Phils to get different look at lineup vs. Blue Jays

DUNEDIN, Fla. — With Jimmy Rollins headed to Arizona to participate in the World Baseball Classic, manager Charlie Manuel is going to get a long look at Freddy Galvis at shortstop.

Charlie Manuel likes to have as much speed as possible at the top of the lineup.

“I always have, haven’t I?” Manuel said after Friday’s 10-5 victory over the Yankees at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa.

Old school tendencies aside, that’s only part of the reason why the skipper has been flip-flopping Jimmy Rollins and center fielder Ben Revere in the top two spots in the Phillies’ batting order early this spring. 

The other part of it is Manuel wants to see what he has in camp. Besides, it’s not like there are a ton of job openings this spring anyway.

“Like I said before, our lineup will work itself out,” Manuel said. “We’ll put our best lineup on the field and adjust it at times.”

With Rollins departed to join Team USA for the World Baseball Classic, Revere is going to get a chance to show the Phillies’ brass what he can do at the top of the batting order. Manuel is also going with Ryan Howard in the cleanup spot for the seventh straight game this season.

Ryan Howard, iron man?

“He only has 22 more years to break the record,” Manuel joked.

Here’s how the Phillies will start out against the Blue Jays at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium on Saturday:

Ben Revere cf
Kevin Frandsen 2b
Mike Young 3b
Ryan Howard 1b
Dom Brown lf
Laynce Nix rf
Carlos Ruiz c
John Mayberry dh
Freddy Galvis ss

Cliff Lee is the starting pitcher with Tyler Cloyd, Mike Stutes and Chad Durbin also expected to take the mound.

Comments

[Christian]

Why no Utley?

[lorecore]

Playing howard everyday is stupid

[ramsey]

"Charlie Manuel likes to have as much speed as possible at the top of the lineup."

Wow. I guess there's a pretty good chance we will end up with our two worst hitters in 2 of the 3 most important spots in the lineup.

[rolo]

Fatti, you're losing your sense of humor.

[rolo]

Christian, what are the field conditions?

They held out Utley the other day because it was wet.

[MG]

Lore core- yup. Managing a roster over the long term is a real weakness. Only imagine if Gregg popovich was asked if he should give ginoboli or Duncan alot of PT early in camp.

[TNA]

Galvis playing shortstop = must see tv.

[jr]

Anybody know the last time the Phils returned a rule 5 pick?

[The Hook]

Should put all starters on bench today. RA on bump. We all know what kind of funk he puts these guys in...

["Pedro's lucky midget"]

I smell a trade brewing...

[ramsey]

jr -- Wikipedia says Robert Mosebach, ST 2009.

[limoguy]

No Ruf today. Evidently, the YES broadcasters didn't care to find out how he pronounces his name and persisted yesterday in pronouncing it the same as 'roof.'

[lorecore]

2008, returned Robert mosebach to angels

[lorecore]

So obviously, if they return incairte, WFC will follow.

[limoguy]

Right, lorecore, just as night follows day. lol

[lorecore]

not on live tv today?

[The Hook]

Tomm jays again that's on TV

[squads]

I haven't been on here in a while, but who else is concerned that Michael Young has been bouncing between the #3 and #5 spot in the lineup. In what world does he fit the bill to be hitting in either of those positions?

[Allen Thornberg]

Observations on today's game:

If Ruf's not hurt, there's no reason for him not to be playing, since we need to see as much of him and Brown as possible in ST. The team already knows what it has in Nix and Mayberry, and I don't see why they're both in the lineup today.

Utley not playing today is cause for worry.

Michael Young seems to be warming up (double so far).

Cliff Lee is not looking sharp today.

Jose Reyes still has a punchable face, even though he's not a Met anymore.

[Mike G]

Christian, it's an away game. That's why no Utley.

[Mike G]

The Phil's have said that, at least early in spring training, Utley will not travel to away games.

[Iceman]

Mike G- let him have his freak-out. It's important to him.

[The Hook]

Chase is out because away and played in a row. Not concerned about my he will be fine.cholly just moving him around. Got a feeling line up will be
Jimmy
Ben
Chase
Ryan
M young
Dom
Ruf berry
Kratz
Pitch
When Ruiz returns put him in 6 and slide everyone down.

[Mike G]

And as far as Ruf not starting, it's a spring training game, I'm sure he will probably play. He just got his first hit, maybe they didn't want him to face a knuckleballer.

[Iceman]

Not going to miss seeing Reyes, that's for sure.

Reyes vs. PHI: 597 AB, .302/.355/.481/.836, 16 HR, 102 R, 55 SB (tOPS+ 113)

Not necessarily on the Phillie-killer team (though I'm not sure who else would start at SS), but there's a strong case for him being the UT infielder.

[Reverend]

I just watched the video of Howard's HR today and he looked like he was limping. Did anyone else notice it?

[Iceman]

Rev- I noticed it. He looked God awful rounding the bases. Wasn't sure if that was just his normal HR trot.

[NEPP]

Didnt really notice a limp. He was slow but he always takes his time around the bases.

[Fatalotti]

Just reading a Fangraphs article about strikeouts, and they noted that Craig Kimbrel was the first pitcher to ever strikeout more than half the batters he faced, so I went to take a look at his line from last year again, I had to do a double take:

63 G, 62.2 IP, 1.01 ERA, 0.78 FIP, 0.88 xFIP, 16.66 K/9, 50.2 K%, 2.01 BB/9, 6.1 BB%, 0.65 WHIP, .250 BAbip, 92.8% LOB%, 49.0 GB%, 8.29 K/BB, 399 ERA+, 3.6 fWAR

These numbers aren't real, are they?

There were actually 9 qualified starters last year who had fewer strikeouts than Kimbrel.

But you want to know what really blew me away? I was quite certain that Kimbrel's ERA of 1.01 would be far and away the best in baseball by a qualified pitcher, and I was right, as Chapman was right behind him at 1.51, except that there was actually someone ahead of him: Fernando Rodney: 0.60 ERA and 634 ERA+.

That made me laugh.

[NEPP]

To be fair, they had the game on Rookie mode when they compiled those numbers.

[The Hook]

Just taking it easy watched it on video and MLB network.

[Iceman]

Yeah, watching that trot again now on MLBN, NEPP is right. Just an awkward trot.

Saw Cloyd threw some nice batting practice today. Durbin pitched a clean inning. Stutes got touched up for a run again.

[NEPP]

He looks a little ginger maybe but he could just be taking an easy. I watched it a couple times after it was mentioned and didnt see any distinct limp...just a guy taking his time.

Cloyd did what Cloyd will do against any team that can actually hit. He's barely an emergency spot starter.

[Conway Twitty]

I don't know where bap is today, but I can't let the day pass w/o mention of Kratz HR.

[Reverend]

Ok, I watched it a few times and couldn't tell.
Thanks

[Iceman]

Brookover interviewed St. Pat Gillick, and St. seems to think the team can contend for the next two or three years.

I'm not writing off 2014 like most fans are, but three seasons is pushing it, unless they plan to go on a mega-FA binge. And even if they did, it's simply very tough to count on elite FA talent being there one or two years from now because of the new trend of teams signing their top guys to long contract extensions.

[Allen Thornberg]

I just watched the video of Howard's HR today and he looked like he was limping. Did anyone else notice it?

Posted by: Reverend | Saturday, March 02, 2013 at 03:38 PM

Rev- I noticed it. He looked God awful rounding the bases. Wasn't sure if that was just his normal HR trot.

Posted by: Iceman | Saturday, March 02, 2013 at 03:50 PM

Gee, do you think he might be wearing down because Cholly is starting him in one meaningless game after another? If Utley is too fragile for ST road games, than why isn't Howard? He's just had major surgery, for pete's sake.

[NEPP]

***He's just had major surgery, for pete's sake.***

Just=18 months?

He got injured in 2011.

[Spitz]

He just had major surgery? Allen, did you time warp back to spring 2012? Cool trick.

[NEPP]

Nice Simul-post.

[Allen Thornberg]

Yeah, "just" was a bit of hyperbole. Let's put it this way--he's only about a year past major surgery, a kind of surgery that frequently takes at least that long for full recovery time. I don't understand why he isn't being handled a little more cautiously.

[NEPP]

He had his Achilles surgery on Oct 12, 2011. That was 1 year, 4 months and 18 days ago.

[Will Schweitzer]

Someone misspoke. SWARM! SWARM!

I'm not going to get too worked up over Howard taking a slow jog around the bases. I'll get worried when Amaro says that he's healthy.

[Mike G]

He looked fine later in the game running to first base when he grounded out to the second baseman.

[NEPP]

He didn't misspeak though, he's been complaining about Howard playing every day for the last 2-3 days now for no reason at all.

Utley doesnt travel with the club: Complain
Howard DOES travel: Complain

[PhxPhilly]

I am willing to put up with all the complaining even after they win the WFC just to hear that there is no way they have any hope in 2014...?

[PhxPhilly]

Since it is a slow post day I figured I would put my preference for the lineup (pre-Ruiz):
Brown, Utley, M.Young, Howard, Rollins, Nix, Kratz, Pitcher, Revere.

I am hoping Brown can keep his OBP above Revere. I am not a fan of M.Young at all but willing to give him the first month to prove he is bad, so my post Ruiz lineup:
Brown, Utley, Ruiz, Howard, Rollins, Ruf, Young, Pitcher, Revere.

My guess on Manuel's opening day: Rollins, Revere, Utley, Howard, Young, Brown, Nix, Kratz, Pitcher.

[Andy]

Allen was not referring to the achilles surgery, but to the liposuction Howard had over the winter.

[cut_fastball]

Andy --

Oooofff..

Here's hoping Rhino goes .275/.380/.510. With 50 dingers.

If only.

["Pedro's lucky midget"]

He did look a little gimpy even for him. Cant say either way.

[MG]

Starting Howard everyday at this point and playing him most of the game is just stupid and foolish. Same goes for Utley, JRoll, Chooch, M Young, and even some of the other veterans.

Yet it something Cholly will do I bet with some of his veterans. After all his philosophy is you "play to win for today" and he has gone on the record as saying guys really shouldn't need a rest in April.

Worst part of Cholly's managing besides how he handles a pitching staff especially with an older team.

[Edmundo]

Here's hoping Rhino goes .275/.380/.510. With 50 dingers.

Channeling the Gotcha Gang:
cut_fastball is predicting that Ryan Howard will have at least 637 ABs this year, since that is the minimum number you could have to get that slash line with 50 HRs. That would mean no 2Bs or 3Bs**.

And to get a .380 OBP, he would have to get 108 walks, meaning he would have 745 PAs. I'll take the under!

** The least outlandish prediction :)

All this is in jest. I knew that 50 HRs and a .235 ISO were pretty incompatible so I just noodled around to see what they would have to be.