After a second straight season of starting slow in spring, hanging around in early summer and catching fire in the dog days of August just to fall short of a playoff berth, Pat Gillick looked towards the offseason to improve the team, and finally get them over the hump that has haunted the team the past 13 years. In his first full offseason as GM of the Phillies, Gillick would have more options to improve the team and get them headed in the right direction. He wanted to continue to add flexibility to the payroll, and get rid of the bad contracts that former General Manager Ed Wade signed. He traded Jim Thome last offseason and dealt Abreu during the summer, and Pat Burrell was next on his list. With a huge contract, a no trade clause and a mediocre year, it would be a tall task to trade him. It has not happened yet, and probably won’t happen until at the earliest, the trading deadline.
To compensate for a potential loss in Burrell and to protect MVP Ryan Howard better, Gillick wanted top free agent outfielder Alfonso Soriano. Soriano defied all expectations in his only season in
Gillick wanted to upgrade 3B and C, after yet another season of getting little to no production from the bottom of his lineup. With David Bell, Abraham Nunez, Mike Lieberthal, Sal Fasano and Carlos Ruiz all playing significant time over the past couple years, it was time to bring in some better players and get something from the 7 and 8 hitters. Enter Wes Helms, who is a career .778 OPS hitter. It’s not outstanding, but it’s better than all but one of David Bell’s seasons in the red pinstripes, and certainly better than what Nunez offered last year. He’s nothing spectacular, but it’s an upgrade that needed to be made. As of yet, no extra catcher has been added. The team is apparently looking at Toby Hall, which would be a pretty bad move. He’s always been a bad hitter, he’s not good behind the plate, and he’s a grade A idiot. There are better options out there, both through free agency and from within. Say no to Toby, please.
Before the 2006 season, Gillick came right out and said “this team will not make the playoffs because the pitching isn’t strong enough.” He was right on both accounts, and in a league where pitching is always a premium, he had to find ways to improve it. His strategy for building bullpens is get a ton of arms and stick with who’s hot and who’s working. So far, the bullpen isn’t shaping up to be very good again. Tom Gordon should have another solid season as closer, although his struggles at the end of last year are a bit worrisome. The Phillies hope that Geoff Geary can replicate his performance from last year, and that Ryan Madson will pitch better in a consistent role out of the bullpen. After that, Matt Smith looks like a good option against lefties and could develop into a major league setup man, but does anyone trust any of those last three if they have to step in for Flash in the 9th? The answer should be no. The Phillies needed to acquire a veteran arm or someone for the pen and they haven’t done it yet. There are still some trading opportunities out there (to be discussed in a bit,) and it remains to be seen what role the Rule V draftees can play.
The rotation has improved tenfold from Opening Day 06, and Gillick gets an A+ for improving it. We’ve gone from Lieber, Myers, Lidle, Madson and Floyd to Myers, Hamels, Garcia, Eaton and Moyer. Myers and Hamels will continue to progress and particularly Hamels will become an elite starter. Garcia has proven to be an innings eater and reliable starter, Eaton has some nice stuff when healthy, and Moyer can give a team some nice innings every five days still. The team didn’t have to give up too much for Garcia, and hopefully they can sign him to an extension. Dealing Myers would be a bad move at this point. He’s one of our best pitchers, and there’s no reason to get rid of him to improve the most powerful lineup in the NL. Hamels finished the season hot, and he’ll continue to grow and become the player everyone expected him to. If Eaton can stay healthy, which is the biggest if in the history of oversized conditionals, he could have a pretty good year. The rotation went from being hilariously awful to one of the most formidable in the National League.
One trade that should be explored, and I think will be in the coming days and weeks, is dealing starter Jon Lieber for some bullpen pieces. He appears to be the odd man out of the rotation, and with his conditioning problems and fairly high salary for 2007, he becomes expendable. It never hurts to have a sixth starter, but you can bet that someone like Lieber wouldn’t be happy in a long relief role waiting for someone to go down. Expect him to be traded before pitchers and catchers report.
So with the most exciting parts of the offseason complete, it’s time for teams to fill out their rosters and start preparing for 2007. It just seems like weeks ago that the Cardinals recorded that final out against
It’s time for a prediction. It’s the first time anyone has been able to say it for a few years, but if these guys don’t make the playoffs, it’ll be a disappointment. They have what it takes to win the Wild Card. I think they have what it takes to make a run at the Mets. They just need to add another outfielder (Aubrey Huff?) and make a move for the bullpen to get this team in a better position. It’s almost time to play ball.
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