2006 Philles Season Thread

[reese125]

you see Wing, thats not NOT CARING, thats because your just not good enough as a hitter or outfielder.

its also bad coaching for one because somebody cant improve Burrells swing--still. you know hes trying, but hes just not good enough against certain pitches and is now petrified at the plate. you think he loves to get booed day in and day out--nobody wants that--especially his ego

Rollins can certainly field better than anyone and he can hit--as hes shown that, but hes not good enough as a leadoff hitter. Coaching can make moves but who goes there--nobodys good enough

a pitcher can sac bunt all he wants, but whos going to hit after he does that to bring in runs or the game winner--cant do it, not good enough.

sure you can improve certain areas, but by how much with the other surrounding players you STILL have year in and year out. desire is 1/4 the equation

im beating a dead horse

[ice grillin you]

On Baseball
Phillies' Loss Looks Worse Than Steinbrenner's Gain
By MURRAY CHASS

BOBBY ABREU is what other teams hate about the Yankees. Having a $200 million payroll is obscene enough, but adding Abreu's contract two-thirds into the season is more than X-rated in the eyes of their brethren. Try XXX.

Other teams, of course, have come to expect the Yankees' modus operandi: spend, spend and spend some more. Money can cover mistakes, and money can overcome injuries.

Sometimes, though, teams are grateful for the Yankees' existence. The Philadelphia Phillies are the latest. They wanted to dump Abreu's contract, which has a guaranteed $21,475,409 remaining for a season and a third, and they found a willing taker in the Yankees.

The Phillies are more disgraceful than the Yankees. They play in one of the largest markets in the country, and they act like a small-market team. Their payroll reached a high of $95 million on opening day last year, but they reduced it to $88 million this year.

That does not mean the Phillies have a small payroll — it was 13th among opening-day payrolls — but it demonstrated their mind-set. Last year their payroll was fourth, and they finished two games out of first in the division and one game behind the wild-card winner. So what do they do to try to make up that little bit of ground? They cut the payroll.

They stumble and bumble in other ways, too. Instead of hiring Jim Leyland as their manager before last season, they hired Charlie Manuel. Now Leyland has turned the Detroit Tigers into the best team in baseball, while the Phillies have faded from view in the face of the Mets' demolition of the National League East.

Acknowledging their most recent futility, the Phillies decided to become more flexible. That's a baseball euphemism for dumping salaries. It's a popular game at this time of the season. Teams that have no chance to win a playoff spot trade players who can be free agents at the end of the season or whose salaries are higher than the teams want to keep paying.

If those teams are lucky, the Yankees will be looking for the commodity they want to get rid of. The Phillies were doubly lucky this year. They traded Cory Lidle, a 34-year-old pitcher, who can be a free agent, saving $1,136,065 in salary, and they shed Abreu's multiyear contract.

The Yankees are not a charitable trust. They will not take just any player with a big contract, even though it may seem that way. They have to have a need for a player. They needed an Abreu because two-thirds of their outfield, Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield, is on the disabled list and is not guaranteed to play again this season.

The Yankees are playing by the rules when they add big contracts at this time of year in trying to ensure that they will play games in October. That is George Steinbrenner's birthright, and nowhere is it written that the Yankees have to accept anything less. It is Steinbrenner's money, and he can spend it any way he desires.

Other teams have injured players, but they do not have the money to take on an Abreu contract. The Minnesota Twins, as solid and efficient an organization as baseball has, had all three of their outfielders go on the disabled list in the space of a few days, but they could not have traded for Abreu.

They might have liked to add Alfonso Soriano, but they would have had him only for the remainder of the season, and he would have cost them $3.4 million. As it turned out, no one added Soriano. He remained with Washington for now.

•The Yankees will rationalize their Abreu expenditure by pointing out that his $15 million salary next season will replace Sheffield's $13 million. Sheffield has an option for next season, but the early betting is that the Yankees will not exercise it. The Yankees, though, say that is a decision for November.

If the Yankees substitute Abreu for Sheffield, they may make a mistake. Abreu is nearly six years younger than Sheffield, but in his first two years with the Yankees, Sheffield established himself as their most valuable player and a player who is willing to play through injuries

The Yankees have to hope that Abreu does not suffer the first-season complex that affects many high-priced players when they change teams. It happened most noticeably with Carlos Beltrán with the Mets last season. Apparently feeling the weight of his seven-year, $119 million contract, Beltrán had a sub-par season.

In his second year with the Mets, Beltrán is having an M.V.P. season. He has been so good — 32 home runs and a league-leading 94 runs batted in — that the Yankees may be kicking themselves for rejecting his agent's offer to sign him for a discounted $100 million. The Yankees, in an astonishing act, said they did not want to add his salary to an already bulging luxury tax-laden payroll.

With the addition of Abreu and Lidle, the Yankees' payroll stood at $206 million. Their final figure last year was $207 million. Upward in payroll, onward to the postseason. You can always count on the upward. The onward this year is not so certain. That is why the Yankees grabbed Abreu.

[BigEd76]

Why are people acting like Abreu = Pujols?  He's a good player with questionable defense that's on the downside of his career and isn't worth anywhere near $13M-$15M a year....

[Rome]

They're acting that way because all they see is the stats, Ed.

They didn't see him play day-in and day-out like we do.

Plus it's entirely fashionable to rip the Phillies and praise the Yankees based on this one transaction.  The Phillies are a wreck of an organization but trading Bobby Abreu isn't the reason for that.  His being signed to an absurd contract with a full NTC is more indicative of the idiocy of the organization than the Phils' cutting their losses and trading him is.

That's my take on it, anyway.


One other thing... comparing the Phillies and Yankees in any sense of the word is idiotic.  The Yankees are the Gold Standard and the Phillies are the Fool's Gold Standard.

[reese125]

i dont think anyone is riding his nuts or comparing him to Pujols, but to have a guy that gets hits and is on base more than anyone in the league is a big plus for that Yankess lineup--especially when you know someone will bat his ass in to score.....such a nice luxury to have

[phattymatty]

i have a feeling that 75% of you who post in this thread still take your glove to the games.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

I haven't been to a major league baseball game in at least 3-4 years, but you'd better believe I plan to bring my glove the next time I get an opportunity to waste my money going to see the Phillies!

OK, no I don't.

[phattymatty]

i actually like going to games in person, but there is nothing more pathetic than someone post-high school age with a glove in their hand, waiting to catch a foul ball.  and if the .001% chance arises and the ball comes within reach, catch it with your bare hands nancy.

[Rome]

I bring my glove with me in the car when we tailgate before and after the games.

I don't bring it into the game with me, though.  So, I'm 99.9999999999% pathetic, I guess.

[MDS]

What is with all this girlie bickering? Lidle sucked throughout his entire career, he is at best a 5 starter. Rhodes sucks this year, but overall, has had a decent career. Neither one of them has any right to bash anyone because they arent good enough.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

So, you don't have a right to post your opinions to this board, then.

[MDS]

Hardy har har, but there is a difference between idiotic posts on a dorky message board and talking in the media about an ex teammate.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

I don't see the difference, and I demand an explanation.  But not from you.

[mpmcgraw]

The increase in K's looking has also had a major increase in his OBP.  I am willing to make that trade off. 

I'd like an increase in OBP because he is being smart at the plate and not swinging at crappy pitches. So youre willing to take a higher OBP at the cost of him suckin ass with RISP?

He also increased his OBP last year, and I am pretty sure he was one of our best hitters with RISP last year. 

RISP is largely a stat of chance.  Throughout his career Burrell has actually done well in that situation. 

Personally I am sick of the hypocrits.  Howard strikes out more than Burrell, is worse than Burrell with RISP, shows bad plate discipline, and cant hit with the bases loaded. 

Yes Howard has much more power than Burrell,but why dont we whine about those things?  Because he makes less than 500k like the rest of us blue collared guys?  Because women dont slober over him like they do Burrell?

I find it funny that the same people who relentlessly bash Burrell think Rowand is a good player. 

[mpmcgraw]

I miss the days when Burrell would strike out swinging and slam his bat against the ground.

Those were the days.