Trade of Hunter Pence raises questions about 2013
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
Trade of Hunter Pence raises questions about 2013
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
By all accounts, Tommy Joseph is a solid major league prospect. Whether he was solid enough to warrant the trade of Hunter Pence is debatable. What isn't debatable is that the Phillies are not better off for the 2013 season, at least not in terms of talent in right field.
Joseph, the centerpiece of the trade that sent Hunter Pence and cash to the Giants this afternoon, would not appear to factor into the big league picture for next season. Carlos Ruiz will be back, leaving no room at catcher. Besides, Joseph just turned 21 years old. He has power potential, but in his first year at Double-A he has eight home runs with a .260/.313/.391 line in 335 plate appearances. Seth Rosin, a 23-year-old who is currently at Class A, does not project onto the major league roster in 2013, either. Which reduces this deal, from the vantage point of 2013, to Hunter Pence for Nate Schierholtz and some payroll flexibility. Schierholtz is a better defender with an excellent arm, but the Phillies lose about 30 points in on base percentage and plenty of home run power, not to mention the only right-handed power bat in their lineup.
Over the last two seasons, Schierholtz has posted a .271/.326/.429 line with 14 home runs in 558 plate appearances. By comparison, Jimmy Rollins hit .268/.338/.399 with 16 home runs in 631 plate appearances last season.
Pence, on the other hand, hit .289/.357/.486 with 28 home runs in 676 plate appearances during his year in Philadelphia. So in right field, the Phillies take a step back for 2013. Domonic Brown, who was called up today, is not a relevant consideration, since he could have moved into left field even if Pence had remained with the team.
The relevant factor is payroll flexibility. The Phillies likely would have had to pay Pence between $14 million and $15 million next season. Now, they can theoretically spend that money at one of their two obvious vacancies: center field and third base. The third base market is not pretty -- Kevin Youkilis and Mark Reynolds are the top two options available. Center field offers Michael Bourn, Melky Cabrera, and Shane Victorino.
But strictly in terms of talent, the Phillies do not figure to be as good in right field in 2013 as they would have been had they held onto Pence.
Rube, what you did today is totally stupid. The only thing i
can say is that maybe you have something up your sleeve. I
hope so because you have destroyed our outfeld. This guy we
got to play right field looks like he should be in AAA not
the Majors. Where or where is the 3rd baseman we need? C'mon
Rube do something good soon or you will start seeing an empty
ball park.— associate- I thought Valle was looking good, and they have Lino at A ball from the O's. Catcher seems to be the one position where they didn't have a need. I appreciate the contract considerations, but the Phils just gave up two starters for almost nothing. Not a positive step for the Phils in my opinion.— akh
- Yeah, this a pretty dumb article. Maybe one of the most pointless I can remember reading. Since Scheirholtz is not going to be a starter in 2013, why even make the comparison? The 15 million saved will be used towards the new OF (unless Mayberry ends up playing well), whoever that is, so... this article's point makes no sense at all.— Brainiac
- Did you really call Pence a power hitter? Please. He may have had some pop but he's a 6 hole hitter through and through. Phils are still searching for the offense they lost when Burrell & Werth left. To right the ship they need to add two true power hitters to this lineup.
Pence was expendible.
— thorshuffle - Did you really call Pence a power hitter? Please. He may have had some pop but he's a 6 hole hitter through and through. Phils are still searching for the offense they lost when Burrell & Werth left. To right the ship they need to add two true power hitters to this lineup. Pence was expendible. (HTML deleted)— thorshuffle
- Hope we re-sign Shane then it all makes sense— tnphil
- The one who wrote this piece was Murph, not Gelb.— EL Zorro
- Seems to me they lacked talent in 2012 and 2011. Maybe this year will humble them and they'll come out next year ready to play the right way.— RH
- The headline on the Sports page is kind of funny: "Phils Will Lack Talent In 2013." So I guess we'll go from last place to below last place.
People get too used to what they're used to. Amaro just said it: Change is good.— s - Blanton still here because Phillies held discussions with the very,very frugal Orioles. Overall,I like what was done. See what the Phillies have in the outfield the remainder of this season.— pedge
- Gotta be strong up the middle, the Phils just git weaker, giving up our best centerfielder since Garry Maddox.— robinlupe
- Phils traded two pieces, got a bunch of pieces including a bullpen piece, bringing up a piece from Triple A and activating a stiff piece off the DL.— wo_fat
- The trades were made to reduce payroll that can then be used for free agents after the season. Jospeh can be a trading piece, since good young catchers are at a premium. How about we see how things turn out before next Spring training. This season is toast, just like the Yankees were last year. How are they doing now?— mike l
- They need to get rid of everybody.— 4thand10
- I said before the season started the 2012 Phillies would have a record similar to the 2003 Anahaim Angels who finished 77-83 a year after finishing 99-63 in 2002 and winning the World Series. The reason being the 2012 Phillies did absolutely nothing to improve the team in the offseason even after the 2011 NLDS loss to the Cardinals highlighted all the problems with this team.— Gnip Gnop
