The Phillies: a Disaterous Mid-Season Report Card

All right, I know. I have been very lame the past couple weeks. No posts anywhere to be found. I am trying to get a little creative energy back flowing before Labor Day when football arrives, the Win or Die begins, and all hell breaks loose on the blog. So be patient. We are troughing, and we should begin a slow ascent that results in near chaos shortly. Kind of like the Tour de France as they hit the mountains. And also similar because probably the same number of people care about each at this point.

I could not let the second half of the baseball season start without commenting on the debacle that has been the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phils so far have had recent results kind of like Ben Roethlisberger has had on his motorcycle. In other words, seconds from death. The difference is that I do not see a paramedic in this team’s future to get them on the mend.

First, I guess you have to start off the field. This ownership group has proven over time that they either do not care about winning or do not have the intelligence to do anything about it if the desire actually exists. Now, they have proven they are utter and complete imbeciles. They not only butchered this Brett Myers situation as poorly as humanly possible, but now they have compounded that mistake with Bill Giles this week saying we got it all wrong and that Myers was trying to in fact help his wife. Sort of like Mike Tyson was trying to help Evander Holyfield get the ear wax out of his ear. Bottom line, I would give ownership, between off-field blunders, on-field results and lack of any sign of progress, a grade of ‘F’, except that would be insulting to others who have gotten this grade before…

As for the actual team…..

Insert Jim Mora quote here. They suck. They offense sucks, the defense sucks, the coaches suck, they suck. They can’t do diddly poo. Or something along those lines. Their offense is stagnant, they continue to have underachievers (Abreu, Burrell, Rollins) who cannot hit in important situations and bad contracts who should not be in the major leagues any more (Bell, Lieberthal). This team strikes out way too much, relies too much on the home run, and cannot play good fundamental baseball (things like sacrifices, moving the runners over, taking an extra base). On the offensive side, they have two genuine superstars-to-be in Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. They key is to somehow show a commitment to winning so you do not lose these guys as soon as they are eligible to become free agents and can force a bad trade (see Schilling and Rolen).

Pitching wise, their bullpen, especially considering the lack of talent, has held up reasonably well. On the other hand, this team’s starting pitching is abominable. Jon Lieber would be overpaid this year at $700,000, much less the $7.0 million he is stealing. Brett Myers is a very good pitcher, but he has been in the majors long enough to know that pitchers cannot hit. Cole Hamels is still not ready for the bigs, although I do think he has a chance to be a frontline starter in this league for a long time if the team does not ruin him and he stays healthy. Ryan Madson has been terrible, although he shows just enough flashes (i.e., 2, one as a starter and one in LONG relief) to make you say “maybe, just maybe…” Cory Lidle should be waiting tables at this point in his career, and Gavin Floyd has as much guts as someone whose intestines have been removed. The rest of these guys that have pitched this year may or may not be good enough to pitch on the college level. Bottom line, without breaking the bank, I am not sure how this team can put together a good enough pitching staff to compete.

You already know what I think of the manager. Jolly Chollie is quite simply the worst there is. I know all the experts say that a great manager will only win you 5 or 6 games a year. But if that is the case, a horrible one can lose at least that many, and a 12 game swing is pretty important. I do not know how Manual keeps his job after this season, as the overwhelming sentiment is to get rid of him and he is not one of Gillick’s guys to start with, so he will be gone. I hope this makes all the people who criticized Bowa realize that he may have worn thin on some players after a while, but at least he knew baseball, and how to manage, and what exactly a double switch is.

What would I do? Not that they care, but I would trade Abreu (and Burrell if I could) before the trade deadline. It is also time to make a decision on Jimmy Rollins. This guy is an enigma. He is one of the very best defensive shortstops around, but he fooled us with his hitting streak. Rollins is what Rollins is at the plate, which is not disciplined enough, strikes out too much and walks too little for a lead of guy, does not use his speed enough by hitting the ball in the ground or bunting. This is the guy that probably has the most trade value on your team, but I still probably do not pull the trigger on J-Roll. I do think you move him to 7th in the batting order until he proves he can hit like a lead off guy. So I trade Abreu, Burrell (if possible) and Lieber (if possible). I do NOT trade Aaron Rowand under any circumstances. This guy is the type of player this team needs to win. Then in the offseason I commit to signing one #2 starter, I bring back Brett Myers (who is too talented and I will not get enough for in return now), and have a decent rotation of Hamels, Myers, the #2 they sign in the offseason and what they get for Abreu now. They also need a catcher and a 3rd baseman. On second thought, I do not really want Pat Gillick’s job. He cannot win with this ownership group, this budget, and this current set of contracts and players. I thought he could, but now, I do not think so. I got lambasted for being too pessimistic when I predicted 84 wins for this team in the preseason. Looks now like I was too optimistic.

When does Eagles training camp open?