Your '09 Phillies
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
Your '09 Phillies
Todd Zolecki
Chase Utley looks to be in serious pain. Actually, he's just acting.
The Phillies later today will introduce Raul Ibanez as their new leftfielder.
It is expected to be their last "major" announcement before spring training in February. If you want to know how your 2009 Phillies will look, take a look at today's roster:
-
Catchers: Chris Coste, Ronny Paulino and Carlos Ruiz.
-
Infielders: Eric Bruntlett, Greg Dobbs, Pedro Feliz, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley.
-
Outfielders: Raul Ibanez, Geoff Jenkins, Matt Stairs, Shane Victorino and Jayson Werth.
-
Rotation: Joe Blanton, Cole Hamels, Jamie Moyer and Brett Myers. Drew Carpenter, Carlos Carrasco, J.A. Happ, Kyle Kendrick and Chan Ho Park are expected to be candidates for the rotation's fifth spot.
-
Bullpen: Clay Condrey, Chad Durbin, Scott Eyre, Brad Lidge, Ryan Madson, Park and J.C. Romero.
Between today and spring training the Phillies are expected to make Park's signing official. (He is scheduled to take his physical next month.) They also could try to add a righthanded bat to the bench because the Phillies currently have three lefthanded ones: Dobbs, Jenkins and Stairs. If the Phillies added a righthanded bat, they could move Jenkins or Stairs to help make it happen. Other than that, I think the Phillies' off-season business is mostly finished. Of course, something could pop up, but I don't see the Phillies making any major changes right now.
Storylines in spring training -- in terms of roster spots -- should be pretty clear at this point:
-
Coste and Paulino will compete to be Ruiz's back up. Lou Marson is expected to open the season in triple-A Lehigh Valley, but if he has an awesome spring he could force Charlie Manuel to give him serious consideration. The Florida Marlins have some interest in Coste, which is worth watching. I suppose the Phillies could keep Coste and Paulino, but I'm not sure how that would work. Marson clearly is the franchise's catcher of the future and I'm sure they want him playing every day in Lehigh Valley. I can't imagine the Phillies would have Coste or Paulino play a reserve role in the minors, know what I mean?
-
Bruntlett and Jason Donald will man the fort at second base until Utley is ready to play.
-
Several pitchers are going to compete for the fifth's starter's job. A lot of people have been asking if there is a favorite. I think Happ and Kendrick have the early edge because of their experience. I think the Phillies might prefer to see Carrasco gain a little more experience in Lehigh Valley, but if he pitches great in Clearwater he could force the Phillies to make a decision on him. I think Park will get a look at the rotation, but I feel his future is in the bullpen. He is a nice option should one of the regular starters miss a start or two, but I think they want him in the bullpen because he can pitch multiple innings. The Phillies have been trying to give away Adam Eaton this winter, so I don't think he has a chance to make the team. If he is in camp, I think it will be to showcase him for a trade.
-
If the Phillies add a righthanded bat and don't clear room for him, there could be a battle for a bench spot.
Obviously, there are other things that could develop -- injuries, etc. -- but those seem to be the most obvious at the moment. The bullpen is pretty much set, assuming Park is in the bullpen. If he somehow makes the rotation, that would open up a bullpen job.
"We have as good a chance of repeating a world championship as anybody," Moyer said yesterday. "It's going to be a competitive race. I'm not going out predicting that we are going to win, but we have as good a chance as any other club out there. It's not like we've lost four or five players to free agency and key players and things like that."
"I think that we're pretty good," Manuel said.
Agree?
*
Comments (76)
Pitching won it last year, pitching always wins it....hitting all our LH hitters in a row against RH pitching will only work, if we score early and often then we'll win a bunch of games....that is in direct contrast to last year when we mostly scored and won late in games against everyone else's bad BP.....things will have to be different this year, with this team as it is now stacked and in our division with the other teams' upgrades....having our 3-4 LH hitters facing LH BP specialists late in games will rarely pan out for us this year....hit early, win often, I say.— Mark1npt- philsphan, Ibañez career avg. against lefties is .263, but that was inflated a little bit by last year avg. He constantly hit in the .250. The problem, like somebody mentioned, is in the late innings where a lot of games are won or lost. Ask the Mets about it.— EL Zorro
- Lowe would still be a good choice for the team. Can you imagine the lights out staff we would have? I know Carlos, AJ et al want to step up but for another championship run against the Mets, Lowe would be perfect in the Park. Pitching is still the game. And another RH OF will be claimed before Clearwater. I would love the Phils take that step and get Lowe and push their team right in the faces of the Mutts.— KGKoons
- It looks like Furcal is returning to the Braves, pending a physical. Maybe Peavy will follow, now that Escobar, their young shorstop, could be available.— EL Zorro
- for all of you guys worrying about the other guys bringing in a LH reliever against our team, relax. We can always PH Stairs or Dobbs or jenkins (LMFAO). serriously, it shouldn't make a big deal. While yes, Utley and Ibanez hit righties better, their nubers against LH aren't bad. Any pitcher who can go 1-2-3 against Utley, Howard and Ibanez deserves praise.— jeff gross
- I have a feeling the Phillies will be dominant this year. Not just because of their talent, players hitting their primes, etc.. But because they have the CONFIDENCE that they have won the big one. And the pressure is off them to win a championship after so many years, particularly in this tough city. I really believe that lack of confidence (and pressure) is what often holds players and teams back from reaching their potential. Especially in a sport like baseball where the mental side is as important as the physical. I think the pitchers - especially Hamels, Myers and Blanton will benefit the most from the late season surge and WS win where they all pitched (or hit!) quite well, for the most part (Hamels for the whole part). I'm really excited for Phillies 2009!— betsy72
- I beleive there are two factors to making it back the WS, factoring out injuries. First, Bullpen, can they be as consistent as they were last year, middle relief is critical, I feel the backend of the bullpen will be fine, maybe not perfect like last year, but be very close. Can, Clay Condrey, Chad Durbin, Scott Eyre, and now Park hold down the fort when the starters have a bad outing? I really believe that the middle relief won the phils many many games last year in critical situations!! Second, can Feliz and Ibanez make up for the loss of Burrell, to me this is a huge question mark! Ibanez does not have to light the world on fire, but he needs to drive in runs and be consistent, along with Feliz, it is very important for these two guys to really come thru!!!— geoff02
- I agree with Betsy. This is still a fairly young group that has just won a World Series. We may be looking at a Dynasty.— SJJim
- zorro and jeff..i guess my thought is although Werth is career 300+ against lefties and Ibanez is mid 260s i say keep Ibanez 5th because he will flat out see more RH prob 80/20 split including the lefty specilist thing...yes last years avg vs lefties may have inflated his career avg vs lefties but it happened and an arguement could be made that hes finally figuring them out..who knows. I say occasionally it will make sense to hit Werth 5th if the team starts a tough lefty and has a good 1 or 2 lh specialist in the pen..but 90% or more I think Raul is our 5 hitter..— philsfan in the atx
- Being Defending World Series Champs makes the Phils the team to beat by default. I still would've liked more improvements other than Ibanez, Moyer, and Park. The Phils love to stick to their mantra of piecing things together with "average" signings. It's worked ONCE in 27 years... Repeating is tough. Very tough. But these "improvements" leave a little more to be desired.— gilbyrocks
- Is there any market for Jenkins? If they have Stairs off the bench they don't need Jenkins. How much is he making? I'd even eat some of the contract if they could move him for a right handed bat.— lancastermike
- Can't wait to see what arbitration brings. A "little" more drama yet to come.— Norma
- I rather move Stairs that Jenkins. Stairs is mainly a pinch hitter. Jenkins is not a bad outfielder. It would be easier to release Stairs if there are not takers than eating some of Jenkins $7-8 mil. Remember the Phillies are already said they are willing to eat some of Eaton's salary adn I believe they still have one more year paying for some of Thome's.— EL Zorro
- lancastermike: For the same reasons we went out and got a LH outfielder instead of just using Jenkins, no one else wants him either. That and his $8 million or so contract. If he has a good first half, and we're going to have to give him enough playing time to allow him to try to have a good first half, then perhaps we can move him around the trading deadline.— jeff gross
- If Park is in the bullpen and Condrey is on the team as well, we'll be carrying 13 pitchers. Then you have your 8 starters and a backup catcher (Coste or Paulino). Dobbs is a lock obviously and Bruntlett will be on the roster due to his versatility. That leaves one open spot on the 25 man roster for Jenkins or Stairs. Unless I'm counting wrong, one of those two have to go, yet both are signed for next year. And everyone keeps saying we need a righthanded bat and maybe we'll trade Jenkins or Stairs to make room for one. I thought maybe Condrey would get the ax, but they gave him a one-year deal last week. If we don't lose Condrey and either Jenkins or Stairs, the 25 man roster is full.— toccheyhockey
About this blog
The Phillies Zone is the place for up-to-the-minute Phillies coverage from the Inquirer.
Matt Gelb
Inquirer Staff Writer
Bob Brookover
Inquirer Baseball Columnist
Search this blog:
Classifieds:
Site Services:
Partners:
Powered By:
