A clearer picture of Charlie Manuel's plan for Juan Pierre and John Mayberry
Well, if you were wondering whether the Phillies' line-up has the stuff to scratch out a 4-3 victory against a corps of relievers from a bullpen that finished 2011 ranked 12th in the National League, then last night qualifies as a resounding statement. Otherwise, as the ballplayers say, it was what it was.
A clearer picture of Charlie Manuel's plan for Juan Pierre and John Mayberry
David Murphy
Well, if you were wondering whether the Phillies' line-up has the stuff to scratch out a 4-3 victory against a corps of relievers from a bullpen that finished 2011 ranked 12th in the National League, then last night qualifies as a resounding statement. Otherwise, as the ballplayers say, it was what it was.
When Freddy Galvis tripled home a run in the seventh inning, he did so against the only player on either side who is younger than he is, a 21-year-old right-hander named Ryan Beckman who has logged 139 2/3 innings in three minor league seasons, none of them above the level of Class A. When Juan Pierre led off the first inning with a double that traveled 200 feet, all of it in the air, he did so against a 26-year-old middle reliever coming off a rookie season in which he allowed 1.3 home runs and 4.4 walks-per-nine while posting a 3.95 ERA, 1.317 WHIP and 98 ERA+.
Look at it this way: In the first game of last year's end-of-March exhibition series against the Pirates, the stars were Ben Francisco, who hit a solo home run, and Luis Castillo, who went 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI.
Neither player was in attendance last night.
The only thing we can really take from these games is circumstantial evidence that supports the various observations that our intuition has recorded after a month-plus of watching the daily working of this team. For example, it seems clear that Charlie Manuel plans on handing Juan Pierre a big role in this year's offense. It also seems clear that he has some hesitation about John Mayberry Jr's ability to transition from last year's part-time success story to a valuable everyday cog in the line-up. Our own Rich Hofmann asked the manager about that yesterday, and Manuel swore that Mayberry would get his chances. And he will. Because the Phillies don't really have many other options at this point.
I think we have a pretty good idea of Manuel's intentions for the first month or so of the schedule:
1. Play Jim Thome twice per week at first base with Mayberry playing the other three or four games.
2. Rotate Juan Pierre and Laynce Nix in left field, with Pierre getting the bulk of the starts against lefties.
3. On occasion, against certain lefties, start John Mayberry Jr. in left and Ty Wigginton at first base.
In other words, I see Thome and Nix both getting two starts per week and Mayberry and Pierre both getting four. Mayberry will pick up a start every now and then in center field in relief of Shane Victorino, while Wigginton could work in at third on occasion. That puts Mayberry in position to reach 500 plate appearances, should he continue to earn the opportunity. But it is going to take a lot more than last night to convince anybody that the Galvis-Pitcher-Pierre-Polanco portion of the lineup is going to produce anything more than a convenient opportunity to grab beer, hot dogs and a bathroom break.
Seems the Lou Montanez was doing very well...does he have a place+— psuwelsh- Charlie has his hands full this year.— PhillySportsFix.com
- I still can't believe we are going to have to watch that "slap hitting" all season....I'm sorry I'm just not a fan....I really think the Phillies made a mistake by not having Posednik over Pierre....at least Pod can drive balls into the alleys and is really the "smarter baserunner"....I just hate a true singles hitter!!!— bbrady25
- Pods will hit .70 points higher than Pierre - on some other team. He'll also have 50 more RBI's and probably top him in runs scored too. Uncle Chollie is a joke. I love him, but no one can argue that he is a smart manager. (how many times have we won the division and how many times has he won MGR of the Year?) — justacarpenter
- I must be missing something.
"Pods will hit .70 points higher on Pierre - on some other team."
Podsednik is a career .279 hitter. Pierre is a career .296 hitter.
Podsednik, who has hit better than .300 twice in his career, also hit .244 in 2004, .243 in 2007 and .253 in 2008.
Pierre has never hit below .275.
"He'll also have 50 more RBI's and probably top him in runs scored, too." Oh, really. You think so?
Podsednik's career-high in RBI is 58. Podsednik has scored more than 86 in a season once.
Pierre, who scored 96 runs in 2010 and 80 runs in '11, has scored more than 100 runs three times.— PhightinPhil - thing about Pierre is that he's actually a bit of a reverse splitter. The Nix/Pierre platoon in left that Murphy's talking about makes more sense over a Nix/Posednik platoon and could have been a reason to keep Pierre over Posednik in additon to their contract situations. — hayndude
- How often have you seen Scott Podsednik play on a regular basis? How do you know that he is a "smarter" baserunner? Why, because you've seen him play a handful of spring training games?
Podsednik has 301 career stolen bases in 403 attempts for a percentage of 75 percent.
Pierre has 554 career stolen bases in 744 attempts for a percentage of 74 percent.
Yet somehow you know Podsednik to be a "smarter" baserunner.
"I still can't believe we are going to have to watch that "slap hitting" all season."
Podsednik has amassed a grand total of 41 homers during his 10-year career. What's more, 80 percent of his 1,036 career hits have been singles. So, tell me, what would you call Podsednik if not a slap hitter?— PhightinPhil - If Polanco and Rollins can stay relatively healthy, I think Pierre is the leadoff guy they have always needed. Rollins can hit in the three hole, and he should if and when Utley returns. Utley could be an option in the 2 hole. Needless to say, I think the lineup could be different every night this year.— beegal99
- Still don't get why Uncle Charlie wants to bat Galvis 8th. Ruiz does very well in that spot getting the pitcher out of the way by just taking the walk. Throwing a rookie in that spot will guarantee he gets nothing to hit. Galvis hasn't shown he has the patience to bat 8th.— mtuske
- I think it's funny all of these years people have complained that Rollins is not a true leadoff hitter and is constantly trying to hit for power when all we need is a bunt or a basehit. Now we have a guy who is one is still very accomplished at getting on base via a bunt, slap hit, etc and people are complaining that we didn't keep a guy that can hit for more "power" because they don't want a slap hitter that just gets on.— guyguy4
- You're right. It shows how pathetic Galvis is when he is tied for second in major league baseball in spring training triples, leads the Phillies in RBIs and has two more home runs this spring than Thome, Nix and Wiggy combined.— Dull
- Guy - Thing is, Pierre and Rollins' OBP are virtually identical over the last 7 years. Pierre is .334. Rollins is .332. The difference? Rollins has 123 home runs and a .446 slugging percentage. Pierre has nine home runs and a .350 slugging percentage. Pierre hasn't been a true "high OBP" guy since his early years.— dmurph003
- Montanez might have a place until they acquire another bat— robm0202
- @Dull - I agree Galvis has decent numbers this spring but remember the numbers Fransisco posted last spring. How did that work out. I'll take the proven guy in the 8 hole for now.— mtuske
- I think Pierre was a nice pickup. He is more of a true leadoff guy than Jimmy.— TVGuy22
