The 2011 Philadelphia Phillies saw a 102-60 season fall apart with a devastating defeat at the hands of the eventual World Champion St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Divisional series. With any defeat, changes are made and while the Phillies are still based on pitching and defense(Team walked the fewest batters in MLB, topped NL in fielding percentage), the team made some moves to bolster the bullpen and depth of the roster. The achilles tendon injury suffered by star 1B Ryan Howard will be monitored closely in camp but GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has stockpiled options for skipper Charlie Manuel at that spot. Lets look at the position battles the 5 time defending NL East Champions face as they enter Spring Training.
1- LeftField- The team let Raul Ibanez walk in the offseason and they do not lack candidates to pick up the slack. OF-1B John Mayberry Jr. who hit 15 homers and slugged .513 in 267 at- bats in 2011 has to be a the lead candidate to be the everyday LF. But he is also likely to draw some starts at 1B while Howard continues to recover from a catastrophic last play of the season tendon tear. Domonic Brown is one of the top young players in the organization and continues to hit in the minors(.294 career average) but has posted only a .236 BA in 91 ML games. Injuries in last season’s camp hurt his ability to win the LF job in 2011. LH bat Laynce Nix, who hit 16 homers for the Washington Nationals in 2011, and speedy Juan Pierre would be more bench, platoon type options at this point in their careers. Phillies fans need to be patient here,remember the team traded for RF Hunter Pence at the 2011 trade deadline and will have him for the entire 2012 campaign. He is a very good all around player who will hit .280-20-90 in a bad year with some speed and a good glove in RF. Having Pence from day 1 gives this team another player that pitchers will have to deal with.
2-Howard’s Health- Howard’s 30+ homers and improved defense will be missed but reports have been positive medically on his recovery. Amaro, however, added 2 veteran options to ease the burden on his slugging 1b and provide some pop off the bench as well. Versatile Ty Wigginton can play some 3b in addition to First and 2B , he hit 15 home runs in 401 at bats for Colorado in 2011. Future Hall of Famer Jim Thome, who ranks 6th all time in home runs, played 3b and 1B earlier in his career but has appeared in 4 games at 1B since 2005! Thome has a long standing relationship with Manuel, who served as his hitting coach while they were part of the Cleveland Indians organization. This will be a position of strength by midseason when Howard is 100% and the others fill in as role players, particularily Thome, who can still hit balls out of YellowStone Park. Wigginton can also spell veteran Placido Polanco at 3B and not embarrass himself when he needs a day off.
3- Relief Roles- The team lost long time closer Brad Lidge and fill-in closer,top set up man Ryan Madson to free agency but signed the #1 closer on the free agent market in Jonathan Papelbon to earn saves. Youngsters LH Antonio Bastardo and RH Michael Stutes really pitched great in 2011 while veteran Jose Contreras was outstanding when healthy but had elbow surgery in September 2011. Amaro signed low risk, high reward options like Dontrelle Willis, Chad Qualls, Dave Bush, Brian Sanches and Pat Misch to compete for bullpen roles. It is important to remember that this team is loaded in the rotation and threw 18 complete games in 2011. No other NL team had tossed more than 7! This is an area where the Phils can afford to gamble and cut costs. They did and still should be very good out of the pen in 2012.
