Bill Conlin: Two areas of concern for stacked Phillies

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Achilles had his heel. Napoleon had the Russian winter and Waterloo. Dick Nixon had Watergate.

And Ruben Amaro's almost perfect starting eight has two areas that are scarily vulnerable to injury.

If Placido Polanco should go down at third for any length of time, who steps in to fill that gaping hole?

If catcher Carlos Ruiz should suffer a broken finger or something with a disabled-list tag attached, who backs up veteran Brian Schneider, a key offseason free-agent signing?

Don't look for much help - if any - from the minor leagues. The cupboard is bare at both positions. Which is why Amaro signed Polanco, who will turn 35 on Oct. 10, to a 3-year deal after passing on Pedro Feliz' 2010 option. It is why Schneider was able to score a 2-year contract after a dreadful offensive season with the Washington Nationals.

"The deals for Cliff Lee, then Roy Halladay cost us our two best catching prospects," Amaro said yesterday in a frank discussion on the lack of stopgap talent at what have become two of the toughest positions to fill.

Lou Marson, a solid receiver with a marginal arm and line-drive bat, went to the Indians in the four-player package for Lee and Ben Francisco. Marson is penciled in as the Tribe's No. 1 catcher. Infielder Jason Donald was also in the Lee package and is on Cleveland's 40-man roster, and could have been a Polanco replacement at third. He was mostly a shortstop in the Phillies system, but played some third at Lehigh Valley and the Arizona Fall League. Some scouts felt that with his lack of range at short, his eventual destination would be third.

The other catcher was Lakewood's Travis D'Arnaud, a tools catcher with a lot of offensive upside. It seemed as if his timetable could have made him the eventual successor to Ruiz.

There are just not a lot of budding Joe Mauers out there.

"Catching is scarce," Amaro said. "And a lot of prospects are overdrafted. It seems like as soon as the best ones are taken in the draft there's a run on the rest of them."

Greg Dobbs has appeared in 136 games at third the past three seasons, but only 16 of them were last year. The lefthanded hitter, who also plays first and left, is an integral part of Charlie Manuel's restructured bench. Amaro said the most likely short-term replacement for Polanco would be Juan Castro, the versatile but light-hitting infielder who played a utility role for the Dodgers last season. You really don't want a third baseman with 36 homers in 2,694 career at-bats. Not in the Bank.

The Phillies' position-player drafting strategy since Pat Gillick replaced Ed Wade and then handed the car keys to Amaro after the 2008 season has been to take the best player available in each round with an emphasis on athleticism. Or high ceiling, if you prefer contemporary scouting lexicon. That has led to the drafting of Division I football-bound prospects like current darling Domonic Brown, a University of Miami recruit, and Kyrell Hudson, a very fast wideout who was headed for Oregon State. Maybe the minor league folks need to line up this glut of outfield talent and see if one could be converted to a third baseman. Travis Mattair, a 6-5, 210-pound third sacker, has scuffled in the low minors and hit just .236 with scant power last summer in Lakewood. He's still only 20 years old, but faces a career-defining season at Clearwater in the more advanced Florida State League.

The most experienced catcher at the Last Chance Cafe - a k a the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs - will be Paul Hoover, an almost 34-year-old who had cups of coffee in Tampa Bay and Miami. He had four Phillies at-bats last September, lashed three singles and drove in his sixth major league run, raising his average to one a season. Then there is Tuffy Gosewisch, a 5-year minor leaguer with solid defensive skills but a .232 average.

It is fairly apparent that with 30 big-league teams all fishing in the same pool, the talent is thinner than jailhouse baloney. Anthony Hewitt, the 2008 shot-in-the-dark first-round pick, will be in his third season of trying to play third better than third plays him. It doesn't do much good to be built like an NFL strong safety when you've committed a staggering 33 errors in just 76 games, an .832 fielding percentage. That's the kind of FP infielders used to have in the 19th century before somebody figured out leather would work better than flesh. On the other hand, so to speak, Anthony is carrying a .214 average into 2010.

Bottom line, there is no Jimmy Rollins clone, either. And the next Ryan Howard is not visible at any level. Polanco could replace Chase Utley, but then who replaces Polanco?

Bottom line: The Phillies have a classic starting eight. But it is as vulnerable as a house of cards.

Stay healthy, guys. Stay healthy.

Send e-mail to bill1chair@aol.com.

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