Spring Training is underway for the Champs, and as always, there is no shortage of stories, I’ll bullet point the most important stuff I’m reading for discussion…
- Howard loses 20 lbs, Myers loses 30 lbs. It’s certainly good to see that these guys didn’t let a championship get to their head and they are looking to improve themselves this year. This doesn’t show me much except where their heads are, who knows if the actual performance will actually change, but it’s promising.
- Utley ahead of schedule, Feliz behind. Did anyone really doubt that Utley wouldn’t be ahead of schedule? On the other hand, Feliz is supposed to be completely healed by now, but they aren’t even sure if he will be ready for opening day. Personally, I see this as a positive because I would like to see what Jason Donald can do at 3B. Hopefully they go with him and not newly signed Miguel Cairo.
- Hamels named Opening Day starter. Only 2 years too late.
- Who is leading for the 5th starter? While it seemed like JA Happ was the clubhouse leader for the 5th starter spot, pitching coach Rich Dubee surprised me by saying that he thought it was Kyle Kendrick’s to lose. I still believe that Kendrick cannot be an effective starter long term in this league, and that Happ can. Starting anyone but Happ will be a mistake. It also appears Carrasco will definitely start the year in AAA, which is absolutely the correct call.
- The Mets don’t learn. Of course, they continue to run their mouth about being the team to beat. Granted, the reporters are baiting them to say it, but it’s just stupid at this point. We won the division the last 2 years, and the frickin’ World Series last year, there is nothing they can say to us right now. If they keep saying it every spring, chances are they will eventually be right.
- Jamie Moyer hates A-Rod. Moyer ripped into A-Fraud, saying he had no chance at the HOF and “nothing to play for” anymore.
First game is in 8 days, 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Utley/Feliz: At the risk of sounding callous, we can get by a heck of a lot better without Feliz than we can without Utley, so we’re “lucky” here. If Feliz is slow getting back, Donald should get a shot. Since we will need a new starter at 3rd next season (Preferably one without back issues. Between Bell and now Feliz, we’ve had enough of this over the last several seasons) it would be good to see if Donald could be the guy.
Kendrick: I read that and it surprised me too. I’m wondering if what Dubee said was intended more to boost Kendrick’s morale and to show that the Phils haven’t totally given up on him after what happened last year. Kendrick is still young and I’m sure it was tough for him to deal with what happened, especially being left off the playoff roster and missing our championship run.
Even though Dubee said it was Kendrick’s spot to lose, there were a lot of contingencies. Dubee said things like…..”if he uses his changeup”….”if he commands his fastball”….”if his slider is effective”….”if he keeps the ball down”. That sounds to me like Dubee is saying that he has confidence in Kendrick, but it’s on Kendrick to go out and erase all the “ifs”, meaning that if he doesn’t, Kendrick will lose the 5th starter spot rather than the Phils taking it away from him.
Moyer: I loved that article! A lot of guys talk about having respect for the game, but Moyer obviously really means it. As I was reading, I could hear the contempt in Moyer’s voice. What really seemed to set Moyer off was the fact that his sons idolized A-Rod. Moyer sounded personally offended by what A-Rod did because of this. It was like, “I trusted you! I let you be a part of my kid’s lives and you go and do this!” It must have affected Moyer’s sons because he said he had some conversations with them about it.
I’ll tell you what A-Rod has to play for, that $275 million contract. Although I guess it is guaranteed since this is baseball and not football, so maybe he does have nothing to play for…
add Rolen to the list of 3b with bad backs
The fact that Howard/Myers came into camp 30/20lbs lighter is a huge plus for me. It shows these guys are serious about contending again this year and not just being complacent after last years championship. They have worked hard in the offseason to condition their bodies into a form that they feel will make them better baseball players. It would be easy to just take a break in the offseason after winning a world championship and enjoy it for all its worth. It takes toughness and dedication to work hard and lose that kind of weight for the betterment of your career and hopefully more importantly, the Phillies team.
One of the things I find encouraging when I think about our chance of repeating is that we won last year with several players having off years.
While baseball is categorized as a team sport, it really is more about a collection of individual performances. It is true that a team needs contributions from virtually everyone on the roster in order to be successful, yet these are individual contributions that help the team as a whole. This stands in contrast to a sport like basketball for example, which is much more team oriented.
Think about it. In baseball, the way each player helps the team is by making himself a better player. If Ryan Howard hits more home runs, strikes out less, or fields his position better, he helps his team, yet none of these things involve teamwork.
In basketball, even if Andre Iguodala improves his ball handling and shooting, which are individual aspects of a player’s game, he still needs to incorporate this improvement into what the team is trying to do on both ends of the floor in order to improve the team’s success.
To look at it another way, in baseball, every swing that Ryan Howard takes or every home run that he hits does not affect how many swings Chase Utley can take or how many home runs he can hit. Not only that, but every individual success that comes as a result of a home run leads to greater team success.
In basketball, the number of shots one player takes most definitely affects how many shots another player can take. Also the number of points one player scores affects how many points another player can score. We know that, in many cases, greater individual success can actually hurt the team’s success. Remember how we were always showed the stats about when Iverson scored between 20-30 points our W-L record was X, when he scored between 30-40 points our record was X, and so on. In basketball, greater individulal success does not translate to greater team success as readily as it does in baseball.
All of that to get to this. Seeing that Howard dropped some weight, reported early, and is working hard on his defense and that Myers dropped some weight and seems very focused is encouraging. The source of the motivation, whether it’s wanting to prove that you are a complete player (Howard), embarassment over last season and/or trying to earn your next big contract (Myers), or wanting to stay in the bigs (Kendrick), is immaterial. What does matter is that these guys are motivated, which hopefully leads to better individual performance and, in turn, collectively results in greater team success.
Howard is going to have a career year! Yes that is right a career year. It is hard to have a career year when your career numbers are so high early on and you win National League Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player Awards, but I think Howard is going to do it. He is 20 pounds lighter and is working hard on defense. Perlozzo is dropping some knowledge about defense on Ryan and he is picking it up. Ibanez is a workhorse in the gym and is going to motivate that slimmed down Howard. With quotes like this one how could you not think he is going to kill shit this year – -
“I’m trying to work on every facet of my game —- offensively, defensively, speed, strength,” Howard said the other day in Clearwater, finally reacting to his new riches. “As far as my defense, I know a lot of people have a concern about it, but I’ve been down here and I’ve been working on it.”
PS you may have noticed that I haven’t been posting comments here. I have been actively working on a blog. Check it out if you get a minute. Sorry to advertise on your site, but I am sure you know how it is to start a new blog.
If they keep saying it every spring, chances are they will eventually be right – LOL
Pete: bout Myers dropping weight- Will that affect his velocity?
As long as Joe Blanton stays chubbs, we’re cool.
jkay-