Course this thought presumes a 6ers win.  Presumptuous as that might well be.  

I don’t know if you really thought that out, or were more casual in processing the conclusion, but even if Hamels stays here and if his performance has peaked, he’ll continue to challenge that claim held for quite a while by Chris Short, and pass him or stay close.  Hamels average WAR in his Phillie career is about 3, and Short’s is about 2, but Short had 3 very excellent years where he scored above 5.  Hamels, with what figures to be his best yet to come, should nail 2-3 peak WAR years which would take most any debate out of it.  The big difference is WHIP.  Chris had a couple real good years, but Cole is more or less killing him in that area.  Chris pitched inning totals that Cole will never touch, but that’s the breaks of the era.  I’d say Hamels has just about caught him, but that’s modestly prejudicial by an inability to ignore Hamels still higher potential.  At this point, after last year, I’d probably side with Cole based on the WHIP factor, but it’s still pretty close.  For now.  Chris was really good.  The poor history of the club developing pitchers is basis for a real stretch for other candidates, I scanned Randy Lerch, thinking maybe there might be some basis for comparison, but a look at his career record is light years behind either one.  Curt Simmons doesn’t match up especially well either, although he’s quite a bit more competitive than Lerch even though he doesn’t fit the chronology guideline.

It’s a nice unofficial honor.

From David Hale…<<Dom was upbeat as ever. “I’m not at peace with starting at triple-A. I’m here to win a job.”>>

Compare that quote with his previous conveyed attitudes when he lost playing time, or a roster spot in the past.
Pretty accepting.   It’s just printed words to those outside Dom Brown’s inner self, but that spark within might make him excited about himself, which prolly precedes others getting excited about him.

Remember the winter meeting RAJ had out in Arizona last off season with JMJ? I forget the exact subject nature, but it was reported as a motivational tool once Mayberry became Canberry. I recall Ruben as having been reported as pretty straightforward with Mayberry, and there’s no reason to suspecthe’s playing a psychological angle with DB, but if the threat of Triple A lights a fire under the young man, the quality and quantity of benefits remains scary with that body of potential.

For now, I’m taking a simple sentence, and way, way overplaying it. But it would be one heckuva great story to see Dom get it cranked up sooner than later. I like the quote. It’s a start.

Concerns about Mayberry make sense.  The way I see it is he’ll be pitched to differently this time.  Ability to adjust is the entire issue.  Between his baseball genetics, and supposed work ethic, I see reason to believe he maintains status as a solid contributor. 

I thought Cole did an adept job of putting pressure back on the team in the court of public opinion today.  But I respect their right to look at 5 or more years, and 100 mil or so, or more with nervous eyes. 

Share the same sentiment on Shane.

Discovered just yesterday that Cliff Lee is now on Twitter.  Sent a congratulatory twit to AJ, which I thought was a nice gesture.

As for Mayberry, I think the generalization about his age is trumped by the fact that he did make a concrete adjustment to his game (his swing), and you can pretty much see his production spike directly after that. It is true that he’s likely to decline a bit if he’s an every day player and has to face more righties, but the difference in his platoon production is not particularly dramatic. Is it possible he’ll fall off more? Yeah, sure, but I’d say that it’s more likely that he’ll be at least a pretty decent player. At any rate, I think it’s safe to say he’ll give us better production Ibanez

Worley – I kind of like the Vannimal, so I’m maybe a bit biased, but his strikeout rate climbed steadily throughout the year, he’s a big strong kid (likely to be more durable), and he has good control and movement. I generally try to stay out of the prediction business(i’ll leave that to malik rose and his inner negrodamus) but in general terms I wouldn’t be surprised to see him become “rich mans” version of Blanton in the long run.

As for the last couple years, Rollins and Utley are my keys – if they can be healthy enough to give us any kind of production, things look pretty good. If not, things look pretty dicey. I’m not sure what to expect out of Howard, honestly. I have low expectations, though. More than ever, he’s going to have to work on his pitch recognition.