Comments on: Phils still not sure what’s wrong with the offense, but fire Milt Thompson again just in case

By: DaMannse

DaMannse — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 23:26:34 +0000

I really hear Roger, I think, and I share his hope that the Phillies will do something big to make next year work. I keep thinking that the owners know that they have H2O locked up for 2011 only. In 2012, Hamels is a free agent if I am not mistaken and it could well be that we would have only HO. Additionally, these guys know that the team is getting older and that while the window for this team is still open, it is going to close rapidly beginning in 2012. It may, in fact, slam shut.

If they know that, might they understand that next year is it, or at least the best chance for another championship for a while? And if it is, do they not then sign Jaysen Werth? Or at the very least someone (Francour???) who will be more than competent in right field? Or whatever else they need to do? (Amaro’s words today that the Phillies have the money to sign Werth are pretty encouraging to me.) Might they not make the moves they need to make to get 2011 to be another World Series year?

I know that this places a lot of weight on the motivating reality of having H2O for only one more year, but that is such a huge fact (in my tiny mind at least) that it seems like it would by itself drive the majority of the off season moves for the Phillies.

No one who wanted to go back to the Series in 2011 would seriously entertain a right field of Francisco and Brown, would they? I do not know about you, but Brown did not impress me as one of the top prospects in all of baseball. And big Ben is back-up material only.

Roger, I share our hope.

By: Roger

Roger — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 21:14:46 +0000

Well, I was under the impression anyway that WAR was the total wins-above-replacement over the course of the games played so far that year. It makes a lot more sense for Jimmy if that number is projected over the course of the entire season already but I have a sneaking suspicion it isn’t.

By: Roger

Roger — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 21:04:01 +0000

You know I started to take a look at the Phils and the sort of WAR they put up this year and began with Jimmy Rollins. Interesting factoid I dug up was that he had a 2.4 WAR despite playing in only 88 games this year. Projected over a full season he’d be nearing 5.0. Really?

I thought…surely this had to have a whole lot to do with glovework and not so much with the bat.

Not so much. J-Roll stumbled his way to a 1.8 oWAR in those 88 games as opposed to a .6 dWAR. Did we SOMEHOW underrate Jimmy this year without knowing it or is WAR now completely useless to me?

By: egrissom

egrissom — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 20:52:49 +0000

I’m going to be surprised if the Rangers don’t plow through the Giants in the World Series.

On the Phillies offense, I’m worried cause I don’t see how they are going to improve if they can’t do something with Polanco, Ibanez or Rollins. I don’t think they’re going to bring in another big hitter, but even if they did I don’t know how much more than Werth he could do. Utley and Howard could play a whole lot better for the Phils next year. So could Ibanez and Rollins. Let’s hope they all do.

By: Bill

Bill — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 20:24:36 +0000

I hear Ozzie Guillen is going to work the WS as an analyst. Pre and post game stuff but also provide “late inning analysis” with McDouch and $uck. My interest in the WS may have just been sparked. I watch baseball b/c I enjoy it but love me some Phillies so this WS is not particually interesting but with Guillen involved in the booth, I hope to have some extra enjoyment.

I know he was part of the coverage last year but I dont remember him in the booth so I am looking forward to it. As is our luck with the Phillies this year though, FOX will probably have major sensors on him as well as delays built into the broadcast…

Anyways, on to the series where I must say my rooting interests lie with the Rangers.

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 20:19:55 +0000

All the Phils need to do is Jedi-mind-trick Ed Wade into taking the Ibanez and Blanton contracts. It shouldn’t be that hard, and frees up ~$25 mil.

By: Roger

Roger — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 19:45:43 +0000

The graphic that kept popping its way on screen during the latter half of the series continually made me cringe every time the tally increased. Something incredibly soul-crushing like: Ryan Howard has been held homerless in his past 8,000 at-bats” or something slightly more realistic than that.

As a side-note, I think it’d be swell if the Phils could…I dunno…find some more money somewhere? Get a TV deal like the Yankees maybe? I know the market is smaller but they’ve sold out what like 130 straight home games? It sounds to me like there’s some sorta demand for Phillies baseball. I say this because please pay Werth a lot of money to come back, bad grammar intentional.

In his short career he only leads the NL ALL-TIME in playoff homeruns. I mean, really?

Okay, maybe more realistically, replenish the farm system in a way where we get to keep the current guys around long enough to have competent replacements ready in time for the lot of them to be REALLY terrible. My birthday is coming up soon and I would consider this an adequate present from Ruben Amaro who doesn’t know me.

By: Roger

Roger — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 19:36:59 +0000

I too would have been more than willing to trade a Howard double or two or three or four for solo homers this series. With as tight as the Giants wins were, we’d probably be talking a whole lot about the Rangers right now instead of what went wrong (while also secretly wringing our hands about what we all very well knew was going wrong).

Optimistically, uselessly, and also for what it’s Werth, I think the Phillies would have matched up much better with the Rangers than the Yankees did.

By: DaMannse

DaMannse — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 19:34:03 +0000

BTW, pitchers and catchers 111 days. I cannot wait.

By: DaMannse

DaMannse — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 19:20:02 +0000

True. The slugging stats look ok, but they are deceiving. I wonder what his slugging percentage would work out to with men in scoring position. And if we are going to project stats, he would be striking out over 320 times in a year. Well over 320 times (unless my poor grades in math in college are showing).

But it is certainly true that even Howard cannot win games alone. Add Rollins and ESPECIALLY Utley to the mix of players who did not perform, and you are absolutely on target – there were precious few to “BI” . (Of course, if Howard had hit some solo homeruns, he might well have won this series all by himself. I am having trouble remembering when he hit his last home run, though. Was it September sometime? Naw. Has to be more recent than that.)

The real “Big Three” of Rollins, Utley and Howard did not serve their team mates well. And if Utley was hurt and did not tell anyone, I would be even less amused. I have no idea what was/is wrong with Chase Utley, but if I am the GM, I would sure as heck want to find out. Because his production has been dropping for quite a while now.

Blame is not the end goal of this for me. What is past is past. What needs to be figured out is what needs to be done so it does not repeat itself. We have the Big Three Pitchers for one more year as a group of three. We dare not do anything else than play for all the marbles next year once more. Solving the dramatic lack of production from the Original Big Three (Rollins, Utley, Howard) is crucial, for what it is Werth.