Philadelphia Still on Santa’s Naughty List

As the height of the baseball off-season begins, big questions arise on what the Phillies will do to return to the playoffs, and this time, give their opponent some competition. The Phillies have had a recent habit of neglecting to spend money on stars to keep them in contention. You can blame the owners for not wanting to spend money, you can blame the general managers for not making smart decisions, or you can blame Santa Claus for not getting over the incident with Philadelphia fans booing him and throwing snowballs at him during a halftime show at an Eagles game, and thus depriving Philadelphia fans of star athletes.

The Phillies went into the off-season with several issues to address. Their list of free agents included SP Freddy Garcia, SP Kyle Lohse, RP J.C. Romero, RP Antonio Alfonseca, RP Jose Mesa, CF Aaron Rowand, 3B Abraham Nunez, and C Rod Barajas. This leaves needs to address, namely at least one starting pitcher, two relief pitchers, a center fielder, and a third basemen.

General Manager Pat Gillick mentioned going into the off-season that the Phillies would concentrate on pitching rather than position players. The problem is that this year, the market is very weak for starting pitching. Besides pitching ace Cole Hamels, other guys in the rotation include Brett Myers, who moved to closer last year due to injuries in their relief staff. With the signing of Brad Lidge, Myers will move back to starter but is a huge question mark. Kyle Kendrick is a great young pitcher who had a 3.87 ERA this past season, and J.D. Durbin may be a surprise with future experience as he has shined on occasion in the past. It is not very wise for the Phillies to rely on Scott Mathieson, 23 years old, after he sat out all season from Tommy John surgery; it is known that it takes two years to fully recover from that kind of surgery. Both Adam Eaton and Jamie Moyer stink and relief pitching maybe in their futures. Both guys allowed just three earned runs in the first two innings of their last five games. This amounts to a 2.7 ERA, which is pretty good for a reliever. It will be intriguing to see if manager Charlie Manuel pulls the trigger on this move as the season unfolds in 2008.

As far as available pitchers, the best option seems to be Carlos Silva who will not be cheap. Silva, 28 years old, can make his return to Philadelphia and will be pretty reliable; he had a 4.19 ERA in a very strong AL Central division. Another option can be former ace Bartolo Colon who hasn’t been himself since suffering from an injury back in 2006. Coming to the National League maybe just the right thing Colon needs to return to greatness; that and a badly needed Jenny Craig plan. Other options include Randy Wolf, Kris Benson coming off of a shoulder injury, and Hiroki Kurodu from Japan, who looks as if he will be a total bust.

As far as relief pitching is concerned, as I mentioned earlier, the Phillies made a big move in acquiring Brad Lidge from the Houston Astros. Lidge was an excellent closer at one time, but ever since he was dominated in the 2005 NLCS, he has been a shadow of his former self. The Phillies seem to have confidence in him as he is still fairly young in his career. A really great move the Phillies did was to resign J.C. Romero who had a 1.92 ERA this past season with both the Red Sox and the Phillies. Ryan Madson is a decent reliever, but after that, the list gets worse including guys such as Tom Gordon, Kane Davis, and Francisco Rosario. Yoel Hernandez and Mike Zagurski can be options for the Phillies to use in the future as they are both fairly young. Hernandez had a 5.28 ERA but had 9 appearances out of 14 without an earned run. Zagurski had a 5.91 ERA and had 16 appearances of 25 without an earned run. Options for the Phillies in the free agency market include Ron Mahay, Shawn Chacon, Jeremy Affeldt, Eric Gagne, and Octavio Dotel.

As for the positions players, Japan’s Kosuke Fukudome is an option for the Phillies as has he a great career in Japan prompting many to compare him to former Philly, Bobby Abreu; seems like a perfect fit right? Third base will likely be Greg Dobbs’ to keep this season unless the Phillies try and trade for Joe Crede, Scott Rolen, or Brandon Inge. Also, do not overlook Miguel Tejada although it is a stretch. The problem with trading for these guys is that the Phillies have no pieces to trade with a weak bench and farm system in the minor leagues.

Looking at the Philadelphia Phillies’ past and what they have available this season, it does not look as if the Phillies will make a big move to help themselves out for the next season. The biggest move they can make is signing Carlos Silva, but they must be able to open their wallets a little wider. They do have the right mind state in terms needs and pursuit, but their options are limited and they must learn to execute deals if they want to repeat as National League East Champions.