2014 Phillies Thread - There's Always Next Year

[smeags]

looks like a good picker to me.

[ice grillin you]

busta buss blog from espn insider

Philadelphia Phillies fans aren't happy, and they're expressing that through the ticket office: The team's attendance has plummeted, from an incredible (and unsustainable) 44,021 per game just two years ago to the current 30,438 per game. That's a 31 percent drop-off.

The fans saw the Phillies win the World Series in 2008 and field the best regular-season team in 2011, but then the team fell back to .500 in 2012 and won just 73 games last season.

At the current pace, Philadelphia will win just 72 games this season, which is an extraordinary failure, given the amount of money the team has invested. With the problems of the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees and the Phillies -- three teams with massive payrolls -- 2014 is shaping up to be like a baseball version of the banking industry. Too big to fail, indeed.

Whatever the thinking was behind the Phillies' decision to hold together their core group of expensive veterans -- while adding more older players to the mix -- it is playing out to be a debacle, on the field and in the eyes of the Phillies' faithful. What this really means is that there is clear opportunity for the Philadelphia front office, should it choose to take it: The Phillies have nothing to lose and everything to gain in the last 20 days before the trade deadline. They have hit rock bottom, and they have a chance to move forward from here.

There are teams looking for pitching right now, whether it's the Yankees or the Los Angeles Angels or the San Francisco Giants or the Los Angeles Dodgers, so the Phillies have potential suitors for Cliff Lee and Jonathan Papelbon. There are teams in need of power, and Marlon Byrd's muscles could be a coveted resource in the marketplace. The Oakland Athletics would be a perfect fit for Chase Utley, as would the Giants. The St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates, all hit by injuries in the past week, will be looking for help. The market is defining itself.

If the Phillies believe financial flexibility could help them moving forward, they can at least see what's possible in Cole Hamels' situation. They could ask teams such as the Dodgers how much Philadelphia would need to pay down to make it possible to glean good prospects, or even a great prospect.

Look, the Phillies have to know this: By the time the team is ready to contend again, Lee will probably be gone. The same is true for Utley and Papelbon.

So if the Phillies can glean any kind of dollar savings that would enable them to rebuild the roster, they might as well do it. If they can get even Grade B prospects for Lee, while absorbing a chunk of his salary, they might as well do it. They have been in a three-year spiral leading to nowhere, and they should aggressively force change and move ahead. They know from their attendance that their fan base is ready to move in another direction.

Rollins, Utley, Hamels and Lee have been all-time greats for the Phillies, and they'll be brought back for reunions for many years to come, but it's pretty apparent from the box office returns that running out the same core roster into 2015 would be like serving the same plate of cold cuts at dinner parties day after day.

The fans are losing interest in this current team. They want something new.

So Phillies GM Ruben Amaro should make deals. There are desperate teams all around baseball right now, and, although Philadelphia's outsized contracts probably will keep Amaro from making great trades, he can still make good trades, eating some dollars while adding prospects and carving out some space in his budget and building openings for a different roster that Phillies fans apparently want.

He should begin the turnover. Now.

[QB Eagles]

Did you delete some gawd trade speculation from that article? His first mention in your post is just "Rollins".

They should clear out every single player over age 25 they can dump. Sad fact though is that cashing in everyone for young talent will still only yield enough return to make them a mediocre-to-bad team in the years to come, a slight improvement over their current status of one of the worst in baseball. The main benefit would be salary reduction. The other sad fact is that a bunch of those old timers have NTCs or nearly undumpable contracts.

If Amaro doesn't at least get rid of the likes of Byrd, Papelbon, and Lee, he enters the discussion of being one of the worst GMs of all time. He's already MLB's worst GM right now.

[MDS]

they are going to eat a ton of salary

for the life of me i cant figure out any possible plan short of trading for the second coming of mike trout that gets them competitive in 2-3 years

[Rome]

I don't want Amaro in charge of a goddamn thing.

Fire him first then let his replacement make the decisions.

[QB Eagles]

The Phillies picked up one of Stark's half-season awards:

NL Least Valuable Player (LVP): Domonic Brown, Phillies

I was speaking with a longtime National League executive this week when Brown's name came up. The first word that came out of his mouth was "awful." Hard to disagree. A year ago, Brown was heading for his first All-Star Game. Twelve months later, he symbolizes everything that has gone wrong in Philadelphia since the glory days. He was the one prospect in the Phillies' system they didn't trade away in the fervid pursuit of another shower of confetti. He was the reason they let Jayson Werth sail off on the Free Agent Luxury Liner. He was the one young position player they decided would be the centerpiece of their next generation. So he's been shown incredible faith and even more incredible patience. But here is how he's rewarded that faith and patience so far: His .599 OPS ranks 156th of 161 big leaguers who qualify for the batting title. His .325 slugging percentage ranks 153rd. His .275 on-base percentage is 155th. Among all big league position players who have 250 plate appearances, he ranks dead last in WAR at minus-1.6. He's hit .180 with a .548 OPS in a home park that was supposed to be made for him. And when he puts on a glove, FanGraphs ranks him as the worst regular left fielder in the National League. So if Brown makes it through this season without being sent back to Farm Land or being traded for somebody else's favorite underachiever, there can be only one explanation: The Phillies can't find a single outfielder anywhere to replace him.

[Rome]

Brown will leave Philly, go to an AL team and become an All Star DH.

Bank on it.

[SD]

The Grady Sizemore era in Philly begins now

[Don Ho]

What in God's name is going here?  Sweep the best team in the NL (record wise) now beating the Nats?  What gives?  Up yours Smuggy.

[ice grillin you]

jimmy the god is on fire

[PhillyPhreak54]

JIMMMMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

[Eagles_Legendz]

Jimmy chase and byrd are having effective offensive years.  Rest of the offense is a dumpster fire.  Jimmy has a higher SLG % than Howard now.

[ice grillin you]

for the love of god you farging morons stop doing the wave

[PhillyPhreak54]

There should be nukes dropped when people do  the wave.

Hundred Miles Giles' slider is farging lethal

[ice grillin you]

Hundred Miles Giles' slider is farging lethal

you mean besides the one that zimmerman clobbered into the corner for a double

he shouldnt ever not throw his heater