July MMLBRC: Philadelphia Phillies

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On the first Monday of each month we roll out our Monthly MLB Report Card (forever to be known as MMLBRC) for the Mets, Phillies and Yankees. We’ll still check in from time to time with short posts to quickly take the pulse of each team, but think of the MMLBRC as an in depth physical (anal probing not included). Truthfully, a month is probably too small of a sample size to make overarching claims like we will attempt to, but dammit, you want content! So rather than write well-reasoned quarterly updates, we’ll make rash decisions based on far too little data. First up: the Fightin’ Phils.

We’re about to get a little philosophical here at Them’s Good Eaton.  You see, at this time last year, we’d probably have been pretty excited that the Phils could drop 6 (six!) series in a row and still sit in first place in the NL East.  We’d be thrilled that they could manage to do this with the team’s cleanup hitter struggling to stay above the Mendoza Line, and with their Opening Day starter wearing this jersey.

But not this year.  Not after we got a taste of this.

Now, we’re frustrated at the lost opportunity.  Take a look at how the NL East has fared since we checked in with our June MMLBRC’s…

Mets: 16-16
Phillies: 14-16
Marlins: 14-18
Braves: 12-19
Nationals: 10-22

If not for the pathetic NL West — where no one is over .500 – the NL East would be the worst division in baseball right now.

Which brings us to our point: while the Braves tanked, the Marlins came back to earth, and the Mets fired their manager and went all Tyler Durden, the Phils had a golden opportunity to put some serious distance between themselves and their scuffling division mates.  Hell, if the Phils had even managed to go .500 against the AL in that stretch, they’d be 6.5 games up at this point.  And now that they’re the defending NL East champs, we expect no less of them.

But alas, things aren’t much different now than they were then.  So let’s take a look at a couple of areas where the Phils need to improve if they want to win their first back-to-back division titles in 30 years.

• The starting pitching must get better, one way or another.  Brett Myers should be given a couple of weeks to put things together at Triple-A Lehigh Valley, but if we assume the worst — that his days as a quality starter are behind him — then something must be done.  With Brad Lidge now inked to a three-year extension, the Phils could choose to market Myers as a back-end bullpen piece and see what they could net in return.  Shortly, we’ll be sounding the call for Erik Bedard, who is the top starter available now that Sabathia’s off the market.  Whatever the case, J.A. Happ was pretty solid in his debut on Friday and deserves his spot in the rotation for the time being.
• We hate to keep harping on it, but Ryan Howard is almost un-watchable at this point.  We certainly appreciate how overrated batting average is as a statistic, so we won’t dwell on his .223 average and 123 strikeouts thus far.  What we will point to is his OPS+ of 101.  To put that in perspective, that’s saying that this year’s version of Howard has been the offensive equivalent of a career average season from Mark Ellis.  Yikes.  The 2006 NL MVP simply has to be better.
• Speaking of NL MVP’s… Jimmy Rollins sports an OPS+ of 99 right now, making him worse than the average hitter.  We know he’s missed time with injury, but J-Roll has to start swinging a better stick.
• And while we’re on a roll with OPS+ here (sorry to all the old-fashioned RBI-obsessed statheads), check out these numbers: Carlos Ruiz (51), Geoff Jenkins (68), and So Taguchi (44).  The first two should be sitting whenever possible, while Taguchi should visit DFA-land, with Brandon Watson (see here) arriving from Lehigh Valley to replace him.

Names absent from the above rundown are those keeping the Phils afloat right now.  You know, the usual suspects (Hamels, Utley, Burrell, Moyer, Kendrick, Durbin, Victorino, Werth, etc.).  With Tom Gordon visiting the DL, we should get a chance to see junkballer R.J. Swindle make his major league debut, which should be a real treat (if you like 55 mph curve balls, that is, and we certainly do).  The bullpen has been key to the Phils’ success this year, and while Gordon has pitched alright, the addition of a second lefty in Swindle should actually strengthen the pen.

Finally, a quick word on the MLB Draft.  We didn’t cover it here because Phuture Phillies did a thorough job over on his blog.  If you’re interested, check out his draft review here, and check here for a list of all 52 players the Phils picked.  A couple of thoughts here…

• The Phils’ top selection, Anthony Hewitt, is as raw as they come.  It’s never a good sign when someone says, “In game situations, he struggled.”  Here’s video of the selection and ESPN’s take on the pick.  Our take?  Don’t expect to see him in a Phils uniform for at least 5 years, if ever.
• Sandwich pick Zach Collier may be the one to watch from this draft.  He’s also raw, but he’s two years younger than Hewitt (17 as opposed to 19) and he’s already shown the ability to draw a walk (5 walks and 3 strikeouts in 18 plate appearances thus far in the Gulf Coast League).  Remember that name, Phils fans.
• The signing deadline isn’t until August 15, so it’ll be a month before we can completely judge the Phils’ haul.  So don’t be surprised if we’re on here August 16 bitching and moaning about the Phils failing to sign some of their picks.

That’s all for now.  Check back later in the day for the Yanks and Mets MMLBRC’s.

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Filed under Philadelphia, Philadelphia Phillies

Tags: Anthony Hewitt, Brad Lidge, Brandon Watson, Brett Myers, J.A. Happ, MMLBRC, R.J. Swindle, Ryan Howard, Zach Collier