Posts Tagged ‘Phillies’

I was asked to write an end of the season Detention Lecture for the 2011 Philadelphia Phillies over at my favorite baseball blog, Big League Stew. So I did.

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2011 Phillies Detention Lecture at Big League Stew

This is perhaps the greatest photograph ever taken with a cell phone: (Special thank you to @Hadji484 for taking the pic and Dan Gross for RTing it)

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Ryan Howard riding around Whole Foods Market on a Rascal

1.  Be Depressed Look, it makes sense to be depressed after a loss like this.  Don’t stifle yourself by pretending to be an adult!  Let those tears flow, like the self-entitled child you are! But the important thing to remember is that you are not actually a child, and you can do things that children can’t, like drink.

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Let’s All Have Our Reactions to the Phillies’ NLDS Loss

Deep within Citizens Bank Park, Chase Utley sits in a darkened video room, intently studying Chris Carpenter. He shifts his hips back and forth and flicks his wrists, simulating his swing.

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Ace on Fire

I decided to have a round table of sorts with some other fun people who enjoy going about their daily business with their pants off. I’ve compiled a series of questions that will break this team down and by the time you are done reading you’ll have a good idea of what team we’ve got. We’ve assembled around the table that Cliff Lee left all that money on this winter and we’re ready to party. The participants are:

Cranekicker of Crane Kick Chronicles

Steve @Estebomb and Max @uublog of Fire Eric Bruntlett

Coal Hammels enthusiast @FanSince09

Justin @TBOHBlog of That Ball’s Outta Here

Jeff @Utley4God

Ryan @petzrawr aka @Sl_JonHeyman (RIP)

and resident douche, Danny Cohen @dmc0603

Here we go.

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Another year of Phillies history is in the books. Though the season ended on a sour note, there were many memorable moments during the year. Here are the top 10 moments of the past year. Feel free to argue with the list, but you’re most likely wrong!

Top 10 Phillies Moments of 2010

10.) Jamie Moyer throws a 2-hit shutout at age 47

On May 7th, Jamie Moyer set the record for oldest pitcher to throw a shutout thanks to his complete mastery of the Atlanta Braves. Only two batters reached base with one being eliminated on a double play. After being told of his record, Moyer responded “cool.” It is easy to understand his subdued attitude once realizing that he will be breaking that mark again in 2012 when he makes his triumphant return from TJ surgery. The quest for 300 will not cease! 33 to go…

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9.) Phillies Acquire Left Fielder Roy Oswalt

Thank you Scott Barry for making this possible.

Roy Oswalt certainly deserves a lot of credit for helping the Phillies obtain their 4th straight division crown. But the moment that will stick out in the minds of fans is when he was forced into left field on August 24th against his old team. Before tossing Ryan Howard from the game, Scott Barry openly mocked the slugger like all good umpires should do before running a guy. With no players left on the bench, Ibanez moved to first and Oswalt trotted out to left field. And of course, this happened on the first pitch. Oswalt eventually made the last out in a 4-2, 16 inning loss, but no one can take away his 1.1 UZR/150 in left.

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If you haven’t been keeping up, the last few days I’ve been looking at the Phillies future payroll commitments in order to make some observations.  I even have a public Google Doc so that you can follow along at home.  Today’s post will get to the point that’s nearest and dearest to my heart, how to keep Jesus Jayson Werth without paying him in 2011.

First off, why keep Jayson Werth?  After all, we’ve already observed that the Phillies have a strong outfield and with the tight 2011 payroll, it will take a lot of creativity to keep Werth aboard.  For 2011, Shane Victorino and Raul Ibanez are signed on the dotted line with Ben Francisco, Tyson Gillies, Quintin Berry, and John Mayberry Jr. competing for the 3rd spot and bench options.  Gillies will be the eventual winner with Brown starting to push him by the end of the season.  Looking outside the organization, outfield is incredibly deep and future all-star outfielders are non-tendered or otherwise let go all the time by the Dodgers. Perhaps I should open up a roster slot for Xavier Paul now.

And the newest Phillie is...

The reason to keep Werth around is simple, he’s good at everything.  The man is the second most dynamic player on the roster behind shoe-in Hall of Famer Chase Utley.  He can run, throw, field, hit, work the count, and take a pitcher deep.  In fact it’s tough to pick out any flaws with Werth.  He has a checkered health history, although his injuries resulted from physical trauma, not poor conditioning or a run down body.  In fact, as a result of his injuries, his body has far less mileage on it than most 30 year olds (31 on May 20).  Aside from that, he’s merely above average against RHP and does take a healthy number of strike outs. Looking at his skill set, the only comparable player is Alex Rodriguez. While Werth only truly bests ARod in the underrated facial hair category, it’s safe to call him the second most well rounded player in baseball.  If you just focus on the description and last two years of work, Werth looks like a guy who should be earning a Matt Holliday like contract.  That we may be able to extend him for considerably less is all the more reason to be interested in keeping him.  But how do we do that when there’s practically no payroll available in 2011?

Yesterday, we took a look at the 2012 payroll, noting that if they stuck with the $140 mil payroll ceiling, the Phillies have 35 mil to spend on a 1b and a PH.  They could opt to force Kyle Kendrick out of the rotation with a pitcher signing or waste it in the bullpen.  We also took a peek at that free agent class, noting the depth on the 1b side and the shallowness at SP.  Given that, it might be best to avoid the pitching targets and budget 20 mil for a premium 1b.  With this year to year plan in hand, the payroll is a solid 15 mil below the ceiling.  This is where Werth fits in.  A 2012 Phillies team with Werth is a team without Shane Victorino (9.5m).  That means that 24.5 mil of funds would be available to Werth. Why not use them? Why not present Werth the opportunity to help the club pay him.  A contract that breaks down as 5/22/16/16 gives him an AAV of 14.75m, probably about the cost and years he’s looking for to stay.  If that’s not palatable to Werth, Ruben, or ownership, there are a number of creative ways to defer cost.  A simple deferral could turn a 12/16/16/16 contract into a 4/17.6/17.6/17.6/1.6/1.6 deal over 4 years (that’s 8 mil deferred in 5 annual installments).  A longer deferral period could be named for more money or varying amounts could be applied.  Another pseudo-deferral is the signing bonus.  An 8 mil signing bonus (with deferment) would change how the contract is treated on payroll, giving Ruben some legroom in ’11 via the accountant.

The lesson here is not to instruct Ruben on how to do his job, it’s to point out that if the club really wants Werth and really plans to move forward as the dominant force of the NL, the flexibility is there to sign Werth without making any further changes.

Long ago when I set out to move LONG DRIVE to self hosting so I could do more with it I had no idea it would take this long to get started. Now that it is good to go, mostly, you can expect new content on a daily basis.

There will be some fresh faces around these parts now that the site is back up. So please welcome The A Team, who will throw so much advanced statistical analysis your way you may void your bowels, TheRuckus, and Ryan Edmund who you may know on Twitter as @petzrawr.

You can still expect the same LONG DRIVE had to offer before, which consisted mostly of me calling people douche bags, game recaps, really bad mspaint work, and hating of the Mets. So check back regularly and enjoy bitches.