Comments on: Half bad

By: egrissom

egrissom — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 13:47:16 +0000

No argument that he’s been awful this season. But. Coming into this year he had been an All-Star two of the past four seasons and won a Gold Glove in three of them. Top 20 in the NL-MVP voting in two of them.

Terrible this year and terrible at the end of the year. But I think he’s pretty good and if you try to replace him with Jason Pridie or John Mayberry I don’t think it’s going to work. I do think the Phils need to give him a lot of rest against right-handed pitching in the short term until he stops on-basing .298 against righties. He wasn’t that great against righties last year, either — 270/333/455 and tanked at the end of the year. So there may be cause for real concern. Still, I think the upside is big enough we should just hope he snaps out of it.

By: DaMannse

DaMannse — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 02:11:59 +0000

Oh absolutely. Trading Vic means there is a plan. But somewhere there has to be a guy. Isn’t there?

By: egrissom

egrissom — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 23:36:17 +0000

I think most wins in baseball means a lot. The playoffs are great, but what the teams do over the course of 162 games is a better reflection of how good they are over 15. Or four or five in the case of the Phillies, but you get the point.

If the Phillies trade Victorino, they have to play someone worse than Victorino in center with virtually no hope of finding a replacement in the organization. I hope they don’t trade Victorino without a plan. Given the in-house options, I can’t imagine what that would be.

The team and the minor league system is built for winning now. They can’t dip into their systems and pluck out much of anything. That’s why I’d still guess they dance with what brought ‘em.

By: DaMannse

DaMannse — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 21:27:56 +0000

I know you keep referring to the most wins in baseball, but given that they have now, every year since ’08, accomplished less in the postseason (where it matters)than the year before, how much does that mean? One could argue easily that 102 wins was underachieving, given the pitching and the payroll.

I agree that blowing it up is the wrong way to go. Losing Hamels to a trade would almost make a lie of the last 5 years of marketing their tickets.

But I would trade Victorino tomorrow. Some player HAS to get hurt, big time, to try to wake up the troops.

By: egrissom

egrissom — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 20:08:45 +0000

We will see, but I don’t think they are going to blow it up. They haven’t lost enough yet and they haven’t lost with their core intact yet. They’ve invested a huge amount of money. Their manager is old and won’t be staying around to rebuild. Still just one year away from being the team with the most regular seasons in baseball.

By: DaMannse

DaMannse — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 19:46:13 +0000

It’s a really weird time in the life cycle of this club. Go for it? Blow it up? It’s the latter that is being bandied about by all the local “experts”. Of course, the only voices that count aren’t talking. Nor should they, I suppose.

It’s just that these guys are really hard to watch. Especially the core guys. I expected more from them in terms of keeping everyone attuned to the job at hand. Kind of sad.

By: egrissom

egrissom — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 19:16:35 +0000

One thing seems to be clear is that Chase Utley isn’t going to save the Phils by himself. The Phils are 0-4 in the games in which he has appeared. Another thing that’s clear now is the Phils aren’t getting anything for Thome. That’s too bad.

They’re really looking awful. Starting pitching was okay in the last two games and the bullpen good two of the three games, but the Phillies scored a total of six run in the three-game series.

By: DaMannse

DaMannse — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 19:05:52 +0000

Don’t even know what to say anymore. Besides Chooch, there is no aspect of the Phillies’ game that is reliable, from the top down.

With a tip of the hat to Doc’s not wanting to call it a season, these guys are not going anywhere. They sure aren’t in the so called hunt for red October any longer, not as presently constituted.

And Victorino’s yukking it up in the dugout yesterday while on the edge of losing says a lot about where these guys are. Do they even give a hoot?