In what will probably be the first of many MLB Preview covers for Roy Halladay, the most recent edition of The Sporting News shows Halladay hanging out on Florida about to strike out a maintenance worker, or whoever is down there with him.
I wasn’t sure if this was worthy of a full post, but the cover gave me an excuse.
Rich Hoffman wrote an article about Halladay a couple days ago. Halladay has been down at Bright House Field for a couple weeks now, or, a couple weeks before he had to start showing up. He gets there at 7am and does a crazy, Roger Clemens-eque workout (sans PEDs) for about 3-4 hours and heads home. Does this 5 days a week. Pitching coach Rich Dubee had this to say:
“Before we got him, you would talk to people about him and all of the talk was about preparation and about professionalism and about work ethic, from what I’ve seen so far, it’s special. He is very detailed – that’s the first thing you notice. He knows what he needs to accomplish on a given day, and he goes about it. He’s a tremendous cardio guy. He works on the weights. He does shoulder exercises. He knows what he needs and he just works his way down the list. It takes him a while, but he gets everything done.”
In the Sporting News article, Halladay talks about what drives him to work so hard, the post-season:
“It’s the one driving force. I feel like I’ve been fortunate to accomplish different things that I didn’t necessarily set out to accomplish, but was able to do it, anyway. And I think through all of that I realized how important winning is to me. It’s not a lot of fun playing in September knowing you’re leaving to go home Oct. 1. That is definitely very hard.”
I got some news for you guys and gals. Roy Halladay is going to be a monster this year. He’s going to be a better pitcher and more popular than Cliff Lee. He’s going to be great in the playoffs and it’s very possible he’ll win a Cy Young. He’s going to become a legend here, fast. His work ethic and desire to win will resonate with the city the way Brian Dawkins did. And this is all coming from someone who still expects the worst to happen. Let’s just say I’m pretty confident.
The first true ace since Shill, and Waaaaaaaayyyy better than he ever was. I’m totally psyched!!!
And don’t forget the impact this will have on Cole, who suddenly can just be a 25 year old kid again, and not have the whole world wearing on him. Throw in his expected regression in BABIP this year, and he could be the #2 in the most devisating combination in the entire NL. Both of those guys could end up in the top 5 in the Cy Young balloting, if things break just right.
Happy Birthday, Pete.
I still have not fully grasped that Halladay is a Phil. I am going to lose my mind during his first complete game, shutdown performance.
Ughhhh. Why did you have to mention Lee again?
No one is debating whether Halladay is better than Lee. We were debating whether having for one season Halladay, Lee, Hamels was better than having Halladay, Hamels and 3 prospects.
I didn’t mention the trade – just stating my opinion that the people who became attached to Lee will like Halladay just as much, if not more.
I really hope Cole is down there already and starts preparing right along side Roy. If they can somehow do some male bonding or something that would be awesome. If I’m Dubee I call for some sort of pitcher’s retreat or someting like the Flyers do at the start of every season. If Cole could learn how to condition likethis guy we are going to have something reallly really special this year and I cant wait!
richie -
he’s not. doesn’t mean he’s not working out somewhere else though. the guys that ARE down there are Kyle Kendrick, Mike Zagurski, and the 2 prospects we got in the Lee deal: Ramirez and Aumont.
also -
David Murphy can be very long-winded, but he is very smart in his analysis. Here’s his heads up that we probably won’t be re-signing Jayson Werth.
This is all shaping up too nicely. Makes me worried about a freak injury.
Not logical, and I apologize for jinxing the team if it does happen.
That Werth article brings up the possibility of trading Howard next Fall to clear up cap space. That sounds like the most reasonable option. Its hard to imagine they let Howard walk without getting back prospects.
I see RAJ building towards more of a more pitching and speed team. Look at how he has focussed on getting an Ace and filling the farm with speed. Also getting 30+ HR’s from 2nd base makes having huge HR hitters at 1B and OF less crucial.
Overall, it is cheaper to build a team full of 20/20/.280 guys as opposed to 40/110 guys. Long term they can not afford both power and top pitching. I think if you have to decide, you go with pitching, and transition the line-up to be more speed and less power. And that would start with dealing away Howard next Fall.
TK,
You raise some astute points, but I think you oversimplify Utley’s contributuion. HR hitters might not be as crucial elsewhere, but the Phils have taken hits at potential power spot in 3B and CF, and maybe Utley is offsetting that alone.
Howard is quite a story. For a non controversial personality, he sure sparks a lot of it. He carries the offense for long stretches, he hits 45 homers, drives in 145. He comes across as an anchor personality in a terrific clubhouse environment. Those are awesome positives. Yet, he strikes out close to 200 times a year, carries a fair at best average, and is expensive as hell. He’s north of 30, too. Honestly, I don’t know what they should do about him long term. I suppose push to shove, all things considered, if they traded him next off season, I’d agree with it on the surface. But it wouldn’t figure to be as simple as when they traded Jim Thome to make room for him, and that’s even easier to say after Ryan’s great contributuions.
I’m definitely not in the anti-Howard camp. But when you look at finances and his skill set, he belongs on an AL power. I would expect the Phils could get a lot of value back for him if they traded him this Fall.
I agree that he is not in any way a fungible player, and losing him changes the entire fraework of your offense. That is why I’m suggesting the team might transition from a power team that scores a lot but strands a lot(personified by Howard) to a more gap hitting type team… personified by Utley, Rollins and Werth (and Dom Brown.) Guys with gap power, speed and heady, aggressive play.
Then you plug in high average/speed guys like Victorino/Gillies(Gose)/Palonco. This leads to a more affordable but less explosive offense… that is more consistent and efficient. Add that to rock solid pitching and you should be able to build a consistent and possibly more affordable winner.
The downside is you no longer have the firepower to be single handedly carried by a hot power hitter like Howard. But I think this is more than balanced out by the dollars going to Halladay and the increased consistency of a line-up that produces runs more efficiently. More grind it out wins but less power heroics. And win in the playoffs through elite pitching instead of HR displays and late come-backs.
Howard, though valuable in the regular season, is a liability in the postseason. Top pitching staffs have loogy’s who can shut him down in high leverage situations. I love Howard over 160 games. In a short series, I think there are many 1Bs we can get for a lot less who will contribute more than he is able to do.
Note I’m not at all saying he’s a choker. Just that he has an extreme platoon split, and in the playoffs this can be easily exploited by any team with a good bullpen.
Roy Halladay speaks during spring training for the first time yesterday and the baseball world listens. Being the best pitcher in the game who is now with the defending 2-time National League champions (On many levels, I still can’t get my mind around the whole thing. Although I don’t need to comprehend it, just enjoy it, right?) will get you that.
Jayson Stark has an article loaded with Halladay’s stats against the AL East that attempts to give us an idea how he might fare in the NL East. Here is what he says to that end:
So now let’s consider what might happen when this fellow gets to pitch in his new league. Again, there’s no way we can ever predict this with any real certainty. But let’s look back at the three former AL Cy Youngs who have left the AL for the NL in the last two seasons: Cliff Lee, CC Sabathia, and Johan Santana.
Their combined NL numbers in 2008-09: 34-13, with a 2.43 ERA — or 38-14, 2.43 if you count the postseason. Insane.
All right, now let’s keep going.
Over the last 12 years, eight former AL Cy Young winners have exited the AL for the NL: Lee, Sabathia, Santana, Barry Zito, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, Pat Hentgen, and Randy Johnson.
Their combined record in the National League after departing: 103-47, with a 3.14 ERA. Subtract Zito, the one bust in the group, and the other seven went 92-34 — that’s a ridiculous .730 winning percentage — with a 2.91 ERA.
I wouldn’t mind at all if we got that from Halladay. Add in a Cole Hamels with an improved work ethic, a 3rd pitch (and possibly a 4th), and his head on straight, and now we’re really getting somewhere.
I love everything Halladay is saying. What he’s doing isn’t bad either. He’s already had an effect on Kendrick. Funny coincidence that Halladay arrives here to find Kendrick in the somewhat similar situation to the one he himself was in back in 2001, which is trying to work his way back to the big club after being demoted to the minors.
Here’s to hoping that Kendrick can stick with it, emulate Halladay, and adopt as many of his methods as he possibly can over the next few years, and that, in so doing, he develops into a dependable pitcher for us.
I’m really getting amped up for the start of the season now.
Howard, though valuable in the regular season, is a liability in the postseason. Top pitching staffs have loogy’s who can shut him down in high leverage situations. I love Howard over 160 games. In a short series, I think there are many 1Bs we can get for a lot less who will contribute more than he is able to do.>>
I guess your not counting last postseason where he carried the team to the WS. Lee was nice, but he contributed to only 3 games. Howard was a monster. Don’t even get to the yanks without Howard.