Archive for the ‘Phillies’ Category

Folks, we’re sorry.

We’ve been the Eric Bruntlett of blogs lately, and that just ain’t cool.

There are any number of reasons as to how and why this happened. The Phillies stunk on ice for a while, and that shit is depressing enough without writing about it. Ryan lost his job a while back. I moved for the sixth (!) time in 15 months, and my grandfather passed. Liney’s been swamped by thesis defense and doing whatever it is that assistant GMs of soccer clubs do, which I am assuming involves a lot of penis. Chris has tripped and fallen over the first of 12 steps so often that AA kicked him out. And A Team…that turncoat bastard got himself a cushy gig writing for The Hardball Times and left us. He did not turn around, to see our hearts breaking. We didn’t want him to see us cry, anyway. Actually, we were all planning to step on one another to reach infinitesimal Internet fame, and just pissed that he beat us to the punch.

However, I have made it my mission to get things rolling around here again. Chris has hiccuped assent. Together, we will lead this blog into a glorious new age of prosperity and wonderment, an age where posts appear more than once or twice a month.

To show how much we mean business, I will invoke the most sacred rite I know.

I’m off to scream Meech’s name from the top of a mountain that I climbed in tennis shoes.

By now, everybody knows how I feel about Ruben Amaro. Disdain threatened to evolve rapidly into seething hatred if, as was rumored earlier this month, he attempted another ill-advised “three-team” deal to acquire pitching and ship out Jayson Werth.

Well, here we are on July 29th, and the situation has worked out better than any sane, rational Phillies fan could have hoped. Werth isn’t going anywhere, and Amaro deserves credit for getting Roy Oswalt for pennies on the dollar. Granted, he was dealing with Ed Wade, so it wasn’t exactly a triumph of intellect, but I can’t be as harsh toward his many failures without giving the man credit for his successes. Not without being a Mets fan giant hypocrite.

Ed Wade (Artist's rendering).

Seriously, folks, this could’ve been so much worse. Word ’round the campfire was that the Astros wanted Jonathan Singleton, that they wouldn’t kick in a significant amount of cash, and that Oswalt wanted his $16 million option for 2012 guaranteed as a provision for waiving his no-trade clause. Any and all of that would have been terrible for the Phillies. Read the rest of this entry »

Howdy, folks. You haven’t seen me around much lately (or any of us, for that matter). Let’s just forget the month of June happened. I’m sure the Phillies would like to.

July 1st is one of the more exciting days on the sports calendar. Both NHL and NBA free agency begin, and the hot stove usually kicks into high gear leading up to MLB’s trade deadline at the end of the month. And boy, did Jerry Crasnick crank up the heat this morning, breaking the news that the Phillies are interested in Dan Haren, and that Arizona scouts are checking out our prospects.

I’ll pause for a moment while you close your eyes and dream of a Halladay-Hamels-Haren playoff rotation. Read the rest of this entry »

So, the hot blonde who offered sex for Phillies tickets has a blog.  And it’s… awesome disturbing well, I suppose I’ll stick with awesome.

Rounding 3rd with Susan Finkelstein.

And in the bathtub each evening, using a technique cribbed from my sister’s copy of The Sensuous Woman, I closed my eyes and masturbated by positioning myself under the running faucet, on my back with legs spread, thinking mainly about tall blond pitcher Larry “L.C.” Christenson, although I believe most of them eventually got a turn.

That deserves a Sarge “Oh My”.

We’re jumping back in at #4 today. Some of these updates are briefer than others…

3 Star Athletes

4. Trevor May, Age 20, NEUTRAL: Keeping May up at #4 was a tough choice. His stuff is fantastic with some scouts calling it the best in the system, but he’s plagued with walks, racking up 47 in 56.2 IP. It’s his 78 K’s over that period that show just how good his stuff is, but I wonder if he isn’t trying too hard to get those strike outs. The issue here is simple, the control has to improve. If it does, the Phillies could have a great arm to pair with Cosart. If it doesn’t they’ll be hoping they can squeeze some relief innings out of him. 4 Star upside, 2 star downside.

5. Sebastian Valle, Age 19, NEUTRAL: Like with May, Valle doesn’t feel like a #5 but I’m not quite ready to upgrade some of the guys I like below him. Right now he’s merely surviving the Sally League while continuing to show good power for a 19 year old catcher by bashing 8 home runs. There’s not much else new to say about him, the defense remains a passing concern, but we’re not going to know if it’s a true issue until he fills out. As a reminder, Valle isn’t a prospect if he isn’t catching.

6. Tyson Gillies, Age 21, NEUTRAL: Gillies was on the DL from May 10th to June 15th so he hasn’t done anything to warrant a change in ranking. When he went on the DL he was just starting to pick things up so he’s one to keep an eye on. In his one game back, he went 1-5 with an SB. He still has 4 star upside

7. Phillippe Aumont, Age 21, STOCK DOWN: Le sigh…Aumont went from showing some encouraging signs of life to imploding. Downgrading him to #7 is probably an overreaction on my part given his physical tools, but I’m concerned that he’s more than a little bit broken right now. Word on the street is that the fastball isn’t the heavy sinker the Phillies thought they were buying. Aumont was recently demoted to Clearwater where’s he’s had two appearances out of the bullpen. This is frustrating to watch…

8. Jiwan James, Age 21, STOCK UP: James is a personal favorite of mine and epitomizes the Phillies prospect profile. Jiwan spent the better part of two years in the system as a pitcher before converting back to OF. He couples great speed with a powerful arm, raw power at the plate, and decent contact skills. His plate discipline still leaves a lot to be desired. After a very slow start to the season, James has heated up in June, catching multiple comments from prospect maven Kevin Goldstein. He’ll need to show his June success is the result actual improvement rather than natural variation. If he does he could become one of our top prospects very quickly as his tools rate out as similar to Dom Brown’s. It’ll probably be a bumpy, slow climb up the organizational ladder for James. Jiwan has 5 star upside if you squint although he could crash and burn against advanced pitching. I look at James as one of those Garrett Jones/Raul Ibanez type players who don’t figure things out until late in their careers.

9. Brody Colvin: Age 19, STOCK UP: Statistically, Colvin hasn’t been particularly impressive with a 4.54 ERA, 24 BB’s to 63 K’s in 69.1 IP. He jumps onto the list because he’s made some incremental improvements with his control in recent outings without sacrificing the strike outs. The Phillies aren’t likely to push Brody, but he has the foundations of a mid rotation pitcher down the road. Keep an eye on him, but he’s a long long ways away.

10. Domingo Santana: Age 17, NEUTRAL: Santana was sent to extend spring training after being over matched as the youngest player in the Sally League. Look for him in the New York Penn League soon. His bat seemingly has a large hole in it, though his plate discipline draws positive reviews. As he ages, he should get better bat control and develop strong plate skills.

In the third installation of this series, I’m going to attempt to improve my selections and redress a past oversight. I’m also going to split things up so that the numbers can remain current. Today is #s 1-3.

By way of reminder, the ranking system is a pretty straight forward 1-5 star system. 5 stars is elite, 4 stars is good to great MLB regular, 3 stars is useful but not spectacular prospect, 2 stars is organizational soldier, and 1 star = non-prospect.

5 Star Athletes

1. Domonic Brown, age 22, STOCK UP: Brown is in the midst of an almost slump going 11 for 39 in his last 10 games. It’s probably a good sign that I’m calling a .766 OPS performance “an almost slump”.  Aside from that little update, there isn’t much new to say. Brown is continuing to impress scouts by showing power. He’ll will be considered MLB ready if he can continue to display this 25 homerun pace after a promotion to AAA. I assume that promotion is forthcoming. Knowing the Phillies, they will find a way to block him until mid-2011. Even with the power development, he still looks like a 4.5 Star prospect…

4 Star Athletes:

2. Jared Cosart, age 20, STOCK UP: Cosart has continued to battle a blister on his throwing hand. So long as it doesn’t become a Josh Beckett situation this is fine. It actually forces the Phillies to limit his workload at a time when they might be tempted to push him. He has 3 starts in June and has combined to pitch 20 innings while allowing 4 runs. He continues to show good strike zone numbers with 18 k’s against 6 walks in those starts. I haven’t gotten any new reports on his offspeed stuff so he’s still a 5 star upside, 3 star downside pitcher. If his secondary stuff develops, he has a good chance of being a mid-rotation pitcher or better. With his impressive 73/15 K/BB ratio in 63.2 innings, a promotion to Clearwater is probably on the horizon.

3 Star Athletes

3. Jonathan Singleton, age 18, STOCK UP: This is the oversight I mentioned. As a 17 year old in rookie ball, Singleton showed great plate discipline with 18 walks and 13 strikeouts in 119 PA’s. The power was underwhelming (but not entirely absent) with just two homeruns and nine doubles. He ended up with a triple slash of .290/.395/.420 which is a nice debut.

The Phillies recently decided to challenge Singleton by assigning him to low A Lakewood. Unlike fellow youngster Domingo Santana, Singleton has absolutely dominated the level. In 32 games (137 PA) he’s mashed and bashed his way to a .405/.496/.698 line with seven bombs, 21 walks, and 24 strikeouts. His battering of the Sally League has earned him nearly daily mention in Kevin Goldstein’s Prospect Watch. The Phillies are usually aggressive with their prospects in the lower levels so continued dominance from Singleton might result in a late season promotion to Clearwater. Singleton is flashing a 5 star bat right now and I was tempted to file this under the 4 star category.

Not sure if anyone caught this in the ESPN article, but it pisses me off.

Manager Charlie Manuel was livid at his team, saying the players have shown no sense of urgency to end their slide. He showed his displeasure before the game when he spotted several of them gathered around a television, watching the movie “Gran Torino.” He ordered the clubbies to shut it off.

Are you fucking serious right now?!?  A team that prided itself on it’s fight, is now rolling over, playing dead, and blaming it on the a-a-a-a-a-alcohol streakiness of baseball.  What a crock of shit.

So, we suck.

That’s all there is to it. Right now, we are a disgrace to the game of baseball.

We couldn’t get runs after a night of all-you-can-eat Chipotle. We score about as often as those head-bobbing guys in A Night at the Roxbury. Ryan Howard’s homer last night was our first since the Grover Cleveland administration – the first one. Jayson Werth has followed his beard into the abyss. There’s rampant speculation that Chase Utley is hurt. Ross Gload hit leadoff on Monday. Ross. Fucking. Gload.

I have begun to seriously consider the possibility that aliens from a distant planet have stolen the athletic abilities of our best players, 14 years after dire warnings of just such a occurrence by the Nobel Prize-winning documentary Space Jam.

Pictured (from left): Polanco, Howard, Rollins, Utley, Werth

Everyone: Take a deep breath.

As horrible as this stretch has been – and it has been atrocious on a level that has been thankfully rare in recent Phillies history – we can’t lose sight of the big picture. Even with the Braves sweeping us to run their winning streak to eight, even after losing nine of our last 11 games, we’re still four games over .500 on June 2. Last year, we were two games over .500 on July 2. We survived.

There’s simply no way that this futility continues. Our big guns will come out of their simultaneous slumps. Our numerous, crippling injuries will heal.

We’ll be fine.

OK.  While it may not be quite this bad, something has to be said for their general lack of offense.  And let’s just say it really is this simple: better pitch selection.

Without getting into the technical jargon that A-Team loves and fondles himself to enjoys thoroughly, there is statistical evidence that the Phillies simply need to start swinging at shit in the zone.  Last year, they swung at only 24.5% of pitches outside the zone.  This year, they’ve dropped to a 27.7% mark, as part of a league-wide hackfest.  Unfortunately enough for the Phils, they’re also making contact with more junk outside of the zone.  Last year – 60.4%.  This year – 68.4%.  More crappy pitches being popped up and driven into the dirt.

Sure, some of this can be attributed to the slump.  Let’s not forget about Ryan Howard’s sudden lack of power, Jayson Werth’s journey into the abyss, Rollins being out for damn near forever, Rauuuuuuuuuuuul remembering his age, and Chooch loving too much ice cream on the sidelines, rather than on the field.  But most of all, shit happens.

The Phillies have suffered through what has nearly been 5 straight shutouts. Were it not for a perfect game and Cameron Maybin’s antics afield, the Phillies could be in the midst of one of the worst 5 game losing streaks of history.

As bad as that sounds, it’s not like the offense is broken. There’s a lot of angles to approach illustrating that, I’m going to take the easiest and link you to some other articles:

-Bill Baer at Crashburn Alley advises patience while citing research from JC Bradbury (basically, slumps happen)

-Pat Andriola at THT Live wonders if we’re trying too hard to contextualize a random occurrence

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Some of you have noticed my post rate is way down. I’m in the midst of moving from Minnesota to D.C. I’ve also started writing for The Hardball Times Live. I’m excited about the opportunity to write about league wide activities. If you head over to the THT Live page you can find my articles about Buster Posey and Stephen Strasburg. The Carlos Santana profile will be published tomorrow. I will still be posting here as needed.