Comments on: Stats Show Phils’ Offense A Bunch Of Hacks

By: The Big Irish

The Big Irish — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:51:59 +0000

The club as a whole is leaving far too many runners on base, a problem that plagued them last season as well. It was always too simplistic of last year’s team to dismiss that fact with a statement that they were the highest scoring team in the league. Fact is, they could have, should have, been even better last year. If they had hit better with RISP last season, perhaps it wouldn’t have come down to the final weekend, let alone the final game. One man’s opinion: the bombers are good to have, but they could really use a good, old fashioned Pete Rose-type great batting avg/doubles machine at the top of the order. Who that might be? Who knows, but they could use one…….

By: Don M

Don M — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:45:36 +0000

They wouldn’t be trading him THIS season… but maybe by the end of the year… or sometime in the not-too-distant future. He set a MAJOR LEAGUE RECORD for strikeouts in a season, but wants to be paid like A-rod, who will go down as one of, if not THE best player in baseball history. I love Howard and he carried them the past few years, but look how much Burrell’s contract (at only $12+) has hurt them the past few years…since the 2nd half of last year, he’s been great… but you can’t break the bank for Howard who will only slow down in the coming years… I’d be fine with them buying out his arbitration years, but I think a deal similar to what Chase Utley got, “wouldn’t even come close to getting the deal done.” Keep in mind that Utley is a much better all-around player than Ryan Howard..

By: Down Early, Phils Power Past Rockies | Phillies Nation

Down Early, Phils Power Past Rockies | Phillies Nation — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:10:23 +0000

[...] bases off local product Taylor Buchholz. And with the bases loaded â€” a spot in which the Phils have struggled this year â€” Carlos Ruiz came up huge with a two-run double to grab the [...]

By: Bruce

Bruce — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:28:55 +0000

I don’t think the Phillies have reached the point of desperation after just 19 games to consider calling up a 20 yr old kid who has never face pitching above single A minor leagues. Adrian Cardenas may one day get his call to the Majors but NOT before he’s fully ready to do so.

The cold reality is Howard is NOT going anywhere (not this season) and Utley playing another position is unfathomable in the minds of the front office and certainly the manager.

By: erik

erik — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:14:39 +0000

i think we should give more than 19 games(8.52% of the season) before we decide to just trade howard away. give the man a chance, everybody slumps here and now you know, just imagine howard hitting after utley once the slump is over. then burrell afterwards, seems kinda deadly to opposing pitching staffs doesnt it

By: Geoff

Geoff — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:13:59 +0000

Yeah thats actually what I want to happen. I want cardenas on the phillies and not included in a trade for someone else. I want burrell at first instead of utley though, i would want utley to play left field. if its the other way around, then ok but as long as ryan howard is out of here and theres a package of mlb-ready top prospects heading our way im ok with that. face it, they wont win with him beacuse he strikes out too much and if he wants 20 million and they give it to him IT WILL CRIPPLE THEIR PAYROLL. You dont give 20mm to a guy like howard, you can give 20mm to hamels though and id rather do that. howards contract will become a “bad contract” in 3 years if hes not DH’ing in the Al somewhere. Plus, Adrian cardenas is a contact hitter thats hitting for average. They need one more of those in their lineup. All of this seems really obvious to me.

By: xfactor

xfactor — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:10:35 +0000

I’d leave Howard hitting 4th. So much of hitting is confidence, there’s no need to mess with Ryan’s head. As good as Burrell’s been, Howard is the cleanup hitter here and there’s no real dispute.

Tough to judge the offense without Rollins. But I agree that the Phillies could improve on moving runners and putting the ball in play. I also don’t like to see Feliz hitting higher than 7th as a starter. He still gives away far too many ABs. His power and defense help, but he’s a bottom of the lineup guy.

Victorino had been giving away ABs at the top of the lineup as well. Werth’s career OBP is way higher than Vic’s and he has more power and plays above average D. When Vic gets healthy, I think he should be given days off semi-regularly until he gets hot.

Ruiz will hit; his main job is defense anyway. Jenkins will come around, too.

By: Don M

Don M — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:02:57 +0000

Its only a matter of time before the Phillies trade Ryan Howard…move Utley to 1st base, and bring Adrian Cardenas up to play 2nd. Howard would be a dominant DH for any American League team, and he’ll always be a suspect fielder. On the trade market, it could bring the Phillies a top pitching prospect, and probably an OF prospect as well. They need to save money to spend on Hamels, Myers, Carasco…and before you know it, we could have a stud pitching staff top-to-bottom. Howard and his 200 K’ s can go elsewhere, if he is really looking for $20 million a year…he needs to go to NewYork…

By: Geoff

Geoff — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:35:26 +0000

I noticed that Jenkins and Feliz, despite his HR last night, are expected to vbe guys that hit long balls, but they should really be guys that need to concentrate on hitting for average and contact at the 6th and 7th spots in the lineup. we dont need homeers out of the 6 hitter, we need rbis and people that can get on base and keep rallies going. They will need to bring someone in that hits for average if they cannot get some more of their own guys going. Also, how long do you keep sending ryan howard out there 4th? hes killing the team. I can swear Ive seen him strikeout like 15 times with 2 runners on base in the past 2 weeks alone. He needs to be in the 5th or 6th right now with the way hes hitting, not 4th. burrel goes to cleanup, and i dont know who goes to 5th so i guess howard would have to settle there becaus efeliz cant hit 5th. aaron roward was a very solid 5th hitter and they really need that type of stability right now with ryan howard struggling. utley is providing it at the 3 slot but you need a guy later in the order thats realiable to stop these strikeout binges from happening.