In Case You Forgot, Philadelphia Has A Baseball Team And They Are Abysmal
The who? Wait a minute, Philly still has a baseball team? I remember once upon a time there was a team back in April and May that showed a little promise and used to clog the main page on a daily basis. I believe they are called the Phillies. We, aristocrats, used to refer to them as America’s team. Other’s knew them as the losingest franchise in all of sports. 10,799 to be precise. And boy have they helped that reputation so far in 2017.
It’s been a couple months since I have posted. Truthfully, it’s hard to come up with any words about a team with 29 wins and 22.5 GB of first place at the All-Star Break. I can only spin the headlines, “Bullpen blows it again,” and “Lineup scores 1 run,” so much before it becomes a tired practice. It’s also just unnecessary at this point to talk about this team. They don’t deserve any bit of free press right now outside of their beat guys. They don’t deserve to have their logo anywhere on the greatest sports website in all the land. This team is making money hand over fist and the product they consistently put on the field is an absolute disgrace. This kind of shit would never happen in LA. This would never, ever fly in the Bronx. Riots would break out in Boston. But, we are Philadelphia. We know we can’t have nice things.
I still find it hilarious how every other major sports team in this city continues to make more headlines during their offseason, then the Phillies during their season. It’s been this way since 2012 and frankly my dears, I don’t give a damn anymore. You think ownership really cares? John Middleton and his wrecking crew had an operating income of $87.7m last year. That was the most in all of baseball and he did all that despite having the 3rd worst attendance in the National League. Let’s not forget the $100m a year they are pulling in from their Comcast deal, along with their equity stake in Comcast Sports net and all the ad revenue that comes with it. Remember that little gimmick Middleton pulled back in April, stopping at every radio station and telling all us minions his devotion to bringing a championship back to Philly. Well since that April 20th merry-go-round, this team is 22-49. During that time, he also re-signed perennial loser, Pete Mackanin and has kept pitching coach Bob McClure on the payroll for some reason.
So Johhny boy is lining his pockets as any owner should. While doing so, his team is being forced to stay pot committed to losing for the foreseeable future. The next two weeks will be interesting for sure, but what is our faith level even at in this front office right now? This off-season alone they over-payed Michael Saunders and Joaquin Benoit, traded for broken down Clay Bucholz and Howie Kendrick, gave Jeanmar Gomez $4.2m in arbitration and had to re-sign Jeremy Hellickson for $17.2m because they couldn’t find a trade partner during the last trade deadline. They have to be buyers this deadline season because of the serious log jams they have at many key positions in their system.
First, they are facing a huge problem at 1B and it reminds me of the Jim Thome, Ryan Howard situation going back 12 years now. Except one of them isn’t a future Hall of Famer and the other isn’t a former MVP. We will hear Tommy Joseph’s name a lot in the future as a trade candidate. Why you ask? Well, there is a gentleman by the name of Rhy Hoskins who has been murdering baseballs since he was drafted in 2014. The 13.89 AB/HR he has averaged over the last couple seasons to go along with the solid OPS in AA and AAA is nice, but what about this Joseph fellow who will be turning 26 and has a little over 1 year of service time? His 16.91 AB/HR and .800 career OPS at the Major League Level is nothing to sniff at. While Hoskins may trump Joseph in the on base numbers, who is to say he can maintain that success at the Major League level?
Second, what the hell is their plan with this middle infield? As we have all heard, 2B Scott Kingery has made his presence quite known this year. JP Crawford, despite what I have said and the many experts have said recently, is still only 22 and remains a top prospect at a premium position. Since June 24th, he has a 1.067 OPS. Let it be known that his OBP is .114 higher than his batting AVG. Then we have Cesar Hernandez, who may be a dope on the basepaths, but is a legit Major League 2nd baseman. Lest we forget about Freddy Galvis. Freddy is without a doubt the leader of this putrid ball club and has improved in every facet of his game this year. He has 25 HR power and is the best defensive shortstop in all of baseball. Are the Phillies ready to replace that?
Finally, we have too many outfielders. This past draft marks the third straight season they have drafted an outfielder top ten. Aaron Altherr is legit, we know this. Odubel is signed for 4 more seasons. So that leaves Nick Williams, Dylan Cozens, Mr. Glass aka Roman Quinn, Andrew Pullin, Carlos Tocci, Cornelius Randolph, Micky Moniak, and newbie Adam Haseley all fighting for what may be, 1 open spot over the next 5 years. I love the competivie nature this creates, but is this really the direction a franchise should be taking. Especially, with Giancarlo perhaps being on the open market and that desirable 2018 OF Free Agent class? We have many, many pieces here and what seems to be endless possibilities.
I would mention pitching, but honestly, what do we even have here? Aaron Nola, yes. Jerad Eickhoff, ehh. Vinny Velasquez, meh. The bullpen is laughable. It is worth mentioning that I absolutely love Nick Pivetta. Breathe of fresh air seeing a starter throw 96 mph for strikes. And it’s way too early to even discuss Sixto.
Long story short, this team needs some sort of narrative. Their lone All-Star won’t be on the team in 2 weeks for Christ’s sake. So are they committed to their prospects or the pieces they have at the Major League Level? Show us something dammit! Stop wasting everyone’s time and delaying the inevitable. I’m tired of seeing fucking Ty Kelly on the lineup card. I’m tired of seeing 1-11 with RISP. But most importantly, I’m tired of seeing L after L after L. You have all the money in the fucking world. You have a Yale graduate and former Executive of the Year running your front office. You are in one of the top sports markets on the planet. The other 3 major sports teams in the city are running circles around you. Show some fucking balls.