The Phillies outfield has the lowest OPS in the majors, and Ruben screwed up to make it this way. If you're reading about the Phillies though, you already know that. I'm going to ignore Delmon Young for a minute, who A.) has only played two games, B.) hasn't played the field yet, and C.) actually has a few walks and has hit a homer. We just have enough of a sample on him. We do have enough of a sample on Ben Revere, Dom Brown, John Mayberry Jr., and Laynce Nix. I'll also ignore the jettisoned Ezequiel Carrera.
On the guys we know about, here's their numbers-
- Ben Revere- .204/.245/.226/.471, 0 HR, 0 2B, 1 3B, 4 RBI, 9 R, 5 BB, 6 SB. 100 PA
- Dom Brown- .244/.317/.378/.695, 3 HR, 3 2B, 0 3B, 11 RBI, 8 R, 9 BB, 0 SB. 101 PA
- John Mayberry Jr.- .242/.324/.470/.794, 2 HR, 7 2B, 1 3B, 6 RBI, 9 R, 8 BB, 1 SB. 74 PA
- Laynce Nix- .250/.321/.417/.737, 2 HR, 2 2B, 0 3B, 6 RBI, 5 R, 5 BB, 0 SB. 53 PA
I'm dumbfounded by Revere's numbers. How the hell do you have 1 XBH in your first 100 PA's? How do you have a .471 OPS? You used to have Bobby Abreu in this outfield challenging .471 with his OBP. He's been awful, and while the other CF options from the off-season have been too, Ben's just not going to be able to keep playing like this. Maybe Mayberry or Brown have to play over there. That's awful. Brown's only been okay, and while no one wants to discuss his future, a .695 OPS isn't going to cut it. I'm less concerned by his .244 than I am by his lack of walks and his 6 XBH's. I can live with Mayberry and Nix's numbers- as long as I'm getting that from non-starters.
So what else is available?
- Darin Ruf- .267/.319/.512/.831, 4 HR, 9 2B, 0 3B, 15 RBI, 13 R, 0 SB, 7 BB. 93 PA
- Jermaine Mitchell- .250/.340/.477/.816, 1 HR, 5 2B, 1 3B, 5 RBI, 9 R, 3 SB, 5 BB. 49 PA
Realistically, this is it. Gillies has a .507 OPS. So here's the question I pose- how long do the guys above get before Ruf takes someone's job? I recognize that Delmon is here now, and he'll take one spot, but just how long do Ben and Dom get to play through this? Dom's clearly not in the same boat as Ben, but I'm not sure either is safe. I like Ruf's line, but even with him, i'm not sure we're going to get everything we want. We may just have to ride out a long year with this group.
