Comments on: Year in Review: The Bench

By: The All Star Celebrity Roster Has Been Announced

The All Star Celebrity Roster Has Been Announced — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:38:23 +0000

All Star Celebrity Roster Has Been Announced…

So the celebrity all star reserves have been announced……

By: psujoe

psujoe — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:46:16 +0000

Derosa at 2/12 is pretty steep IMO. He’s a big health risk. If healthy though he gives a club a lot of flexibility.

By: George

George — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:41:55 +0000

Whoops! Got my birthdates messed up. DeRosa will not be 38, but only 36 in his second contract year. Polanco will be 36 in his third contract year, or about the same age.

Still, everyone seems to think Polaco’s signing was for too many years, whereas no one seems to care when it comes to DeRosa. Personally, I see no difference between 36 and 36.

By: George

George — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:08:45 +0000

Ho, Hum. DeRosa is a Giant. $6 million per, same as Polanco. In two years, DeRosa will be 38, if I’m not mistaken; older than Polanco will be in THREE years. He’s also coming off wrist surgery.

Just pointing this out to those who wanted DeRosa so badly.

By: George

George — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:57:23 +0000

I’m not all that sure Jimy Williams made a big difference. Do any of us really know what he and Manuel discussed? Maybe Williams was just agreeing at times, and the strategy was mostly Charlie’s. Manuel certainly has won a lot with other bench coaches, both in Cleveland and Philadelphia.

Given the Phils’ bench and bullpen in 2009, as Don M points out, any decision would be the wrong one. I’ll go one further and point out that Manuel certainly had no control when Werth, Howard, or any of the other regulars struck out with runners on, and he had no control when his starters had 8.00 ERAs early in the year, or when Myers, Romero, Ibanez, and Dobbs couldn’t play, or when no one seemed to be able to close.

By: j reed

j reed — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:18:33 +0000

i forgot about tracy. The Broxton-Stairs duel aside, I want contact hitters. We have plenty of power, and with that comes the slumps that often befall power hitters. Polanco like consistency is much welcome. Slap hitters who can flash the leather off the bench works for me.

De Rosa is now a Giant, 2 yrs. for 12 mill.

By: Don M

Don M — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:00:06 +0000

I dont think replacing Stairs HR power will be an issue.. he only hit like 4 last year

but his presence in the lineup did allow for Jimmy Rollins to get that game winning hit off Broxton … did Amaro see that far ahead and know that Phillies-Dodgers was likely.. and that Stairs would still be in Broxton’s head ???

…
Thome can be an everyday DH and I think that was the known plan, that he was a postseason rental for the Dodgers

…
Andy Tracy should, and probably will, be in line for a callup this season, he can hit at every level.

…
Jimmy Williams was definitely a huge piece to the strategy-aspect of Charlie Manuel’s success .. but I wouldn’t say that Charlie is “guessing” the other times. He knows baseball inside and out

but when his options off the bench were Mayberry or Bruntlett

and his options for a Closer were Lidge or Madson … of course every decision he made last year was going to look like the wrong one!!

By: George

George — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:35:56 +0000

Home run power off the bench is overrated, because power hitters in general strike out too much, or don’t have the speed required to beat out a double play grounder. With a runner on third, you only need a single; with no one on, you need a base runner for the other power hitters in the lineup. You never need a strikeout.

Thome may be younger than Stairs, but he’s still the same AL type player. He’s DH material, and given his abilities, will likely get a pretty big contract.

I still say that although Stairs didn’t answer any questions, there was a reason he was chosen over Jenkins. NOT ONE TEAM WANTED JENKINS! Why, I wonder?

By: Brian Sr. of CO

Brian Sr. of CO — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:17:46 +0000

I think if anything, Bako proved that with more playing time, offensive numbers would improve. Not like Bako ever had all star numbers, thats not what I am saying at all, but his numbers at the plate improved as he settled into a more active role behind the plate. When he first started I would have ranked him as HORRIBLE honestly. As time went on, he get better. Still mediocre for the most part, but hey, still an improvement. I think thats what we have this season, we have an improvement (on paper) on the bench. I think there were also some holes where Jimy Williams left as the bench coach. Maybe on some teams the bench coach is a nobody, or just a placefiller, but I think it took charlie several months to get his mojo back to where it was when Jimy was here. When Jimy was on the bench, he and Charlie always seemed to be together. This past season, Charlie seemed to be by himself on the bench more, not discussing the game, or strategy (guessing).

By: MikeB.

MikeB. — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 06:42:10 +0000

Andy Tracy hit well as a pinch hitter after he was called up in September.

By: WFC010

WFC010 — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 02:19:18 +0000

I actually really like this years bench for the most part, although I wish we had more Homerun power to fill the void left by Stairs. Anyone know how much money Jim Thome is commanding these days? He’s younger than Stairs, and still has enough power for the bench.

By: j reed

j reed — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 00:16:04 +0000

whoops, that’s
“throwing a baseball or a paper airplane…..”

By: j reed

j reed — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 00:13:12 +0000

Bench players need a minium amount of playing time to offset the variance intrinsic to the game. How much time , I don’t know but I have a hard time thinking our bench really had that chance. I think alot of that came from the offense having to offset the pitching woes early in the season and a rotation without Myers and a legit ace until Lee arrived. As such the bench was forced to sit and not only for offensive reasons, but for defensive ones as well. I like Dobbs but a 3rd basemen he is not. And Stairs is really a AL player. Hopefully Franciso’s arm will improve in the off-season. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if he’s throwing a baseball of a paper airplane. Also I think if the bench had a legit contact hitter like Eckstein or Jamey Carrol they would have seen more playing time. Hopefully Gload and Castro will see more playing time. Plus I think we can all agree after his WS production what a well rested Utley can do vs. a tired, overtraining Utley. Not to mention how Jayson Werth’s swing speaks volumes when he’s fatigued.

By: psujoe

psujoe — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:35:36 +0000

I kind of wish we could’ve gotten another piece in the Lee deal like we did in Francisco, but Rube already filled in small pieces.

By: Don M

Don M — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:24:14 +0000

I thought that right out of spring training last year.. and was surprised when he was let go..

Im not as smart as baseball executives, but clearly Matt Stairs wasn’t the answer to any question last year

By: George

George — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:21:27 +0000

Lots of people seem to think Jenkins would have been a better option than Stairs. The Phils obviously thought otherwise, as did every other major league team. He went unsigned for the entire year, even though with his salary already covered by the Phils, he’d have been a free outfielder.

There had to be more to the Jenkins thing–no more bat speed or footspeed, maybe, bad clubhouse influence, maybe, premature baldness, maybe–who knows?!–and as much as Stairs bombed in the second half, he may still have been the better choice.

By: psujoe

psujoe — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:12:38 +0000

I like what the Phils have done with the bench this year. I saw that the one site ranked the Polanco signing as one of the worst yet. Just too much $$$ for too many years.

By: psujoe

psujoe — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:06:43 +0000

Unfortunately when Dobbs, Stairs and Bako are struggling it just highlights Bruntlett’s struggles as well becaus he replaces Rollins and Utley. it was a total bench effort to stink so bad. B. Francisco helped when we got him in there for Mayberry.

By: George

George — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:05:20 +0000

I pretty much agree with psujoe here. The Phils bench proved early on that they were so bad they couldn’t sub for the regulars. That’s why the lack of playing time. I’m sure Manuel would have loved to have rested Utley, Rollins, Feliz, and Ibanez, but their replacements were about as good as the ninth hitters on T-ball league teams.

I’m not sure what should be done about first base. There are some lefties Howard just can’t hit. Maybe Gload or Francisco could be tried there during spring training. Castro might be an option, but he really wasn’t signed for first base, and his bat is probably the weakest one on the bench.

By: Don M

Don M — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 21:45:15 +0000

its funny to me that its always bruntlett that gets named as to why our bench “sucked”

to me… Jenkins was the player to keep instead of Stairs last year.. not sure if that would’ve made any difference or not, but at least he can play the field and run the bases

Dobbs was hurt.. and with Feliz healthy, didn’t get any real chance to get comfortable last year.

Mayberry Jr. is a great AAA/ emergency outfielder.. but he’s not a legit MLB or even 4th OF for a good team

the backup catcher plan hurt them last year, but Bako was a nice pickup (at least defensively) when they got him