Phillies Offseason Thread

[Rome]

Season's over.  Time to move on.

And more to the point, thanks Jimmy, Raul, Roy & Brad and best of luck to you in the future.

[Geowhizzer]

Moved from the other thread:


The Phillies only had one run in the last 17 innings of hitting.  The slump-prone Phils offense hit one at exactly the wrong time.  Not to sound Igy-ish, but that was probably bound to happen sometime during the playoffs.  What pisses me off is that so many of the Phils seemed almost lackadasical - like winning the World Series was their birthright.  They don't have the power to wait for the three-run homer anymore, but also don't have the personnel to play small ball.  They're a powerless power team - and that's the part that will only get worse.

I wonder how much losing Davey Lopes hurt in that regard.  I don't have hard numbers to back this up, but it just felt like the Phils actually ran less this year than they did last year.  And, combined with the loss of power (yeah yeah, Werth didn't do much for the Nats this year, but he did hit 30 last year for the Phils, which weren't even partially replaced until the trade for Pence). 

Utley had almost no pop in the last two months - a total of 3 HR since Aug. 1, and Howard's numbers remained nearly stagnant from last year, even though he missed more time.  More troubling is that Howard's slugging was below .500 for the first time in his career.  Without monstrous power, Howard sucks the life completely out of the lineup.  His injury could be a blessing in disguise, only if it spurs His Smugness to actually look for a bat during the offseason (I can't say I'm optimistic of Amaro spending money on a bat - they'll cry luxury tax).

The Phils need some major changes in the lineup if they want to be in the mix next year.  If Amaro stands pat, I may be on board Igy's Braves train next year - they really are up and coming if their young pitchers can continue to develop.  I also see the Braves being aggressive in FA to fill in some of the holes in their lineup.  I also think that the Nats may be an up and coming team, though probably not ready for next year.  The Phils are losing Rollins (just a gut feeling, but I believe his Phils career is over), Oswalt (good riddance) and Ibanez.  Polanco needs to be taken behind the barn and shot.  Hamels needs a contract.  Pence will be going into his FA year.

Utley will be another year older, and has had dwindling production the past several seasons, and was probably less than average offensively last year for second basemen.  Can he rebound, or is this what we can expect from a 30-something second baseman?  Howard is a statue and now may have a major injury.   Depending on Howard's prognosis, the Phils have a lot of different targets they could go after in free agency - if they're willing to spend the money.

One thing:  The proverbial window is definitely closing - how quickly will depend on the front office's actions this winter.  Without some aggressive moves, it could already be closed.

[Rome]

As long as they have Roy, Cliff & Heidi they're going to contend.   The sad thing is they had this monstrous lineup five years ago and the pitching sucked.  Now they have great pitching and their lineup is aging faster than Joan Rivers' twat.

Regardless, I don't see how they're going to improve because their cap number is going to be enormous next year. 

Basically they're going to be the 96-07 Braves for the next five years.  Yay.

[MDS]

burn this thread with the rest of this pos team

[ice grillin you]

burn this thread with the rest of this pos team

yup....homer romey should be farging ashamed of himself for starting this....he can burn in hell too

[Don Ho]

Eskin reporting it is a torn achilles.  MRI confirmed it.  June return.  Possibly May.

Carry on.

[Don Ho]

So there goes any chance of Choke fine tuning his swing this off season.

[ice grillin you]

why are you replying to your own posts...and can someone lock this thread....waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too soon

[PhillyPhreak54]

My farging anger is still smoldering from yesterday and probably will for awhile.

Goddamn chokers.

[QB Eagles]

So there goes any chance of Choke fine tuning his swing this off season.

Considering that he (and most of the rest of the Phillies) need more NOT swinging practice, he might be able to do some offseason work after all.

[Sgt PSN]

Is igy crying about the Phils being out of it even though he was the one predicting this since April?

[Don Ho]

Something ain't right.  Todd turns on them in a New York minute, IGY acting like he's shocked when he's been predicitng their demise for 6 months.

[Don Ho]

why are you replying to your own posts...and can someone lock this thread....waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too soon

Aren't you supposed to be enjoying your vacation?

[Sgt PSN]

Potential Free Agents:

First basemen
Russell Branyan LAA
Jorge Cantu SD
Prince Fielder MIL
Brad Hawpe SD
Eric Hinske ATL *
Ross Gload PHI
Nick Johnson CLE
Derrek Lee BAL
Xavier Nady ARI
David Ortiz BOS
Lyle Overbay PIT
Carlos Pena CHC
Albert Pujols STL
Jim Thome MIN

Second basemen
Clint Barmes HOU
Willie Bloomquist ARI *
Orlando Cabrera CLE
Robinson Cano NYY *
Jamey Carroll LAD
Luis Castillo NYM
Alex Cora WAS
Craig Counsell MIL
Mark Ellis OAK
Carlos Guillen DET
Jerry Hairston Jr. WAS
nAaron Hill ARI *
Omar Infante FLA
Adam Kennedy SEA
Brandon Phillips CIN *

Shortstops
Yuniesky Betancourt MIL *
Ronny Cedeno PIT
Adam Everett CLE
Rafael Furcal STL
Alex Gonzalez ATL
Cesar Izturis BAL
Nick Punto STL
Edgar Renteria CIN
Jose Reyes NYM
Jimmy Rollins PHI
Ramon Santiago DET
Marco Scutaro BOS *
Jack Wilson SEA

Third basemen
Mark DeRosa SF 
Edwin Encarnacion TOR *
Aramis Ramirez CHC
Miguel Tejada SF
Omar Vizquel CWS

Catchers
Rod Barajas LAD
Henry Blanco ARI
Ramon Castro CWS
Ryan Doumit PIT
Ramon Hernandez CIN
Gerald Laird STL
Jose Molina TOR
Yadier Molina STL *
Dioner Navarro LAD
Jorge Posada NYY
Ivan Rodriguez WAS
Brian Schneider PHI
Jason Varitek BOS

Outfielders
Bobby Abreu LAA *
Rick Ankiel WAS
Carlos Beltran NYM
Milton Bradley SEA
Pat Burrell SF
Coco Crisp OAK
Michael Cuddyer MIN
Jack Cust SEA
Johnny Damon TB
David DeJesus OAK
J.D. Drew BOS
Kosuke fargudome CHC
Jonny Gomes WAS
Vladimir Guerrero BAL
Scott Hairston NYM
Willie Harris NYM
Raul Ibanez PHI
Conor Jackson OAK
Austin Kearns CLE
Jason Kubel MIN
Ryan Ludwick SD
Hideki Matsui OAK
Nate McLouth ATL *
Jason Michaels HOU
Laynce Nix WAS
Magglio Ordonez DET
Juan Pierre CWS
Juan Rivera TOR
Cody Ross SF
Grady Sizemore CLE *
Nick Swisher NYY *
Marcus Thames LAD
Josh Willingham OAK

Starting Pitchers
Mark Buehrle CWS
Chris Carpenter STL *
Bruce Chen KC
Aaron Cook COL *
Justin Duchscherer OAK
Zach Duke ARI *
Freddy Garcia NYY
Jon Garland LAD *
Aaron Harang SD
Rich Harden OAK
Livan Hernandez WAS
Edwin Jackson STL
Scott Kazmir LAA
Hiroki Kuroda LAD
Paul Maholm PIT
Roy Oswalt PHI *
Brad Penny DET
Joel Pineiro LAA
CC Sabathia NYY *
Javier Vazquez FLA
Adam Wainwright STL *
Tim Wakefield BOS
Chien-Ming Wang WAS
Brandon Webb ARI
C.J. Wilson TEX
Chris Young NYM

Relief Pitchers
Miguel Batista STL
Matt Belisle COL
Heath Bell SD
Rafael Betancourt COL
Jonathan Broxton LAD
Tim Byrdak HOU
Todd Coffey WAS
Francisco Cordero CIN *
Juan Cruz TB
Octavio Dotel STL *
Kyle Farnsworth TB *
Mike Gonzalez BAL
LaTroy Hawkins MIL
Brad Lidge PHI *
Scott Linebrink ATL
Javier Lopez SF
Ryan Madson PHI
Damaso Marte NYY *
Joe Nathan MIN *
Hideki Okajima BOS
Darren Oliver TEX
Jonathan Papelbon BOS
Jon Rauch TOR *
Chris Ray TEX
Arthur Rhodes STL *
Fernando Rodney LAA
Francisco Rodriguez MIL *
George Sherrill ATL
Rafael Soriano NYY *
Koji Uehara BAL *
Jose Valverde DET
Kerry Wood CHC
Joel Zumaya DET

* denotes option
-------------------

I'm excited by all of the 3rd base options. 

[SunMo]

reyes and madson please