Wednesday: Fresh fodder from the Philly writers

Members of the media rubbed elbows with the Phillies at a luncheon held at Citizens Bank Park yesterday. With the start of spring training just three weeks away, the Phils are feeling confident.

Summary of articles: Brett Myers told John Smallwood that he has accepted his reassignment to the rotation, but at the same token, the right-hander already sounds stir crazy about the four, long days in between starts. ... Pat Gillick downplayed Ryan Howard’s contract negotiations as a matter of business, and says the media is trying to create a situation out of nothing. The Phillies GM also says it’s more unlikely than likely pitching will be added before the start of spring training, and also says he likes their outfield depth better than last season. ... Manager Charlie Manuel says the back of the bullpen is built to win, and passed along word that Tom Gordon, who’s participating in a strength and conditioning program in Clearwater, is in “top-notch shape.” ... Outfielders Greg Golson and Chris Snelling are working out with Manuel, just as Aaron Rowand (and Greg Jacobs) did last off-season.

Noteworthy: The award for most interesting tidbit goes to this little line, about 10 graphs down in Paul Hagen's piece about Shane Victorino: "As it stands now, Manuel will mix and match some in center, too. He said that because Victorino is such a high-energy player, he projects him to play between 120 and 130 games," Hagen writes.

Unlike Gillick, Manuel doesn't sound quite as confident that the outfield sets up better than last season. "We were definitely more set last year with Rowand in center," he told Hagen.

Comments

[J. Weitzel]

I hate adding lots of links to my posts for aesthetic reasons, but I hope I covered everything.

-- Not surprised by the strong show of faith for the bullpen. The confidence sounds similar to last season when they were touting an even worse setup, which featured Matt Smith, Geoff Geary, Ryan Madson and Tom Gordon.

-- I would love to see Chris Snelling become their next reclaimation project. It is in the team's best interest to see him overtake old-man Taguchi and start some games in center before the season is out. I'm pretty comfortable with their outfield.

[JMARR]

Jason - so do you think Manuel meant that Flash is now doing 400 crunches a day in his training program and is in "top notch shape"?

Personally I'm more worried about his shoulder than his six-pack abs right now.

[Kirk]

When's the last time you heard baseball management (of ANY team) say, "We really feel worse about this team going into Spring Training than we did last year?"

Hope springs eternal for a reason!

[Walter]

I think the players should give interviews and tell us about the lousy management they work for.

[Reed]

No-Hit to the Brew Crew

[Mr. Mac]

Malcolm, you are right on in the last thread about this, as you stated about the offseason and the Phillies spin about it...

"They gained NOTHING in the bullpen. In fact, they probably lost more than they gained by getting rid of Geary. They took out Myers and added Lidge. If anything, they upgraded in the rotation with Myers instead of Lohse - significant, but possibly not much of an upgrade...They swapped relievers and swapped starters. It's a ZERO sum."

Well Malcolm, this is a typical Phillies math equation. It is their idea of sabermetrics. I want to puke when they lie to us like that and expect us to just go along with it. If Phillie fans are that stupid and are willing to shell out hard earned cash to support this nonsense, so be it. I will not stop rooting for the Phillies, ever. But to support this ownership by buying tickets just won't happen with me. I won't lie, if tickets come my way, I will pobably take a night of baseball in at CBP. What I won't do is dig in my own pockets and support them. I'd just as soon hand the money over to a center city panhandler than Monty & Co.

[JMARR]

I don't know guys - if we assume that Lidge is back to being an effective closer (which is an assumption that is not an easy leap for some of us on the board) and we have to win 2 out of 3 games against the Mets to win the division in Sept., just play along now. Who do you feel better with:

Option 2008:
Rotation:
Hamels
Myers
Kendrick or Moyer
Bullpen:
Madson, Romero, Flash, Lidge

or

Option 2007
Rotation:
Hamels
Kendrick
Moyer or Lohse
Bullpen:
Geary, Romero, Flash, Myers

It's not by a lot, but to win that series, I like my chances with the 2008 set-up better than the 2007 version.

[Glennbo]

JW -- agreed on your Snelling remarks. The question I have is how they keep him on the roster long enough to earn playing time. I'm skeptical that, if healthy, he'd clear waivers for a AAA assignment. But keeping him would require going with 11 pitchers.

[Mr. Mac]

How thrilled do you think Brett Myers is about being back in the starting rotation? He often spoke last season about relishing the closer's role, while being able to contribute on an almost daily basis as opposed to every fifth day. There are a lot of clubhouse chemistry issues that are being ignored here, which is important for a winning season in the long haul.

Disgruntled players in any clubhouse is nothing new. Creating an atmosphere that promotes disgruntled players because of a lack of willingness to spend money is a different story. Players aren't stupid. They have the same feeling as we do about the club when it comes to the five and dime spending habits they continually exhibit. Let's face it, when it comes down to crunch time, or a tight pennant race, you want your players being loose and feeling confident about the club seeking and finding the help that will put them over the top. We are fortunate that this group of players sucks it up, just rolls their eyes and say to themselves, "We picked up who?".

I am willing to bet that by mid-season, the Brett Myers going back to the starting rotation yo-yo act is going to create a Myers implosion of tremendous proportions. Envision Myers tossing a short outing in which he gets rocked pretty good, getting the early hook, and the reporters inquire about his feelings about getting comfortable being back as a starter after last year in the bullpen. Yeah, Brett will take it all in stride for sure. This is a sure-fire recipe for him to pull one of those expletive filled, reporter bullying, water cooler smashing, wife beating episodes in which we have all come to know and love. Ahhh, and to think it all starts in just a few weeks. Getting stoked yet guys?

[James L (forever a Phillies fan!)]

I was Mr Mac but sheez! Who wants to hear all of that in January? You may be right. The trouble with improving this team begins with the lack of young stud players to trade. This is not the time to rebuild in any sense of the word. But who would you trade? The Phils will unfortunately be a second class organization until they get some smarts in their player development staff. If you haven't got it you can't trade for it. The Braves didn't win 14 straight division titles because of Bobby Cox. It was their farm people that were so good, constantly coming up with talent and then moving them in the right deal.

Who out there has any confidence in the Phillies player development and scouting?

Not I.