I told him I wasn't tired. He told me, 'No, but the outfielders sure are.' (Jim Kern)
January 12
2007
Here's a look at who got at-bats in the Phillies' outfield by position last season:
| Left Field | |||
| Player | AB | % of AB | OPS |
| Burrell | 430 | 71 | 926 |
| Dellucci | 116 | 19 | 886 |
| Victorino | 33 | 5 | 867 |
| Conine | 11 | 2 | 1.000 |
| Roberson | 10 | 2 | 000 |
| Thurston | 6 | <1 | 452 |
| Bourn | 1 | <1 | 000 |
| Gonzalez | 1 | <1 | 000 |
Burrell lost a lot of at-bats in left field. If he was going to lose them, it's good that so many of them went to a hitter as solid as Dellucci. I still would have like to have seen more time for Dellucci in right and less in left. Burrell's 926 OPS while playing left is impressive, better than his 890 overall for the season. He was 3-for-32 (.094) with 14 strikeouts as a DH and pinch-hitter.
| Center Field | |||
| Player | AB | % of AB | OPS |
| Rowand | 402 | 60 | 739 |
| Victorino | 269 | 40 | 785 |
| Abreu | 1 | <1 | 000 |
Center field was basically Aaron Rowand's job except when he was hurt, which turned out to be a lot of the time. If he's still around this year, he's likely to miss a lot of time as well and Victorino seems to have the inside track to claiming the spot whenever Rowand moves on. We probably shouldn't make too much of it, but it's a little odd to me that Manuel wasn't willing to give Bourn or Roberson any time in center field last season.
| Right Field | |||
| Player | AB | % of AB | OPS |
| Abreu | 334 | 56 | 862 |
| Conine | 83 | 14 | 675 |
| Dellucci | 82 | 14 | 931 |
| Victorino | 75 | 13 | 715 |
| Roberson | 16 | 3 | 548 |
| Bourn | 5 | <1 | 533 |
| Hernandez | 3 | <1 | 2tms - 679 |
Dellucci smoked the ball
while playing right field, but broke down a bit with injuries at the end of
the year after the Phillies had traded away Abreu and found themselves
unlikely Wild Card contestants. Conine wound up getting too many at-bats.
In 75 at-bats Victorino hit worse than he did while playing center or left.
Let's hope it was just a coincidence.
Various Phillies and team personnel have
either recently married or will marry different people, including but
not limited to Survivor contestants, daughters of chocolate magnates
and the like.
Chris Coste will be honored at half time of a basketball game at Concordia College. The Cobbers?
Ryan Howard has chosen Casey Close as his new agent. Close also represents Derek Jeter and Derrek Lee.
This article suggests it's still possible that the Brewers will trade Kevin Mench or Geoff Jenkins before the season starts. One would think that the priority for the Phillies would be the pen, but getting Shane Victorino out of right field is hopefully high on the list as well.