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The Phils v.2016 are a team caught in transition. After holding out for years on moving their aging core, the transition finally started in 2015 but it was a late and incomplete job which left them with an odd mix of older holdovers and some athletic but mostly raw players up the middle. And with the booty from the few moves they did make last year (Papelbon & Hamels) not likely to pay off for a while yet, team brass was forced to fill in around the remaining core with a bunch of low level (like: Really low) trade and FA acquisitions over the winter just to get a quorum on warm bodies to fill all the spots on the field. It's like a team held together by that cheese-like substance (you know it's not actually cheese) that holds together what passes for the local delicacy there, until such time as the new braintrust can figure something else out.
So far the results have been a three-game sweep at the hands of the equally rebuilding Reds.
FRIDAY 4/8 - Home Opener - 1:10
Projected Weather at 1st pitch: 49 degrees / Mostly Cloudy / Windy
Jacob deGrom vs Jerad Eickhoff (J-E-R-A-D … Really, that’s the spelling you’re going with?!?)
Eickhoff is a 25 y/o RH who came form Texas in the Hamels trade last year and made his ML debut with 8 pretty good starts down the stretch for Philly in the 2nd half (3-3; 2.62 ERA; 1.04 WHiP) And 3 of those 8 starts came vs the Mets: he lost the first 2 but threw 7 innings of 4-hit shutout ball on Oct 1st (aka: garbage time).
SATURDAY 4/9 - 7:10
Projected Weather: Maybe 40 at best with Wind plus 80% Rain Projections … And really, for scheduling a night game on a Saturday in the northeast in early April, the ‘pons deserve either a cancelation or a 3/4 empty stadium
Bartolo Colon vs Vince Velaquez
Velasquez is a 23 y/o RH who was a 2nd round pick out of HS by the Astros in 2010 then was shipped to Philly in exchange for reliever Ken Giles. He appeared in 19 games/7 starts w/Houston last season (1-1; 4.37; 1.28)
SUNDAY 4/10 - 1:10 - aka: completion of the sweep day
Projected Weather: Mid/Upper 40s and Sunny
Matt Harvey vs Jeremy Hellickon
Hellickson is a 5-year vet with Tampa & Arizona (ROY in AL 2011) acquired in a low-level deal over the winter.
Pitched well on opening day vs Cincy but hasn’t really had a good season since 2012
Can't tell 'em without a scorecard ...
C: Carlos Ruiz (320 PA; .211 / .290 / .285; 2 HR)
“Chooch” is one of the holdovers; now 37 y/o, he played only about half the time last year and isn’t likely to see that jump up this season even though he trails only Fidel Castro in polls on ‘Veteran Leadership’
Cameron Rupp (299 PA; .233 / .301 / .374; 9 HR) will be playing the other half of the backstop time-share arrangement.
1B: Ryan Howard (503 PA; .229 / .277 / .443; 23 HRs
36 y/o this season with a mere $35 million to go [$25 plus a $10mil buyout to avoid next year’s $23] on that “What were they thinking?” contract they gave him in 2009 - AND THEN EXTENDED the very next year!! I mean, yeah they ran into shit luck with that achilles tendon injury on the last AB of the season a couple years back, but that’s what tends to happen to dudes in their 30s who also happen to be big enough to require their own license plate.
And seeing as how he hit a stunning .130 last year vs LHP with 40 K’s in 100 ABs!!! I think a loud siren is going to go off in their dugout this season whenever a LHP even starts to stir in the bullpen.
So his should pretty much be a strict platoon although, barring a baby deGrom arrival, there’ll be no LHPs for Darrin (buy a consonant!) Ruf (297 PA; .235 / .300 / .414; 12 HR) to start against.
2B: Cesar Hernandez (452 PA; .272 / .339 / .348; 1 HR)
SS: Freddy Galvis (603 PA; .280 / .302 / .343; 7 HR)
This set of bookend 26 y/o Venezuelan middle infielders both played their first full ML season in 2015 and did adequately enough, unless you happen to be a fan of power and stuff.
3B: Maikel Franco (335 PA; .280 / .343 / .497; 14 HR)
Another player with a first-name spelling problem, this just turned 23 y/o with only 1/2 an ML season under his belt is already on the verge of stardom among 3B-men. And even if that’s premature he’s still easily the most dangerous bat in the current Phils lineup.
Now while that infield may be halfway decent, I don’t know what to make of this outfield.
It was thin enough to begin with but it's where they've also been hit with their first injuries as last year’s starting LF Cody Aschie is out on a short DL stint. Also out, and for at least half the season in his case, is the German-born Aaron Altherr who looked good in a short trial during the 2nd half of 2015.
CF: Odubel Herrera (537 PA; .297/.344/.418; 8 HR)
Just a year ago he was a 23 y/o ‘Rule 5’ pickup as a AA infielder whom the Phils immediately threw into the middle of their OF where he pretty much held his own on both sides of the ball.
He’s also one of those guys who still manages to stroll around the batter’s box despite the speed-up rule so I wouldn’t mind if someone wound up plunking him.
RF: Peter Bourjos (225 PA; .200 / .290 / .333; 4 HR)
Putting a speed/glove guy in a corner spot is never a good idea, especially when he hits like a below-average CF who last played full-time five seasons ago. The former Angel/Cardinal can run but that’s about it and he doesn’t even seem to be all that fast anymore. Put another way, they somehow managed to downgrade the position from Jeff Francouer.
LF: Cedric Hunter ( … )
I have to admit that I’ve never heard of a Cedric Hunter nor know what exactly you’d do if you had one (unless it’s to look for your misplaced Cedric)
An example of one of their low-level FA signings from the winter, Hunter’s 10 year pro career has consisted of 4 ABs with the Padres back in 2011 and over 1,000 games in the minors. He did hit his first ML HR on Thursday
And then there’s the bullpen which started off the season by giving up 5 in the 8th to lose Game 1 and then 2 in the 9th for a walk-off loss in Game 2.
Manager Pete Mckinnon talks about "being in the audition stage" for roles right now which isn't surprising considering I’ve barely heard of half these guys and have little or no opinion on the few names I do sorta-kinda recognize so guessing at this point as to which is likely to be used in what role makes as much sense as trying to explain Donald Trump’s political philosophy.
Dramatis Personae: Jeanmar Gomez, James Russell (L), Dalier Hinojosa, David Hernandez, Hector Neris, Daniel Stumpf (L), Brett Oberholtzer
You’re going to have to take my word for it that I made none of those names up.
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