Zimbio photo of Jimmy Rollins found on Google Images

News of the Rollins signing has had negative comments rising up in Philly Phans, who wished to see a faltering SS who had a horrible playoff and has a history of lackluster effort in jogging to first, go to another team for a cheaper option.

However, Rollins has had positive contributions to this team and for three years and an option for a fourth, he signed for cheaper than what the Brewers were offering. With Rollins back and Wiggington on the roster that also means versatile but weak hitting Michael Martinez will go to AAA where he belongs.

Image via Wikipedia

It also gives Freddy Galvis time to find his swing in AAA, as he did not impress so much last year and at 22 he still has time to develop, although he seems to be a subpar prospect at best. That will give the Phillies an option of waiting two years for Galvis and perhaps trading Rollins by the trade deadline in his 3rd year, or another SS turns into a good prospect or FA picture.

With Rollins now in place that means Polanco will man 3rd with help from Wigginton, and that barring any big signing; Mayberry Jr. will be the starting LFer. Polanco is old and fragile, Mayberry is unproven and last year seemed like a career year for a fringe player…but with a team that needs to win now before they become old in the rotation, getting Rollins aboard for 3 years is good for the timeline of the closing window of the Phillies being atop the NL East.

Rollins has hinted at being a HOFer, which is a stretch at best. He will not have another (disputed) MVP award season in him, but if he continues to improve his pitches seen per plate appearance to be top 30 in that category, he will still be a valuable leadoff hitter.

Image taken from Phillies Sport Daily

The Phillies clinched the division with 12 games left and should still (we hope) have the most wins ever for the franchise.

Now imagine where they would be without Kyle Kendrick or Vance Worley.

Kendrick and Worley’s contributions to this Phillies team aren’t just nice stories; they changed the entire complexion of the Phillies season. Worley and Kendrick combined for a 16-6 record and a 3.01 ERA as starters. Think about that for a second. That is a 3.07 ERA for the FOURTH AND FIFTH STARTERS. Most teams would kill to get that ERA for their TOP starters.

The numbers are drastically different from the 2010 campaign where the Phils’ fours and fives went 22-19 with a 4.56 ERA, a difference of 1.55 points. Just taking the winning percentage alone, the Phillies would have 4 less wins. To put that in perspective, 4 less games at the all-star break would have put the Phillies 1 game back of the Braves.

Worley’s importance

The impact of Vance Worley runs much deeper than just four games when you consider the timing of his arrival. When Worley made his first start for the Phillies on April 29th, Oswalt had just gone to the DL and Chase Utley was still nearly a month away from joining the squad. Having now lost one of their aces, the Phillies were not hitting, had no idea if and when Utley would ever return and had a mess on their hands in right field. The Phillies needed a morale booster desperately. Enter Vance Worley and the story begins.

After getting shipped to Lehigh Valley upon Oswalt’s return on May 17th, Worley was brought back again on June 18th when Oswalt returned to the DL. Once again, Vance Worley to the rescue.

Kendrick’s impact

And don’t lose sight of Kendrick’s contribution. As a starter in 2011, Kendrick is 5-4 with a 3.21 ERA. After his Jekyl and Hyde performance in 2010, Kendrick has been rock solid this season, giving his team a chance to win each time he takes the mound. He bounces around from starter to reliever on a daily basis and never complains. Kyle simply takes the ball and does his job. Even the danger of living with a pregnant wife didn’t effect him.

Life without Worley and Kendrick

There’s no doubt the Phillies would have made the playoffs with or without Kendrick and Worley. But the Phils would certainly have had a lot less rest without them. And rest might be the most important thing for an old Philadelphia Phillies team entering the playoffs…

Cliff Lee photo taken from Google Images

Now that the Phillies have blown up their payroll by adding Cliff Lee, the total payroll looks to be over $160 million in 2011. Once regarded as greedy Gremlins who lurked in dark alleys, all of a sudden this Phillies ownership group is “committed to winning.” But just how committed are they?

I thought it might be fun to watch the progression of the Phillies payroll in recent years. The chart above shows the progression of the total payroll since 2001.

Once referred to by Bill Giles as a “small market” in 1994, the Phillies payroll lived up to Bill’s claim as recently as 2001 with a payroll of just $41.66 million. Ten years later the Phillies total payroll has skyrocketed to around $160 million.

Have the Phillies owners finally decided that winning is more important than making the most profit? The answer is no. As the charts below will indicate, the Phillies owners are no more or less committed in 2011 than they were in 2001.

You see, as much as Phillies fans don’t want to admit it, the owners weren’t paying because the fans weren’t going. Bill Giles was right when he called Philadelphia a small market because at the time fans were not attending games. The next chart shows that the payroll went up at nearly the identical rate of the attendance.

As fans, we want to have an owner like a George Steinbrenner who is willing to pay whatever it takes to put a winner on the field. It sure would have been nice if the Phillies ownership group decided to forgo a little profit during some of the bad years to help build a team that fans wanted to see.

But the next chart shows that the Phillies ran the team no differently than any other club. They ran it like a business and their spending mirrored the attendance. It would have been nice if winning was the most important factor.

The moral of the story is this: the Phillies ownership group was not lining their pockets any more or less than the other owners. I am like many fans who crucified the owners when they weren’t spending the way I hoped they would spend. For better or for worse, the Phillies owners let the books decide how much they would spend and they closely followed the bottom line.

But there might be a wrinkle to this tale. The Phillies maxed out the attendance last season, yet they increased the payroll close to $20 million this year. Are the rumors true that John Middleton took his profits from the $2.9 billion sale of his cigar company and decided to break the bank to get Cliff Lee? Or are they just running business as usual?

Photo of Jayson Werth by Icon SMI

Mere moments after Ryan Howard struck out to finish the Phillies season, the focus quickly shifted to Jayson Werth and the Phillies’ payroll. Will or won’t the Phillies keep Werth? Before even considering re-signing Werth, we need to examine the Phillies payroll.

A quick look at the payroll provides a clear answer.

According to USAToday.com, the Phillies 2010 payroll was $141.928 million. Excluding arbitration increases, the Phillies will immediately add $16.55 million just to maintain players under contract.

Now let’s look at salaries we can drop from the Phillies roster. Here is a list of free agents and option players…

Phillies free agents:

Jayson Werth
Jamie Moyer
Chad Durbin
Contreras
Sweeney

Phillies option player:

JC Romero – $4.5 million club option in 2011 with $250,000 buyout

Let’s assume that the Phillies will allow Jayson Werth and Jamie Moyer walk away. It is unlikely the Phils will exercise JC Romero’s option for 4.5 million next year and will instead buy him out for $250k. And for simplicity sake, let’s say we keep Durbin, Contreras, and Sweeney at the same salary (their salaries shouldn’t change much anyway). This would give the Phillies an extra $17.75 million.

In this scenario in which the Phillies add $16.55 million for increasing contracts and remove $17.75 million, the Phillies would have an extra $1.2 million to add a right fielder, one starter, and one reliever.

Inserting Domonic Brown in right, Kyle Kendrick as the number 5 starter, and grabbing another reliever for $1.2 million brings the Phils to essentially the same payroll next year.

Photo of Jayson Werth by Icon SMI

Therein lies the problem. In order to keep Werth using this scenario, the Phillies would need to ADD $15-17 million to keep him. There is a greater chance that you will see Charlie Manuel playing right field than there is for the Phillies to bump their payroll to $156 million.

The moral of this story is that Ruben Amaro better be pretty darn creative if he wants to keep Werth in Phillies pinstripes.

I was listening to the radio and Scott Franske pointed out just how far the Phillies have come. On July 22 the Phillies were 7 games back of the Atlanta Braves and sat in third place in the NL East.

Yet now the Braves find themselves 3 back of the Phillies. Since their 7 game lead the Atlanta Braves have gone 28-25. That’s not exactly a terrible record, but the Braves may not have been prepared for the freight train heading their way.

Photo in Tribute of Braves Manager Bobby Cox by Icon SMI

That record isn’t quite good enough when the team following you goes 38-15. That’s right, the Phillies have played 23 games above .500 since July 22. That makes for a .717 winning percentage. Work that over an entire season and you get 116 wins.

We have become accustomed to streaks like that with Charlie Manuel‘s teams, but that is pretty ridiculous.

If you could add a post to your site to help encourage people to attend the event Monday in Philly, especially the Phillies and Mets blogs, it would be much appreciated. This is a great cause and if we
can help drive some traffic to their event on Monday to collect gently used baseball equipment they would be thrilled.

Thanks for your help.

Photo found on Google Images

Phillies Caught Cheating

In the best tradition of the ’51 Giants, the Mets claimed that Phillies bullpen coach Mick Billmeyer was using binoculars to steal signs. Although they denied it, the Phillies went on a bender posting a mediocre 20-24 record since then and dropping out of first place. Meanwhile the Mets went on a winning  spree and passed the Phillies in the standings. Maybe the club should install a miniature high resolution optical device on the bill of Billmeyer’s cap so as not to be detected.

Goodbye Junior

It is with great remorse that we see one of the greatest players of his generation quit during the season and at the end of an unfortunate incident when an insolent teammate told a reporter that he was napping during a game. Hey, he deserved it. In fact, the club should grant access to the locker room for him so he can be in the arms of Morpheus whenever he wants. If only he were healthy the past ten years who knows how many home runs he would’ve hit.

Here’s a video tribute to Jr.

Jim Joyce and The Tigers….Story of the Year

No matter what happens the rest of the season nothing will top the amazing fallout over a blown call that cost the Tigers’ Armando Gallarraga a perfect game. Umpire Jim Joyce made an unprecedented act of contrition in public and was genuinely remorseful. Gallarraga also conducted himself in a fashion that was laudable. A gentle smile of disbelief was all the emotion he exuded. This was an amazing story because this act of sportsmanship all around is too rare in today’s competitive environment. Ed Rapuano is one umpire who should’ve taken notes on how to conduct himself. He’s the one who walked out to the mound and challenged Brewers’ pitcher Dave Bush recently. This was an exhibit of outrageous self-importance. He forgot the main rule regarding umpires—they should heard but not seen.

Here’s the video of the blown call…

Is The Cure Finally Here?

Well the Brewers finally jettisoned Jeff Suppan thus saving your loyal blogger a few more tirades. If you read a post last year, you’ll recall that he was the carrier of the dreaded chronic inflammation of the suck, a condition that was contagious. Most of the pitching staff was infected one way or another. Hopes of eradication were dashed in the opening week this year. In fact it seemed to become more virulent by even taking Trevor Hoffman down. Even now Hoffman is still on the road to recovery. Could it be a remarkable coincidence that since Suppan’s departure the staff has shown some sharp improvement?

Please check out CNN‘s Latinos in America Series to be aired on October 21 and October 22 at 9pm (EST). This clip is part of the interview with Phillies‘ LF Raul Ibanez as he sits down with Soledad O’Brien for CNN Latino in America. Please watch CNN on these days to watch his interview and more.

Phillies LF Raul Ibanez