Stick a Fork in the Philadelphia Phillies
Saturday August 25, 2007
Stick a fork in them, the Phillies are done. Last night I had the misfortune of attending the latest of the recent series of Phillies disasters, this time a 14 to 3 loss to the team that the Phillies were battling for the wild card spot in the National League. You might notice I didn't mention the race against the Mets for the division title. That one ended a while ago.
Once the Phillies are eventually eliminated from the playoff race, you'll be seeing all sorts of calls for manager Charlie Manuel's head. I'm not one of those who blames Manuel for the Phillies lost season.
If any individual is to blame, it's Pat Gillick who made some of the worst player pickups imaginable in the last two seasons. If any group of people is to blame, it's whoever the folks are in charge of the players’ strength, flexibility and general fitness.
I've never seen a team with more players going on the disabled list for strains, pulls, soreness, inflammation etc. Give me a broken bone like Chase Utley had and I can understand it. Players who just can't stay in shape over the course of a 162 game season get no sympathy from me.
As someone who grew up in the 1960's and 70's, I don't recall the Phillies of those eras with a constant flow of players onto the disabled list. Memory tells me that in the Phillies World Championship year of 1980, almost all of the starters and most of the pitching staff played all season.
The Phillies entered spring training in February with six, yes six major league starting pitchers. Their dilemma was to be which would be traded or sent to the bullpen. They did try to trade John Lieber, but apparently found no takers. Once Brett Myers, the Phillies most experienced and qualified starter, somehow talked himself into the role of closer (a bad decision when this season is examined as a whole), the five starting pitchers for the Phillies were: Jamie Moyer, Cole Hamels Freddie Garcia Adam Eaton and John Lieber
Today, on August 25, 2007 four of those starters are on the disabled list. The only starter not to go on the disabled list in 2007 is Jamie Moyer and if his last two starts are any example (8 2/3 innings, 19 hits and 16 runs), he will soon be joining that crowd also. His arm is dead. Former starter, now closer, Brett Myers has only recently returned from his own stint on the disabled list.
It's not that I'm forgetting the position and bench players on the Phillies. They've had their share of injured players in 2007. Let's see....Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Shane Victorino, Michael Bourn, Rod Barajas... Well, forget about Barajas. He's better off on the disabled list for all he's done in 2007.
Charlie Manuel has no control over the physical shape of his players. He also didn't make any of the decisions which brought players like Adam Eaton, Freddie Garcia and Rod Barajas to the Phillies. He won't be the one who decides to let Aaron Rowand walk away as a free agent at the end of this season either. There apparently have been no efforts to sign Rowand to a long term contract.
Pat Gillick should be fired at the end of the season - that is if anyone can find him. Can you believe a General Manager that doesn't even live anywhere near his team? Phillies fans hated Ed Wade because he did nothing to help the team season after losing season. Gillick is even worse. He brings in players who are accidents ready to happen or others who simply stink.
The Phillies need to look seriously at why so many of their players break down. Several years ago it was easy to blame the Astroturf at Veterans Stadium. We don't have that toilet bowl to kick around anymore. Whoever is responsible for the physical conditioning of the Phillies players should also be on the unemployment line.
The bad news is that looking ahead, 2008 looks even worse. The Phillies need at least two, ideally three good starting pitchers. They will need a centerfielder who can somehow match Aaron Rowand's stats. They still need an everyday third baseman who can hit with power and field the position. Add to that two, maybe three relievers. It's a nightmare.
Come to think of it, maybe Charlie Manuel should hope that he gets fired. Surely some team will look to hire a manager who has somehow managed to have three winning seasons in a row with the most injury prone bunch of players ever to play the game.
The pattern for the off-season is set in stone. Manuel will not be rehired. Management will tell us that they just need to tweak the roster. Aaron Rowand will be allowed to walk. Someone will pay him well beyond what the Phillies feel he is worth. Somewhere the Phillies will find a few washed up starters and relievers to sign for what most of us will feel are absurdly high salaries thus allowing the Phillies to swear that they aren't cheap.
It seems like a never-ending cycle of futility that Phillies fans have been suffering from for most of the last 27 years. It's easy to say that the Phillies are cheap. They are to a certain degree. The big problem is that they are simply terrible judges of talent unless it somehow falls right into their laps.
Well, it's only two weeks until the first Eagles game of the season. That's all we can ever seem to hope for with the Phillies. Just get us to the first Eagles game before you collapse. They didn't quite make it in 2007.
Once the Phillies are eventually eliminated from the playoff race, you'll be seeing all sorts of calls for manager Charlie Manuel's head. I'm not one of those who blames Manuel for the Phillies lost season.
If any individual is to blame, it's Pat Gillick who made some of the worst player pickups imaginable in the last two seasons. If any group of people is to blame, it's whoever the folks are in charge of the players’ strength, flexibility and general fitness.
I've never seen a team with more players going on the disabled list for strains, pulls, soreness, inflammation etc. Give me a broken bone like Chase Utley had and I can understand it. Players who just can't stay in shape over the course of a 162 game season get no sympathy from me.
As someone who grew up in the 1960's and 70's, I don't recall the Phillies of those eras with a constant flow of players onto the disabled list. Memory tells me that in the Phillies World Championship year of 1980, almost all of the starters and most of the pitching staff played all season.
The Phillies entered spring training in February with six, yes six major league starting pitchers. Their dilemma was to be which would be traded or sent to the bullpen. They did try to trade John Lieber, but apparently found no takers. Once Brett Myers, the Phillies most experienced and qualified starter, somehow talked himself into the role of closer (a bad decision when this season is examined as a whole), the five starting pitchers for the Phillies were: Jamie Moyer, Cole Hamels Freddie Garcia Adam Eaton and John Lieber
Today, on August 25, 2007 four of those starters are on the disabled list. The only starter not to go on the disabled list in 2007 is Jamie Moyer and if his last two starts are any example (8 2/3 innings, 19 hits and 16 runs), he will soon be joining that crowd also. His arm is dead. Former starter, now closer, Brett Myers has only recently returned from his own stint on the disabled list.
It's not that I'm forgetting the position and bench players on the Phillies. They've had their share of injured players in 2007. Let's see....Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Shane Victorino, Michael Bourn, Rod Barajas... Well, forget about Barajas. He's better off on the disabled list for all he's done in 2007.
Charlie Manuel has no control over the physical shape of his players. He also didn't make any of the decisions which brought players like Adam Eaton, Freddie Garcia and Rod Barajas to the Phillies. He won't be the one who decides to let Aaron Rowand walk away as a free agent at the end of this season either. There apparently have been no efforts to sign Rowand to a long term contract.
Pat Gillick should be fired at the end of the season - that is if anyone can find him. Can you believe a General Manager that doesn't even live anywhere near his team? Phillies fans hated Ed Wade because he did nothing to help the team season after losing season. Gillick is even worse. He brings in players who are accidents ready to happen or others who simply stink.
The Phillies need to look seriously at why so many of their players break down. Several years ago it was easy to blame the Astroturf at Veterans Stadium. We don't have that toilet bowl to kick around anymore. Whoever is responsible for the physical conditioning of the Phillies players should also be on the unemployment line.
The bad news is that looking ahead, 2008 looks even worse. The Phillies need at least two, ideally three good starting pitchers. They will need a centerfielder who can somehow match Aaron Rowand's stats. They still need an everyday third baseman who can hit with power and field the position. Add to that two, maybe three relievers. It's a nightmare.
Come to think of it, maybe Charlie Manuel should hope that he gets fired. Surely some team will look to hire a manager who has somehow managed to have three winning seasons in a row with the most injury prone bunch of players ever to play the game.
The pattern for the off-season is set in stone. Manuel will not be rehired. Management will tell us that they just need to tweak the roster. Aaron Rowand will be allowed to walk. Someone will pay him well beyond what the Phillies feel he is worth. Somewhere the Phillies will find a few washed up starters and relievers to sign for what most of us will feel are absurdly high salaries thus allowing the Phillies to swear that they aren't cheap.
It seems like a never-ending cycle of futility that Phillies fans have been suffering from for most of the last 27 years. It's easy to say that the Phillies are cheap. They are to a certain degree. The big problem is that they are simply terrible judges of talent unless it somehow falls right into their laps.
Well, it's only two weeks until the first Eagles game of the season. That's all we can ever seem to hope for with the Phillies. Just get us to the first Eagles game before you collapse. They didn't quite make it in 2007.
Comments
I agree, but the most distrubing part is the loyality of the fan base. Can we somehow get a break for the time and money we spend on this team. Manuel may be not able to manage a bull pen, but the phillies have not brought in players that a brighter manager could not win with. Can we stop supporting this team so the current owners will sell and they we can get ownership that will do what you need to do to win.
Frustration at it’s core. The Philadelphia Phillies have been stagnate for most of this century. The team’s transition from Wade to Gillick was pretty much uneventful. Which is a BAD thing. A team on the cusp of a wildcard birth almost every year, but sadly true fans know that our front office (Montgomery/Gillick) will NEVER truly attempt to make the PROPER off season acquisitions to punch through into the playoffs. Players we need are either too expensive or too much of a “liability” (Borowski). The signing of Rod Barajas was absolutely Mind-boggling. And the trade for a fly-ball pitcher like Garcia in a Homerun park was questionable. I too was a bit excited to see how Garcia would fair with the Phils. He barely lasted a month into the season. That tends to happen to a player who does not receive a proper physical before an acquisition. A team with a paper thin bullpen (1 post season signing “Alfonseca”), 6 starters , and three catchers. Wes Helms a backup infielder with backup stats to prove it and a horrid fielding pct. Helms was our supposed solution at 3B? God Bless Greg Dobbs a surprising pickup by Gillick, acquired off waivers (of course). At the end of the season our key issues will once again be to acquire a third baseman, and bullpen help. These “holes” will eventually be plug by wash ups fresh off the waivers. I have been a die-hard Phillies fan since I was young, and it does upset me to sit at the park and hear fans do EAGLES chants while the bullpen blows another late inning lead. I don’t blame the players or Manuel as much as I blame the whole front office. The fans should be chanting for the head of the three-headed penny-pinching monster consisting of Gillick/Mongomery/Giles. I call him Gil-mo-gi.
I got a sinking feeling in my stomach as I was reading your article. Unfortunately, it was because I was reading the words that I’ve been trying so hard NOT to acknowledge in my mind. Maybe if I will now accept the truth, I won’t be a nervous wreck as I’m watching each game!…….Gina