Well… It certainly has been a while since my last post. Just like my playoff beard, baseball season has come and gone. Football season is 8 weeks in. And the NHL and NBA seasons have already begun. Let’s start with an in depth look at the Phillies.
World F*ing Champions!
The Philadelphia Phillies and their amazing offense won the World Series! Oh wait... that isn’t right. The San Francisco Giants won the World Series. After taking out the Atlanta Braves and the Phil’s, the Giants and their seemingly unhittable pitching rotation took out the red hot Texas Rangers in 5 games.
The Phillies finished the regular season with the best record in baseball. That one actually is true. Through all the adversity and injuries the Phillies faces this season, they were able to win 97 games.
After acquiring Roy Oswalt from the Houston Astros at the trade deadline, the Phillies went 41-19. Led by the H2O trio (Halladay, Hamels, Oswalt), the Phil’s starting rotation had the 2nd lowest ERA in the majors at 3.23 (only beat out by the Giants).
So why didn’t the Phillies win the Series? Because, like many other times through the season, the Phillies offense was MIA. The hot and cold offense of the Phillies was on a cold spell that week.
With that being said, don’t take anything away from the pitching of the Giants in the NLCS. San Fran’s omnipotent trio of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Jonathan Sanchez were spectacular throughout the entire month of October.
So what now?
Jayson Werth, Jamie Moyer, Chad Durbin, J.C. Romero, and Mike Sweeny are all free agents. With Romero already gone, let’s look at the others.
· Werth: Most likely gone. He will be looking in the 5 year 70MM range. The Phil’s already have such a substantial amount of money locked up with the rest of the starters that it seems like they will not be able to get a deal done with Werth’s new agent Scott Boras.
· Moyer: As sad as this is, Jamie’s time in Philadelphia is all but done. Moyer’s 2010 campaign was cut short by injury. With the new found strength in the starting rotation, Moyer will not sign a contract unless he is competing for a starting role.
· Durbin: The only one in the group who might come back. He has said that he is willing to take a home-town discount to stay in Philly and has been extremely productive and reliable during his time in Philadelphia.
· Sweeny: Although he was a nice in season addition from the Seattle Mariners, Ryan Howard will be the everyday first baseman. It makes little sense to keep him on the roster.
The Final Verdict:
The Phillies are still a very good ball club. With the exception of Werth (Which remains to be seen but it is unlikely he will be re-signed), all of their every day starters will return next season. An entire season of that starting rotation should be fun to watch. Not to mention all of the Phillies that were decimated by injuries throughout 2010 should return at 100%.
The Phillies do however have on glaring weakness: Left-handed pitching. Without the power hitting right handed batter Werth in the middle of the lineup, the Phillies are loaded with left-handers and will lack production from the other side of the plate. That, along with the inconsistent bull pen, needs to be top priority for General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr. this off season.
If the Phil’s can add pieces around the already strong core of players they have, they will be good for the next couple seasons. The trick will be adding quality players while spending as little as possible.
It should be an interesting off-season.
