The Phillies are 47-61 at the two-thirds mark of the season. In other words, they are on pace for a 70-92 season. Their pace has gotten worse as the season has went, both as a team and individually. Things that were true, like Ryan Howard being on pace for 30 homers, are not any longer. If anything, the situation is getting worse.
A look at the line-up's pace at the 2/3 mark:
- Ben Revere- .301/.321/.361/.682, 13 doubles, 8 triples, 1 homer, 44 stolen bases. Revere will fall short of these numbers as he loses playing time to Sizemore, but he will nonetheless probably end up leading the team in batting average.
- Jimmy Rollins- .241/.322/.407/.729, 27 doubles, 3 triples, 22 homers, 29 stolen bases. Jimmy is going to put up another 20/20 season, which is impressive given his age. His option for 2015 has kicked in, and i'm not even mad about it.
- Chase Utley- .289/.355/.436/.791, 39 doubles, 4 triples, 13 homers, 79 RBIs, 7 stolen bases. Chase will once again have one of the most productive seasons in baseball at second base. Did we miss our chance to sell high?
- Ryan Howard- .223/.306/.379/.685, 16 doubles, 1 triple, 24 homers, 95 RBIs, 185 K's. This line is abysmal. On his current pace, the Phillies will have to consider different ways to move on. I'm not even sure he'll reach his pace though, as I think he'll lose playing time to both Ruf and Franco yet this season.
- Marlon Byrd- .270/.318/.477/.795, 33 doubles, 3 triples, 30 homers, 90 RBIs, 2 stolen bases, 189 K's. Marlon Byrd will be considered the success of the season. I would like to see him dealt by 4, but if not, these are good numbers.
- Dom Brown- .231/.282/.340/.622, 22 doubles, 2 triples, 10 homers, 75 RBIs. Nothing else needs to be said here. Needless to say, I hope he loses some playing time down the stretch, and I hope he's gone next year.
- Carlos Ruiz- .272/.373/.380/.753, 29 doubles, 2 triples, 3 homers, 24 RBIs. Chooch is an absolutely fine 7/8 hitter and catcher, still. How will his last two years work out on this deal? Your guess is as good as mine, but this is positive.
- Cody Asche- .244/.297/.384/.681, 22 doubles, 10 homers, 51 RBIs. Much like with Chooch, a DL stint hurts his numbers, but I'm not sure Cody did enough to hold off the suddenly surging Maikel Franco even for this September.
Other offensive lines to watch would be Darin Ruf and Grady Sizemore, neither of which have enough games in to project out for the season. What about the pitching side?
- Cole Hamels- 9-7, 2.55, 29 GS, 200 IP, 200 K's. Cole's numbers are skewed by missing the start of the season, but he has a shot at 200 IP and 200 Ks in a short season. That's impressive.
- Cliff Lee- 6-8, 3.78, 22 GS, 145 IP, 123 K's. This just isn't quite enough from Cliff, but it's probably what we can expect at this point.
- A.J. Burnett- 9-15, 4.15, 33 GS, 210 IP, 163 K's. A.J. was durable, despite a hernia, if he was nothing else. He very well could be gone though, so we'll wait on that.
- Kyle Kendrick- 7-16, 4.92, 33 GS, 203 IP, 125 K's. Ugly line, other than durability. Kendrick is the new-aged Blanton/Lidle "innings eater," and hopefully he's doing it elsewhere next year.
- Roberto Hernandez- 7-12, 4.14, 32 GS, 162 IP, 108 K's. He does not eat innings, but I'd almost consider him for 2015 as a fifth starter again.
- Jonathan Papelbon- 3-3, 1.83, 66 G, 37 Saves, 66 IP, 60 K's. It's hard to believe Ruben can't dump his salary with him performing as he is. What an indictment.
- Jake Diekman- 4-4, 4.34, 70 G, 70 IP, 100 K's. He's been a mixed bag. I'd much rather watch him learn in the majors though.
- Mario Hollands- 2-2, 4.21, 59 G, 56 IP, 42 K's. He's taken some hits lately, but I think he'll be fine.
- Antonio Bastardo- 6-6, 4.17, 69 G, 68 IP, 79 K's. I hope he's traded today.
Buchanan, De Fratus, and Giles all are left off for lack of enough data at this point. How all three could finish would be interesting to watch.
I left some guys out, like your Cesar Hernandez's (too hard to project yet), or your John Mayberry Jr.'s (who cares, he stinks). I didn't want to put up really wild guesses. The main theme you can see here though is that these numbers aren't good. This team isn't good. As they head for a 90-95 loss season, or maybe even worse, they will do so with few individual standouts. Oh sure, you can (maybe) watch Cole finish out the season, but that's about it. Chase and Byrd have had decent years, Jimmy and Chooch are pretty impressive, and the rest of the roster is awful. The big thing is though, there is no MVP contender type on this team, nobody by Hamels you'd put in the Cy Young top five or ten, and not enough of a core to hope for anything. This team, basically, stinks at the 2/3 mark.
