2012 - Philadelphia Phillies, At Least Cole is Staying

[MDS]

lol tread water until utley and howard get back. oh my god how naive are you.

lets run down how their roster looked before 1 game was played
c: ruiz = career .260 hitter, oldish and slow
1b: wiggerton = career loser, oldish and slow
2b: galvis = AAA player with a great glove, horrible bat, not even close to seasoned but kinda promising
ss: jimmy = pimp god but on downside of his career
3b: polanco = was old and washed up last year, only gonna get worse from here
lf: mayberry = 28 year old who has never put it together
cf: victorino = dumbass hawaiin, though reasonable to expect the same as usual from him
rf: pence = dumbass texan, though reasonable to expect the same as usual from him

bench:
schenider = lol
thome = lolololol
pierre = slap hitting singles hitter with horrid defense
nix = washington national reject
orr = lololololololololololol

rotation
doc = has thrown 60000 pitches in his career, figure he was due to regress/wear down
lee = fine
hamels = fine
worley = fine
blanton = fat mediocre waste of space

bullpen
papelboner = overpaid but fine
tony b = fine
truck = 65 year old cuban coming off serious injury. lol
qualls = run of the mill veteran relief pitcher. who knows what youll get.
stutes = could be bad, could be good. well see
kendrick = long man, spot duty, whatever. he is what he is.
savery = lol.

now what part of that roster did you expect to "tread water." throw in a retarded manager incapable of doing anything but playing for the 3 run homer and what you see is what you get.

they suck and all non homers knew it was coming.

[ice grillin you]

you left out the worst game day manager in baseball....but otherwise nice breakdown

it is what it is....and its time for everyone to recognize

gonna be a big time down era for phillies baseball for the next four five years

[Don Ho]

Todd,  where was that post in April?  Dead on.  How true about Victorino and Pence.  Two dudes about as smart as a bag of rocks.  The every once a week 3 for 4 at the plate, spectacular defensive play game is followed by the five consecutive head scratching, what in the farg were you thinking performances.  One knuckle head per roster is enough to deal with but two is excruciatingly painful.

[ice grillin you]

they hustle tho

[MDS]

gonna be a big time down era for phillies baseball for the next four five years

maybe, maybe not

what they do with hamels, victorino, pence, doc, utley, etc. will be telling. they have a chance to get things in order for 2014 but first amaro needs to wake up to reality and second he needs to make the right trades

[ice grillin you]

they have no chance to do that no matter who they keep or dont keep

they are incredibly old.....the whole team....they make the right moves and they can set a foundation for down the road success....but lol at them having a good team in two years

[Munson]

They've got 115 million dollars to spend on 2014...they could certainly be competitive.

[MDS]

2014 their team could be:
c- ?, 1b - choke, 2b - ?, ss - galvis, 3b - ?, lf - ? , cf - ?, rf - ?
sp - lee, worley, ?, ?, ?
pen - pap, basticho, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?
bench - ?, ?, ?, ?, ?

lots of questions marks. well see what they do. they have too much money to just think its going to be over for 4-5 years.

[Geowhizzer]

These were my predictions:

Wins  92
Marlins Wins  90
Nationals Wins  87
Where do the Phillies finish in the final division standings  1st
Big 3 Wins (Roy, Cliff, Cole)  51
Runs scored for season  645
Papelbon Net Saves (Saves - blown saves)  28 (34-6)
How many ABs does Dom Brown get  125
Games played Utley  80
Games played Howard  95
Does Cole sign an extension before end of season  No
Hunter Pence HR/RBI  22/90
When does season end for Phils  Division Series to whoever becomes the WFC

Yeah, I overestimated the win total by a lot – probably about 12-15 wins.  As of now, they're playing on a 75-win pace.  Give or take, that's probably about where they'll finish.  Maybe a bit better if Halladay comes back – maybe  a bit worse if he doesn't come back effectively - but no way in my mind do they catch up to my win prediction.

Here is what I wrote before the first game:

This year the Phils definitely fall back to the pack a bit. Unlike last year, where there was pretty much no doubt from day one about who would win the division, this year some begins to creep in. Not to go all IGY, but anyone that says that there is no chance the Phils fall this season just isn't looking at the totality of the situation. It's not just that the Phils are weaker - they are, especially offensively. The rest of the division (sans the Mets) are just getting better, particularly the Marlins and Nats. The Braves might be stagnant or a little better - the severity of the injury to Hudson will go a long way in determining their fate.

I'm no Nostradamus – I think that paragraph accurately reflects what most of us felt going into this season.  The Phils are an aging team – and perhaps more quickly than the actual numbers would point to.  Injuries are curtailing the effectiveness of Utley when he can get into the lineup.  Polanco would be shot if he were a horse.  Howard is going to try to come back from an Achilles injury – that could permanently sap his power, and power is all he really has.  Otherwise, he's a below-average player.  Halladay is flirting with a shoulder injury that they are trying to portray as "not serious," when too often those type of injuries end up being season-enders.  Cliff Lee can't buy a win for 25 million dollars.   

I don't see them going all Titanic (i.e. a 90+ loss season).      Offensively it may be that caliber of a team – worse than we even supposed in March, but I don't see the starting pitching letting it fall to that level.  Right now, they're the textbook definition of mediocre.

The future?  We'll see...

[Rome]

Season's over.  Time to move on.

[ice grillin you]

i personally like the igy reference

[MDS]

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/20120610_Its__time_to_face_facts__Phillies_are_bad.html

sheridan nails it

i love how manuel refuses to use papelbon unless there is a lead. gotta save his arm for october?

[ice grillin you]

jesus christ sheridan is late to the party

[Don Ho]

Time for Eskin to start another rumble.

[SunMo]

Jorge Soler signs with the Cubs for 9 years, $30 million

phillies were involved but couldn't outbid the cubs.  another amaro fail