The Phillies are 24-26 at Memorial Day, so I think giving the team a grade is easy- it's a C. Now though, grades for the players-
POSITION PLAYERS:
- Jimmy Rollins– Jimmy's line of .256/.300/.385/.685 is neither good, nor is it terrible, it's extremely mediocre. His 14 doubles and 18 extra-base hits isn't bad, but his 3 homers is a little weak for a guy who had 23 homers last year. His 4 steals is down too. His defense continues to be well above board though, so I'm going to give him a C+.
- Chase Utley– Chase's hot start was an A, his play since then a C. He's on the DL, which is not good. His power numbers do save him a bit here. I'd give him a B, but health is the dictating factor in his season, so I'm going to say B-.
- Michael Young– He had such a great start that I was excited, but his numbers now are not so hot. His .268 average is not vintage Young. His defense is not great, and today lost the team a game. He has no power (1 homer). Even so, he's second on the team in average amongst regulars. That is outweighed though by leading the league in GIDP. His grade is a C.
- Ryan Howard– .254/.287/.432/.719, 6 homers and 52 strikeouts, to 43 hits. He can't run, can't play defense, isn't making a lot of contact, and isn't hitting homers. He's been my favorite Phillies player over his time here, but he's at best a D this year so far.
- Delmon Young– The man dubbed "The Great Satan" this off-season by some is off to a .211/.284/.394/.678 line. That's actually better than I thought for the last three. Even so, that's not so good for a guy who is not a good defensive player. With that said, he has half as many homers as Howard, in less than half the at-bats, and was hurt, and is hitting better lately. I'll be a little charitable here with a D+.
- Dom Brown– He leads the team with 9 homers, is third (1 back) with 17 extra-base hits, and has a respectable .257 average and .759 OPS. Being that this is his first extended period starting in the bigs and he's been better defensively than he used to be, that helps too. It hasn't been great yet, but he deserves a solid B.
- Carlos Ruiz– Chooch hasn't been around much, and that is bad. So is his .235 average and .560 OPS. I like Chooch, but he's been an F this year.
- Ben Revere– He was an F through a month. His .252/.290/.286/.576 line is both weird and weak, and his defense, while pretty good overall, has had a few hiccups. His season has improved though, and he's no longer the biggest issue in this line-up, in my eyes. I'll give him a D+.
- Freddy Galvis– If he finishes the year with a .259/.310/.407/.718 season, I'd say he needs a position next year, since he's got one of the best gloves on the team. That he took Aroldis Chapman yard to win a game doesn't hurt either. I'm going to give Freddy a B+ in part because he's been much better than last year.
- Erik Kratz– I'd normally give a guy with a .214 average a D or worse, especially with Doc Halladay's criticism (apparently) of his catching, but A.) Doc was the issue, not him, and B.) He's given the Phillies some nice pop. The guy's a back-up catcher, period, and that's fine. I'll be real charitable here and say C+.
- John Mayberry Jr.– Yes, he plays a bunch of outfield positions adequately (or all of them), but he's not really that good at anything. He certainly isn't a great hitter. With that said, he isn't really playing awful, and he kind of is what he is, so he gets a C.
- Laynce Nix– Yes, he's had some good moments, and yes he's been overplayed, so I'll be a little nicer here than the numbers indicate, and I'll give him a C-.
- Kevin Frandsen– A .229 average and an .814 OPS don't often go together. That's what 35 at-bats can do to you though. It's hard to be too tough on that, and he's got a walk-off hit, so I'll give him a C+.
- Humberto Quintero– Similar to Frandsen, we don't have much to go on. The pitchers seem to like him, and he's hit ok. That's a good combo for a B.
- Michael Martinez– Just on the principle of him being here, he's an F.
PITCHERS:
- Cole Hamels– I'm going to ignore his 1-8 record, because he doesn't control that, and he hasn't been that bad. I'm not going to ignore his 4.43 ERA, 25 BB's, or 9 HR's in 69 innings though, especially not at $24 million a year. I'm sorry, fair's fair. He's a D- so far, and i'm being charitable for the bad ball behind him.
- Roy Halladay– Fair's fair. He's an F for the year.
- Cliff Lee– At 5-2, with a 2.48 ERA, 72.2 IP, and a 1.02 WHIP, he's an easy A.
- Kyle Kendrick– His last two starts have slipped a little, pushing his ERA to 3.29 ERA, and guess what? That's still pretty good. I have a hard time not giving him an A- for his year, so I will.
- John Lannan– Well, he missed more time than he was here, so since he had two good starts, a bad one, and a bunch of missed starts, he's a F.
- Jon Pettibone– He's 3-0 with a 3.21 ERA in 7 starts. I'm concerned about the higher average against and WHIP holding these numbers up going forward, but I'll give him an A+ for what we've had so far.
- Tyler Cloyd– He's pitched two really good games. That's A stuff.
- Jon Papelbon– Say hello to the Phillies All-Star this year. He gets an A+.
- Mike Adams– People think he was not so good because he lost 3 games. Newsflash- set-up guys pitch in tight spots, and when they give up a run, it usually means a bad team result. His 3.00 ERA and 19 K/15 IP ration pick up that record. Being hurt knocks it back down though to a C+.
- Antonio Bastardo– His full body of work is very good, though he still walks too many guys. Oh well, I'm still fine with him, and he gets a B.
- Chad Durbin– Win against the Nats or not, his numbers stink. He's been an F on the whole.
- Phillippe Aumont– Well, we optioned him down, so what does that say? He's an F for the year.
- Jeremy Horst– His numbers are almost back towards respectable, but they're not. Still, he's not the worst guy out there. He's a D this year.
- Justin De Fratus– I don't have a lot bad to say, and he was an A+ in AAA. He's been in six games, thrown 4 innings, won 2 games, and has posted a 2.25. I'll say he's a B+ so far.
- B.J. Rosenberg– See Martinez above. F.
- Mike Stutes– So far, so good. B.
- Joe Savery– One game is hard to grade. B.
Since they were DFA'ed, give F's to Ezequiel Carrera and Raul Valdes as well.
