Manuel seems to know what all of us do: The Phillies just aren't a good team right now
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Manuel seems to know what all of us do: The Phillies just aren't a good team right now
David Murphy
As I wrote in today's Daily News and Inquirer, Charlie Manuel is a guy who finds it hard to mask his true emotions, and yesterday those emotions were apparent in his voice, which steadily developed a tone of frustration and anger and defiance during his post-game news conference at Citizens Bank Park. It was the second straight day that Manuel stole the show in his briefing, the second straight day when he all but laid his true feelings about his team bare. Most times, Manuel's press conference is a mish-mash of unusable quotes from a man who really doesn't want to tell you what he really thinks about the things you are asking. This often leaves fans with the impression that their bumbling manager cannot string together coherent thoughts. In reality, Manuel knows that expressing coherence about whatever he is truly thinking could result in a sound byte that compounds whatever struggles his team needs to break out of. He is like Andy Reid in the sense that he willingly takes the heat for his players when they are going through one of baseball's inevitable rough patches, because he knows that if they are left alone for long enough, they will break free of the skid and make him look competent again.
But Manuel is unlike Reid when it comes to hiding the true feelings that the words coming out of his mouth might repress. And if you are willing to afford me an educated bit of conjecture, I have gotten the sense since spring training that he knows he does not have a very good baseball team. Certainly, he did not expect three of his top four starting pitchers to spend time on the disabled list. He did not expect Justin De Fratus and Mike Stutes to go down with injuries, depleting his bullpen depth before the season was even a few weeks old. Certainly, he expected that Shane Victorino would hit a bit better than his current .249/.319/.406 line, as would Jimmy Rollins and his .251/.301/.648 line.
But I got the sense that Manuel knew two things: the Phillies were taking a huge risk by entering the season with the melting pot of John Mayberry Jr., Laynce Nix and Juan Pierre in left field, and that the power the team had lost in the offseason in the form of Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez had not been adequately accounted for. He said all of the right things, expressed all of the optimism that he prides himself on, but deep down inside you could tell that Manuel was concerned that he needed to win by playing a style of baseball that his team simply was not equipped to play.
Over the last two months, that frustration has built and built and built and now the Phillies are losers of six straight games and they are three games under .500 and four games behind the next-worst team in the National League East. And they are headed on a nine-game interleague road trip, starting with six teams who you would normally pencil them in to beat. Depending on what happens over this next week, things could get really ugly. Or the Phillies could once against surface for air, and rattle off a winning streak that noses them back over .500, and keep alive the hope that they will still be alive when they hope their reinforcements will arrive.
Either way, the Phillies are who they are. This is a conclusion I first reached on May 7, after that 9-3 win over the Nationals when Cole Hamels pegged Bryce Harper in the back.
That night, I wrote:
The Nationals are in first place, the Phillies are in last, and both teams spent the last 3 days proving themselves worthy of their designations. At this point, the Phillies' victory should be regarded as little more than a footnote. In the first series of the season between the two teams, the Nationals not only won two out of three, but showed themselves to be everything that the Phillies once were. A team that runs the bases with intelligent abandon. A team that boasts one of the strongest bullpens in the game. A team that plays with an infectious energy capable of revitalizing a long-suffering fan base. The Phillies? They are a .500 baseball team. Accept it now, and the rest of the month might not feel like a 25-day punch in the gut.
Exactly one month later, all of that remains true (although I still believe, as I have since spring training, that the Marlins are the biggest threat to replace the Phillies as NL East champs). Yesterday, Manuel mentioned the energy that I mentioned in Washington and that Marcus Hayes mentions in his column today, where he says that the Phillies aren't having fun anymore. Problem is, when you focus on something so abstract as "having fun" as the problem, you can get tricked into believing that there is a remedy, as if all the Phillies really need is a team-building field trip, like that time the Mighty Ducks flipped the finger to The Man and hit the streets of L.A. for some good old fashioned pick-up roller hockey.
The truth is that Ty Wigginton and Mike Fontenot and Juan Pierre and Hector Luna and John Mayberry Jr. (none pictured) can head out to Pennsport and play all the stickball they want, but they are still going to be Ty Wigginton and Mike Fontenot and Juan Pierre and Hector Luna and John Mayberry Jr.
Fontenot has eclipsed 400 plate appearances once in his career, in 2009, when the Cubs won 83 games. The only year that Pierre has appeared in the postseason since he did so with that 2003 Marlins team is 2009, when he logged the second-fewest plate appearances of his 11 full seasons in the majors. Wigginton has logged at least 429 plate appearances every season since 2006, but he has never appeared in the postseason. When Chad Qualls pitched for the playoff-bound Rays in 2010, he was the sixth or seventh option in a bullpen that featured set-up men Joaquin Benoit (11.2 K/9, 1.34 ERA) and Grant Balfour (9.1 K/9, 2.28 ERA) along with veteran lefty specialist Randy Choate (8.1 K/9, 4.23 ERA).
This isn't evidence that suggests these players having a losing mentality. It is evidence they are good enough to play regularly for second-division teams, but lack the all-around ability necessary to earn a regular spot in a championship lineup. In Thursday's loss to the Dodgers, all of them were in the lineup.
The reason why Manuel's voice has taken on such a strong tone of urgency is that he knows that this current Phillies skid is different from those that plagued the 2009 team, which lost six straight games and hovered around .500 in mid-June, and the 2010, which was seven games out of first place in late-July. Those teams weren't playing up to their potential. Those teams had players like Ryan Howard and Chase Utley and Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez, all of whom could either reach base with regularity or change the outcome of a game with one swing of the bat or, in most cases, both.
As I write in today's piece for the newspaper, this Phillies team is only living up to its potential. You can point to the fact that Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino have produced less than their recent track records suggest they will. But Carlos Ruiz has produced well more than his recent track record suggests, and everybody else is essentially right on target. Hunter Pence is hitting .266/.331/.485 with 13 home runs. His performance over the previous three seasons suggests he should be hitting .293/.347/.478 with nine home runs. Placido Polanco is hitting .289/.318/.374. From 2009 through 2011, he hit .287/.335/.377.
To drive this point home, take a look at the 13 hitters who were active at the start of this week, before Jim Thome and Michael Martinez joined the fray. From 2009 through 2011, those hitters batted .271 with a .323 on base percentage and .408 slugging percentage for a .731 OPS. Through 59 games this season, those 13 players are batting .278/.321/.413 for a .734 OPS.
From 2009-11, those 13 hitters averaged a home run every 46.5 plate appearances. This season, they are exceeding that mark, averaging a home run every 40.7 plate appearances. From 2009-11, those 13 hitters averaged an extra base hit every 13.7 plate appearances. This season, they are averaging an extra base hit every 14.2 plate appearances. They are walking less (one every 13.7 PAs from 2009-11 compared with one every 14.2 PAs in 2012) and striking out more (one every 8.1 PAs compared with one every 6.8 PAs).
For the most part the production of this Phillies offense is exactly what recent history suggested it would be.
Over his last 35 games, a stretch in which the Phillies are 17-18, Rollins is hitting .268/.325/.392 with three home runs for a .717 OPS. Victorino over his last 35 games is hitting .263/.349/.429 with three home runs for a .777 OPS. The Phillies are 16-19 over that stretch. Both Rollins' and Victorino's batting lines are almost exactly in line with the numbers they posted over the previous three seasons.
So again, the question: where, exactly, is the improvement supposed to come from? The best chance, perhaps the only chance, is that Pence and Victorino conjure up a stretch of dominance like the ones they produced last season, and the rotation does likewise, and Carlos Ruiz continues to play like the best-hitting catcher in the majors and Jimmy Rollins continues to do what he has done over the last couple of weeks.
At this point, the hope of Chase Utley and Ryan Howard galloping to the rescue is little more than an illusory oasis in the desert. Yes, they appear to be making progress, but that progress is still limited to the fact that one of them is running the bases and both of them are fielding ground balls without the assistance of a stool. Yes, they are hitting live pitching, but they are doing so against pitchers who are not good enough to be playing in low-A ball.
One of the first signs of Manuel's trepidation about the viability of his team came in early spring training, when he repeatedly refused to rule out the possibility of Howard returning in time to play on Opening Day. Later, he repeatedly spoke of a belief that Utley would not miss much time at all with his chronic knee condition.
To an objective observer, one whose perception of both players' health conditions was not skewed by his vested interest in the most favorable of outcomes, Manuel was clearly thinking wishfully. And it was not hard to deduce that he was doing so because he knew that the Phillies were ill-prepared to deal with any other outcome. Which made his comments after Wednesday's loss to the Dodgers so notable. A reporter asked the manager whether the recent progress made by Utley and Howard was cause for hope. Manuel scoffed.
"Those guys, they hit in a game today," he said. "They didn't play. There's a difference in that."
You get the feeling that the words Manuel has spoken over the last 48 hours are the words of a man who realizes he can no longer fool himself or anybody else into thinking that the Phillies are simply an underachieving squad that needs to break out of an extended slump.
The scary thing, at least when you look at the roster and then at their six-game deficit in the standings, is that they might actually be overachieving.
isn't Murphy the same idiot who argued that keeping Rollins at lead off was a good thing?— wxdavid- nydb -- everything i say should be etched in stone since it seems that there are only 2 or 3 of us who said the entire offseason exactly what was gong to transpire with this joke of a team compiled by Rube while imbecilc fans and jouralists were universally predicting ing a first place finish and comntinuing to idolize the dumbest g.m. im sports— warbiscuit
- Thanks for this informative article about the Phils' woes. The stats are revealing. I wonder if Amaro the 'vision' needed to build a winner? I'm not an expert. I posted a simplistic article on my blog with related thoughts: thewildhorselives.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/the-downward-spiral— cjhj818
- Fans, an injury often incapacitates. Several injuries may incapacitate a lot. The Phillies are inflicted with many injuries. Many of the posters seem to have undergone brain injuries.— 2smart4philly
- Longtime Fan I take exception when you say that Charlie did not put the team together. I can continue you he had signicant input into who is on the team this year. Let's start with Jim Thome you think maybe he had some say in getting Thome back?— gates2012
- Murph,
This is the second article you have written this week defending Manuel. What are you on his payroll? He is the manager or boss of the team. He needs to be held accountable. He has lost at least 6 games this year with his gut feelings. Why can't he get them to take a pitch of run the bases? Look at the junk the Mets are running out ever day! They play hard and win a few. Look at the injuries the Nats have. Old uncle Charlie needs to go.— Ssteve115 - The more long term mistake made was resigning Rollins - he is going to be a financial albatross on this francise for years to come regardless of how he does the rest of this year. I don't see any other team taking this has been off our hands regardless of the amount of his contract that the Phillies would be willing to eat.
Truly a mind boggling blunder.
I AM CONFIDENT IN SAYING THAT THERE WAS'NT A TEAM WILLING TO GO BEYOND TWO YEARS TO GET ROLLINS LAST FALL.
I would really like to know what the Phillies were thinking - Everybody said Galvis was ready or close to being ready and they go out and resign Rollins for 4 years. What sense does that make ?
What did they plan on doing with Galvis ? Sit him on the bench for four years.
I sure hope the Phillies don't plan on having Rollins mentor Galvis. That lazy slouch would ruin any promising athlete.
— candidly - manuel must go, i've been saying since 2008 they've won inspite of of him. he's a terrible mgr. and always has been. if he puts qualls in one more time he should just check himself into a mental hospital.— sgamble077
- 1.) This team is absolutely not playing up to it's potential - regardless of the injuries. There is no reason not to expect this team to play .500 baseball until utley and Howard return.
2.) This team would be playing .500 baseball if not for the poor managerial performace of Cholly.
that Cholly has to go is obvious.— majpooper - Joseph Stalin used to quote his own writings also. The overall effect is about the same.— orange rhino
- If blame is to be sent it should be sent to Amaro. He put this lousy team together and even coming in to the season they didn't look like division champs again. Then you add to the equation that 3 top all stars are hurt in Utley, Howard, and Halladay and we have what we have today. This bumbling bunch of misfits couldn't hit if their lives depended on it and the poor record is no fault of Charlie's. Blame Rube the Boob. He brought in Scwhimer and Qualls and a host of others who can't pitch. He DID NOT bring in Cliff Lee because Lee did that all on his own. Amaro should be the one to go the same route as Joe Banner.— erniebanks14
- here's another huge problem. Only Kansas city, minnesota and seattle have a worse home record than the phils. The phils at 178M have the worst home record in the nl at 12-19. They suck at home.— Fan74
- This lineup wouldn't even be a good Triple A team.— gordon7
- I don't buy the hitting numbers. They rarely get the clutch hits.
Yesterday was 10 hits...all singles and 3 runs. While the bullpen
is a mess, the phils have no power. They rarely get 3 hits in one inning, they don't walk much. Running the bases and fielding has been an adventure at times.
Charlie needs to be more defensive minded when the team has a lead. He's easily blown 3 or 4 games. The hitting is awful. You would expect more from pence Victorino and rollins but they've all folded
without Ryan and Chase. Chooch has stepped up along with PIerre.
The phils have wasted many excellent starting pitching efforts but not scoring at all. Rueben needed to take the rollins money and get a hitter...and take a rental for short for a year. Galvis although his average is not high has more doubles and has driven in more runs than Rollins. Freddie's defense has been spectacular.
Let Polanco and Blanton go at the end of the year. If you don't sign Hamels, you'll need to trade him to get something back. If they do need to trade Cole, they will send him to the AL. If you let hamels go to free agency, the dodgers will offer him more money than anyone else might.
Mayberry needs to play for a month to see if he can hit. Charlie has bounced him around because he needed Pierre. Pierre, wigington, nix and fontenot are all subs. Thome shouldn't be on the team. Ibanez has 9Hr and 24 rbis for the yanks which the phils could use right now.
Raul getting 1.1 M and phils getting nothing from thome at 1.5
You don't know if Chase can play anymore. Will he give you enough to bring him back in 2013. Don't know yet but I don't like the fact that both knees are now effected. It may make sense to trade chase to the AL. The Phils need to get some players who can hit the ball and move runners. The current lineup doesn't make a pitcher work much and often are easy outs.— Fan74 - These kind of situations are where managers are supposed to earn their money. How do you get guys to play over their heads? You give them regular roles and show faith in them. Where do you find improvement? Your best bet is that younger players might develop. Prior to the season it was clear that this team would be weak unless the rotation had simultaneous career years again or unless their only under-30 talent- Galvis, Mayberry, Brown- turned in to star players. Nix, Wiggington, Polanco, Rollins et.al. aren't getting any younger or better. But Manuel doesn't have the guts to stand up for a young player and give them a chance to bloom. Mayberry has been awful this year, but he was great in 2011. It could be that Charlie demoting him the first time his average went below .250 (game 8) had something to do with that. Charlie clearly isn't earning his money and he is being outclassed by Mattingly and Davy Johnson, who have been able to win in similar circumstances.— jtj10
- Great post....Charlie can only play with what he is given by Amaro but he has to be a little more proactive. ....This team has terrible situational hitting and CANNOT come from behind...The batting averages do not tell the whole story— westie33
- Using a slew of interesting stats, Murph has shown light on something that has been bothering me for the past two months. After the run the Phils have had, it is hard to admit that this year's team is simply mediocre and are playing as well as can be expected. I guess we all will have to get used to that new reality.— pajamas
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Quite simply, they've done everything well at times. They just haven't had a stretch where they do everything well at the same time. The great baseball god of numbers will step in eventually.
Fire Pat Gillick !!!— zubzub- There's always a tendency to focus on those offensive numbers. The offense has its issues, as we knew it would, but consider the fact that 5 more wins to this point would have us thinking and feeling completely differently. You can put at least 2-3 losses on bad defense, which we're not used to seeing around here. You can probably put 2-3 more on the bullpen and 2-3 more on Charlie's bad game time decisions. With this team it's really an issue of them being so bad in so many areas at the same time. The bad defense and bad bullpen really come down to bad offseason moves and too much wishful thinking by the GM.— s
- based on claudiovergio's logic, if team has all 25 players ranked in top 500 but there 470 players that are better than each and every one of them, the team shoud be considered "talented"... with posts like this exonerating Amaro, it is clear Phils fans may have the clueless g.m. they deserve..man what do they put in the water in Philadelphia? do they have compulsory education requirements?— warbiscuit
- Manuel was blowing smoke up the posterior of the media about Howard because that was the company line in Spring. All of what Murph has written is not a surprise. The issue now is, assuming that with the extra wild-card the needed win total is less, can the Phillies get to 88 wins, which may be the ticket to the post-season. That means they need to go 60-41 from this point. There are 28 games to the All-Star Break, and you'd hope for .500 by then. After that, if they match their best month (May/16 wins ) they'll still come up short. Maybe the plan was to have everyone healthy for the last 2 months, all other things being equal. Unfortunately, the suits figured some things wouldn't change; they did and now there are too many broken parts to fix.— ijj
- Good post David, to paraphrase Parcells, they are what their record says they are: mediocre.— kse
- What Murphy has written about the position players and their batting averages is true, but what he is not accounting for is the subpar pitching of our starters during this losing streak. I don't know what to make of the fact that something seems to fall apart every day, other than that the team is decimated by injury. Over the last couple weeks (with the exception of the Cliff Lee start) the team is scoring runs. They simply are not scoring enough runs to cover lagging pitching. Last year, the pitching carried the team.— realzoe
- claudiovernight -- Phils had one non-pitcher ranked in top 50 players --top 500 players is absurd measure of "talent" ... after top 100 you are dealing with marginal "talent" ...good teams like Yanks, Cards, Bosox, Ranger have many many players ranked in top 50 and top 100.. having a team made up of players ranked no. 474 is not an indication of "talent" --yours is one if the least "talented" posts I have ever seen— warbiscuit
- Two points, The last time I checked, about a week ago, the Phils led the NL East in batting average and fielding and was second in pitching (ERA). Yet the team was in last place. This suggests to me that fixating on the numbers doesn't get one very close to understanding the under-performance of the 2012 Phillies which are bad at situational hitting and bridging from the starter to the closer, no matter what the numbers say.
Second, an ESPN ranking of the top 500 players by their baseball experts before the season began had 21 Phils listed (including Dom Brown who has not been on the roster at all this year). By the law of averages, they would have had fewer than 17. This said to me that despite top end salaries paid to guys like Howard, Lee, Halladay and Utley, the Phils were fielding a team with backup talent that was well regarded by the experts. In short, the conclusion one drew was that the Phils had not shorted themselves on bench talent and second tier pitching. This makes it hard for me to fault Amaro for not recognizing the lack of talent on a team that all the other so-called experts could see -- which is what so many Phillie fans are spouting now. Amaro brought in some busts like Willis, Thome and Qualls but has enjoyed reasonable success with Pierre, Nix and Wigginton (who does not belong at 3b). That's baseball, folks. Throwing the most money at free agents doesn't always produce positive results.— Claudio Vernight - @gates, didn't you read the article? The stats Murphy trotted out? The team IS playing to its potential, maybe a little above.
@dull, very good insight. Lots of blown leads by aces in addition to the fact that this team just rolls over and dies like dogs in the late innings when down only a run or two, let alone more.
@bebo, your "feed the beast" scenario is dead on. I sadly contend there were alternate ways to feed the beast without putting us where we are today.— dasher - gates is exactly right. and RAJ knew he was going into the season without the production of howard, utley and ibanez. he replaced all the production with hope. hope that JMJ would be the player he was in the 2nd half last year...he's not; that experiment can now be over. hope that nix, wigginton & pierre would be more that they are; they're not. hope that rollins, with all that extra cash, would warp back to '07; he hasn't, never will, too clueless to take a good look in the mirror. i'm not saying he should have resigned ibanez, but he did have some other options...cudyer, willingham, beltran, posednik...it's not clear any of them were seriously considered.— nyphilliephan
- David, I know you think I'm over-the-top in my tone and language and so don't respond to my posts, but I actually thought you did a better job than most in fairly evaluating some of Amaro's decisions and showing the alternatives, e.g. how the Mets spend money on their bullpen this past off-season and how Amaro did, the alternatives to spending $33 million on Rollins and instead improving offense, etc... why do you seem to now back down from your implicit criticisms of the way Amro does business and be more overtly critical? are you afraid to lose some of your access if you simply say what is now obvious to all --that the Amaro methods failed? or do you think it's so obvious you can leave it to anonymous over-the-top bloggers like me to do the dirty work?— warbiscuit
- He doesn't respond to your posts because they are facile and uninteresting. Worse, you bloviate as if everything you say should be etched in stone. — nydb
- The real problem has been the inability of the team's pitching and defense to hold a lead or a tie. Of the last six straight losses only in Sunday's game did the Phils not have a lead or tie in the game. This was the same problem that cost the team the last post season when Oswalt could not hold a two run lead and Lee could not hold a four run lead. Pitching and defense have been the real problems. When a team has all these reputed Number Ones and a top closer you expect a lead or tie to be held. That's why Ruben paid them the big bucks.— Dull
- David- I'm going to go out on a limb here (without looking at the stats) and say Jimmy's OPS is not .949:
'as would Jimmy Rollins and his .251/.301/.648 line'— terb - Good point about left field. One result is that players like Pence, Victorino, and Rollins, overanxious hitters at the best of times, may be trying too hard to hit home runs in order to make up for the lack of power in left, at first, and at second.— JayW
- A good manager gets the best out of his players. A good manager makes the right moves between the lines. A good manager makes the right moves in the clubhouse. A good manager helps his team win games not lose them. Charlie Manuel is a bad manager and always has been. Please do not confuse the Phils past success with his ability to manage they are not related at all. The team the Phils put on the field and the lack of competition in the NL East enabled the Phils to win not Manuel's managerial ability of which he has none. I wish you and the other beat reporters would face the simple fact that this guy is not good at what he is overpaid to do.— gates2012
- While I see your point, is it possible that this *is* the best Cholly can get from this roster? — benla
- If anyone has lost their mojo, it is the writers covering the Phillies. You have done nothing but write PR for the Booben Amaro. Even the village idiot could deduce that this, apart from the starting pitching, was a worn out team of retreads with no prospects coming down the pike because Booben emptied the farm. Amaro squandered the inheritance bequeathed him from Gillick and gm'd this team into the sad show it is today.— DameB
- jfdati - This spring, any time somebody asked me what I thought about the upcoming season, I told them it wouldn't surprise me if they won 100 games, and it wouldn't surprise me if they lost 80. I think my official prediction was 92 or 93 wins, but I also think predictions are stupid. I think if you go back and scroll through the archives of the blog and the Daily News, you'll find plenty of coverage of the potential weaknesses of this team. My biggest miscalculations was the eighth inning, where I thought Bastardo would once again be a dominant set-up man, and the struggles/health problems of Roy Halladay. Those two things alone are probably worth between 4 and 7 victories at this point.— dmurph003
- Outstanding post. While it has always made sense to front-load the payroll with top-of-the-rotation starters, the decisions that RAJ has made with the every-day lineup (with the exception of Pence) since he took over from Gillick have been that you can plug just about any mediocre player in the lineup, and as long as Halladay, Lee or Hamels were piptching, it would be alright.
RAJ has been trying to pull "inside straights" with his everyday lineup for 3 years, and it has led us to this sham of a roster.
There has also been this "feed the beast" mentality for the past 2-3 years - the beast being the turnstiles at CBP - which has lead to the constant trading of our elite minor league talent for the starting pitching that has kept this team afloat (this goes back to the Gillick days, with the trades for Garcia and Blanton), and while it may look, optically, like we haven't traded away all that much, it also makes a statement about management's ability to engage in the infusion of young talent that EVERY team needs. If the Phillies weren't going to commit to Ibanez when his contract was over, then they needed to commit to Brown...let him play through his inevitable struggles, and see what you have here. Would he be an everyday stud now? I don't know - but you never gave him that chance...because you had to "feed the beast". Instead of giving Rollins a 4-year, $40m deal, could you have signed a one-year stopgap at SS and given Galvis (who EVERYBODY knew was ready defensively) a chance to win the job? You could have...but you had to "feed the beast".
Well guess what?
Even with a $175m payroll, we have run out of food...and that is PATHETIC.— bebopdeluxe1 - clueless rube spent over $100 million this past off-season on paplebon, rollins, kendrick, thome, schneider, wigginton, nix, qualls, willis, pierre, fontenot, luna, etc...of all those the only decent major leaguer (one who can either pitch or can hit and field) is Papelbon and he sure wasn't worth $100 mill... and closer is a luxury a losing team could ill afford to overpay for.. for $100 mil. (more than a lot of teams whole budgets) a half intelligent g.m. could have acquired 3 or 4 bullpen pieces, outfielders and infielders who can hit (Beltran, Willingham, etc), a decent backup catcher, etc - the role of a g.m. is to be able to evaluate team needs and players and figure out who can play and can contribute, not just throw all your money on biggest name and sign useless trash to fill roster.. this follows same method of Amaro in past years of wasting salary on Ibanez, Polanco, Blanton, Howard, etc and "hoping" ueseless trash like Bruntlett, Francisco, Bowker, Baez, Herndon, Martinez would be adequate off bench and bullpen to win in post-season (they weren't)...when will journalists just come right out and say that Ruben's overpaying for 2 aces is not a justification of 3 dozen imbecilic moves that destroyed the team and stop apologizing for one of the worst g.m.s in history of baseball— warbiscuit
- David, I find it utterly amazing that you present this case as an obvious deduction based on the facts yet almost every writer in this town had this team winning the east this year. Are we to infer that Philly has a bunch of sports writers that don't know the game of baseball, or maybe more insidiously that they were pandering to the ownership of this team, afraid to call them out for letting this roster atrophy.— jfdatl
- Cholly all but said you can hold me responsible and fire me! I honestly
believe he has had it, and he is trying to send this message to whoever
his boss is!— larryv - The should relieve the silly, old fool of his managerial duties when they get to Minnesota. The place where his sorry major league career began and the source of numerous tall tales that have but a sliver of truth to them.— Wilhelm Von Humboldt
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- Charlie didn't put this squad together. Someone else did. Charlie has to play the hand he was dealt. He hasn't suddenly forgotten how to manage. I get tired of all you armchair managers whose baseball experience consists of second string rightfield in little league who think they know more than Charlie. Walter Alston, Casey Stengel, and Tony LaRussa couldn't win with this roster.
- pay attention STUPID.. the Phillies in 2008 and 2009 simply did not require all that Much managing. This team with the loss of Utley and Howards and these medium bench players cannot WIN/ Play the same way. This requires cholly to manage differently.. something he cannot do. — wxdavid
