No. 5 starter, but Kyle Kendrick and Chan Ho Park will get their chances to start. They still believe in Kendrick, and are well aware that Park went 1-0 with a 2.16 ERA in five starts last season.”
One last thing from Gillick, this about our chances of repeating:
“Q: What do you think of the club’s chances of repeating?
A: The other thing about last year, we had some injuries, but we avoided a lot of injuries. So that’s a big factor. The second baseman, though, played the whole year injured. That’s pretty evident, some bad swings that he had, during the season. He got that hot streak and he was probably playing in pain all year. I think we’ve got a good chance. *”
It’s almost baseball season and I can’t wait to see what our champs will do out there on the field. It is the first time in my life that I have not ended last season with “well, maybe next year”.
I have also been looking forward to the World Baseball Classic. Hopefully enough major leaguers commit to playing that it is entertaining and competitive.
How about this from Adam Eaton. This article got a few things running through my head.
First off, I’m glad he won’t even be considered for the 5th spot. It’s about damn time we stopped giving this guy any more opportunities to hurt the club.
Second, while I can understand how it must feel to be where he is now, especially after being in the league for several years, he has been sucking ass big time since he came here. Since we had to deal with that for the better part of two seasons, he’s got to deal with the ramifications of that now and in the future. Besides, he’s the one who put himself in this position in the first place. Had he pitched reasonably well, he’d still be in the rotation and there would be no issue over accepting a minor league assignment or anything else.
My last thought is that the Phils should do everything they can, even if it means paying his entire salary for 2009 and buyout for 2010–hell, I’d even go so far as to include another player in the deal, to trade Eaton to another club in the division. We will get much more for our money if he’s pitching for a division rival. Think about it. We can get some easy wins when he pitches against us and he will continue to hurt whoever he pitches for as he piles up losses to the rest of the league. We will get a much better ROI.
More good stuff today, this time from the INKY.
On Myers, (who has reportedly lost 30 pounds):
“Winning the World Series was great, but personally I had a bad taste in my mouth this winter because of how badly I pitched in the first half of the season,” the righthander said. “I needed to get in better shape so we don’t have to fight to get into the playoffs the last three weeks.
“I wanted to feel like I was in better shape and show my dedication to this team so I can go out and pitch better. I need to start stronger. I lost nine games in the first half. It would have made a big difference if I had pitched better.”
“I’m not going to worry about it. I’d like to stay in Philadelphia, but ultimately it’s going to come down to how I pitch. If I end up staying here, that will be good for me and my family, because the organization has been great to me and we like living there.”
“I’m not afraid of what might happen after the season,” Myers said. “I know I’m here this year. It’s up to me to pitch well.”
Good attitude and a good work ethic (that has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he is in a contract year….RIGHT) that will hopefully yield good results.
On Howard (who has reportedly lost 20 pounds):
“I show up in Tampa on Jan. 5 after we won a World Series, drop 20 pounds, and come out here and just work,” Howard said yesterday after a workout at Bright House Field.
“I’m working on my defense because I want to continue playing in the field,” he said. “I’m trying to work on every facet of my game – offense, defense, speed, strength.”
“My whole body just feels better,” Howard said. “My endurance is better.”
Again, good attitude and a good work ethic hopefully resulting in good results.
good stuff Bski….im getting pretty pumped…
Thanks Pete.
Regarding Myers, I’m really thinking that the Phils asking him to go back to the rotation dealt a blow to his fragile psyche. He said many times how much he loved being a closer. I think he really felt like he found where he wanted to be. Then the Phils took it away from him when they got Lidge. I’m sure he was bummed out and/or ticked off, which led to him sulking, not doing the necessary offseason stuff (he did come into last season noticeably heavier), and coming into last season unprepared (physically as well as mentally). I am not excusing his lack of preparation (That’s why it’s called professional baseball. You are paid to do a job and you must put all the personal stuff aside and do it.), merely stating my sense of how it played out.
Thank God for contract years, right? Hopefully we get a lot out of Myers this year. Then someone else can overpay for him to be their headache. (In the back of my brain there’s even a scenario where Carrasco dominates in AAA to the point where the Phils decide they can afford to move Myers at the trade deadline and get something more in return for him rather than just draft picks if he leaves after becoming a free agent.)
About Howard, it seems like his slide could be the result of him thinking, as a result of his ROY and MVP seasons, that he’s got it all figured out and not staying after it as much as he needs to. The weight loss and the quotes about working hard with Perlozzo on his defense makes it seem like he is sincere in his efforts to improve. We will see.
Nice article on Cole Hamels today. He really seems to have matured quite a bit. The new digs (Two Liberty Place) are very nice! Looks like he is very comfortable in Philly. Hopefully it will work out that he can stay a long time. Also, not surprisingly, Charlie Manuel named him as the opening day starter. What took him so long to make the decision, lol.
Jayson Stark was in Clearwater on Saturday. Here is the article, and here are a few tidbits I think are interesting enough to pull out and post here.
“Since the wild-card era stretched the postseason into the three-tiered adventure it has become, repeating has gotten harder than ever. True, those Yankees did it. But other than the Yankees, just two defending World Series winners since 1995 have even won a postseason game the next October: the 1996 Braves and the 2008 Red Sox.” (Thanks for the encouragement Jason, right?)
“Before the Phillies signed Ryan Howard to a three-year, $54 million extension, the two sides talked seriously about a five-year deal in the neighborhood of $110 million.” (I’m happier with the 3-year deal we inked Howard to.)
“Cole Hamels — he was very stunned when this happened,” Romero said, “because he and his wife buy stuff from GNC all the time.” (Thanks a lot J.C., that’s very helpful. Any other potential team destroying secrets you feel like divulging? Remember, what happens in the clubhouse satys in the clubhouse!)
Oops….Last sentence of previous post should read….STAYS in the clubhouse.
Romero’s second career: torn between prosecuting attorney, town crier or host of “Extra.”
Didn’t Howard show up very fit to spring training last year as well? More than fitness, I’d say his key is simply being patient.