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Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Unseen Power Of The Moved-In Fences?
Burrell looks so miserable, you have to think it would be a mercy killing for Charlie Manuel to pull the plug on his season. That is precisely what the Phillies’ manager must do - ASAP, stat and PDQ - before the Dodgers or Padres are spraying champagne to celebrate their wild-card clinch.
...The thing is, we’re way beyond numbers now. This is about more than Burrell’s offensive struggle. He is the last remaining vestige of the Phillies nucleus that has fallen short in its last several shots at the wild card. If this team in transition turned its season around after Bobby Abreu and David Bell were traded, it seems reasonable that it would benefit from having Burrell out of the lineup.
If Burrell hits a three-run homer in Florida this weekend to win the wild card, Manuel will look like a genius. From here, though, it looks like a better bet to put Burrell out of his baseball misery.
Repoz
Posted: September 27, 2006 at 02:12 PM | 45 comment(s)
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1. Textbook Editor Posted: September 27, 2006 at 02:25 PM (#2189100)But he'll be back next season because no one's taking the contract (well, maybe Bowden would...) even if the Phillies kicked in a piece, and I don't think ownership will let them do that.
It made me happy to listen to Burrell being booed for popping up ON THE ROAD... I feel like Phillies fans are finally coming around to the fact that to incite change, they need to boo him loud, long, and often.
Burrell is what he is, I will agree. But he was sold as the next sluggerly slugger who would do what Howard is doing this year and Phillies fans quite rightly feel they went out trick or treating and all they got was a rock.
Yes, finally, Phillies fans understand that they it is okay to BOO.
Go Pat, and take Mike Lieberthal with you.
Burrell's body language was not positive. He looked miserable. Sort of like the way everyone was talking about ARod this summer.
But he'll be back next season because no one's taking the contract (well, maybe Bowden would...) even if the Phillies kicked in a piece, and I don't think ownership will let them do that.
Hey, the Marlins got rid of Lowell's contract, anything can happen.
the O's would have to attach Bedard and Tejada to Burrell's fat arse before anyone takes him.
I'm not sure why the Orioles would be doing the Phillies such a big favor.
1. Locate player with largest contract.
2. Return value
If Burrell is traded, expect a lot of "Jimmy Rollins is a cancer and loser" next year.
Well, they did eventually fire Syd Thrift...
They gave the Mets John Maine for Kris Benson. That certainly made sense to me.
Benson is better than Trachsel, but the difference isn't so great in terms of likelihood of getting an outcome-changing start, and not worth the difference in value between Maine and Benson going forward. That's still an easy call; that trade was a winner.
Actually, to me, this offseason is the offseason to sell high on Rollins...
Only if they have a replacement waiting in the wings. Do the Phillies really have one? It sure doesn't look like it to me.
There are a lot of factors involved in the fans' impatience with Burrell right now. He seems to always lead the league in called third strikes (does that stat exist anywhere?), and is exactly the sort of player that leads people to say "the fans don't like Moneyball players". He seems to treat every at-bat exactly the same, producing results that look good over the long term but don't give the viewer any memorably good moments.
Actually, to me, this offseason is the offseason to sell high on Rollins...
Yeah, but it's not like we have any infield prospects ready to take his place.
Danny Sandoval <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Hanley Ramirez.
This is not the end. Maine will be 26 next year, and almost certainly in the rotation.
I don't seem to recall too many people being happy with his slump. He even ignored Schmidt when he tried to help that year. I think most people viewed him as not willing to listen and they were getting tired of his K's. Bu then again and the amount of cheers that he continued to get in the last half of that season was quite surprising could simply mean that 3 people cheered him and the author didn't expect that many.
As for Phillies fans I kind of laugh at this whole thing. In 2002 I got into an argument with some DieHard Phillies fans, they were not your typical phillies fans they actually had masters degrees and jobs, who were just slamming Ed Wade because he had not locked up Pat to a long term deal yet. I urged caution since the Pat had plenty of service time left, the changing market, and not really knowing quite what Pat is yet. Needless to say that even though they educated they reacted like a typical phillies fan. Well guys since I don't know where you are anymore . . I told you so.
That's what my brother (lives in Philly) says about Burrell. He also said the exact same things about Abreau 2 months ago.
Benson taught Bedard a changeup, been helpful with Loewen, eats innings, gets tough-luck losses, a 4 or a 5. Maine's a good kid, and we wish him well, but... league's adjusting...
Not the worst trade in the history of either club.
The Phillies fans I know, the ones at the park every day, I would wager are not the ones that are booing him. They were the ones supporting him in '03. Unfortunately, they're being drowned out by many people who had latched on to this lastest bit of flotsam in the sea of despair that is fanhood in Philly sports. They need a focus for their ire. He's the easiest one, and it doesn't hurt that they're being coaxed in that direction by many.
As for Jimmy, well, I was as big a critic as any, but I'll take a SS who hits 25 HRs; they can pay him whatever they want.
I'll take a SS who hits 25 homers too, but one that is well-utilized in the offense, which in Philly Rollins is not.
Who else do you lead off? And Rollins is too good a hitter to bat 6-7 unless you've got a Yankee lineup.
Delucci could lead off with Rollins in the middle of the order, but I don't think Rollins is a problem. His OBP isn't horrible, and his speed and extra base hits means he scores more often when he gets on. I'll take 124+ runs scored from a leadoff man anyday.
Any criticism of Burrell, Abreau, Rollins misses the point, and focuses blame on the players who are not the problem. This team needs to keep their lineup intact and get some pitching.
Myers-Hamels-Zito would be a nice start.
Schmidt is who I would go after. And then for shoots and giggles I'd call Theo and ask about Schilling. Couldn't hurt, and a 14-game winner (even at $13 million) would be a godsend in 2007, especially if all you have to commit to is one year. I'm not saying I would like Schilling Part Deux, just that he's as good an option as any. How about this trade:
Rollins
Rowand
Ruiz
for
Schilling
Crisp
Pedroia
Then see what fools will take Burrell at a 50% discount and stick Coco in LF. It actually helps both teams, I think. Rollins is not a Red Sos kind of guy, but perhaps 81 games at Fenway would do wonders and there he could bat 6th or 7th and his inability to take walks would not be so bad. Pedroia would be the kind of scrappy midget guy Phils fans would love...
To be fair, I think he is hurt in several places -- he looks like an old man in the field and at the plate. So there is some hope of rejuvenation in the off season, if he actually gets things fixed.
My biggest problem is that Burrell can only do things one way. Same swing at the same pitches whether up in the count, down in the count, runners on, runners not on. My theory is that he is just plain D-U-M. He plays like he has no idea that a late-inning fly ball in a tie game with a runner on 3rd and 1 out is better than taking called strike three (and then glaring at the ump).
Like Nick Punto?
Any criticism of Burrell, Abreau, Rollins misses the point, and focuses blame
I don't think criticism and blame are the same thing. For instance, one could criticize certain blind-as-a-bat first base umpires for missing a homerun, but not blame them for the ensuing loss. "Jimmy Rollins doesn't take enough walks", is a legitimate criticism of his game. "The Phillies have failed to make the playoffs since 1993 because Jimmy Rollins doesn't walk enough for a leadoff hitter", is an inaccurate affixing of blame.
Still on the Jimmy thing, I always thought they should have signed Rickie Henderson at the end of his MLB career just so he could (hopefully) mentor Rollins on the art of leading off. Perhaps there were too many other issues there, I really don't know, but it seemed to make sense to me from a baseball perspective.
This probably describes me, too. But I certainly hold little anitpathy toward him. The notion voiced above that he would dramatically improve somewhere else I think is ludicrous. I wonder, too, if he might not be one of those guys who would improve he "settled down".
And can we stop repeating the myth that Phillies fans ran Rolen out of town, please? The fans did turn on Rolen, but not until after they had perceived (accurately, as it turns out) that he had "turned" on them. It was kind of a jilted lover thing. It was the organization that made Rolen feel unwelcome. When he rejected a significant contract offer and let it be known that he wanted to go to "baseball heaven", the Philly fans came down on him hard, and have ever since. My favorite post-trade anti-Rolen sign (seen during the Cards' 2003 trip): "How's the pitching in heaven?").
i hear the same complaints about mo ensberg here in houston. (only i am POSITIVE he is hurt and lying about it because his swing is real different then it was in april and i don't think burrell is hurt)
i think guys are taught NOT to adjust with the count or MOB. eckstein is the only guy i can think of who choke up on the bat and try to make contact instead of swinging for fences
and i also do NOT understand why people want guys to swing at pitches out of the strike zone on a 3-2 count woith MOB. there aren't real too many hits on pitches not in the strike zone (yes i saw soriano take schiling deep game 7 2001 WS and yes I saw carlos the jackal take julian taveras deep game 4 2004 NLCS) but besides them 2 - hardly ever
I have a little sabermetrics talk I give, and I show that strikeouts actually have a positive correlation with runs scored (very low r), and people think I'm insane.
Also fans have little idea just how difficult pitch recognition is.
Yeah, but the Marlins had to give up a genuine, bona fide Cy Young candidate whose mere presence so greatly upgraded the Red Sox rotation (hold on while I pull up Beckett's stats for the year) and gave them such a possibly historic 1-2 punch along with the resurgent Curt Schilling (just a second, his page is loading up) that the Red Sox would have been wise to take back even Tony Womack if Tony was making Lowell money! Here, just look at what Beckett's done: Umm... My. Oh, my.
Never mind...
why i thought ANY ol person could play ML baseball no problem and do it for FREE and the fun of it because its just a kids game.
besides, how hard could it be to recognise pitches? you see david eckstein that runty little pest taking called 3rd strikes??? you see barry bonds taking called 3rd strikes, hm? why he can call the pitches from the dugout and if he can tell from the dugout, then burrell and mo ensberg should be able to do it in the batters box no problem.
the no good bums
As for Burrell, like somebody said he is what he is, and he can be a useful part of a good team. He just can't be the best player on a championship team. It's really not his fault that he got sold to Philly fans as a superstar.
As for Loewen, well... I mean... it's not as if we signed a pitching coach this offseason. So, thank god for Kris Benson.
And yes, the "league is catching up to" Maine, whatever that means, which I guess is why his September has been better than his August. (I guess it just means he didn't throw 20 consecutive scoreless innings every month.) We won't even talk about Julio, or the difference in salaries between Maine/Julio and Benson.
As for eating innings, I'll grant you that Benson lasts longer into games than other Orioles starters (although some of that is selection bias), but he's not going to pitch even 200 innings this year. I don't recall a 185 IP season as normally being considered "inning eating."
Look, Benson hasn't been terrible -- although his strikeout rate is so low it's scary -- but can we stop with repeating front office propaganda? Tough luck losses? He's 11-11. SNWL has him at 11.1-10.6. He's right where he should be.
I think he meant that Maine wouldn't be doing as well if he was in the AL. I'm not sure how good Maine is. He's got a good fastball that he locates pretty well but he needs to use his offspeed stuff more if he is going to be successful long term. Right now, he throws his fastball 85% of the time. That ain't going to cut it for very long.
I mean, it is startling.
Last I checked Mike Lieberthal was still the catcher.
What makes the Ennis thing even worse, and confusing for one who isn't old enough to have any inkling what the deal was, is that he was from Philadelphia. What, was he an avowed A's fan or something?
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