Liberty Ball

For the second straight season, a Phillie walked away with the National League MVP.  In one of the most complete seasons by a player ever, Jimmy Rollins used his mouth, his glove and his bat to earn the prize.  It was a close race though as they nabbed just half of the first place votes and he even had one voter pick him fifth.  Rockies outfielder Matt Holliday came in second and while he had just eleven first place votes, he actually 29 votes ranked two or higher versus Rollins 23.  Ryan Howard came in fourth place and Chase Utley finished eighth.

Still, Rollins was the guy at the top of the lineup and he was definitely the team’s catalyst.  He also became just the fourth player to finish with 20 homers, stolen bases, doubles and triples (oddly, he was the second guy to do it in 2007).  He also picked up his first 30/30 season and he fell just short of hitting .300.  He also set a major league record with 716 at bats in 2007.

My guess is, it’s Utley’s turn in 2008.  Still, having Rollins, Howard and Utley in the lineup is huge.  Now if the Phillies could just patch up the rotation.

Carlos Carrasco topped the Phillies top ten prospect list over at Baseball America.  The righthander was just mediocre when he got bumped up to Double A and while you’d expect him to start there in 2008, a major league debut isn’t out of the question for the top prospect.

Second baseman Adrian Cardenas comes in at number two and while it’s nice to have an infield position player as top star, you have to feel for the guy with a roadblock like Chase Utley.  Cardenas played the whole year at Low A though so he’s at least a couple of years away.

The rest of the top five are pitchers.  The Phillies first round pick in 2007, Joe Savery, checks in at number three and Josh Outman and Kyle Drabek round out the top five.  Kyle Drabek is the son of former Pirates hurler Doug Drabek.  2004 first round pick Greg Golson has fallen out of favor and he now checks in at number seven after a disappointing stint at Reading in 2007.

Still, the Phillies have the firepower on offense.  It’s nice to see all these bright young arms making their up through the system.

Coming off of a career year in 2007, J.C. Romero got a nice payday when the Phillies re-signed him for three years and $12 million.  The deal includes an option for a fourth year and the hope is that Romero gives the Phillies a solid left handed option out of the pen for years to come.

The Red Sox gave up on Romero last year and the Phillies scooped him up and he helped out during the Phillies nice second half.  He held hitters to a .130 batting average with the Phillies and while he gave up his share of walks (25 in 36 1/3 innings) he was able to keep hitters off base most of the time.  He gave up just one homerun and his 1.24 ERA was very impressive.

Romero’s job will be an obvious one and that’ll be to get left handed hitters out.  In his career, he’s held lefties to a .226 batting average against.  That’ll be the benchmark that’s used to determine whether the Phillies overpaid for Romero or not.

While I hate to see an exciting game like Michael Bourn in a deal and I know Mike Costanzo was considered a top prospect at one point but Brad Lidge is a bona fide stud on the mound.  I know he comes with his baggage but the benefit is two fold.  First, we get a top notch reliever who will hopefully benefit from a change of scenery AND it allows Bret Myers to resume his duties as a starter.

The side effect of all this is, the Phillies will now be in the market for a centerfielder.  Snagging back Aaron Rowand would be nice but there’s a few nice options this year at centerfield.