The Philadelphia Phillies are sitting at home watching other teams play playoff baseball for the fifth season in a row. A Phillies fan's rooting interest may lie with former Phillies playerss this fall playoff season. As it turns out, there are 20 players who have been drafted by the Phillies, played for the Phillies, or spent time in the Phillies organization.
Here they are, with some explanation, in case you do not know some of the names.
Starting pitchers:
LHP Cole Hamels (Texas Rangers)
LHP J.A. Happ (Toronto Blue Jays)
LHP Gio Gonzalez (Washington Nationals)
RHP Carlos Carrasco (Cleveland Indians)
RHP Vance Worley (Baltimore Orioles)
This list features a 20-game winner on it. That would be left-handed pitcher J.A. Happ. Happ was always a reliable pitcher, but really took off last season with the Pittsburgh Pirates under the tutelage of Ray Searage. It also took a while for Carlos Carrasco to take off. The centerpiece of the Cliff Lee trade in 2009 was once designated for assignment by the Cleveland Indians. This is the third season in a row he has been very effective for the Indians. A late-season injury has kept him from the playoffs.
Relief Pitchers
RHP Joe Blanton (Los Angeles Dodgers)
RHP Dan Otero (Cleveland Indians)
RHP Jeff Manship (Cleveland Indians)
LHP Jake Diekman (Texas Rangers)
RHP Brad Ziegler (Boston Red Sox)
RHP Jason Grilli (Toronto Blue Jays)
The closer on this list would be Brad Ziegler. Ziegler thrived as a closer for the Oakland Athletics and the Arizona Diamondbacks prior to a mid-season trade in 2016. The Phillies were the team who drafted Ziegler in 2003, but the Phillies let him go. The Phillies also had Jason Grilli in 2011, but let him walk in favor of the likes of David Herndon and Drew Carpenter. Grilli would have success as a closer and now as a set-up man for the Blue Jays. Dan Otero was Phillies property for six weeks this offseason, to the point that the Phillies issued him jersey No. 38. However, a roster crunch resulting from the five prospects incoming from the Ken Giles trade led to the Phillies trading Otero to the Indians.
Infielders
2B Chase Utley (Los Angeles Dodgers)
IF Michael Martinez (Cleveland Indians)
The Phillies are a little short on the infield. That happens when you have Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and Ryan Howard anchoring your infield for so many years. The Cleveland Indians are using Michael Martinez as an outfielder mostly in the playoffs, but I might as well include him here so Utley is not all by himself. That is, unless you count that bottom of the 8th inning of a blowout game in Cleveland in 2007 when the Phillies used Jayson Werth at first base for the final three outs.
Outfielders
RF Michael Bourn (Baltimore Orioles)
CF Ezequiel Carrera (Toronto Blue Jays)
LF Jayson Werth (Washington Nationals)
RF Hunter Pence (San Francisco Giants)
LF Ben Revere (Washington Nationals)
One of these players emerged as a very reliable leadoff hitter for a playoff team in 2016. No, it is not Ben Revere or Michael Bourn, but Ezequiel Carrera. This was the player that once bumped Ender Inciarte off of the Phillies roster for good, and was later replaced by Delmon Young. Werth and Pence are certainly no strangers to the Phillies fans. Bourn's release from the Cleveland Indians early in the season led to him bouncing between the Arizona Diamondbacks and then the Baltimore Orioles. Revere was left off the Nationals' roster for the NLDS but could reappear in the NLCS.
Catchers
C Carlos Ruiz (Los Angeles Dodgers)
C Travis d'Arnaud (New York Mets)
The Phillies probably do not regret their trade of Travis d'Arnaud to the Toronto Blue Jays to help them land Roy Halladay. Once thought of as the successor to Carlos Ruiz down the line, d'Arnaud lost his starting role on the Mets. The Mets did not start d'Arnaud in the Wild Card game and fell to the San Francisco Giants.
