Should the Phillies bring back Feliz?
Phillies' loyalty is admirable, but the implosion of both Hamels and Lidge should have meant the termination of Dubious Dubee. The guy's a clown, only capable of bullying young pitchers, and not insightful enough to get pitchers of proven talent back on track. The pitching staff will suffer next year because of Dubee's return. I am Oppressed.
Don't have a problem with Dubee, or oddly enough, a call for his head (however, Charlie picked him and if Dubee should go so should Charlie). My problem is the article above this is about Feliz - one comment until now, and it's got nothing to do with the Feliz article. What's up with that? Anyway, my two cents worth says I don't like reading this kind of thing about a guy on the roster who 'may' stay on the roster. What's to come of his morale after an article like this? For what it's worth I'm a Ryan Zimmerman fan, and have wanted him here for quite sometime, but Feliz is probably the best defensive 3rd baseman around. I'm totally satisfied with Pedro Feliz, and if it wasn't for his pitching staff no one would care that he is a hole in the lineup. Keep Pedro - Dump Ruben!!!
Far out idea: Sign Polanco as second baseman, move Chase to 3rd. A good fit !
Big mistake if they let Feliz get away. He was sensational defensively and they won't find anyone out there better than him. Also had a couple very time HRs duing the season. A little weak overall with the bat but that should be a negotiating point for Rueben. I rather see Hamels go than Feliz.
Yeah, I don't think Ruben or Dubee or Charlie is going anywhere. Chase doesn't have the arm for 3rd and if they want to get someone who is better defensively than Feliz at third base, then they should go get Adrian Beltre, who won Gold Gloves in Seattle in '07 and '08
Beltre had a .304 OBP last season with a dreadful .683 OPS. Those were both lower than Feliz. Sure, Beltre has shown more power than Feliz in the past few years and one would think that his stats would improve in hitter friendly CBP. Then again, that's exactly what everyone was saying about Feliz when the Phillies signed him. Instead his homerun production decreased dramatically. I don't think Beltre would be much of an upgrade over Feliz, but he might be worth pursuing if they can sign him for similar money.
I love it ! Suggestions to get rid of Feliz who is probably the best fielding third baseman in either league, to pick up someone who also can't hit and can't field as well, and whose age is comparable to Feliz.
Be glad Feliz is there. His throws are generally on target,and makes Howard look better than he is. Sign him for one year with the possibility of retainng him for a bench player IF a better third baseman could be found by 2011.
New hitting and pitching coaches would have been a good option
Sounds like Beltre wouldn't be much of an improvement. 'Course .266 isn't bad for a #8 hitter, which is what he should be with Chooch hitting the way he has, and it's hard to say how many runs Pedro saved by fielding sharp grounders down the line everybody else would have missed. He's such an integral part of the Phils' makeup. I say give him the money he's clearly earned and work in the off season to improve his power. He's a great, and often clutch, player.
Beltre is a gold glove winner at 3rd, so not much of a change there defensively... He's 4 years younger too. As someone said, Chase doesn't have the arm for 3rd base, and no way Zimmerman will be traded from Washington
Scoring runs is not a problem for the Phils. We already get a ton of offense from two positions (SS and 2B) where you traditionally give up offense for defense, so clearly our lineup can support a guy like Feliz where we give up (marginally) offense to get great defense. Somebody has to hit 7th/8th in the lineup, they can't all be Utley. Spend the time and money on finding more pitching - that's why the Yankees beat us, not because Feliz didn't hit 20 homers.
Keep Feliz.........you can't find a better third baseman than him. All those others are around the same age.
Feliz is an excellent fielder, and I'd hate to lose that glove. But he's a liability with the bat. He has no idea of the strike zone--none. A good pitcher should always be able to get him out because he will always bite on a pitcher's pitch, especially the outside pitch which he hits feebly on the ground to the shortstop or third baseman. It may not seem important since the Phillies supposedly have such a great offense, but, really, do they? Where are their .300 hitters? If they don't hit home runs, they aren't that great on offense. And in the World Series home runs can be hard to come by.
Feliz was around the middle of the pack on defense with about 15 errors, no golden glove there, lost his hitting power, can't run the bases, dead first ball fastball hitter, which is the sign of a weak hitter, and does not have a real feel for the game. other then that he's fine.
A subpar hitter? He had 82 rbi's in 2009, which was a jump from 58 in 2008. How many other third basemen put up numbers comparable that will be available?
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