Tag: Philly

Philadelphia Phillies: All-Time Defensive Team, Position by Position

For a team that has mashed the cover off of the baseball in recent memory, you would think at first glance that the Philadelphia Phillies‘ organization hasn’t been built around solid defensive players, but around offensive juggernauts.

Not so fast. That isn’t even close to being the case.

While the Phillies have had their good times, and very, very bad times in their history, they have always held one philosophy as golden—defense rules the day. Though that philosophy may not have been as clear as the “pitching and defense wins championships” motto that current general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. uses, the citizens of Philadelphia have always respected a team that plays a gritty, hard style of baseball, and those players just so happened to be of an elite defensive caliber.

Though I’ve done a few slide shows like this before, most notably the Greatest Phillies’ in Team History, this one is going to be a bit different. I’ve taken a look at what made a player great during his tenure with the Phils’, but never held the one thing that turns a great player into a fan favorite in Philadelphia—defense—in such a high regard.

With that in mind, we have to turn on the blinders a bit here. Sometimes, when a great player is mentioned, people tend to believe that his defense was stellar, but that isn’t always the truth. I’ll be looking at a number of criteria, including consistent, above average defensive play, to determine who comes out on time.

So here we go! Here are the best defensive players in Phillies’ history, position by position.

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Philadelphia Phillies vs. New York Mets Series Preview: The Rivalry Returns?

If you ask me, the Philadelphia Phillies got off to a pretty good start this weekend at home. Three games. Three wins.

That good start went way beyond simply getting three wins, however, as the team answered several imposing questions that people around the game held against them heading into the season. As Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt toed the hill, people questioned whether or not they would be able to live up to the hype. They responded by walking just one hitter, striking out 23 more and allowing just six earned runs in 19 innings pitched.

Starting the season without Jayson Werth and Chase Utley in the lineup was going to be a problem for the Phils’. The offense looks weak and won’t provide any run support. Those critics were silenced by the likes of Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard and Ben Francisco, who are all off to hot starts, as well as some timely hitting from the bottom of the order and bench.

Three games into the season, the Phillies look like they have something to prove this season, and by all means, they do. The way they played this weekend, it’s hard to believe that they can only get better this season, as I was reminded by a fellow fan this weekend. “We just swept the [Houston] Astros with Wilson Valdez starting at second base, Jose Contreras closing games and some Minor League guy [Michael Martinez, who was starting for Shane Victorino]. It’s only going to get better when Chase [Utley] and Brad [Lidge] come back.”

Indeed, the Phillies had an encouraging series, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Philadelphia. There are 159 games left to play, and as last season proved, anything can happen. Let’s take this thing one game (or series, in this case) at a time. After all, the New York Mets are coming to town.

The Mets’ struggles off the field were well documented this winter, but the lineup they’ll field poses more of a challenge than the one the Astros boasted this weekend. With the Mets struggles last season, the rivalry with the Phillies sort of died out, but a healthy Mets team and a Phils’ team high off of a sweep to start the season would like nothing more than to renew a once bitter rivalry.

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Ranking MLB’s Most Valuable Teams

Mike Ozanian is a senior editor at Forbes, and this is a guest column for Bleacher Report.

Baseball has emerged from the recession with a big bang.

The average MLB franchise is now worth $523 million, an all-time high and 7% more than last year. All of the league’s teams rose in value except for three: the New York Mets, San Diego Padres and Cleveland Indians. The increase in team values is the result of greater revenue for teams playing in new stadiums, like the New York Yankees (up 6% in value to $1.7 billion) and Minnesota Twins (up 21% to $491 million) as well as the Florida Marlins (up 13% to $360 million), who are scheduled to move into their new stadium in 2012.

Strong attendance and local television ratings boosted the values for teams like the Philadelphia Phillies (up 13% to $609 million) and Cincinnati Reds (up 13% to $375 million). The Yankees are baseball’s most valuable team for the 14th straight year (since Forbes began valuing franchises in 1998). The gap between the Yankees and No. 2 Baltimore in 1998 was 12%. Today the Yankees are 86% more valuable than No. 2 Boston.

The top 10 MLB teams:

#1 New York Yankees: $1.7 billion

#2 Boston Red Sox: $912 million

#3 Los Angeles Dodgers: $800 million

#4 Chicago Cubs: $773 million

#5 New York Mets: $747 million

#6 Philadelphia Phillies: $609 million

#7 San Francisco Giants: $563 million

#8 Texas Rangers: $561 million

#9 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: $554 million

#10 Chicago White Sox: $526 million

 

Yankee Global Enterprises is a three-engine money-making machine. The baseball team generated $325 million in revenue from regular-season tickets and luxury suites in 2010. Sponsorship revenue at the stadium is $85 million annually thanks to deals with PepsiCo, Bank of America, MasterCard, Delta Air Lines and others.

The YES Network, the team’s 34%-owned regional sports channel, is the most profitable RSN in the country and had over $400 million in revenue last year. The Yankees own a stake in Legends Hospitality Management, which manages stadiums, and generates $25 million in operating income. The enterprise value for the Yankees, YES and Legends is $5.1 billion.

Another big winner was the Texas Rangers (up 25%, to $561 million). Ray Davis and Bob Simpson bought the team, the lease to Rangers Ballpark in Arlington and some nearby real estate from Tom Hicks in a bankruptcy court auction for $593 million in July. Not only are the Rangers, which needed assistance from MLB to meet payroll last season, much better capitalized (the new owners infused the team with $225 million of equity), the team also has a new, richer cable deal. It signed a 20-year TV deal with Fox Sports Southwest that is expected to pay more than $1.5 billion over the life of the contract. The afterglow of the team’s first World Series appearance in October will also boost sponsorship and ticket revenues this year.

A year ago baseball teams were still fretting about the recession and what it might mean for attendance. Yet 73 million fans showed up at the ballpark last summer, which was the sixth highest total of all-time and down just 0.4% from 2009. Twenty teams drew at least 2 million fans, while nine teams topped the 3 million mark, led by the Yankees at 3.8 million. An overall improvement in the economy and better lending conditions boosted the average multiple of revenues that teams are valued at slightly to 2.5.

Overall, revenue for baseball’s 30 teams increased 4%, to $6.1 billion. Total operating income (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) fell 5%, to $494 million as rising stadium (rent and operating costs) and team (marketing and player development) expenses ate into profits.

The most profitable team was the San Diego Padres, which had an operating income of $37 million in 2010. The team’s attendance surged by 200,000 at Petco Park as the Padres finished just two games behind the San Francisco Giants in the National League West. The Padres managed to post a 90-72 record despite a payroll of just $38 million, which was the lowest in baseball. The Padres also benefited from a revenue-sharing check of more than $30 million.

Thanks to more than $400 million sent from high-revenue to low-revenue teams, several teams with low attendance were able to post operating profits of at least $10 million. Among them: the Pittsburgh Pirates ($25 million), Kansas City Royals ($10 million), Oakland Athletics ($23 million) and Marlins ($20 million).

Only three teams had a negative operating income in 2010: the Detroit Tigers (-$29 million), Mets (-$6 million) and Boston Red Sox (-$1 million), which collectively spent $475 million on players (including benefits and bonuses). Each ranked among the top six biggest spenders last year, but the Mets and Red Sox own stakes in regional sports networks, which offset any losses on the diamond.

Bad news in baseball? Two marquee franchises, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Mets, are suffocating from debt and legal issues. The Dodgers, owned by Frank McCourt and his estranged wife Jamie, have $433 million of debt, while the Mets, owned by Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, owe creditors $450 million. Both teams are begging lenders for more money and are looking for investors.

The Dodgers and Mets problems could seep into the rest of the MLB. The Mets’ overall revenue fell 13% last year thanks to a 25% drop in gate receipts. The Dodgers’ total revenue was flat. Problems among big-market teams caused baseball’s revenue-sharing pool to shrink last season for the first time since the new sharing system was put in place in 2002. Low-revenue teams divvied up $404 million compared to $433 million in 2009, with the Yankees writing the biggest check of $119 million. The Mets’ revenue is expected to fall further in 2011, which could dent revenue-sharing even more.

Kurt Badenhausen and Christina Settimi of Forbes.com also contributed to this story.

See the Full List Ranking MLB’s Most Valuable Teams

Plus, check out more great content from Forbes.com:

MLB’s Highest Paid Players

NBA’s Most Valuable Teams

NBA’s Highest Paid Players

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


2011 Philadelphia Phillies: How Well Do You Know the Team?

Opening Day (for the Philadelphia Phillies, anyway) is only eight days away!

I’ve been told that I can hardly contain my excitement, and I won’t disagree with that assessment.

In that regard, I don’t know if today’s thirty degree, rainy weather is getting me more or less geeked up for the April Fools’ Day opener.

The proximity of the regular season baseball opener does have me staying up late posting the following Phillies quiz for all of you fans to enjoy.

And yes, some of these questions may be easy, but others my challenge you just a bit. And there are a few that may have you screaming, “Who gives a da_n.” Or worse.

All of the questions are focused on current players, but down the line (and still in fair territory), I may unleash some questions that will test your expertise on Phillies history.

Please close your books, sharpen your pencil, and get to it.

There are a dozen questions, so each is worth eight points, for a subtotal of 96. If you either spell or say Antonio Bastardo correctly, award yourself an extra four.

Good luck, and feel free to post your score in the comments section.

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Philadelphia Phillies: Why Carrying 11 Pitchers Makes Sense for Battered Team

When Cliff Lee decided to re-join the Philadelphia Phillies in mid-December, the first thought racing through the mind of every Phils’ fan rotated around a star studded rotation that would help the team get the revenge they declared they would seek following a bitter ending to the National League Championship Series.

As the initial shock wore off, some of us baseball scribes posed a more interesting question—How many pitchers are too many for the Phillies?

The addition of Lee shored up a mediocre bullpen an interesting way. He would now join Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels to form a front four that averaged at least seven innings a start in 2010. Even the fifth starter, Joe Blanton, averaged more than six innings a start last season. In large part thanks to Halladay and Lee, the Phillies’ lead the league in complete games with 14, and the bullpen threw a National League low 421 innings—without Lee.

An incredibly durable rotation helped what was once a mediocre bullpen become much more reliable late in games. Of course, a lot of that had to do with health and performance. Former starter Jose Contreras settled into his seventh inning role nicely, while over the final months of the seasons, set-up man Ryan Madson and closer Brad Lidge were nearly untouchable.

For that reason alone, heading into the 2011 season, the Phils’ have to feel pretty good about the state of their bullpen, because they certainly feel good about the strength of their starting pitching. The bullpen’s only loss was middle innings guy Chad Durbin, while JC Romero looks to rebound from an injury plagued 2010 season.

It really isn’t a difficult observation to make—the starting rotation, barring injury, is going to log a ton of innings in front of a bullpen that has the potential to be very strong at the back end. With a core of relievers virtually guaranteed roster spots, the need for the “last man out of the bullpen,” or the 12th pitcher on the roster, is growing incredibly slim.

Excluding the five guys that will compose the starting rotation, we know that six more pitchers are virtual locks for the bullpen. Lidge, Madson, Contreras and Romero will all be heading north for Opening Day. Another pair of relievers, Danys Baez and Kyle Kendrick, are near locks to make the club thanks to the guaranteed dollars on their contracts and spring performances that can’t be used as an excuse to leave them behind.

Looking over that group of six though, you have more than just a few good single inning relievers. You also have more than one guy that is capable of logging several innings per outing. Kendrick, who will most likely break camp as the team’s long man thanks to the depth of the starting rotation. Though he may not have been very effective as a starter last season, he did log 180 innings for the Phils’.

The same case can be argued for several other relievers on the roster. Outside of Lidge and Romero, who will be used primarily against left handed hitters, Contreras, Madson and Baez could all throw more than one inning for the Phillies, though, keeping those guys to one inning a piece may be the better option.

In short, the need for yet another reliever is obsolete behind a starting rotation that will probably be sapping innings from the six guys that are almost guaranteed to make the roster. The question now becomes, “What do the Phils’ do with that last spot on the 25-man roster?”

Obviously, it should go to another utility player, giving the Phillies more options both in the field and on the bench.

While I’m the ultimate optimist in regards to the health of Chase Utley‘s knee (which by the way, he tested out with pivot drills on the second base bag today) and will not concede that claims that he won’t play this season are flat out ludicrous, (I know, I know. I can’t help myself.) he will, at the very least, open the season on the 15-day disabled list.

That virtually guarantees a replacement second baseman a job, which in this case, we’ll award to Wilson Valdez.

With that out of the way, we know eight guys will be playing every day for the Phillies: Carlos Ruiz, Ryan Howard, Valdez, Jimmy Rollins, Placido Polanco, Raul Ibanez and Ben Francisco. Love it or hate it, that’s the lineup.

The bench is shaping up as well with just under two weeks of Spring Training left to play. Lefties Brian Schneider and Ross Gload will make the team without question, and with Francisco having played his way into the right field job, John Mayberry Jr. has played his way on to the bench (and has garnered some serious consideration for the starting job from this baseball scribe.)

So where does that leave the bench? Schneider, as he did last season, will serve as Ruiz’s understudy. Back-up catcher—check. While Charlie Manuel has gone on the record stating that Gload can win some playing time in right field, I’m not buying. He’s too valuable a late-inning pinch hitter to start on a regular basis. He’ll play some back-up first base, as well as right field. Primary left handed pinch hitter—check. Mayberry has been impressive this spring. I can’t see him not making the roster, and he upped his versatility by playing some first base as well as the corner outfield positions. Fourth outfielder / first baseman—check.

Not carrying that 12th pitcher gives the Phillies some options to fill out their bench, where the competition has been very heated this spring. While some fans may cringe at his name, I’m under the impression that Luis Castillo is a virtual lock to make this team, and the Phils’ could use him.

While a lot of people believe that Valdez is the better choice at second base to replace Utley, I like to go against the grain. As I argued in this piece earlier in the week, giving Valdez an everyday job takes away from his overall value.

Let’s face the music—the Phillies are an older team. While I’m not going to give you the “they are old and decrepit” speech, they are the type of team that can and will have to avoid injuries by giving their starters adequate rest. In that instance, a player with Valdez’s versatility is key. Having played just about every position on the diamond this spring, the Phils’ will find Valdez plenty of playing time, regardless of whether he’s the starting second baseman or not.

In the long run, he makes a much better utility player than Castillo, who believe it or not, could still benefit a lineup. He’s a switch hitter, which would give Manuel options in the lineup, and even in a down year, proved that he can still get on base to a good extent. Basically, this scenario guarantees both Valdez and Castillo spots on the bench.

That leaves one spot on the 25-man roster for a few guys that have played exceptionally well this spring: Delwyn Young, Josh Barfield, Pete Orr and Michael Martinez.

In my personal opinion, Barfield and Orr aren’t likely to make the team, and you won’t catch me crying over that decision. Both of these guys have played well this spring, but they’ve done little outside of it to show that they can be viable options for a Major League club. With both guys having Minor League options, it makes much more sense to stash them at AAA in the event of an injury.

There are benefits to having a guy like Young on your bench. Offensively, he could provide a spark off of the bench. Last season, he was among the league leaders in pinch hits—right in front of Gload—and as a switch hitter, gives Manuel some versatility later in the game. If the team is comfortable with Valdez playing center-field in the event Victorino needs time off, Young could make the team.

Personally, I’d like to see Martinez earn that final spot though. The Phillies have done very well in the Rule 5 Draft in recent years. Well all know the story of Victorino, but even guys like David Herndon have played well in the roles the Phils’ drafted them to fill.

Martinez is an interesting blend of talent. He plays every position in the middle of the field, including center field, and provides an actual defensive option should the Phils’ need to rest both Castillo and Valdez. He’s shown some power and average this spring, and is probably worth keeping around, if for nothing more than keeping him away from the Washington Nationals.

In this scenario, the Phillies essentially have a player for each role they’ll need to fill off of the bench. Along with those listed above, Castillo gives the Phils’ an option at second base, Young gives the Phils’ a threat from both sides of the plate off of the bench and Martinez can play multiple positions with upside. For a team that has suffered multiple injuries at multiple positions, having that sixth man on the bench is a luxury that many teams can’t afford.

At the very least, it beats holding on to a pitcher the team will never use.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


2011 Philadelphia Phillies: Can Roy Halladay Match or Surpass His 2010 Season?

In 2010, Roy “Doc” Halladay joined a new team, switched leagues in the process and pitched better than ever.

In Doc’s case, that’s saying something. He was coming off eight consecutive stellar seasons as the Toronto Blue Jays ace (which included six All-Star appearances, a Cy Young Award and four other top-five finishes), and although he pitched in relative obscurity, many already considered him to be the best pitcher in the game.

Those who did not know the Phillies’ new ace of aces all that well before 2010 were astonished by his combination of work ethic, nasty stuff and humility.

Those who knew him from his AL East days—where he led an inferior team into battle against the likes of the Yankees and the Red Sox—still marveled at how easily he dominated the National League.

No matter how you choose to view Halladay’s inaugural season in the season circuit, you come away quite impressed.

 

Traditional Stats: 21-10, 2.44 ERA with 219 strikeouts against only 30 walks in a league-leading 250.2 innings pitched. He also led the majors with nine complete games.

Halladay posted a 2-1 record with a 2.45 ERA in his first ever postseason.

 

Inside Numbers: A WAR (Wins Above Replacement) of 6.98 and career-best full-season marks for WHIP (1.041 walks and hits per nine innings) and ERA-plus (165: the higher the better—100 is average).

 

Geeky stats aside (and there are tons more that show Doc to be at or near the head of his class), we haven’t even mentioned his special accolades.

Halladay, of course, threw a regular-season perfect game at Florida and hurled a no-hitter against a powerful Cincinnati Reds team to open the playoffs.

He capped it all off by capturing the NL Cy Young Award. In a season that featured very strong performances by the Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright and the Rockies’ Ubaldo Jimenez, Halladay won the award unanimously.

To a team player like Roy Halladay, the opportunity to pitch for a championship contender made 2010 his most memorable campaign.

Indeed, after receiving his Cy Young Award last November, the modest right-hander was quoted by several news sources as saying, “It’s by far the most fun I’ve ever had playing this game. It was just tremendous from Day 1 to the end.”

The beauty of Halladay’s demeanor is that for all he has attained personally in a career that will one day earn him a plaque in Cooperstown, he is motivated by team accomplishments. Setting the stage for new teammates Roy Oswalt and Cliff Lee, Halladay wanted to pitch in Philadelphia—for a team and a city that he could help bring a championship.

Last year, for all of his heroics, the team fell six victories short. This year—injuries to Chase Utley and Brad Lidge notwithstanding—the sky is the limit, and expectations are extremely high.

To which this columnist poses the following question:

What can Phillies fans and baseball pundits expect to see out of Halladay this season?

After all, with only 31 wins this year (and if a relative journeyman like Denny McLain could do it…) Doc will earn his 200th regular season victory this year.

Okay, it’s fairly safe to say that no pitcher will win 30 games again, and earning 20 is no mean feat. But what’s a reasonable number?

On the one hand, Halladay, who will turn 34 in May, is certainly pitching like he is in his prime. He is also coming off a combined 272-plus innings of work last year. Can he manage a similar workload in back-to-back years?

Halladay has pitched at least 220 innings in seven of his last nine seasons, including the last five.

There are two ways to look at this.

Pessimistically: It’s bound to catch up with him.

Optimistically: He’s used to the heavy workload and thrives on it—and can one question his preparation and work habits?

(Did I mention that in the history of Major League Baseball, no pitcher born in Colorado and past the age of 30 has ever pitched more than 250 innings in consecutive years? You can look it up. I didn’t, but you can.)

My own middle ground is to hope that Halladay finishes the regular season with somewhere around 230 innings and a full tank for the expected postseason run. Doc has been so consistent the last several years that it is reasonable to expect an ERA at or under 2.75 and about 19 wins (he will be at the mercy of an offense that may not produce as much this year.)

Then, as he everyone knows, it’s all about the playoffs.

Toward that end, the man widely regarded as the best pitcher on Planet Earth took the ball yesterday in a matchup against AL Cy Young contender Jon Lester and the powerful Boston Red Sox.

Halladay (now 3-0) outdueled his Red Sox counterpart, scattering five hits and yielding only one run in 7.2 innings of quality work. Ryan Madson got the last four outs to earn the save.

Alas, it was only March 21, but it was an encouraging sign.

If the same box score unfolds seven months from now, it will be huge.

When it comes to Roy Halladay, is anyone betting against it?

 

For more information on Matt Goldberg’s new books, other writings and public appearances, please e-mail: matt@tipofthegoldberg.com or contact him via his Bleacher Report home page.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


Philadelphia Phillies All-Prospect Team: the Best Prospect at Every Position

Ruben Amaro Jr. has been well known to trade away prospects in search of major league talent.  While many believe he is depleting the farm system, there are still many talented prospects around.  Here is a list of the top prospects at each position.                                                                                             

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Philadelphia Phillies: 5 Candidates to Take Domonic Brown’s 25-Man Roster Spot

With Domonic Brown’s hand injury, another opportunity presented itself as an extra roster spot opened up.  Who knows when Brown gets called up this season, if he even gets called up at all?

Ben Francisco continues to hit the ball hard during spring training, and he’ll be the starting right fielder.

Nobody knows what’s going on with Chase Utley’s knee, and this will play a role in regards to whom the Phillies will select to make the Opening Day roster as well.

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Philadelphia Phillies: Does the Charlie Manuel Extension Saga Really Matter?

Okay, before I start, let me just be clear that I am a huge fan of Charlie Manuel, so don’t be fooled by the headline.

However, when I was thinking over the whole situation about his contract, is it really a necessity to keep him?

Manuel has done a tremendous job in Philadelphia by bringing home a World Series, but has he done all he can?

I feel like in sports there comes a time where a coach can do no more then just watch his team try to execute. The Phillies arguably have the best team on paper in the league, with a ton of talented players.

Manuel had a big influence on every player wearing a Phillies uniform, but I feel like every player (with the exception of a few) have maxed out to their full potential of talent.

Having said that, there are also plenty of reasons why they need to give him the extension.

So in this slideshow we’ll analyze five reasons why they don’t need to give him the extension and five reasons why they do need to give him the extension.

In the end, we’ll come to a verdict.

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The Five Most Important Phillies (Not In Rotation) Needed to Win Another Ring

So the starting rotation isn’t the worst, but ultimately it won’t matter how dominant the rotation is if the bats stay quiet once again in October.

In last year’s NLCS, the Phils hit an abysmal .216.  The Giants weren’t much better, .244, but they got the timely and clutch hitting from Cody Ross, Juan Uribe and Edgar Renteria that Philadelphia was looking for all series.

The big boppers, Utley, Howard, Werth and Ibanez were just 19-for-82 with 27 strikeouts.

With Werth now in Washington, someone needs to step up and protect Howard in the fifth spot in the lineup.  At times, Werth single-handidly carried the Phightins last postseason.

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