Well, I’ve gotten through 25 of the 30 MLB teams in my preview, and well as parts one, two, three and four of my Phillies preview, and now, we are down to just the NL East teams. Since 72 of the Phillies games will come against the Mets, Braves, Marlins and Nats, I’m going to do this a little differently, comparing the teams position by position throughout this week leading up to Sunday’s opener.
However, even though I won’t be doing individual team previews, I wanted to get all the “quick hit” stuff I’ve compiled for each team out there, since I know people have enjoyed that.
Philadelphia Phillies
2008 Record: 92-70
Offseason Additions: Raul Ibanez, Chan Ho Park
Offseason Subtractions: Pat Burrell
Ranks (MLB):
Line-Up – 1st
Rotation – 10th
Bullpen – 3rd
Defense – 1st tier (out of 5)
Baserunning – 1st tier (out of 5)
KEY PLAYER: Cole Hamels
PLAYER TO WATCH: Jayson Werth
QUICK HITS:
Worst Contract: Adam Eaton (3 yrs, $24 million, ends in 2009)
Best Pitch: Brad Lidge’s Slider
Best Player in a Contract Year: Brett Myers, SP
Top Prospect: Carlos Carrasco, SP
Best Individual Season: Steve Carlton, 1972 (27-10, 1.97 ERA, 310 K, 346.1 IP, 30 CG, 8 SHO, 0.99 WHIP)
Worst Uniforms: 1938
Where’d They Come From?
- Draft, 7
- Free Agent, 3
- Trade, 3
- Amateur FA, 1
New York Mets
2008 Record: 89-73
Offseason Additions: Francisco Rodriguez, JJ Putz, Sean Green
Offseason Subtractions: Endy Chavez, Aaron Heilman, Scott Schoenweis
Ranks (MLB):
Line-Up – 12th
Rotation – 7th
Bullpen – 6th
Defense – 3rd tier (out of 5)
Baserunning – 1st tier (out of 5)
KEY PLAYER: JJ Putz
PLAYER TO WATCH: Mike Pelfrey
QUICK HITS:
Worst Contract: Luis Castillo (4 yrs, $25 million, ends in 2011)
Best Pitch: Johan Santana’s Change-up
Best Player in a Contract Year: Carlos Delgado, 1B
Top Prospect: Fernando Martinez, OF
Best Individual Season: Dwight Gooden, 1985 (24-4, 1.53 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 276.2 IP, 268 K, Age: 20)
Worst Uniforms: 1984
Where’d They Come From?
- Trade, 7
- Free Agent, 3
- Draft, 3
- Amateur FA, 1
Florida Marlins
2008 Record: 84-77
Offseason Additions: Scott Proctor
Offseason Subtractions: Josh Willingham, Scott Olsen
Ranks (MLB):
Line-Up – 21st
Rotation – 11th
Bullpen – 28th
Defense – 2nd tier (out of 5)
Baserunning – 2nd tier (out of 5)
KEY PLAYER: Josh Johnson
PLAYER TO WATCH: Cameron Maybin
QUICK HITS:
Worst Contract: Wes Helms (2 yrs, $1.9 million, ends in 2009)
Best Pitch: Andrew Miller’s Slider
Best Player in a Contract Year: N/A
Top Prospect: Mike Stanton, OF
Best Individual Season: Kevin Brown, 1996 (17-11, 1.89 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 233 IP, 159 K, 33 BB)
Worst Uniforms: 1993
Where’d They Come From?
- Trade, 7
- Draft, 5
- Free Agent, 2
- Amateur FA, 0
Atlanta Braves
2008 Record: 72-90
Offseason Additions: Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez, Kenshin Kawakami, Tom Glavine, Garret Anderson
Offseason Subtractions: Chuck James
Ranks (MLB):
Line-Up – 8th
Rotation – 16th
Bullpen – 18th
Defense – 3rd tier (out of 5)
Baserunning – 4th tier (out of 5)
KEY PLAYER: Mike Gonzalez
PLAYER TO WATCH: Tommy Hanson
QUICK HITS:
Worst Contract: Javier Vazquez (3 yrs, $34.5 million, ends in 2010)
Best Pitch: Mike Gonzalez’ Fastball
Best Player in a Contract Year: Chipper Jones, 3B
Top Prospect: Tommy Hanson, SP
Best Individual Season: Greg Maddux, 1995 (19-2, 1.63 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, 209.2 IP, 181 K, 10 CG)
Worst Uniforms: 1976
Where’d They Come From?
- Trade, 6
- Draft, 5
- Free Agent, 3
- Amateur FA, 0,
Washington Nationals
2008 Record: 59-102
Offseason Additions: Scott Olson, Josh Willingham, Daniel Cabrera, Adam Dunn
Offseason Subtractions: Odalis Perez
Ranks (MLB):
Line-Up – 27th
Rotation – 30th
Bullpen – 28th
Defense – 4th tier (out of 5)
Baserunning – 5th tier (out of 5)
KEY PLAYER: Ryan Zimmerman
PLAYER TO WATCH: Jesus Flores
QUICK HITS:
Worst Contract: Nick Johnson (3 yrs, $16.5 million, ends in 2009)
Best Pitch: Joel Hanrahan’s Slider
Best Player in a Contract Year: Nick Johnson, 1B
Top Prospect: Jordan Zimmerman, SP
Best Individual Season (not counting Montreal years): Chad Cordero, 2005 (2-4, 47 Saves, 1.82 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 74.1 IP, 61 K)
Worst Uniforms: 1991
Where’d They Come From?
- Trade, 6
- Draft, 5
- Free Agent, 3
- Amateur FA, 1
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
The trade for Taschner makes me think that Happ has a very good shot at earning the 5th spot. It also tells me that the Phils don’t want to use him as a reliever if he does not get it, which I think is the right way to go. In that case, I’d rather see Happ go to AAA, remain a starter, and be ready to step in when we need him.
If they are going with Happ, I wonder what finally got them to that point. I know he has pitched pretty well this spring, but I’m thinking it might have more to do more with long-term thinking where Happ is concerned. I mean, we drafted him and brought him up through our system. Since we have invested years in him, and he shows promise, I’m sure we’re looking to get a return on that with several years of production.
There is no long-term thinking when it comes to Park. He was brought in on a one-year contract as a fall back option in case nobody we had was ready to take the 5th spot. When you look at it that way, Park was in a tough spot all along. Even though he has thrown well this spring, several things worked against him. 1) His injury history + 2) The fact that recently his role has been as a reliever, thus causing concern over whether he can go deep in games as a starter and consistently give us innings = 3) Concern that asking him to give us innings could lead to more injury problems. Add all that in with the fact that he is at the back end of his career and is only here for one year and you can see that he had a pretty decent hill to climb.
Gotta figure Park will be very disappointed if he does not get the 5th spot. Hopefully he will deal with it well and become a solid contributor out of the pen, just like Durbin did.
Now that the pitching appears to be falling into place, all that’s left is to see who, if anyone (Jenkins, Stairs, Kendrick), gets moved in a deal to get another right-handed bat for the bench before the season starts, which is one week from today!
Bski, W.I.P. is doing a simulated world series between our 2 recent champs this week with one game a night. J.Conklin will be doing the voices, thought you and your kids may have interest.
Suede….Thanks for thinking of me but I don’t live anywhere near the city, so I’m out of W.I.P. listening range. Do you know if W.I.P. has a link on their website that enables you to listen live over the internet? I’ll have to check that out. If they do, I might try to listen that way if I can. Do you know what time it is supposed to be broadcast each night?
Bski, Probably at 700 p.m. but not sure, caught the end of promotion. You can listen on the net, but not sure how, somebody who is computer savvy could help us out maybe.
http://radiotime.com/station/s_29643/SportsRadio_610_WIP.aspx
Thanks, Kenny!