Phillies can still finish first during the season
The Phillies may have finished third in the National League East last season and again this offseason, but that doesn't mean they have to finish anywhere other than first once the season begins.
Phillies can still finish first during the season
Bob Brookover, Inquirer Baseball Columnist
The Phillies may have finished third in the National League East last season and again this offseason, but that doesn't mean they have to finish anywhere other than first once the season begins.
At a dinner banquet in Allentown Thursday night, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. explained why this offseason has been different in terms of the team's moves.
Instead of one big splash -- a trade for Roy Halladay, the signing of free agents Cliff Lee and Jonathan Papelbon -- that grabs the attention of the entire baseball world, the Phillies have made a series of smaller moves, dealing for center fielder Ben Revere and third baseman Michael Young while signing setup man Mike Adams, fifth starter John Lannan and right fielder Delmon Young.
As detailed in Friday's newspaper column, the Washington Nationals and Atlanta Braves have made the sexiest moves among the National League East teams this offseason.
"We had a lot more to fill this offseason and a lot less dollars to play with," Amaro said. "Our big moves were made when we got Doc (Halladay) and we got Cliff and we signed Ryan (Howard) and we signed Chase (Utley) and also Jimmy (Rollins) as well. Those were our moves."
Therein lies the Phillies' hope and possibly despair.
Add Cole Hamels to Amaro's list and those are the six players that will determine whether the 2013 Phillies can contend with the Nationals and Braves in the National League East.
It is interesting to view the national perception of the Phillies. Richard Justice, a columnist for MLB.com, lauded Atlanta's trade acquisition of outfielder Justin Upton Thursday and declared that the Braves joined the Nationals, Giants, Dodgers, Cardinals and Reds in the discussion about the "Best Team in the NL."
The Phillies are only one season removed from putting up the best record in baseball for the second straight year and they did go 35-24 after dealing Shane Victorino and Hunter Pence at the all-star break.
"With Howard and Utley being back, we made up 14 games," manager Charlie Manuel said. "We were 14 under .500 and we played good in the second half as far as winning games and we can play a lot better."
Because of the way the Phillies have gone about their business, they should have payroll flexibility at the trade deadline if they're looking to upgrade in the outfield or at some other position.
"We're leaving ourselves a little flexibility ... in the hope that at some point if we need to, we can maybe add," Amaro said.
That will heavily depend on whether Howard, Halladay and Utley are better and, at this point, the Phillies are encouraged about all of them. Howard is among the regulars already working out down in Clearwater, Fla. and the medical reports on Halladay and Utley have been encouraging.
Amaro said Halladay, who missed nearly two months last season with a shoulder injury, threw off a mound for the first time Tuesday and was scheduled to do so again Friday. Utley has been sending Manuel e-mails that has the manager upbeat.
"He sent me a couple e-mails and the last one right at Christmas said, 'It looks like you're going to have a healthy second baseman,' " Manuel said. "The other day (trainer) Scott Sheridan had a DVD of him working out and he really looked good. He looked really strong in his legs. You can tell he's been doing something all winter."
A baseball scout was asked what he thought of the Phillies' offseason moves compared to what the Nationals and Braves have done.
"The Braves and Nats did better, but the Phillies did a nice job, too," he said. "The Phillies did well with adding the two Youngs and Revere and Lannan will be a solid fifth starter. Roy Halladay is far and away the most important player in the division this coming season. Which guy we see will determine the Phillies' fate."
I'm glad to see a positive article too, but realistically, the Nationals are prolly too talented for us to beat this year, unless we outplay them head-to-head massively. Harper and Strasburg are possibly going to end up being top 10 players in their positions in their generation. It's going to be tough.— kilo_005- 11-year old morons jump up excitedly that some dumb writer writes something -- and presto -- that suddenly means that Delmon Young knows how to catch a fly ball?— warbiscuit
- And Miguel Cabrera knows how to play 3rd base?........reach. — mwcnabb
- Speak of the deVil, there you are, dungbizkit, jumping excitedly. — BEMiller
- yes and if Mike Martinez wins the MVP and Lannan wins the Cy Young then Rube will have done real well for himself...on a more realistic note, these and the rest of the mediocre 40-man roster assembled by the Clueless one will be lucky to get to .500— warbiscuit
- In the word's of Mel Blanc, dungbizkit, you are "What a maroon. What a maroon!" — BEMiller
- Yes, the Nationals. How many picked them last year? Every writer and hack just picks every team that won the year before.
I'll spare everyone the stats and records when healthy, facts matter little to the haters anyway. When healthy we know what this team can do.
Rube is so awful that he put together a team that won 102 games 2 seasons ago. Just terrible. And despite the injuries they had us excited in September again.
I'm excited to get this season going.— smfree31 - Bob - You are REALLY in denial.— BleedPhilly
- warbiscuit Do you even like baseball?Or do you only like baseball if your team is the champs?Pick your playoff teams in the NL.What team do you think will be a surprise team?Who wins the CY Young? MVP?— honomugym
- Bravo.
Just once I would like to see the people who post non-stop negative rants offer up a suggestion as to what moves they would make that would be better.
Don't like the Michael Young signing, then offer up a better move for 3B. Same for CF, or closer.
It's so easy to just blah blah blah, but never a glimpse into why every team is missing the boat by not making him their GM.— smfree31 - AMEN — Trot
- So can the Mets - if they win 98 games.— BobbyD
Look at the team. There are proven winners all over the place. Of course they can win. But they will need to stay relatively healthy and play well. Mostly they need to play well against the NL east. Last year there seemed to be a lack of urgency as if nobody (Charlie) knew how to count; until it was too late.
Gotta get out of the gate quick this year.— zubzub- Sure, if everything goes right for the Phillies they have a shot to finish first in the division, but it would be hard to objectively pick them to finish any better than third. They are an aging team with a dearth of young talent--period.— dblankj
- Sure Matt, and the Sixers, Flyers and Eagles are all looking like title contenders. How about some "truthful" reporting.— Northcountry
