 |
| More of this, I guess. Photo by Richard Wilkins Jr. |
The Washington Nationals got Doug Fister last night in exchange for a utility guy, a reliever, and a minor leaguer. That's a #2 starter, in exchange for spare parts. Think about that as you read the rest of this piece.
Absolutely no one had to go. No one. I think we all agreed on Ben Revere and Antonio Bastardo staying, and most of us thought Kyle Kendrick would return, even if we didn't like it. John Mayberry Jr.? No one liked it, but we all knew it was coming. Kevin Frandsen? Yeah, swallow that one, he's back too.
To Frandsen for a minute though- is it too much to ask that a player not take to Twitter to battle with fans? You just got $900,000 to play for the team next year despite hitting under .200 in the second half, despite hitting under .240 for the year, and despite hitting .250 as a pinch-hitter, is it too much to let the fans vent? He likes to talk about leading the league in pinch-hits, but that's not that hard when you're third in the league for pinch-hit appearances. Again, he hit .250 as a pinch-hitter. He has mediocre at best power. Hey, it's fine, you're a bench player and you're mediocre, that's fine. Don't go after fans though, that's ridiculous.
Back to the real fool of the day- Ruben Amaro Jr. The Phillies went 73-89, and he just brought back 1/5th of the roster from that team. I would have dropped three of the five. This team needs changes. It needs upgrades, both in the form of younger in-house options (Hernandez and Ruf, specifically), and free agents. Ruben has brought in exactly one new player for the line-up, none for the bench, none for the bullpen, and none for the rotation, and today re-upped on 20% of a team that was 16 games under .500. There are big implications with these kinds of stupid moves.
Let's start with Kendrick. It's fair to assume he'll get around $7 million in this process. The Phillies have now committed $59 million to four starting pitchers, and still have a hole to fill. If you feel like Miguel Gonzalez can pass as a three, and Kendrick as a fourth starter, I suppose this is no big deal. I look at these two as a four-five combo though. Given Kendrick's track record, I don't feel he's worth the money. I'd also have liked about $6 million more to put towards an actual top of the rotation arm (or at least a Doug Fister type). I'm not sure this team would be much worse with a Pettibone, Morgan, or Biddle taking the fifth slot. I can almost swallow this one, since it'll be movable, but I'm not there.
Then there's Bastardo and Revere, both of which make sense. Bastardo isn't likely to get rich here, and he and Diekman could team for a very good lefty tandem. No foul there. Revere is a limited ballplayer, but he does play his game quite well. He's likely to hit first and play center this season, and even if you go get a Ellsbury or Granderson type, he'd either be fine as a trade chip, or even as a lefty bench player, if you couldn't move him (though I would not keep him as a bench player). These two are the least offensive.
The worst two are Mayberry and Frandsen though. Let's assume this is going to be a standard bench- a back-up catcher, a pair of infielders, a pair of outfielders, and at least one righty and lefty bat with some pop being apart of the deal. Presumably, Erik Kratz is the back-up catcher. Presumably Frandsen gets an infield slot, and Mayberry is the righty bat/back-up center fielder. Presumably Freddy Galvis, who can play anywhere, and switch-hits, and has the best glove on the field, probably gets the other infield slot. No matter what, this would put either Galvis, Cesar Hernandez, or Darin Ruf on the chopping block. Hernandez has two main points here- play center, play second. Guess what? Mayberry backs up in center now. Frandsen backs up at second. Hernandez would appear to be in trouble. Ruf might be in slightly better shape, but Mayberry is also righty, and also can back up at first. In other words, Ruf is in trouble too.
The Phillies probably just paid out about $12.5 million to get no better. This puts their payroll around $149.67 million. That's for 15 players. Presuming they keep club controlled players, they're at 22 players, and a little over $153 million. With a need for a left bat off the bench, a starting pitcher, and a reliever, the Phillies probably have enough money to upgrade, but maybe not enough.
That's the main point. The 2013 Phillies stunk. Don't tell me it was "just the injuries," or whatever other excuse you have. They were a .500 team in 2012. Today tells us that Ruben Amaro is willing to take a chance on this team getting better. I have no idea why.
In the best case scenario, I'll hope that they still will make an outfield splash and make a positive pitching move, while avoiding a multi-year bullpen deal. I've got strong doubts though. I have little to no faith in this GM right now. If Ruben thinks Frandsen is a better option than Cesar Hernandez, well, I guess he didn't watch 2013.
