Pieces in place for Phillies to become contenders
Phillies have acquired a talented group of players through the rebuilding process that began last winter.
A YEAR AGO - on Sept. 2, 2014, the day after Labor Day - Pat Gillick stood in the hallway in between the dugout and the visitor's clubhouse at Turner Field and spoke about one of the most difficult resources in professional sports. He talked about the importance of patience, particularly when running or rooting for a team in transition.
Gillick's quasi-state of the franchise address came about 24 hours after four of his pitchers combined for a no-hit win over the Braves. Three of those pitchers - Cole Hamels, Jake Diekman and Jonathan Papelbon - have since moved on in trades, while Ken Giles has moved into the closer's role on the suddenly youthful Phillies roster.
Gillick will either retire or slide back into an advisory role a month from today, when the 2015 season ends and Andy MacPhail steps in to become the club's third president in 14 months. The fate of general manager Ruben Amaro Jr., whose contract expires next month, has yet to be determined.
But a year after Gillick first hinted at the rebuilding that needed to be done, the organization's patience is showing signs of paying off. While the on-field product still leaves a lot to be desired, the Phillies have added 14 prospects into their growing minor league inventory in the last nine months through trades.
Last month's Chase Utley deal with the Dodgers was the seventh trade Gillick, Amaro and Co. consummated since the club moved the rebuild plan into full gear last winter. Among the additions are a potential franchise catcher (Jorge Alfaro), everyday outfielder (Nick Williams), at least a half-dozen righthanders with a chance to populate a future playoff rotation (led by Jake Thompson and Zach Eflin), and a few more-than-useful arms that could become pieces of a future bullpen (including big-armed righthanders Jimmy Cordero and Alberto Tirado).
While the subtraction of proven, veteran talent is showing up in the box score and the standings daily, and usually not in a positive way, the addition of more than a baker's dozen of talented players into the farm system has made it a very fun year for people such as Joe Jordan, especially when a few of those players have already graduated to the big leagues.
"It's been gratifying for my whole staff especially when you see guys come up here and perform and contribute," said Jordan, Phillies director of player development. "We talk about that a lot - come up and help the major league team win a game and try to contribute. It's been very gratifying for all of us. We've had progress all through our system - it's been a good year."
Jerad Eickhoff and Alec Asher, the two lower-rated prospects in the six-pack of players the Phillies received from Texas for Hamels and Diekman, are gaining valuable experience in a major league rotation for the final month of the season. Darnell Sweeney, an athletic talent without a true position, has homered three times in 12 games since arriving in the Utley trade; his latest home run came off Mets Cy Young contender Matt Harvey.
Meanwhile, in the minor leagues, Williams is readying for a return to Double A Reading's lineup for the Eastern League playoffs (he missed the last week after recovering from concussion symptoms) and Alfaro recently returned to the field following a 2 1/2-month layoff with an ankle injury.
"I was in basically all of the pre-deadline meetings and listened to the scouts describe the players - I feel like that our scouts did a great job first and foremost," Jordan said. "I think they described them very well and it's important for my department to kind of take what we got, which is a lot of additional talent - these players have a lot of physical ability - and we've got to get them somewhat indoctrinated to our way of doing things . . . Most of them are coming to instructional league for at least a couple of weeks. Some will go to the [Arizona Fall League], some are going to winter ball, but we feel like it's important for us to get them there for a little while because it's a smaller group, and you can do more in a shorter amount of time."
Expecting the fruits of the Phillies' trade labors to pay off in 2016 isn't realistic or fair. Even the aforementioned players who do reach the major league team in the next 12 months likely will go through the same growing pains that nearly every young major league player endures.
The current Phillies are on pace to lose 98 games, which would be the most for the franchise since they went 63-99 since 1969, the first year of divisional play in baseball. Next year's Phillies will almost certainly lose 90-plus games, too, for no other reason than the dearth of proven starting pitching on the roster or on the horizon for 2016.
But a rebuild that began in theory a year ago and then in practice three months later makes the idea of contending again before the end of 2018 not unrealistic, given the Phillies financial position (an aggressive, hungry ownership with a new TV contract about to kick in) and the arrival of more than a few promising players into the farm system.
"I got no question if they stay healthy," Jordan said, "we added some pretty significant talent."
Blog: ph.ly/HighCheese