(PHOTO: NJ.com)

This post was written by one of our commenters, The Dispy.

The general consensus is that, after the season is over, the Phils will have three big contract issues to deal with: the pending free agency of both Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Madson along with an extension for Cole Hamels. The Phillies, by design or good fortune, have a lot of expiring money coming off the books.

In my view, they are not cash strapped, yet good business and an eye to the future dictate they be prudent when letting their money go. That said, lets tackle these contracts one at a time:

1. Cole Hamels: He is the “must do” out of the three. Its not my money, but I would not be much interested in playing hardball with Cole. He is a star, he’s young, and he’s lefthanded. If I were Cole I’d want five years. Cliff got it so why shouldn’t he? Buying out his 2012 arb years is worth what….16m? Then give him 20m a year after that.? Dipsy’s price: 5y96m

2. Ryan Madson: The “reluctant” closer. He may be good enough to be a closer but he’s never done it for an extended period of time. No track record. While that may change as the season goes on, today is today. By way of comparison shopping, Francisco Cordero makes 4/46, Valverde makes 2y14m, Papelbon 1/12 on an arb year, and in a drug addled stupor, Brian Cashman gave Rafael Soriano three years at….gulp….35 million. And he doesn’t even close. I have a feeling that this is where Boras’ is going to hang his hat when the phones heat up. If that’s what Madson’s price is going to be then I say “happy trails to you!” Lets also be mindful that they’re are gonna be closers floating around next year and we would just pick one. Yes, it is just that easy. And then there’s always that Bastardo fella. Dipsy’s price: 2y/21m-ish.

3. Well, those two were easy for me. Lastly, it’s Jimmy Rollins. Do we really have to talk about all his strengths and weaknesses? For me, he gets props for being a leader. And he is one of those VERY rare players that I’ll tack on a buck or two for being a company man. The number I keep hearing is 3/36. No. No. And no.

While still an excellent fielder, Jimmy has been susceptible to prolonged offensive slumps and injury ever since his MVP season. While he has played well in his contract year, he is now hurt. Again. I, for one, do not want to sit through three long years of injury and spurts of offensive ineffectiveness. We’ve done that with recent players. Its just too much money when you don’t know what you’re getting. If you accept the premise that left field will be upgraded offensively next year, then I think the Phils can do just fine with a capable, professional shortstop. Jimmy has indicated that he is not in any frame of mind to just go year to year or accept a “I-just-wanna-stay-in Philly” type of deal. Dipsy’s price: 2y22m with a mutual option for a third year. Incentives might be good here but Jimmy won’t have it.

As of July 26, 2010, all individuals eligible for induction but not eligible for BBWAA consideration will now be considered on a single ballot, grouped in areas of three different time frames: Pre-Integration (1871-1946); Golden (sickeningly presumptuous, isn’t it?) (1947-1972); and Expansion (1973 and later). What this means is that players, managers, broadcasters, execs, etc all get thrown into the pot for the era they contributed in. The voting for each era rotates so that each “era” is voted on once every three years on a rotating basis.

This year, a committee of 16 players, writers, execs, etc from the “Expansion” era will vote on 12 individuals that contributed form 1973 to present. Thats right, guys from your era vote on you. No more pesky “downers” like Stan Musial, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Bowie Kuhn etc, around to screw up your chances. The results are to be announce tomorrow. Without further ado:

The Nominated

Vida Blue, Dave Concepcion, Steve Garvey, Pat Gillick, Ron Guidry, Tommy John, Billy Martin, Al Oliver, Ted Simmons, Rusty Staub (I’m not kidding), Marvin Miller, and George Steinbrenner. These individuals were selected by what was quite sensibly named the “Historical Oversight Committee”.

The Voters

Johnny Bench, Whitey Herzog, Eddie Murray, Jim Palmer, Tony Perez, Frank Robinson, Ryne Sandberg, Ozzie Smith, Bill Giles, David Glass, Andy MacPhail, Jerry Reinsdorf, Bob Elliot, Tim Kurkjian, Ross Newhan, and Tom Verducci.

Well, if you’re like me your seeing problems already. Firstly, I believe that we should be removing guys from the Hall of Fame, not adding any. As it is, Cooperstown is littered with undeserved and ill considered members and, while I understand we can’t extract any of them, I would sure like baseball to take some steps to choke off the flow of more coming in. That said, when I reviewed this whole new apparatus, I came to the following conclusions:

1. Players who don’t get in the first time around should never be considered again (In bold). Most of the aforementioned nominees were on the ballot for fifteen years, got voted on, and didn’t get in. As far as I’m concerned, thats the end of the story unless you did something really great after your fifteen years elapsed. What’s so “oversight…uh…ful” about a guy that had fifteen years to grab enough votes to get in but couldn’t? Nothing. he didn’t get enough votes because he wasn’t good enough and the voters were probably right.

2. The voting pool is comprised mostly of guys that played with you or covered you. At first blush, one might surmise that there would be no one better to vote on these players than the other guys that were on the field with them? Firstly, do you really think that all the other Veteran’s Committee members that have been excluded from this vote are so clueless that they could not fully grasp the impact of a particular player even though they didn’t sit in the same dugout with them? Well, if they are then they should be thrown out as voters, period. I predict that this method will make for rampant “croneyism”. I fear that some voters, many of whom have personal relationships with the guys they are being asked to vote for, will set their objectivity aside and give one of their pals the nudge they need to get in. I know that if I’m Davey Concepcion, I’ve already been on the phone with Johnny Bench and Tony Perez for a little exercise in lobbying. The bottom line: The perceived fairness of having contemporaries vote for one another be subjugated to the concern the lack of subjectivity one might encounter when buddies are ask to vote for each other. Prospective members should be voted on by a fair cross section of Hall of Fame voters, not exclusively by their peers.

3. The “Tommy John” question. Yes, he was a real good pitcher who pitched for good teams. A little addition: If you added up the number of Tommy John’s World Series winning teams plus the number of times he won the CY Young Award plus the times he led the league in either wins, era, or strikeouts, then you would get a number of precisely zero. Nice career but lets face it, the only reason he his on this ballot is because he was the first guy to have the Frank Jobe surgery. Thats said, lets induct Dr. Frank Jobe, and I’m so not kidding.

4. Who will get in: Concepcion, Garvey, John, Miller If you construct a panel of sixteen people and ask them to vote they’re not going to choose no one. Thats part of the screwy nature of the process. When a voter gets a list of candidates, its inherent that those asking you to vote are suggesting that you vote for someone. And that’s my theory.

5. Who should get in: Marvin Miller. If this little ad hoc crew really wanted to get it right, this would be their one and only choice. Im am not pro-union or pro management, but before Miller showed up as head of the first players union, these players were slaves. A true Hall of Famer and a long time coming.

In summation, in his inexorable march towards fixing everything in baseball that’s not broken, the Bud Selig, or his proxies, have installed a stupid and skewed new process that no doubt will bug a lot of people. I just hope not too much damage is done between now and the next time its changed.

I would suspect that Ryan may be a bit confused sometimes about what hitting approach to take. One would think that a part of him might like to go to the plate, when a man is on base, with the luxury of knowing that someone behind him can knock in the run if he doesn’t. He doesn’t have that and that leads to wild swinging and an unwillingness to take walks. This “I do it or it doesn’t get done” attitude, and the hitting approach that goes with it, leads to pitchers giving him slop to hit because they know he’ll swing…because he feels he has to. And he does. Taking a walk means nothing to Ryan nor should it.

Now let’s put a premiere hitter in back of him. An RBI man and a run producer. At that point, perhaps Ryan becomes a more selective hitter because he’s got the security behind him. A guy that could make a pitcher pay for walking him. Unafraid to take a walk, Ryan would see better pitches, which then makes him a better hitter. Add a little Bonds to his Fielder (Cecil), so to speak. This type of thinking is by no means novel and I think the Phils would get the hitter to fill that spot for Ryan if at any point it becomes feasible. Now it is.

The day before Thanksgiving, The White Sox declined to offer arbitration to Manny Ramirez, thus removing his Type-A free agent tag. This means any team can sign him without giving up draft picks. Now, if you don’t think Manny can hit anymore, I guess you can stop reading here. I believe that, if motivated, Ramirez can still produce a 35/120/.320 season. Yup. Notwithstanding his last two seasons comprised of suspensions, in season vacations, injuries, and attempts to grow mammary glands, I believe that if Manny wants to play, that he will hit. “Good” Manny would the best offensive option available to the Phils…by far.

He’s a head job. A drama queen. A poor fielder. He also owns two World Series rings. He is dedicated to the art of hitting and has become one of the greatest offensive players of his generation. He’s right handed. And he’s played for Charlie Manuel. If Manny wants to play, and we don’t know that he does, then Ruben oughta seriously explore what it would take to put him in red pinstripes. Financially, and I have not been consulted on this, it would no doubt have to be a heavily incentive-laden contract. If the guaranteed base salary the Phils give him is low enough, it would make his acquisition a low risk ,high reward venture. I was thinking about 3 mill.

Let’s find Manny, wherever he might be, and kick the tires a little. Find out what’s going on in that coconut of his. In the event he thinks the sun hasn’t set on his career and that he would like to play for a potential World Series winner, if he’d be willing to do what it takes to be a good teammate (or a reasonable facsimile), if he is in baseball playing shape, then put ink to paper and MapQwest him some directions to Clearwater. Make no mistake, Manny is a lunatic. But he is THAT good.

If you look at the statistics of Shane Victorino and Jimmy Rollins over the last three years or so you will realize that they are strikingly similar. In fact, their offensive games nearly mirror one another. In a given year, you can expect 10-15 hrs, 60 rbis, .270 and 40 SBs from each one. Now these are good numbers, especially when you consider that the two don’t play what are generally considered to be big offensive positions. When you add the fact that both Rollins and Victorino are exceptional defensive players, one would think that any manager would be happy to write their names on the lineup card everyday. But not so fast.

On most of the teams in baseball, both of these guys would be asked to be offensive stalwarts for their teams. But the Phillies are not most teams and they’re offensive engine for the last three years have been Utley, Howard, and Werth. That said, the guys surrounding those three should be focused on getting on base, getting in scoring position, and helping to get other guys in scoring position. Guys like this were once referred to as “tablesetters”. The Phils need Rollins and Victorino to be those guys but their games’ just are not suited to that role.

Residing in the shadows of the traditional measurable offensive statistics are the duo’s inability or unwillingness to do the other things a strong offensive team requires from the top of the lineup. Neither of them walk. Neither of them bunt. Their OBPs are atrocious. Neither of them are effective at moving runners. Groundouts always seem to go the shortstop when a guy is on second with no outs. Flyouts never seem to go far enough to turn into sacrifice flies. Jimmy’s season high in SFs is 7. Shane has 11…for his career. In short, when these two are not hitting balls in the gaps when they can run real fast and get triples, while everyone stares agog admiring the raw talent, they do very little to move a lineup along and create RBI opportunities. While their numbers may look good at the end of the season, Shane and Jimmy spend as much of their at bats being anemic as they do being dynamic (I know they don’t rhyme, but its close). For this reason, one of them has got to go.

There is a lot to praise about their respective skill sets. They are not bad offensive ball players. They are not going to change nor should they be asked to. I write here that the repetition of their inadequacies in this lineup contributes greatly to the bouts of stagnation this offense suffers through every season. When we hear the common refrain that this team “can’t play small ball” and “if they’re not hitting home runs, they’re not scoring”, you can point directly at Shane and Jimmy as the main reason why that is. I hate the phrase “productive out”, but I guess its part of the lexicon now, so that said – these two don’t make any. To me, this lineup would work a lot better with a guy who might give you less of the speed and the triples and the SB’s but would instead offer you a higher batting average, better “situational hitting”, and the desire to work a walk. A manufactured run counts just as much as a home run and the Phillies don’t get them. They need more scratch runs if they are going to avoid the prolonged slumps that have plagued them in recent seasons and allow them to realize their full offensive potential.

Who to trade? Because he plays the most expendable position of the two, and because the Phils would get good value back, and because the Phils wouldn’t have to eat any cash: I trade Shane.

Firstly, Hagen opines that the Phillies should have just kept Lee and avoided this whole necessity to trade for more starting pitching. Implicit in this reasoning is that Ruben Amaro, Jr. knew at the beginning of the season that Joe Blanton, no fragile animal, would injury himself early and struggle to become effective for most of the season. Ruben must also have known that JA Happ would himself miss almost the whole season with injuries of his own. And that Moyer would blow out his elbow. While we all know that injuries are a part of the game, the necessity of relying primarily on two starters for the whole season is something that I think we all agree that no one could have foreseen. Injuries are an unknown variable and when the Phillies started to bear their allotment to the point where their pennant hopes were started to slip away, Amaro made the big move to compensate. Kudos to you, sir.

In his article, Hagen seems troubled that the Phillies might be mortgaging their future for the sake of the present:

[The Oswalt Deal] ..also increases the odds that, in the not-too-distant future, they will have a roster chocked with costly older players on the downside of their careers and reinforcements down on the farm to replace them.”

Paul, in case you haven’t noticed, Ruben has structured the Phils payroll to siphon out big money starting after the 2011 season. Gone will be Lidge, Moyer, Ibanez, and after 2012, Rollins and Polanco. So I guess you mean those artifacts, Ryan Howard, Roy Halladay, and Chase Utley that will be hanging around for awhile. None will be 36. Some may disagree with the Howard contract (I don’t), and that’s fair, but on the whole, Ruben has managed this payroll nicely.

No reinforcements? Let me throw some names at ya: Domonic Brown, Jonathan Singleton, Harold Garcia, Trevor May, Brody Colvin, Jarrod Cosart, Phillip Aumont, J.C. Ramirez, Tyson Gilles, Vance Worley. Wait, my fingers are getting tired. While most of this talent is still in A ball, the drip of contributing players will start in about two years, the time when the older players start to leave. My gosh, it almost seems like a plan.

So Paul, you are wrong as wrong can be and in every facet of your reasoning. Roy Oswalt coming to the Phils is all about adjusting to circumstances, to think on one’s feet and the ability to be nimble. The Phillies don’t bemoan things that didn’t work; they go out and fix things.

Some fans are convinced that Cliff Lee’s departure took the heart right out of the team before the season ever began. The Halladay/Lee “thing” showed that the Phils wanted to stay very good yet stopped short of daring to be great. Last I checked, Cliff Lee does not hit home runs, steal bases, or field. He cannot pitch every day of the week and does not have a medical degree. Cliff Lee’s absence is not the problem. Injuries have compromised the Phils’ proficiency in every area: pitching, fielding, and hitting. Old timers say that injuries are not an excuse for losing. Actually, that’s not true. Injuries can be an excuse as to why you’re losing. You’re just not supposed to say it. Any sane person can understand that when you lose a zillion player games – all star player games at that – to injuries, that your team is probably not gonna play well, if not flat out suck. Mets fans learned that the hard way. So, what to do now? I think the Phillies’ fate revolves in large part around what the Phils decide to do with three key players: Jayson Werth, Joe Blanton, and Brad Lidge.

Jayson Werth is not playing well. He looks clueless at the plate. He is also, by his own admission, eagerly awaiting the end of the season so he can sign a big, fat contract…the one he has been “waiting his whole life for.” Is Jayson’s little slump a product of the Free Agent Blues – grinding his bat into sawdust and tightening up at the prospect of one less zero at the end of his next contract? Hey, I don’t know. But I do know that Ruben can replace Jayson’s current production by trading him for another righty bat and probably a lefty reliever. If you don’t believe me, compare Jayson’s stats with that of other outfielders and you’ll find that he’s not so special this year. But of course, he could get hot. Sitting around and waiting for someone to get “get hot” seems like a waste of time to me. If I find the right deal, I trade him.

The Phils have made it known they are looking for starting pitching. Joe Blanton is a good pitcher having a bad year. But Joe has a justified track record where he turns it on in the second half of seasons. Joe is a stone cold 14-10, 3.90, 200 IP guy – and those numbers don’t grow on trees. You gotta trust him to come around and lay off the temptation to trade for an Oswalt or Haren, mainly because the Phils have a bigger problem in…

Brad Lidge. He is not a major league closer anymore. While the in-the-dirt slider is still one of the best out pitches in the game, he cannot get ahead of hitters consistently enough to get in the position to throw it. His fastball is not fast and, unless perfectly placed, is a candidate to leave the park at any time. That little baby slider that he throws is fine but if he gets it up, it gets hit. In short, he does not have enough “stuff” on any of his his pitches not named “slider” to get away with a misplaced pitch. And he gets hit. A true closer must give you more than sporadic periods of effectiveness – and Lidge doesn’t offer that. The Phils will win nothing with him finishing games. If I am Ruben Amaro, I fill this hole before I look for another starter. Some more quick analysis shows why.

We know that Ibanez is an albatross and isn’t going anywhere. Domonic Brown is not getting called up before September. Jamie Moyer and Kyle Kendrick will continue to provide little at the back of the rotation. J.A. Happ probably won’t contribute soon. Utley has to come back faster than forecast. These things, you just have to hope to be surprised and see some good things happen. Hope for a little luck, let’s say.

In conclusion, at some point in the not too distant future, RAJ is gonna have to take a hard look in the mirror and decide who this team really is. Whatever decision he makes he’ll get killed for it and that comes with the job. If he decides to push all in, then I think it’s OK to trade Werth for immediate help to address our need areas. If not (and that would take a mean losing streak), then try and clear the decks: Werth, Moyer, Madson, Lidge, Ibanez can all go, while paying some salary along the way. But before that decision has to be made there is some baseball left to play. Go Phils.

When a fan is in their own stadium, things aren’t that difficult.  You can heckle, in  reasonable degree, anyone on the field:  visiting players, your players, umps, mascots, grounds crew…whoever.   Be anywhere between gracious to tolerant towards fans of opposing teams, for most of them are probably pretty cool.  They are permitted to wear their teams caps, jerseys, etc.  They are fans, too.  They just have a different home.  Some of the most pleasant experiences I have had at games is sitting down next to a knowledgeable and civil fan of the other team and sharing some good old fashioned baseball talk.  Cardinals fans are great.

Unfortunately, I have also had bad experiences with opposing fans.  My manner in dealing with them has surely become more tempered as the years have gone by but when an opposing fans’ conduct reaches a certain point, I feel that they should be taken in hand.  That said, here are some suggestions for fans, Phils fans also, when seeing a game in another teams park:

1. When you get to your seats, try and introduce yourself to the fans seated immediately near you.  Demonstrate that you’re a real person with admirable qualities before the wedge of fandom is driven between you and the rest of the patrons.
2. Never heckle their players if it is known you are a visiting fan (this is a no-brainer).
3. When reacting to good plays by your team, try to stay seated and clap.  More than a golf clap but less that a WWF clap.  If there is a homer, you may stand and clap.  Do not yell “YES!”, or hoot, or scream “THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKIN’  ‘BOUT” at any time.  Do not stand and high five your mates.
4. Do not cheer the home teams’ errors.  A golf clap is fine.
5. Use your common sense.  If the game heats up and it’s close, you may elevate your intensity a little bit.  The other fans are fans, too – they should understand.

If you haven’t divined this by now, the governing concept should be that you are a guest in their “house”.   While not cowering or being intimidated, accord them some respect.  Root for your team without showing up their team.   Disagree?

Yes, I did say that at times some fans must be advised that their behavior is unacceptable.  An illustration:  A couple of weeks ago I got a couple of tickets in the rich seats against the Cubs behind the visitor’s dugout.  There was a corny, middle aged man who would stand up and cheer every Cub success and every Phils foible vociferously, while at times turning around and pointing at the crowd.  He was taunting.  When the Cubs ran in from the field he stood up and cheered and Soriano winked at him at one point which sent our section into a lather.  From that point he was treated to a torrent of barbs and tongue lashings until his insubordinate manner had been adjusted.  No swearing.  No “mom” talk.  Just good old fashioned, razor sharp heckling.  I was involved.  The point of the story is that, while it is nice to be a gracious host, those who seek to take advantage of your hospitality to an unreasonable degree should be addressed and inspired to moderate their conduct.   In the end, we probably ended up doing that guy a favor.

So, there it is.  The Dispy’s little handbook on fan etiquette.  While I don’t hold it up to be the Emily Post of fan conduct, I think its all pretty reasonable and if we all followed it, we should all be in good stead.  Am I a little territorial and provincial?  Perhaps.  But I’m a fan.

Then came 9/11 and the world changed and we could never take our safety for granted again. Shoebombs. Anthrax (not the band). Virginia Tech. Society has shown it can get a little screwy and scary so now, when a person runs onto a baseball field, where we all used to laugh and hoot, many of us become alarmed. This is because recent history has taught us that anything can happen. Simply put, for the safety of those on the playing field, what was once a little harmless fun, is now something to be taken seriously.

So, it was at the intersection of my youthful naivete and our restless future where I saw a waifish, 17-year old kid brazenly run onto the outfield wielding a hand towel, hopping around, and looking for all the trouble he could handle. What I saw next was surreal – perhaps absurd.

Look, I know the difference between danger and somebody doing something stupid. That said, that kid posed no more danger to a player, or anyone else on that field, than a windblown hot dog wrapper. The drill started as usual. The kid came on the field. He ran around. Everyone ran towards him. But dangit this kid was wiley and hard to catch. Now the Philadelphia Police Officer had decided he had seen enough and broke out his weapon and sent currents of electricity through the interloper’s body. Are you kidding? Is this what we’ve come to? I for one hope that, while field running can not be tolerated, tasers are not routinely pulled from holsters at first sight of an intruder.

My suggestion for the future? Why not employ a common sense approach. In the interest of those playing in the game, why not measure the use of force to be employed on a case by case basis? Stay with me here. For instance, if a guy that runs on the field has the Quran in one hand and a grenade in the other, or is the mohawk guy from the Road Warrior, then bring in the cavalry. But if its a 17-year old boy flouncing around the outfield for kicks, or someone jumping out of his seat along the baseline to get a baseball, or a monarch butterfly fluttering around the pitchers mound, please keep the weapon on your hip and catch the offender the old fashioned way: by expending the necessary energy to chase him down, tackle him, and roughhouse him down to the station.

Yes, it can be said that we live in dangerous times – so lets be vigilant and protective. But not careless. If shocking people with electricity is the way those smarter than me think that it should be handled, then I guess that’s the way it’ll be. But I can’t help but think what a sad commentary that would be on where this crazy world is headed.

Okay, in the past Ryan has not been a good closer. Maybe we haven’t seen enough of his body of work in that role to pass judgment. Let’s give the guy a chance and see what he can do for a month. Maybe he can harness all that talent and be the closer some feel he can be. Not working come July? Move right to option #3: Danys Baez.

Baez has pedigree – he has been a successful closer in the past. If his arm is all the way back from surgery and he is pitching well the first couple months, please move him in if Madson falters. In the event Baez is a bust, then Ruben can step in to handle option #4: Trade for a closer.

I imagine this would happen, if needed, anywhere between the all star break and the trade deadline. There will be names out there (I don’t know why Trevor Hoffman’s name keeps ringing in my ears) and Ruben will surely know who he can and can’t trade by that point. And it might hurt. Perhaps it will be some variation of a Jayson Werth trade. I do know that a “closer-by-committee” situation is generally a bad idea; and that this team deserves a true closer to shut down the game. Anything less cheats everyone.

In summation: Assess what very well may be a cluster(bleep) of a bullpen in thorough but timely fashion. If the answer is not here, let there be no hemming and hawing about going out to find it somewhere else. Let Ruben bear in mind the words of a great mind from years gone by who once said, “He who hesitates is lost”. He’ll be doing everyone a great service.

Dave Bancroft, Travis Jackson, Bobby Wallace, and John Ward. No, this is not a list of NASCAR drivers. It is a list of men who have played shortstop in the major leagues and have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Suffice it to say, these guys don’t evoke the grandeur and prestige (tongue firmly in cheek) of that hallowed institution. This is one important reason why Jimmy Rollins, if he continues at pace for another 3-5 years, will go into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Not only that, but he has a chance at being considered one of the greatest shortstops of all time.

Sure, maybe I’m not giving the above-mentioned individuals enough credit, but if they were really that great, I would have at least heard of them before I actually looked at the list of actual Hall of Fame shortstops. I am one of those guys that really don’t take baseball before Babe Ruth that seriously. Further, I don’t really consider the truly “modern era” of baseball to have begun until Jackie Robinson broke in. Even so, as it pertains to this discussion, I cannot dispute that Honus Wagner was just incredible and stands head-and-shoulders above the rest. With the way he hit, he could have been a butcher in the field and it wouldn’t have mattered.

The shortstops in the Hall can be sorted into groups.

1. The guys that played when dinosaurs roamed the earth: Bancroft, Jackson, Wallace, Ward, Hughie Jennings, Rabbit Maranville, and Joe Tinker (check his stats when you get a chance).
2. Guys who got in mostly through their association with great teams: Pee Wee Reese, Phil Rizzuto, Loe Boudreau
3. The truly deserving: Joe Cronin, Arky Vaughn, Luke Appling, Robin Yount
4. The truly great: Wagner, Luis Aparicio, Cal Ripken, Jr., Ernie Banks, and Ozzie Smith

Now you have some context. Jimmy Rollins, during is first ten seasons in the league, has led the league in AB’s and triples four times, won three Gold Gloves (the beginning of a string I suspect), won one MVP and one World Series. He has averaged out of the lead-off spot, 660 AB’s (wow), 105 runs (wow again), and 36 stolen bases while hitting .274. There is no better defensive shortstop in the game. If this caliber of play continues it would take him right over the “truly deserving” category and into the “truly great”.

Of the shortstops currently in the Hall I would take three – and only three – before Jimmy: Honus Wagner, Ozzie Smith, and Luis Aparicio. Aparicio, was a World Series winner, 10 time all-star, 9 time Gold Glove winner, and led the AL in steals 9 straight years (bet you didn’t know that). He was the first state of the art modern day shortstop and an incredible fielder. Ernie Banks only played half his career at shortstop, and if not for that, he would be there with the other three. If you compare Ripken and Jimmy, I’ll take Jimmy’s total offensive game over Ripken’s power. In the field, Cal would catch any ball he could get his hands on, and so can Jimmy. The difference is that Jimmy gets his hands on more balls.

Yes, the roster of Hall of Fame shortstops is not reflective of superior offensive prowess, with shortstop being a defense-first position. Jimmy has more years left to play and hopefully another World Series or two to win. He is a phenomenal two way player who’s biggest sin is not walking more. While Phillies fans tend to be more agog these days over Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, let this little write up serve as a reminder of how good we’ve got it at shortstop. We may actually be in the presence of greatness. Jimmy Rollins is that good.

Judging from the posts of the last few days, it appears that Philly fans don’t care much for Johnny Damon. In that case, perhaps Jermaine Dye would be more your cup of tea. It seems that ever since the economy took a header two years ago, there always seems to be a few intriguing stragglers still hanging around jobless at the start of Spring Training. This year is no exception and one of those guys working out in his basement as I write this is Jermaine Dye. While Dye is getting a little long in the tooth (turned 36 last month) he can still contribute a good amount of offense to any team he joins. The great thing about a guy like Dye right now is that he knows his best days are behind but he can still play. And if he has any competitive fire in him, he wants to prove it. And he’s sweating. Hey may get a nice multi-year contract befitting of what he feels he’s worth – or he may not. Given that it’s February 20, I don’t think it would hurt if RAJ gave Dye’s people a call to find out just what’s going on over there.

Dye is a good hitter. Through a full season he will probably give you at least 25/85/.270 (I don’t do OPS). If the Phillies express interest, perhaps they could remind Dye that he is, in fact, not signed and that maybe he should consider signing on with a probable World Series contender. Ruben could promise him 350-400 ABs and remind him that he could always try for another contract next year while also making mention of the fact that the Phillies may have a vacancy in right field. Ruben could tell him to take the $3.5m he’d be offering and to jump on board with a winner. And Dye might.

Why would the Phils do it, though? Well, here are reasons.

Dye is a righty and has played every outfield position in his career. Charlie could rotate him through the outfield, giving him two starts a week as well as every game against a tough lefty. Maybe, just maybe, if you tossed him a first baseman’s mitt he could learn how to use it. This would make the lineup much tougher against left handed pitchers.

In a season that the Phils could go to the Series, being able to have the depth to cover for a big outfield injury would be sweet. I am aware that Francisco is on the team but he’s no Jermaine Dye. Francisco will get his spot starts, lots of pinch hitting duty, as well as pinch running and defensive replacement assignments.

Then, there is the Jayson Werth issue. If for some unknown reason, the Phils are looking to trade Werth at some point, they’ll already have his replacement on the roster. I don’t care about the at bats Ross Gload is going to miss out on. He’s just another lefty on a team full of them.

In summation, Jermaine Dye may be a “distressed asset” right now – perhaps ripe for the picking at a low price, if offered by the right team, presenting the right situation. My gosh, I think I just described the Phillies. Hey, it doesn’t hurt to pick up the phone.

Contrary to popular opinion, I happen to be a big Phillies fan. But, perhaps my type of fandom flies in the face of the traditional method of rooting and team support; in that tend to criticize, loudly and resolutely, the very team that I have pledged my undying love to. Today I return to one of my cause célèbre, that being the absolute necessity that Ryan Howard be dropped to sixth in the batting order against left-handed pitching. The fact that this has not been tried already, never mind discussed, just boggles my mind.

Below is a sampling, and I seriously only went through half the teams, of how NL first basemen fared against left handed pitching last year:

Player HR/RBI/AVG
Fielder -  13/47/.292
Dunn – 7/28/.268
Helton -  1/28/.311
Votto – 7/27/.329
Howard – 6/33/.207

Joey Votto? .207! And all those mentioned above are lefties. Quite simply, Ryan’s numbers against lefties have progressively gotten worse each year to the point where his spot in the order is now the place where baserunners go to die when a left handed pitcher is on the mound.

Look, Ryan is a stud. A once-in-a-generation power hitter – an institution maybe. But the fact remains that while he is lethal against righties, he is horrible against southpaws. The disparity of performance is so marked that the whisper “he’s great but he has trouble with lefties” is one bad month away from morphing into the dreaded “can’t hit lefties” (because he can’t) moniker, and that’s hard to shake. Anyone with two eyes and watches games knows that Ryan has the plate discipline of a six-year old at a piñata party. Consequently, he sees a steady diet of head high fastballs and off speed slop that breaks five feet off the plate. So that’s what he swings at. Frankly, now that I think about it, I’m tired of analyzing the “whys”.

Just make the move. No excuses. “Ooohhh, you’ll take away his aggressiveness”. “Oooooh, who’ll drive in all those runs?”. “But, we’re paying him 20 million dollars”. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Baloney. Drop him to sixth. Let Jason and Raul hit 4-5. Jason kills lefties and Raul hits them. It will be a better lineup. We will score more runs. So, why not do it? I haven’t the faintest idea. All one needs is the courage to change.

As the Phillies resign their players at rapid pace the inexorable march towards the inevitable begins. Everybody worth resigning is signed except for two: Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth. I’m sure the Phillies front office wants to keep them both – we all do. But it looks like this season both players – friends – will be pitted against each other in the public view. In the eyes of many fans they will be playing against each other for the opportunity to stay with the Phillies for the next 4 or 5 years; while the other is jettisoned because he is unaffordable. Welcome to the Salarydome – two men enter, one man leaves. Here is the case for both.

Jayson Werth, at 31, is seemingly entering the prime of his career and last year he emerged as a bona fide power hitter. He is fast. He is a good defender with a nice arm. He can seemingly do everything well. He fits into this lineup like a hand in a glove and by all accounts he’s a great teammate and he is definitely a gamer. Some consider him injury prone, but a player can’t avoid getting hit in the wrist with a pitched ball, even if it did take him the better part of a couple seasons to recover. Financially speaking, Jayson is a bit of an anomaly. He is just starting to become a premier player at a relatively late stage in his career. When his current contract is over he will be 32 and without a big payday in his pocket. I would imagine that someone in his position would consider this his one and only shot to get the big years and big money. A five year contract would take him to 37 and I imagine, if he has a year like he did last year, that he’ll be asking for about $15m a year. God bless him, he deserves it.

Ryan Howard, on the other hand, is one of the greatest sluggers of all-time. When he is hot he can carry a team for weeks. His stats are eye-popping. We have run out of superlatives to describe his power. Yet, he is still a below average fielder (despite an improvement last season), his plate discipline stinks and he can’t hit lefties. Since he stopped taking walks and picking pitches, sometime in 2007 or so, he has become a one dimensional player. Unlike Werth, Ryan has already made a lot of money. One would think that he doesn’t feel the need to extract every ounce of his perceived worth out of the Phillies come contract time – that is, if he wants to stay here. If he wants maximum value, “no problem”, I say. Get it while you can. The problem with signing Ryan to a 5-year deal is that it would take him into his mid-thirties and at huge money. If that bat slows down in Year 3 or so, that’s a lot of money for the Phillies to live with given the production they’d be getting.

Taking everything into consideration who should Ruben sign? Ryan Howard.

Werth is a fabulous all around player who has played great for a season and a half. His right handed bat is the lightning to Ryan’s thunder. And he’s cheaper. Ryan Howard IS one dimensional, but what a dimension it is. The mere fact that he can hit a 500-foot home run at any time makes pitchers pitch differently and fielder’s play out of position. His mere presence in the four hole adds 20 points to Utley’s batting average and 10 to Werth’s. He is a game changer and the franchise along with it. He once uttered the words “just get me to the plate, fellas” in a huge spot and then knocked in the game-winning hit. To me, it’s hard to put a price tag on that kinda player. While we would spend more money, we will be a much better team than without him because, truth be told, there are more than a few Jason Werths in major league baseball. There is only one Ryan Howard.

So Mark McGwire apologized for doing steroids. I guess that’s nice and I’m sure that it makes him feel better that he won’t be hounded every place he goes in his capacity as St. Louis Cardinals batting coach this season. I kinda feel bad for McGwire in a way because, in part, he is a victim. That’s right I said “victim”. The terse statement put out through his press agent merely contained an apology for something that he didn’t have say sorry for in the first place. McGwire did nothing wrong by taking steroids so he could recover from injuries, train more efficiently, and possibly acquire keener eyesight (according to Larry Bowa) so he could hit more homeruns. The only thing he did wrong was lie about it.

After the 1994 baseball strike, MLB did the stupidest thing in the world by making an owner of a baseball team the commissioner, and yes, the Brewers do count as a baseball team. Attendance was down and people were turned off. So when Bud Selig and everyone else within the inner sanctum of baseball suspected or knew that PEDs had become part of the game, they winked and kept on walking. Steroids and HGH and whatever else had been around for awhile. The Olympics had been fraught with PED’s for years. As it seeped into Major League Baseball, and more balls started flying out of ballparks and at greater distances, the turnstiles to started to smoke and the cash started to roll in. With the strike a distance memory, fans renewed their fixation with the long ball. It was in this environment, permissive and perhaps tacitly encouraged, that the slugger, armed with the knowledge that he could shoot a drug into his body to make him perform better and hit more home runs, and in turn make more money, had a choice to make. Many chose to use steroids.

Prior to 2002, when steroids were banned in baseball (the Anabolic Steroid Acts of 1990 and 2004 merely made it a crime to possess or unlawfully dispense steroids), any player was free to choose whether he wanted to use steroids or not. The only choice players had to make was whether they wanted to sacrifice their long term health in exchange for the perceived benefit the drugs would have on their game. For most players who took them, the effect was probably none. But if I’m McGwire back in 1998, knowing that MLB didn’t give a damn whether you took them or not, that they actually delighted in seeing you hit home runs as much as you enjoyed hitting them, that you would get paid more for your superior performance, I’d have done them too. No question. The only problem I have with McGwire is that, when asked, he didn’t man up from the beginning and stand behind his decision to do them.

The good times rolled, that ridiculous Sosa-McGuire-Bonds home run orgy came and went, and then, like every good scam, everyone got busted and all those complicit lawyered up. The most galling aspect of it all was MLB’s feigned surprise that this had been going on under their noses the entire time. Then, laughably, the U.S. Government suggested (strongly) that MLB put a stop to the use of steroids. Oh, how that must of hurt Bud Selig and the rest of the fellas. Not only does the golden goose get killed but they had to stick the knife in themselves. In the age of “bubbles”, the “steroid bubble” had burst.

So, here we are, after all the haggling between baseball and union, Mitchell reports, anonymous/non-anonymous player lists, juiced statistics, grand jury investigations, etc., And for the most part, I think the steroid policy that has been put in place is effective. And that’s a good thing. Now, I guess we’re left to ponder how to view what will surely become known as the steroid era in baseball. If you would wanna pick a year, say 1992, and have it generally regarded that 92-02 represents this era, that’s OK by me. I will look at most players and stats from this era with a jaundiced eye. Example: I don’t believe that Brady Anderson was drug free when he hit 50 of his 51 career homers in one season. If that is unfair to the clean players and the stats generated by them, well, that’s the way its gonna have to be. But as for McGwire, I didn’t wanna hear him say used steroids and was sorry sorry. I would have just rather him acknowledge that he’s a liar and leave it at that.

Things without remedy, shall be without regard; what is done, is done.
– William Shakespeare

I offer this entry as much for me as for my humble readers. For as I put ink to paper, or contemporarily speaking – font to plasma – I do so to clarify my doubt and to pacify my own restless soul. If in this task, I can offer other heretofore bewildered Phillies fans closure to the tumult that has been holiday baseball in the Delaware Valley, I do so humbly and without expectation of recompense for the service.

As I was blogging back and forth earlier this week with “frienemies” Chuck and psujoe, I paused to contemplate anew the events surrounding the Cliff Lee trade. When I concluded my exercise I found the gnawing side stitch that has been my constant companion for these last few weeks had dissipated and that suddenly I was able to look upon spring training with a full breast and an unburdened heart. With permission, I ask to retrace old steps but with a fresh set of eyes.

Ruben wanted Roy Halladay for 4 years. We all did and Ruben got him. But in the bargain, in order to meet a payroll or replenish a farm system, he had to trade Cliff Lee. The deals were done with dispatch but raised pointed and fair questions as to the methodology utilized by Ruben. I am going to try and answer them.

Why the two trades together? I think that, armed with the knowledge that if he got Halladay he would have to get rid of Lee, he chose to trade Lee immediately, thus enabling the club to give the impression to the vast majority of the fan base that the acquisition of Halladay was in fact tied to the departure of Lee, and consequently, watering down the fan base’s disappointment of Lee leaving the team. While all of us on this site know better, Joe Average does not.

Why not hold on to Lee and trade him later for more? Once the Halladay deal is done the fans go to sleep at night dreaming of the best rotation in baseball featuring a one-two punch akin to Koufax-Drysdale. Could Ruben, in the face of a wholesale rebellion reminiscent of the storming of the Bastille, honestly put this town through a process where Ruben looks to deal Cliff for the best batch of prospects instead of the “OK’ batch he got? Could we actually stand by and watch that happen? That would have been public relations suicide. For those of you who think for a second that Ruben could have deftly worked behind the scenes to make a trade happen without word leaking out – fat chance. Also, and not to be discounted, on top of everything else, what do you tell Cliff and his agent when the Phillies have, presumably in good faith, spoken with Lee about a contract extension. You can’t bargain with the man while trying to trade him. At this point, Ruben is GM-ing with one hand behind his back – and he takes the respectable group of prospects lest this all drags out.

Why the Mariners? In order for a deal like this to go down, you need ziplocked lips by all parties. If not, the Angels get wind and jump in, then the Yankees, and whoever else. The deal falls apart because when everything goes public and it becomes a feeding frenzy. Different teams start calling Toronto about Halladay while different teams start calling us about Lee and the whole thing gets screwed up and Ruben loses Halladay. He wouldn’t let that happen. So my guess is that this deal had to pretty much been nailed down at the winter meetings with the teams agreeing to stay cool until everybody could agree on the prospects. No small task. That is where Pat Gillick comes in – and let’s face it, he’s been involved all along. The “honest broker” and “straight shooter” with strong ties to all three teams keeps things in line because each team will listen to him to varying degrees. That’s why Seattle was involved.

I have come to believe the above set of facts to be a reasonable facsimile of what actually happened and, more importantly, why it happened. I believe it, and because of my belief, I have been able to let go of my demons. I am at peace with the deal and I think that if Ruben could have found a way to keep both pitchers he would have. Go Phils.

After a six month dance comprised of equal parts fixation, stubbornness, and incompetence, Ruben Amaro finally delivered Phillies fans Roy Halladay, gift wrapped with a bow on top, just in time for Christmas. While the front office finally seemed sated, the attendant loss of Cliff Lee – in an altogether separate trade – has left many fans with a bitter taste in their mouths because most of us believe it didn’t have to happen. Fans can view the departure of Cliff Lee in a number of ways: stupid, short sighted, panic induced, and cheap spring to my mind. I view the deal as the squandering of a once in a lifetime opportunity to become one of the great teams of its era. While the fans have been told the reasons why it had to go down this way, we’re still not sure we really understand. But maybe not understanding is better, because if we knew the real reasons, we might be that much more angry.

It’s A Baseball Decision

Giving up prospects to get a really good player does serious damage to your farm system – I get it. If we were getting blue chip prospects back from Seattle I could ALMOST understand it. From all accounts they are decent prospects. To my way of thinking, you don’t trade an underpaid Cy Young winner when you’re in the middle of a string of World Series runs just so you can add players to your farm system. If the Phillies had kept Lee, the minor league talent still would have been middle of the road. But we don’t need any players from there right now, anyway.

Worried about replenishing the pipeline? If I’m not mistaken we get compensatory picks for Lee and Blanton when they leave after next season. If the plan was always to make that second trade for prospects, it would have made a helluva lot more sense to make the Halladay trade then hang on to Lee and trade him during spring training when you can get more value. Perhaps we could have even traded Blanton instead. As a baseball decision, this was a poor one. But it was more than that.

It’s a Business Decision

David Montgomery, Wharton graduate, made a statement last week that the Phillies were “already in the red”. If you’re like me, you found these remarks to be disingenuous and insulting. There are a zillion ways in accounting to measure valuation and profits and I’m sure Dave had his pick of which one he wanted to use to back up his assertion. Just for fun though, lets assume that he’s being truthful. Operating from this premise I offer the following remarks.

Baseball teams are capital assets. The money that is made goes back into the team. That is why the Skull and Bones Society that is Phiilies ownership has turned a 30 million investment into about $500 million. This is called “capital appreciation”. Montgomery thinks we have no concept of this. I have my own business and on any given day you can ask me how my revenue stream is and I can say “it sucks”. Never mind that I’ve socked away a ton into my business over the years. Yet, because of the nature of businesses and how they are set up, I can still look a guy in the eye and tell him that, at the moment, “I’m in the red”. This is what the Phillies do.

Let’s assume that the Phillies really ARE struggling financially. Given the amount of gold bullion they rake in every year on attendance, TV, concessions, advertising, merchandising, blah blah, if they can’t turn a profit, I would suggest that they are working with a flawed business model and that they need to change it. I don’t know any business (and we are talking “business” here) that would allow the guys that run it to lose them money every year…well, except the Pirates owner. As a consumer, I implore the ownership to make the appropriate personnel changes to make the club profitable so I don’t have to see another Cliff Lee fiasco in my lifetime.

At the risk of venturing into esoterica, I would call the reader’s attention to a thing in business called “branding”. It is the concept that a business utilizes, through capital expenditure, marketing, commitment to excellence in the product space, and overall product quality, to gain an additional revenue stream that can be attributed directly to its reputation – it’s what all right-thinking businesses aspire to. This revenue stream can inure to the business during poor business cycles when other competing products are more effected. Think: McDonald’s, Clorox, Gillette, iPod. In sports, think of the Cowboys, Yankees, Dodgers, Lakers, Jeff Gordon, etc. Why do you think the Cowboys have so many fans in states not named Texas and why these same fans stuck with them after the glory days of the 70′s, and when they stunk in the 80′s. Because they did everything they could to win, had great players, and did it for a long time.

If the Phillies had kept Cliff Lee and won another Series, there would be kids growing up in Nebraska as Phillies fans. Buying Phillies stuff. Flying in for Phillies games twice a year. There’s a tangible dollar value in that. Montgomery knows it yet looks elsewhere because he and his partners won’t be around in 10 years to reap that money.

When the Phillies kissed off the chance to keep Cliff Lee for another year, they sent a message to everyone that while they’d love to be in the World Series, it would have to be on their terms. That approach inspires no one. While trading Lee saves the Phillies a few bucks in the short term, they missed the opportunity to become a money-making machine in the long run that another World Series title would bring them. The chances of that happening without Lee are considerably less. And THAT’S why trading Lee is a bad business decision, too.

With September winding down, Charlie Manuel is no doubt giving thought to setting his rotation for the playoffs. While Lee, Hamels and Blanton are the top three, the question of who will occupy that fourth spot is again very much an open question.

J.A. Happ was removed from his start the other day with a “tweak” of his oblique (that rhymes by the way). To me, “tweak” translates to “still injured” even though Happ says he feels fine. If J.A. can’t make his next couple of starts, then it looks like Pedro would be your fourth starter and J.A., I guess, would try and pitch out of the pen. Except…

Pedro was removed from his start this weekend with some sort of neck thing that he got while trying to hit. He indicated earlier this week that he “could not commit” to pitch in his next start. Words like this from a gamer like Pedro makes my ears perk up. Is it possible that he might miss his next start also? And then another one?

I hope the injuries to both of these guys clear up this week. If they don’t, then Charlie might find himself in the first week of October without knowing who is #4 is going to be. That would be bad. Waiting for medical clearance…how far can they go in a game?…is he still hurt?…pitch counts…blah, blah, blah. We can’t have this. The playoffs are no place to try and settle back in to the rotation after an injury. If there is any doubt as to Pedro’s fitness than he shouldn’t be on the playoff roster. He can’t be shortened up to relieve like Happ. If both these guys are iffy health-wise, I would put Happ in the pen (where he probably does the Phils the most good anyway). Pedro would have to be left off the playoff roster. Yes, that means Jamie Moyer is your fourth starter. I see it like this: I would rather Moyer pitch than put out a gimpy Pedro or a Happ that may not be able to go five innings.

There have no doubt been meetings. And conferences. Maybe even tarot card readings and exorcisms. But none have shaken Brad Lidge from the jaws of the alien that’s wrecked his season. If you’re a believer that recent past performance is the best indicator of future returns, you can’t feel too confident about Lidge “finding it” with about three weeks to go in the season. And you shouldn’t be. The numbers are mind numbing – 0-7, 7.11, 10 blown saves. Charlie has stuck with him much longer than any manager would ever have been expected too; but even Charlie doesn’t want to be the violin player on the Titanic.

Through it all, the look on Lidge’s face after each implosion has gone from that of unconcerned to confused to glazed, to at-last, shell shocked. The faster he tries to throw his fastball, the more action it loses. The more drop he tries to get on his slider, the sooner it hits the dirt. On the mound, he squeezes the ball so hard it looks like its going to explode in his hand like a egg. Brad Lidge is a burned out husk and his confidence is shot.

The problem now is what do you do with a closer that can’t close anymore? My answer is don’t pitch him at all. Why would you put the guy into any stage of a meaningful game? If he screws up the ninth, he’ll screw up the seventh or eighth as well. And let’s not see any attempts at “nurturing” him with one out saves, please. I realize that there are injuries in the pen now. Given that, one might suggest Brad could pitch some innings in the remaining games where the Phils are safely up or way down, to perhaps build a little confidence (like last night). I think Charlie would be reluctant to do that often as he might perceive it as a slight to Brad.

If Brad’s not already done as the closer – and he may not be for all we know – than surely one more blown safe would seal his fate. He’s gotta turn it around, and I mean yesterday. Short of that, I would suggest that someone else occupy his playoff spot. The playoffs are not a time to “keep working on it” and “battling” while a more capable pitcher sits at home…unless that’s where you want to be too.

When Brett Myers is activated today, Phillies fans will have a month to watch one of the most vexing personalities in recent team history.  It seems like yesterday Myers was a 21-year old kid that perplexed the Chicago Cubs on a sunny day at Wrigley Field.  His stuff was electric in his debut – his fastball was fast, and his curve dropped off the table. I was convinced that the Phils had an ace for years to come.   But a funny thing happened on the way to greatness.

What exactly that “funny thing” was, is still unclear.  Through his first five years, Brett was just an “OK” pitcher.  Sure, he always sported the nice fastball and that great curve (the 12-6 curve that, when thrown properly, was one of the best pitches in baseball).  But for some reason Brett stopped evolving.  At first he was viewed as a prodigy. Then an enigma.  And lastly, after seasons of seeing one hanging curve or misplaced fastball too many, Phils fans seemed to accept Brett as the guy that would never put it all together; but hey, he wasn’t that bad either.  In short, he was a great talent and an average pitcher.

And the personal issues:  hitting his wife,  calling a reporter a “retard,” and just generally acting like a child.  Look, we all knew Brett was rough around the edges, but if he was going to act so boorishly we at least wanted him to pitch better.  Brett was on his way to becoming an underperforming jerk.

Then 2007 came along and Billy Wagner went down for the season.  Brett, with his new three-year contract in hand, volunteered to fill the bullpen spot.  He sacrificed and then he thrived.  And maybe Brett wasn’t so bad after all.  The next season however, was more of the tale of 2008A and 2008B.  The disaster of A saw him demoted to Reading and the attendant embarrassment.  When he returned he was the best pitcher in the NL (season 2008B).  Phils fans were impressed to say the least.  Perhaps finally the light had been switched on.  His at-bat in last year’s playoff game against C.C. Sabathia – where each ball he fouled off was followed by a roar from the capacity crowd – was a great postseason moment.  In the wake of the World Series victory, I think it would be fair to say that we were all starting to like Brett.

Injured at the start of this season, Brett has returned ahead of schedule from hip surgery.  Some will say he’s coming back to pitch for a contract.  I like to think it’s because he wants to help his teammates win.  And I’m a cynic! Looking ahead, maybe Brett will tap into that wellspring of talent and become that great pitcher we’ve seen glimpses of. And maybe it won’t be here.  In any event, here’s to a great potentially last month as a Phillie.  If he helps us win another World Series, he can fall out of an SUV everyday for the rest of his life if it makes him happy.

When we think of the greatest players of all time we shouldn’t go by pure stats for often they leave a canvas half painted.  There have always been players whose greatness transcends the confines of mathematical computation.  Players like Roberto Clemente, Jackie Robinson, Derek Jeter, and even Curt Schilling come to mind.  All have stats, but all also brought something important and out of the ordinary to the game that others didn’t.

Chase Utley is not in the same class as the players listed above.  But if he and the Phillies perform at current pace for another 5 seasons, he will be.  How would history view a World Series winning second baseman who averaged 30 HRs 100 RBIs 100 Rs with a .300 AVG over the span of 10-12 years? The answer would be with a trip to the Hall of Fame, and depending on how long he can extend his career, recognition as the greatest second baseman of the last 70 or so years.  Better than Sandberg.  Better than Morgan.  High praise.

Thoughts:  Utley does not play out of position at second base.  Unlike guys like Jeff Kemp and Alfonso Soriano, who are hitters that can play second base, he is a natural second baseman who excels at fielding his position.  He is a brilliant baserunner.  He is regarded as the heart and soul of one championship team and should have opportunities to win more.  He is the leader of his team and does whatever it takes to win a game.  Although he might make an occasional error, he rarely does anything inherently wrong on a baseball diamond.  He plays with the headiness befitting a Jackie Robinson.  He exudes the quiet class of Derek Jeter (parade comments notwithstanding) while playing with Pete Rose’s earthiness and grit.  This is not a man crush – this is just reality.

The Phillies have had great players.  Steve Carlton was brilliant but strange.  Schmidt, arguably the greatest to play his position, was aloof, off-putting and too casual for many – that’s his curse.  Utley is a better player than Ashburn and history has obscured the memory of Ed Delahanty.  Utley’s got the game, the attitude, the ring, and the respect of all with whom he plays.  He even loves animals. There has never been a player like him here and the fans adore him like no other that has come before. Philadelphians finally have the player they’ve always wanted – and that’s why he just may turn out to be the greatest Phillie of all time.