2010/11 Phillies Offseason Thread

[Don Ho]

Per Chollie:

"People talk about us playing 'little ball.' . . . We've always been able to play 'little ball.' Explain what 'little ball' really is. 'Little ball' is called 'execution' to me. A team that can manufacture runs. And we used to be very good at that."

[PhillyPhreak54]

i wish they would give away a rally towel with ruben's face on it.  that way i could wipe myself off after jerking off to it.

April 14th - Ruben Amaro spunk towel day.

SunnyMo first in line

[charlie]

Ruben is and always will be smug. He's got a patent on the smug shtein eating grin face.

Why does that matter?

[PhillyPhreak54]

Because I dont like the guy. Why does it matter to you that it matters to me?

[charlie]

It doesn't.

[Munson]

Baldy and Harry Mays were on 97.5 debating on whether or not Roy Halladay is the best player in baseball

[Sgt PSN]

He's not. No one who plays 1 out of every 5 games can really be considered the best in the entire sport imo.  You wanna argue that he's the best pitcher in the game, fine.  But not best player. 

[reese125]

no question.

[Munson]

Baldy's whole point was that he has residual effects on the other pitchers and the team....the other pitchers see what he's doing, so they want to go out there and not look like a zesty pitcher. Said Roy being here is part of what drew Oswalt here and that it probably helped Lee in choosing Philly over NY or Texas. Then said the batters don't feel like all the pressure is on them when he's pitching. His work ethic wearing off on guys like Hamels and Kendrick, etc


Idk...i thought they were interesting points, but it's impossible to measure that stuff.


Would you put him at #2 behind Albert?

[smeags]

baldy and mays are struggling for content with that debate IMO.

[Munson]

I think we all are at this point.

so close/so far from opening day, NFL is locked out, burnt out from all the March Madness talk...what else is there? The NBA and NHL are at the end of a long regular season.

It's the reason why we've got 2 pages worth of "who drives worse and where" talk in the general section.

[Sgt PSN]

That all makes sense but it still doesn't change the fact that no starting pitcher in the game is on the field for more than roughly 33 games a year.  His locker room/workout/practice presence very well may inspire and motivate other players to step their game up so maybe that makes him the most influencial player or the best leader in the game but that still doesn't make him the best player.  One thing that I can't overlook is a pitcher's batting.  Ideally, you only want a pitcher in the box with runners on and less than 2 outs so he can sac bunt them over, but that's not always the case.  Even the "best" hitting pitchers in the league still typically have a batting avg well below .250.  

Example:  It's the 8th inning of a tie game or maybe you're down by a run.  Runner on 2nd, 2 out and Doc is due up.  He's got a low pitch count and has been pitching well so you're not concerned about throwing him out there for another inning.  But it's late in the game and you need that run.  Do you send him to the plate or do you ph for him?  You send the ph in there every time.  So let me ask you this......in what world would you ever consider sending Wilson Valdez or Ben Francisco or whoever in to replace the best player in the game?  

So that's what really hurts pitchers when talking about best player. AL pitchers aren't even in the conversation because they have zero impact on their team's offense.  

And no, I wouldn't put him at #2 either.  In fact, I don't think I could put a pitcher in the top 5, maybe even top 10 of the best player category.  They simply don't play in enough games and every pitcher is an offensive liability if you aren't in a sac bunt situation.  

That said, I agree with Baldy in the sense that Doc's presence has had a tremendous impact on this franchise but not in a way that results in him directly being more productive/impactful on the field.  

[smeags]

yeah no doubt - i just fall into that group like sarge who can never compare a pitcher to an everyday player. have to admit though i'm sure how i feel about the hitters feeling no pressure cause hallady is pitching. does it help them relax or become complacent.

[Rome]

I'm gonna say he's the best only because Sassy will spend another half a page saying 'nuh uh'.

[Sgt PSN]

I think having lights out pitchers like Halladay and Lee are actually bad for this offense.  They seem to go to sleep more often than not when these guys are on the mound.  Remember in 2009 before Moyer got hurt how he led the team in wins even though I think he had the highest ERA of any of the Phils starting pitchers.  He also had the highest run support of any of the Phils starters....by a lot.  Who knows, maybe they've "matured" as an offense since then (ha!) or maybe now the absence of Werth and injury to Grit will force these guys to focus on a more fundamental offensive style of play to manufacture runs instead of looking for the long ball and xbh.  All I know is that the bats seem to go into hiding when they've got a stud on the mound. 

In fact, I don't do much betting but I'd be willing to throw a friendly 10 spot down that says the 5th spot in the rotation (Blanton/whoever should they trade him) has the highest run support per game at season's end.