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| Photo by Richard Wilkins Jr. |
Well, 73-89. Fourth Place. It was a bad year. A bad, bad year. The worst since 2000. The true end of the greatest run in Phillies baseball history. There can't be much good to say in this initial autopsy, but I'll go ahead and dig in.
The line-up stunk. The starting staff turned out to be really mediocre. The bullpen was pathetic. The bench carried such sad sacks as Nix, Bernadina, Martinez, and even Frandsen (notice that awful Mayberry doesn't even make it on here). No part of this team was any good. No part of this team was good enough to feel good about going forward. I could go through all of the bad things, but I'll spare that and just hit the highlights-
- Big injuries- Ryan Howard, Roy Halladay. Roy Halladay, Ryan Howard. Take your pick which injury, and poor performance from it, was more damaging to this team, but $45 million against the luxury tax was spent on two guys that did not perform well, and were hurt. Ouch. Ben Revere's injury was arguably the most devastating though of all, as he and the team were playing well before he went down.
- The defense- This team was trotting out terrible defense in most of the spots. Rollins was still pretty decent, as was Utley, and I'll say Chooch too. Revere had nice range. Besides that, this defensive alignment was stiff.
- The Youngs- Michael Young was exactly what he was in Texas in 2012. Delmon Young was exactly what he was in Detroit in 2012. Both just were also in the field at positions they didn't belong at now. Both signings were predictably not good.
- Jimmy's Falling Offense- I'm not going to turn on Jimmy Rollins the way many fans will, but Jimmy's offensive game showed serious decline. His power disappeared, his base stealing slowed down, and he's not a high-average type. In other words, he needs to go down in the order moving forward.
- The bullpen, especially the expensive guys- Papelbon was pretty average, if that, and his fastball is slowing down fast. Mike Adams was a bust. Chad Durbin was a bust. Antonio Bastardo was good, until he admitted to being a doper and getting suspended. Phillippe Aumont, Jeremy Horst, and Raul Valdes, while cheap, sucked. That's your opening day bullpen. I'm not getting into the others really. Jake Diekman showed the most promise after coming up, but he and Ethan Martin are it for true positives here.
- Rotation Spots 3-5- Other than Hamels and Lee, who do you like from this group?
- The Bench Sucked- John Mayberry Jr., Freddy Galvis, Laynce Nix, Ender Inciarte, Michael Martinez, Kevin Frandsen, Erik Kratz, Ezequiel Carrera, Casper Wells, Steven LeRud, Steve Susdorf, Roger Bernadina, Pete Orr, John McDonald, Humberto Quintero, and Cameron Rupp. Any questions?
- Charlie got fired- Yeah, low point of the year.
Now I know, that's more than I said I'd say, but I didn't want to skip anything bad. There was a lot of garbage in this group, way more than I thought. So what was good?
- Dom Brown- He had a good year, establishing himself in the league. I hope his slower second half was more a product of no protection than lack of durability. I'm hoping for better things in 2014.
- Cliff AND Cole- Yes, both. Cliff was great, and could be a top ten, if not top five, Cy Young finisher. Cole's ERA after his first two starts was in the 3.20 range. Both topped 200 innings. You can build on these two.
- The kids in center- Ben Revere was very good in 2013, pre-injury. Yes, he started slow, but overall numbers are overall numbers. Cesar Hernandez was pretty good in September in this role too. One could be expendable, though I like both a lot.
- Cody Asche and Darin Ruf- Neither was great enough to lock down a spot in my book. Both showed promise though. Ruf's role may be utility, but he has excellent power and a decent eye. How he does facing the out and away pitches will decide his career.
- Chase Utley- He posted an .823 OPS in 476 at-bats. This was his best season in a while.
- Jake Diekman and Pals- Diekman came up and was great late in the year. He's on my 2014 team. B.J. Rosenberg, Justin De Fratus, and Ethan Martin all showed some potential late in the year too.
- Sandberg- I was impressed. I'm excited to see him work in 2014.
- The Minor Leagues- Not only did they not get raided this year, but they produced some potential talents. Yes, you can point to Tommy Joseph (concussion), Jesse Biddle (control issues), and Adam Morgan (shoulder issues) and have concern, but overall you have to like the results. Franco leads the way, but Kelly Dugan, J.P Crawford, and others emerged and gave us some talents worth hoping for. It's a work in progress, but hey, they did produce at least three (Asche, Hernandez, and Ruf) who have strong shots to make the 2014 roster.
The negatives outweigh the positives, no doubt. I think it's just fair to take stock of both a bit at the end of the season, and not sugar-coat an awful season.
