Report Card Time: Grading the Offseason
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Report Card Time: Grading the Offseason
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
The biggest thing I miss about report cards? The little comment footnotes that teachers could add to your grade:
1 Works well with others
2 Speaks in clear sentences
3 Eats too much play-dough
An entire marking period worth of homework and tests, summed up in four words pounded out by a secretary on a type-writer. Nothing could mar an A or A- like a little notation that said "Assignments incomplete" or "Talks too much in class." Here at the Daily News, we like to think we pay a little more individual attention. And while any offseason is ultimately judged on a Pass/Fail basis -- the moves a team made either led to a World Series or didn't -- here is a look at how we view the Phillies' '09-'10 thus far:
Rotation - B+
Getting Roy Halladay to agree to a three-year, $60 million was a major coup, and there is no question the Phillies somehow found away to upgrade the top of their rotation. But the move resulted in a net loss of organizational pitching depth, as the Phillies shipped Cliff Lee to Seattle and top prospect Kyle Drabek to Toronto. This leaves the Phillies an injury away from trouble, as the fifth spot in their rotation is already a question mark with injured veteran Jamie Moyer and righthander Kyle Kendrick the top two competitors for the job.
Amaro has said he would like to add more depth to the back of the rotation, and while there aren't a heck of a lot of reliable options out there, the Phillies made it more than two months last season relying on a combination of Antonio Bastardo and Rodrigo Lopez to fill in for the injured Brett Myers.
Yankees righthander Chien Ming Wang is not a likely possibility. Veteran righthander Pedro Martinez is still an option, although the price would have to be right.
The addition of the Halladay move cannot be overstated. And, on paper, the Phillies received more upside in the package of prospects they obtained for Lee than the package of prospects they dealt (in the first Lee deal). As early as last spring training, club President David Montgomery was insisting that the Phillies were not in a position to adopt a business plan in the model of the Yankees, trading prospects for established talent and using free agency to make up for the resulting lack of organizational depth. That was evident this offseason, as the '09 World Champion Yankees swung a trade for Braves righthander Javier Vazquez, who will be paid $11 million and become a free agent after this season, adding to a rotation that already features high-priced (and, in the World Series, highly effective) starters C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte. The Phillies, meanwhile, traded Lee away, banking on a rebound season by Cole Hamels and another solid campaign out of lefty J.A. Happ.
Look at it from this perspective: If the Phillies had traded for Halladay after 2008, when Hamels was coming off a dominant postseason, would anybody have been clamoring for them to trade even more prospects and add even more salary for Cliff Lee?
The Phillies still view Hamels as No. 1 starter, and think he and Halladay will provide a 1-2 punch this season that will prove the retention of Lee would have been a luxury, not a necessity.
Only time will tell. In trading both Lee and Drabek, the Phillies put a lot of faith in Hamels and Happ. If both players pitch up to their potential -- Hamels throwing like the World Series MVP he was in 2008 and Happ throwing like he did last season -- the front office will have some serious evidence in support of trading both Lee and Drabek. But if Hamels' struggles from last season continue, or if Happ encounters a sophomore slump, the Phillies could once again find themselves in need of starting pitching at the trade deadline.
Bullpen - B
Almost as important as the moves the Phillies made were the ones they didn't: They didn't overpay for Brandon Lyon or Fernando Rodney, and for little more than the estimated $3.5 million they were willing to pay Chan Ho Park they got both Danys Baez and Jose Contreras. While there are several question marks, the Phillies didn't really have a realistic chance of eliminating them with more than $15 million locked up to Brad Lidge and J.C. Romero. It would have been difficult to convince players like Mike Gonzalez and Jose Valverde to join a bullpen in which they would have entered the season as a distant No. 2 closer option behind Lidge. And, the fact remains, the Phillies owe Lidge more than $22 million over the next two years, and sparking a closer controversy would not have been a good way to get him back on track.
Although Contreras' numbers may not show it, he has the potential to be a huge addition to the bullpen. He has a big arm, with stuff that could play up as a reliever in a similar manner to Park's. And Baez improved throughout last season, his first since elbow surgery.
But the most significant addition might not be an addition at all - rather, it might be the Phillies' decision to keep a spot open for a young prospect like Antonio Bastardo, who has the stuff to be an impact major league reliever, and who has averaged more than 10 K/9 in the Dominican this winter.
Bench - B+
Ross Gload is an upgrade over Matt Stairs and Brian Schneider is an upgrade over Paul Bako. But one of the key weaknesses that was exposed in the World Series last season was bench production from the right side of the plate. And unless you count light-hitting utility man Juan Castro, the Phillies did not address it.
They could have used a player like Jerry Hairston, a right-handed bat who can play third or second or even short, rather than Gload, who is a good pinch-hitter and defensive first baseman and can play outfield, but who hits left-handed (like fellow reserve Greg Dobbs, who can also play first and the OF, and starting first baseman Ryan Howard).
But this is still an area that could be addressed in spring training or during the season. Dobbs, who performed much better as a starter than in a reserve role last season, could be an attractive trade option for a team who can give him a larger number of regular at-bats.
That said, overall, the bench is vastly improved over last season. Back-up catcher Brian Schneider will provide a steady veteran influence and capable bat, while OF Ben Francisco performed well in the second half of the regular season after joining the Phillies in the Lee trade.
Third Base - A-
The Phillies raised some eyebrows by giving a three-year deal to Placido Polanco. But there is no doubt he provides a much-needed contact bat for the top of the order, and his presence could drastically balance the identity of this power-heavy line-up. And all reports from Detroit are that he is a tremendous figure in the clubhouse.
Could the Phillies have waited and tried to get Mark DeRosa at cheaper rate or Adrian Beltre on a one-year deal? Sure, but I don't think they could have afforded to do so. Amaro found a player that he liked, knew what he was willing to pay for him, and when there was reciprocity, he struck.
Besides, I really think Polanco fits this Phillies line-up better than the other candidates.
Arbitration - A
The club achieved some much-needed cost-certainty for the next three seasons, during which time Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard are both scheduled to become free agents. Francisco and Dobbs are the only two players with likely spots on the Opening Day roster who will be arbitration eligible next year. Happ won't reach arbitration until after 2011, while righthander Kyle Kendrick could be eligible for Super Two status after 2010 if he spends the entire year on the roster.
Overall - B+
They've upgraded their rotation, their line-up, and their bench, which by any measure spells success. Depth issues - on the right side of the plate and in the rotation - prevent this from being a perfect offseason. But even the more debatable decisions the Phillies made -- trading Lee, giving a third year to Polanco, signing Gload over other bench options -- came as a result of obvious roster upgrades.
Take it from a 40 plus year fan and enjoy this run with a core group that talks world series and assumes playoffs/division championships. It's a good engine and credit Ruben for tweaking but not tinkering.— burholme
As for the right-handed bat off the bench...have the Phillies completly given up on Mayberry Jr?— pizano13- Oh, and the worse move ever by the Phillies is trading Lee? Really? See Bowa and Sandberg for Ivan DeJesus, 5 players for Von Hayes, and there's probably a lot of them before I was even born (1964)— pizano13
- The Phillies will have at least seven new faces this year from outside the organization. That's a 28% turnover. All are over 30 years old, and not just by a little bit in most cases. At some point we hopefully will be able to replenish the roster with young talent, but right now we seem to be going the Yankee route more than some may realize. Having studied that, I somewhat understand how we could have been tempted to trade a star player for multiple prospects. Time will certainly remind us, and Amaro, if we traded the wrong star at the wrong time for the wrong prospects.— dasher
- A big Fat F. Phillies were too cheap not keep Lee. They could of easily of had Lee and Halladay, that’s a 100 win team the next two years. The "propects" they got for Lee. Only one is ranked top 50, and he is 47. Dont forget they gave up Carrasco,Knapp and Marsen to get Lee for 3 monthts?? Way to go Phils, stick it the fans instead of bucking up. Bums— Sports4Life
- For those who are confused, Murphy was saying we got more from Seattle for Lee then we gave Cleveland. Drabek and Taylor have nothing to do with that statement. I would disagree on the bullpen grade, Phils did very little to improve. Its basically hope for good years from Romero and Lidge. Madsen cant close, Baez and Cantreras are just bodies, not difference makers. My overall grade is a B, with probably a C- for the 'Pen.— kevin l
- Give me a year with Lee and the 2 comp picks we would get instead of the three prospects from Seattle. 1 prospect is all you would lose out on. The Phils didn't want to spend the $$ for the year on Lee. Smoke and mirror argument about the prospects.... If lee's last year was for $3M you would have heard another story of how great of a staff we would have for 2010. Great job with Polanco signing!!! Still won't beat the Yanks or Red Sox with their pitching staffs...— philscheapowners
Murphy makes an excellent point by adding Francisco, a very good backup MLB outfielder, to the debate. All of the other guys are "prospects" who have proven nothing. Drabek already blew his elbow out once, Donald had no place to play in Philly, Carrasco's star was fading, would you really replace Chooch with one of the traded catching "prospects," not me. The guy they will probably regret trading is Taylor, who had no place to play here either. So we have Doc, Francisco and "prospects" for Lee and "prospects." Sounds good to me.- Prospects do not win championships! Veterans do! Proven players do! The whole debate over prospects is dumb. We should have gone after Halladay and kept Lee - so you pay a bunch more - we're talking dynasty. Now its - "let's wait and see in 2-3 years". The Yankees don't relay on prospects - they trade them for veteran talent. Their farm system is basically all the low end teams out there. The Phils should step up and pay some more green...— cheesefry
- It is time we forget about lee. I was against trading him from the beginning but we need to move on. Halladay is no joke, and people are forgetting the phillies got him. I remember people on this same site back when the phillies got lee saying "pujols and manny are the happeist guys alive and that lee cant do well against good hitters" You were all wrong. So maybe you will all be wrong when it comes to the decision to get rid of him, halladay is the better pitcher, even though it will be extremly difficult to match what lee did in the playoffs.— PhillyLegend1
- Hey morons, it's the minor leaguers the got for Lee vs the ones they dealt to get Lee. Drabek wasn't part of that.— atles
- cheesefry... where do you think veterans come from? do i have to list every player on our team that came up through our farm system? we're not the yankees, we don't just go out and buy proven veterans to make a championship caliber team.— philsphan10
- Great piece once again by David Murphy; only time will tell, of course, and everything depends on: 1. Hamels returning to his form of two years ago; 2. Lidge returning to his form of two years ago; and 3. everyone, in particular Halladay, remaining healthy. I liked the potential of keeping both Lee and Halladay mainly because both of them have thrown an inordinate number of pitches over their career and if one went down, the other could pick up the slack. Now if Halladay goes down, who picks up the slack?— chuckw
- I agree with the overall assessment. But the rotation has to be judged incomplete - until the all-star break, at least. Also, pitching in the playoffs is a lot different than the regular season. I'm not worried about the regular season...— Cameiros
- I would bet that the reason that they did not wait to shop Lee around is that Ruben was not allowed to do the Halladay by ownership unless he had a deal lined up to bring prospects back. I think ownership demanded prospects back to do the Halladay deal and refused to take the PR hit that would have come if the fans hade gone a week or two with Lee and Halladay on the same team - it's bad enough as it is. I think the Phils could have taken their chances with the compensation picks for losing Lee and considered trading Howard for prospects after this season. I don't want to lose Howard but I don't think he is signable. Why not make a run this year with Howard and Lee and then replenish with compensation picks and trading Howard for prospects at the end of the year? Trading Howard would free up the money to re-sign Werth or Lee, replenish the farm and give us a better chance at another championship this year.— unclecharlie
