2020 Phillies Team Preview

With an 82-80 record the season last year, we, the Philidelphia Phillies, have a make or break year. If we do well, we will continue to compete. If not, we are calling it quits and going into the rebuild process. That said, we are going to look at an "Overview" of what we hope is a "make" team.

Lineup:

1. SS Alcides Escobar(85)- Yes, he is getting a bit old now, but with a .282 average with 35 stolen bases last season you can't not bat Alcides at leadoff.

2. 2B Chris Garufi(85)- An excellent pick up halfway through last season, Garufi hits the ball consistently and gets the ball over the fence every once in a while.

3. C Charlie Landry (86)- Charlie is arguably the best catcher defensivly. He controls the field well, but we only wish he had a better arm. He did well this spring training so we moved him to 3 spot and move the Franchise star Tillotson to 4th.

4. 1B Sandy Tillotson(93)- .309 AVG with 24 HR's last year. 'Nuff said.

5. RF Eric Overturf(81)- A young rookie with a lot of power. I honestly have no clue how this kid is going to do, but we don't have other options right now and he deserves a shot.

6. CF John McGraw(82)- Last year, John didn't even get an offer in the offseason. He sat in Free Agency begging for a shot. The Phillies gave him the role of a 6 guy whole ran the basepaths and he proved it, with 23 stolen bases in only 80 games.

7. 3B Taylor Green(83)- Another great offseason pickup, Taylor has a carrer average of .283, and can hit the ball in almost any situation.

8. Jason Heyward(87)- Heyward hits the ball well, but not as good as we were hoping. Last year, he had a career low average of .245

9. Pitcher

Rotation:

1. Chris Jenkins(86)- Chris had a 2.79 ERA and twice as many wins as losses last year. As Buchholz is getting older, Jenkins was the appropriate choice for staff ace because of his age and his amazing movement.

2. Drew Naylor(79)- We don't know how Naylor did so well last year, but he did. Besides the bad vitals, Drew managed to give the team 14 wins last year. Our only guess as to why he does so good is his nasty good curve and splitter.

3. Clay Buchholz(88)- As Buchholz gets older, he keeps getting worse and worse. That said, he still has good power, and had 153 strikeouts in 157 innings last year.

4. Joseph Gardner(85)- Drew likes it in Philadelphia, dropping his ERA .89 is just 7 games since we picked him up in the middle of last year.

5. Taylor Tapp(79)- Tapp is another player, like Naylor, that we arn't sure why he does so good. He has one of the best curveball's in the league, but that's about it.

Bullpen:

Closer. Pedro Borrero(85)- The big offseason sign this year, Borrero is getting paid the big bucks, $70 million in the next 7 years.

Setup. Nat Raeburn(79)- Nat stuns opponents with his amazing Slider.

Short Reliever. Bruce Whitehead(79)- Bruce struggeled at the beginning of last year, but improved later in the year to make out with a 3.38 ERA

Short Reliever. Eduardo Hinojales(79)- We arn't sure how Eduardo is going to do this year, he is getting his last shot with the team this year.

Middle Reliever. Todd Ravitz(80)- I don't even have to say anything about this kid. The absolute PERFECT middle reliever for any team. We are happy he is on our team.

Long Reliever. Andrew Oliver(81)- Andrew had a bad injury last year, and since then it had impacted the way he has pitched. Because of the injury, we have taken him out of the rotation and down to the long reliever spot.

Phillies regroup after late charge falls short

A 19-10 finish over September and October proved to be not quite good enough for the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Phillies were all but dead in the water entering September, having dropped well out of the National League East race. But some hot bats -- especially those of rookie slugger Logan Morrison, Jayson Werth, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Ludwick -- and strong pitching down the stretch revived their hopes of catching the Chicago Cubs for the NL's Wild Card spot.

Perhaps, had the Phillies been willing to part with another prospect or two at the trade deadline, they may have secured a spot in October. But management had deemed starter Vance Worley and outfielder Nat Mitchell untouchable as July 31 loomed, and both received ample playing time down the stretch and project to be in the Phillies' 2012 plans.

Here are the Phillies awards as voted on by staff members of the Philadelphia Tribune:

MVP -- 1B Logan Morrison. Morrison, a contender for NL Rookie of the Year, lived up to the hype as the centerpiece of the 2010 Cole Hamels deal with Florida, part of the Phillies' June 2 purge of veterans that also included Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Shane Victorino. Morrison hit .283 with 28 HRs and 90 RBI, OPS'd .878, showed solid plate discipline (94 walks) and will likely man first base for Philadelphia for a long time. The best part -- he's only 23 and isn't even eligible for arbitration until after the 2013 season, giving the Phillies some salary flexibility until then.

Pitcher of the Year -- Roy Halladay. Doc was lights-out in 2011, leading the National League in ERA (2.38) while going 18-7, capping his season with a no-hitter of the Cubs on Oct. 1. The 14-year veteran threw a team-high 230 1/3 innings and proved to be a capable mentor to youngsters Vance Worley (2-6, 4.30) and Michael Stutes (12-9, 3.62). Halladay should be a top contender for the Cy Young, along with San Francisco's Tim Lincecum and the Cubs' Justin Verlander.

Top Rookie -- Morrison, hands down. Worley pitched well in 13 starts (62 strikeouts vs. just eight walks) despite his poor record. No other rookies made significant contributions.

Unsung Hero -- (tie) SS Jimmy Rollins and OF Ryan Ludwick. Rollins was the spark at the top of the lineup, bouncing back from a slow start to finish at .273 with a .773 OPS (his highest since 2008), 108 runs, 22 HRs (his most since '07) and 23 steals, all while playing stellar shortstop with just five errors. Ludwick quietly put together a solid power season for Philadelphia with 32 HRs, 96 RBI and a .795 OPS.

The Phillies promise to be active in the offseason. Management feels pretty confident in much of the current lineup, with Tyler Flowers and Ryan Doumit handling catching responsibilities, and Morrison, Aaron Hill, Rollins and Brent Morel manning the infield. The outfield may see some upheaval, as all three projected starters, barring any moves -- Ludwick, Werth and Mitchell -- are best-suited for left field. If a top-tier center fielder becomes available in free agency, the Phillies will be hard-pressed not to make a sizeable offer.

The rotation is expected to consist of Halladay, Stutes, Worley, Joe Blanton and the disappointing Anibal Sanchez. The biggest area of need is the bullpen, with only Ryan Madson assured of returning.

Phillies Musings

(The Philadelphia Tribune will periodically invite guest columnists to give their opinions on the Philadelphia Phillies. Today's guest is veteran reporter Percival "Scoop" Goodchild III.)

Well, hello base-ball fans!

First allow me to tell you a bit about myself. I've long been a fan of news-papers like these, starting from my days as a field reporter in Europe as our doughboys took on the Teutonic onslaught of the Kaiser's Germany. After the Great War, I returned home where I reported on the comings and goings of base-ball players (don't tell anyone, but I heard from a bellhop in Boston that one Mr. Rabbit Maranville was a bit of a bonnet-doffer, if you get my drift!) afterward until once again I was called into Uncle Sam's service. I was forced to retire after a horribly distended sciatica suffered at the hands of Tojo at the Battle of Guadalcanal, as well as a crippling laudanum addiction. So when the Tribune asked me to return to the press-box to describe this mighty Phillies team, I readily said "verily!" I put on my finest tweed, made sure my press pass was firmly tucked into the band on the fedora that Ernest Hemingway himself once glanced at in the store, and headed to the ball-park.

Here are my observations from the past fortnight:

* The Philadelphians certainly made a bold move in their recent swap of first-baseman Freddy Freeman for second sacker Aaron Hill. They say this Freeman fellow might have the potential to someday smack as many as FIFTY home-runs in a calendar year, which would be unrivaled in the history of base-ball. And this Hill character ... he has glovework that would make the great Nap Lajoie need a cold shower and perhaps an arsenic bath.

* I was viewing some of this "World-Cup" on the moving picture box this morning while I awaited my soft-boiled egg, and I must say, I am surprised they held this event in Africa. Rommel's forces must be licking their chops. Also, I believe something is wrong with my ear trumpet ... there is a strange buzzing. To boot, does French Indochina no longer have a team?

* Oh, my, can this Roy "Doc" Halladay pitch! He allowed just seven base-hits in a twelve runs to zero victory over the Rays of Tampa Bay on the 20th of June. However, given his youthful looks, I have my suspicions that this man is not a real doctor.

* Vance Worley certainly received both ends of the proverbial stick in his first two starts in the major-leagues. In his first, he struck-out ten of these Rays in six frames, but inexplicably was removed from the game for something called a "relief pitcher" and the Phillies were to lose, two runs to one. Then he was batted hard before exiting once again after taking the horsehide right off his ungloved paw! The team physician told me that Mr. Worley would be placed on the "disabled list," which makes me fear that the young man may have contracted polio.

* I am a little disconcerted that they allow women to enter the ball-park without a male escort.

* Oh, how the flashbulbs pop when this young Mr. Logan Morrison comes to the plate! He's hitting a remarkable three-seventy eight in his last 10 games, and the bartender at the Philadelphia Royale (Sinatra stayed at this hotel!) told me that these wily Philadelphia owners plan on keeping him in the City of Brotherly Love for a long time! With the reserve clause, this should not be difficult.

* The recent three-game trip to Baltimore reminds me of the time that myself and one Mr. Babe Ruth went on a barnstorming tour out west. We went through Kansas, Missouri ... my, we might have even reached Iowa before I finished my first bottle of gin and the Babe himself was knee-deep in prostitutes. I had to cut the trip short due to a horribly irritated coccyx suffered when I fell off the back of the train during a randy game of spot-the-garter. I believe Mr. Ruth contracted syphillis. I also do not think he spoke to me.

* This Jimmy Rollins is something else. Batting at the top of the Phillies line-up, he's stolen a base all eight times he's tried! I haven't seen an Irishman run this fast since Tommy O'Flaherty stole a 10-cent gallon of milk from Mrs. Sugarbush's dairy farm during my young days growing up in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Well, my nursemaid is here for my nightly spongebath and nightcap of bitters. Keep enjoying the base-ball games!