Archive: October, 2011
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
The Phillies have hired Joe Jordan as director of player development. Jordan comes from the Baltimore Orioles, where he spent the last seven seasons as director of amateur scouting.
“We couldn’t be happier to bring Joe aboard as our new player development director,” Benny Looper, assistant general manager for player personnel, said in a press release. “He is widely respected around the game and his resume speaks for itself."
Jordan replaces Chuck LaMar, who resigned late in the season. LaMar held the title of assistant GM but oversaw the farm system. Jordan will not hold that title.
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
He had to say something. The expectations were not met, so Ruben Amaro Jr. had to issue a decree. The Phillies general manager hardly wasted time.
Asked first if the lineup is still capable of winning in its current state, he answered:
"Ability-wise, there is no question in my mind this is a championship-caliber lineup and championship-caliber players. We have to go about it in a different way. I have talked to Greg Gross and talked to Charlie. We have to have a different mindset or different approach than we did in '08 or 2010. We don’t have nearly as much power, have to be better with two strikes, better situational at-bats. Those are frankly things we have to change."
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
Only adding to the list of winter to-dos, the Phillies will now have to replace their double-A manager in 2012.
Mark Parent will be hired as the bench coach for Robin Ventura's Chicago White Sox, a baseball source said Tuesday. Parent, a former Phillies catcher, managed at double-A Reading in 2011 and single-A Lakewood in 2010.
His minor-league teams made the playoffs in both seasons and Parent was thought of highly by many in the Phillies' front office.
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
There is much to discuss from two press conferences today eulogizing the 2011 Phillies, but it will begin and end with Jimmy Rollins, who appears to be the linchpin on an entire winter.
Rollins, a Phillie for the last 15 years of his life, has set the bar high for his impending free agency. The soon-to-be 33-year-old shortstop wants a five-year contract.
"I'm looking to get five years," Rollins said. "If it's going to be shorter, there would have to be a fifth-year option or something like that. My option."
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
What floored me the most in the moments following the Phillies' exit from postseason baseball was the sheer amount of issues this franchise now faces. This winter already promised to be a busy one with several free agents hitting the market, but the early defeat only raised more questions.
There could be massive philosophical shifts in how the team operates. What those could entail, we do not know. General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. has yet to offer his postscript to a disappointing season. (He is expected to do so sometime this week.)
In the meantime, what would you consider to be the most important move for the Phillies this offseason?
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
The following is my attempt at decompressing from a stunning end to the 2011 season…
First you think about Ryan Howard. How could you not? I mean, he makes the last out of the season for the second straight October and you wonder what sort of mental state he's in. Then, he says he has likely torn his left Achilles tendon and it's the absolute worst-case scenario.
All of the fears of the massive five-year, $125 million deal are realized. Here is Howard, the bulking slugger reduced to the defining image of failure. He was hitless in his final 15 at-bats in the NLDS — a series that began so promising for the first baseman.
Philly.com Sports
The Inquirer's Bob Brookover & Matt Gelb take a look at the Phillies' disappointing 1-0 loss to the Cardinals in Game 5 of the NLDS, ending Philadelphia's season.
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Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
True to his word, Charlie Manuel is sticking with the lineup that has brought the Phillies to a decisive Game 5.
Manuel said Thursday he would think about changes, but then made it clear a move was unlikely.
"When you sit there and you're not getting too many hits and you look and you've got four or five guys 0 for 4, how much can I move them in the order?" Manuel said.
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
There isn't much to say because a lot of it has already been said. It's Game 5. It's Halladay. It's Carpenter. It's the entire weight of a city's expectations on nine innings (or more) of baseball.
And you could study the largest sample sizes possible to make predictions or statements, but none of that matters in a decisive game. It's the smallest of margins and things will happen that defy previous trends.
But one particular stat jumped out when combing through the various splits and numbers of Roy Halladay and Chris Carpenter. Much, of course, has been made of Halladay's woes against the first batter of the game. During the regular season, the first batter reached base in 15 of Halladay's 32 starts. Leadoff batters in any innings hit .317/.343/.436 off Halladay.
Philly.com Sports
Matt Gelb of the Inquirer and Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch recap the Phillies' 3-2 win over the Cardinals in Game 3 of the NLDS.
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