Archive for November, 2008
All you need is Koplove
Sunday, November 30th, 2008The Phillies signed 32-year-old right-handed reliever Mike Koplove to a minor league contract. The Phils will almost surely add a veteran right-handed reliever to the roster before the start of the season, but Koplove is a long shot to be the guy.
Koplove is a Philadelphia native who had outstanding years with the Diamondbacks […]
History mystery
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008I’ve been thinking about how the 2008 Phillies compare to other teams in Phillies history.
They are one of just two teams that have won the World Series. If that’s the only thing that’s important, the discussion of the best team comes down to the ‘08 Phils and the 1980 Phils. I thought I […]
Golson set
Friday, November 21st, 2008The Phillies traded Greg Golson to the Texas Rangers for John Mayberry, a right-handed corner outfielder who turns 25 next month. The Rangers took Mayberry with the 19th pick in the first round of the 2005 draft. Golson was taken by the Phillies in the first round of the 2004 draft, but is […]
Pat chat
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008I still think the likely solution in left field for the Phillies is that they’ll bring back Pat Burrell. In case they don’t, the list below includes hitters that 1) are right-handed 2) have spent time in the outfield over the past three seasons and 3) were among the top 40 right-handed hitters who […]
A Manuel for the ages? (part three)
Monday, November 17th, 2008Six managers left. Here they are, again with their winning percentage with the Phils, their Pythagorean winning percentage with the Phils and whether or not they ever took the Phillies to the post-season:
Manager
W-L
Years
[…]
2009 on the mind
Thursday, November 13th, 2008Back to the managers soon.
I put up the 2009 Phillies page, where I will track my best guess at who will be on the ‘09 squad.
It looks to me like there are seven spots open for next year, three for pitchers and four for hitters.
Of the pitcher’s spots, two are in the starting rotation […]
A Manuel for the ages? (part deux)
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008After eliminating ten managers in the quest for the best Phillies manager of all time, there are 15 left in round two. Here they are, with their win percentage, Pythagorean win percentage (if their Pythagorean win percentage is better than their actual win percentage, it’s in parenthesis) and whether or not they ever took […]
A Manuel for the ages?
Monday, November 10th, 2008Best Phillies manager of all-time (over several posts). Here goes.
You don’t have to go very far down this path before you bump into a big problem: best, in this case, means different things to different people. There is no answer to this particular question, only a bunch of different opinions.
For […]
Pitch switch
Thursday, November 6th, 2008When you think of the Phillies, you probably think more of the big bats of Utley, Howard, Rollins and Burrell and less of Joe Blanton and JC Romero. But it was almost inarguably the pitchers that played a bigger role in bringing the Phils their first World Series trophy since a breathless nation learned […]
Bat wrap
Monday, November 3rd, 2008Here’s a look at what eight key Phillies did in the post-season and their OPS in the regular season:
Player
AB
AVG
OBP
SLG
OPS
Season OPS
Rollins
59
237
286
407
692
786
Werth
55
309
387
582
969
861
Utley
50
220
391
460
851
915
Howard
52
269
397
500
897
881
Burrell
44
227
346
455
801
875
Victorino
52
269
345
481
826
799
Feliz
44
250
283
273
555
704
Ruiz
46
261
346
391
737
620
Using OPS as the measure, Ruiz and Werth were better offensive players during the post-season than during the regular season. Rollins, Utley, Burrell and Feliz were worse. Victorino and […]