The Phillies Future Is Not Now, but 2013
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The Phillies Future Is Not Now, but 2013
Marc Narducci
Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. says he hasn’t given up on this season. Now only if his team could follow suit.
Before Friday’s 4-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, Amaro refused to wave the white flag.
“I remain optimistic that we have a chance to get back in this,” he said.
Then it seemed that realism hit.
“It is still a daunting task,” Amaro continued. “The opportunities to get back in the race, particularly the wild card race, will be difficult.”
He didn’t use the word “impossible” although the fan base may feel that way. The Phillies (47-59) are 16 games out of first place in the N.L. East and 13.5 out of the second wild card spot.
And while the players and Charlie Manuel talk about winning as many games as possible, everybody understands that full-fledged auditions for 2013 are under way.
At least the general manager still believes in his personnel.
“We still have a lot of talent on this club,” he said.
Players have echoed this thought, but a team 12 games under .500 can’t be overstocked with talent. Or maybe stretching the point, it is faded talent.
The Phillies have gotten old in a hurry.
Amaro feels the trades that rid the team of the salaries of Shane Victorino, Hunter Pence and now Joe Blanton will give them financial flexibility for next year.
He had a chance to rid himself of Cliff Lee’s contract when the left-hander was claimed off waivers, but Amaro insisted before the game that Lee isn’t going anywhere. While it’s a popular notion to unload Lee’s contract and the estimated $95 million remaining, he still appears as if he can be a quality pitcher. For a team that has too little power and speed, it certainly doesn’t hurt to have pitchers who can keep his teammates in a tight game.
Even though Amaro feels there is talent, he isn’t going into this with blinders. He understands there are several holes to fill.
And there isn’t that much money, regardless of the 255 consecutive regular season sellouts.
As Inquirer Phillies beat writer Matt Gelb has pointed out, the Phillies have $132 million invested in nine players in 2013.
Even if they go over the $178 million luxury tax threshold next year, the money can go fast, especially if spent on a highly regarded free agent.
Before going to next year, Amaro says that he is still addressing this season. He said the team has put in some waiver claims for players.
“We are still trying to improve our club for this year and beyond,” he said.
Looks like beyond is the much better strategy at this point.
Everybody can talk about this year, but despite not wanting to make it look to the fans as if the Phillies have abandoned 2012, every move made should be with 2013 clearly in mind.
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If Lee were released, coupled with losing Vic, Pence, Blanton...the Phillies would have freed up over 50 million in salary to play with in 2013(also the final year of Utley, Ruiz, and Halladay's contracts)
2013 Phillies:
OF: LF Domonic Brown 440,000 CF Michael Bourn 12,000,000 RF Josh Hamilton 18,000,000
IF: 3B Rollins 11,000,000 SS Galvis 440,000 2B Utley 15,000,000 1B Howard 25,000,000
C: Ruiz 5,000,000
SP: Hamels 24 mil, Halladay 20 mil, Kendrick, 4 mil, Worley 500,000, Cloyd 440,000— tkohl- Sorry but I look at this team you've assembled and I fail to see a winner. You have 3 question marks in the starting rotation. If we knew that Halliday would be Halliday then maybe, but know body knows. This team can't get rid of Lee cause there is no one out there better, the goal is to out the best players on the field.
Then in the field, it still looks like a bunch of old players out there. It'd be 4 months before people start crying "hamilton's old or a nut case why'd Boobin sign him." Galvis stinks he just has a glove, but that will get old quickly. I just fail to see how this team makes the playoffs as opposed to keeping Lee and getting some solid bullpen help and a center fielder— dmr528 - Hamilton for $18 mill? Why is he giving the Phillies a discount? And if Rollins puts up a stink about moving out of the leadoff spot, is he really going to be willing to move to 3b without pouting all year? Galvis stinks. I would NEVER put Kendrick back in a rotation, and you would have a starting lineup with 5 lefties.
This is possibly the dumbest thing I've ever seen and I haven't even addressed that they don't know what Cloyd would be but he doesn't have great stuff. He has been successful in the minors but that doesn't always trnaslate into success in the majors. Are we going to address the bullpen in this scenario?
I don't understand why everyone loves Michael Bourn, he is a 30 year old speed guy represented by Boras. Good player, but his contact will be another Amaro albatross if we sign him and eventually he'll be a 35 year old player that is the same as Juan Pierre but making $15 mill a year.— jimbo jones - I like the thought process, just need to tinker around with some of the names. I doubt Hamilton will get less than 20 and I wouldnt want him anyway, injury prone addicts seem like a bad long term investment. The main problem is our "core" guys dont produce like they get paid too so we need 2 other middle of the order types to make up for it. Counting on Howard to look any better is probably a mistake so the main issue in my mind will be finding a power bat to stick in there at 4 or 5. I also wouldnt count on a repeat out of Ruiz...finding his power this late in his career makes me skeptical he can sustain it. With no on really exciting in free agency I think I would lean towards 1 year stop gaps rather than overpaying for the few "elite" guys like Bourn, Cabrera, Hamilton. Wish our GM wasnt such a moron, but I have zero confidence in his ability to field a good hitting team next year. — lazyboy
- Howard should be benched. I would hope that he would've been placed on waivers but no team would claim him, even if the Phils wanted no players in return, just to get him out of here.— farley
-
Who's having a really good year for the Phils?
Answer: Carlos Ruiz
Which players are/were under-performing the value of their contracts?
Halladay, Lee, Howard, Utley, Rollins, Polanco, Kendrick, Wigginton
(Victorino, Pence, Blanton)
Which developing players have failed to step forward as expected in 2013?
Bastardo, Mayberry
The orchestra played on while the Titanic started sinking, well after the outcome was clear.— Claudio Vernight - To be fair, the orchestra was by no means clueless, but rather played on in sacrificial love to comfort those who were fated to die before their next sunrise, and those in the lifeboats who were forced to witness it.
That orchestra performed one of the noblest acts of the century. May they all now be resting in eternal joy.
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- Well, this team better be willing to pay out the nose because if they are not, get used to the next 5-10 years of bottom feeding. Trading prospects for veterans is a fine strategy if you are willing to replace those prospects through free agency. This is how the Yankees and Red Sox always manage to stay in contention. Now, if the Phillies never intended to replace prospects through free agency, they had no business trading all those prospects. You can't have it both ways if you want to be a consistently competitive team.— Hemingway
- The onus is now on the fans to simply stop going to games. Refuse to pay full price for this reduced price product. It's like paying full price for stale donuts, or day old bread. Loses hurt, but losing money to team ownership hurts more.— zdog
- You begin to wonder if Charlie will buy into being the guy to lead a youth movement or if he'll say after this season with a year left on his contract, "I didn't buy into this from all I've done for this organization".— sonnybuoy01
- Have you looked at the free agent list? There is nothing there. You have Hamilton & Bourn, and then the elevator skips the next 5 floors. 3B only has 3 floors. Ugly. RAJ has his work cut out for him....this ain't gonna be easy.— fuss77
- "elevator skips the next 5 floors" - very nice.
And with the 9/$132 guillotine looming, even talking about a big free agent signing is a bit silly.
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Phillies fans everywhere were not satisfied with one WS championship in'08. We wanted more like the Red Sox in '04 and '07. But no one seems to realize that the Phillies played over their heads in '08 with great performances from Lidge and Hamels. C'mon our third baseman was Pedro Feliz. Since then we've seen great performances from Matsui and of course Mariano in '09, Cody Ross and Brian Wilson in '10, and a host of Cardinals stepped up in '11. (much like the Phillies) Tampa Bay and Texas were just as talented teams. A few plays here and there and they would have won a WS title. It takes a lot of intangibles for teams to win including chemistry. But bringing in 3 or 4 new players on this team next year is no guarantee that the Phillies can compete in 2013. But it's **tough** to watch the Phillies right now.
We all know who can play and can't play. Martinez is a AAA player. How do Kendrick and Scheirholtz both get doubled off on fly balls. I still want to see the Phillies compete. I still want to see Pierre everyday. I wanted to see Blanton pitch. Why trade him for nobody. He can still pitch. I want to see Ruiz almost every night. The only player that should be auditioning for next year is Dominic Brown. This is MAJOR league baseball not a fire sale! Charlie should be managing like his job depends on it. ...and Ruben do not trade Cliff Lee! I want to enjoy watching baseball for the next two months even though this year's run is over!— jojotr44- Martinez is a AAA player? Don't you think you're giving him a little too much credit? I don't think he's even that good.
I agree with the team trading Blanton, he is going to be a FA and they did get a prospect for him according to Amaro, but they apparently can't say anything because he hasn't been signed for a year. So it sounds like a recent Dodgers draft pick is coming here eventually.
I do agree with auditioning Brown for the rest of the year. I found it pretty frustrating when Manuel pinch hit for him with 2 outs in the 9th the other night with Ryan Howard. What was the point? Howard is going bad anyway so why not just see what the kid can do? Manuel is a terrible manager, he doesn't know how to groom these kids.— jimbo jones - Imagine a fortune 500 company hiring a new CEO after reaching a peak in 2008 and falling out of the top five hundred companies 5 years later. Well thats the Phils and RAJ. Some needs to be held accountable for this mess. RAJ is to clever for his own good.— tmkatz
