Monday, September 30, 2013

Change is in the air for Phillies

By DENNIS DEITCH
ddeitch@delcotimes.com, @DennisDeitch
ATLANTA – Ruben Amaro Jr. said Saturday that the first order of business for the Phillies upon conclusion of their most disappointing season in more than a decade was to get Ryne Sandberg’s coaching staff in order.
That process began with a significant, yet unsurprising decision to part way with pitching coach Rich Dubee after nine seasons, five of which resulted in postseason appearances, with one coming with a world championship.
The change hardly comes as a surprise, considering the Phillies have a new manager in Sandberg and are coming off a season where the pitching staff ranked 14th in the National League in ERA, with some of the decisions and lack of progress focused on the pitching coach.
Dubee was backed stridently by veteran pitchers like Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels. In Halladay’s case, it’s no wonder: Dubee was complicit in keeping Halladay’s back issues last season from view, and this year Dubee continued to give an overabundance of leeway to the right-hander as he pitched with a hurt shoulder and stomach problems. Halladay had four starts in the opening 32 days of the season where he was pummeled so badly the team had no shot to compete behind him. That deference showed a wiliness to put Halladay ahead of what was right for the pitching staff and the team, and even if the front office wrongly supported that decision, Dubee had the tenure and expertise to be the one to have the organization reconsider it.
Dubee’s other fatal flaw was his inability to get much out of the young relievers the Phillies banked on filling out their bullpen entering this season. Not one of the young relievers showed a great deal of promise during spring training, with hard-throwing right-hander Phillippe Aumont becoming completely unraveled in the process. By the time guys like Jake Diekman, Justin De Fratus and B.J. Rosenberg started to have their talents begin to pay dividends, the season was long lost.
Those are the reasons Dubee is out. However, he deserves credit for being there as Halladay won a Cy Young and finished second another year, Cliff Lee continued to thrive into his mid-30s, and Hamels remained one of the top left-handers in the game. He also took a mediocre starting rotation and unheralded bullpen in 2008 and helped it delivered a World Series title to the city.
A replacement for Dubee must be determined, but Rod Nichols, who had been a longtime and well-regarded minor-league pitching coach in the minors for the Phils, kept a low-profile as the bullpen coach for the Phils this season and will be under consideration for the gig.
While Dubee joined Charlie Manuel as a casualty of 2013 and there are certain to be more coaching changes in the coming weeks, the general manager is getting one more shot to correct a roster that he has allowed to go astray each of the last two winters.
Amaro is aware he has two strikes on him. And during a lengthy discussion at Turner Field, he said he accepts both the responsibility for his part in causing the mess and for making some quick corrections. After all, the signing of Chase Utley and retention of several other veterans were indicators that there won’t be a rebuilding just yet. The Phillies remain in reloading mode.
“I don’t listen to a lot of it,” Amaro said of the calls for his head. “But listen, I’m the G.M. of the club, so I fully expect to take heat for it. I’m the one who is making the decisions on player personnel. I’m accountable for the things that have happened.
“I have not had a very good year; our team did not have a very good year. I think we win as a team and lose as a team. The fact of the matter is that I should take a lot of heat. I need to be better, and our guys need to be better.
“We need to evaluate better, we need to make better decisions and make better mojo overall.”
The Phillies finished 73-89, which landed them the No. 7 overall pick in the June 2014 Draft. By virtue of being in the top 10, Amaro can be aggressive on the free-agent market and sign a player without sacrificing a first-round pick. With starting pitchers like Ervin Santana, Matt Garza and Tim Lincecum likely hitting the market, that might be his best option for filling that need.
Another area in question in the outfield, where the Phillies again lagged well below the MLB average in production, despite Dom Brown coming into his own in the first half. Amaro said that Brown might switch back to right field from left, depending on how the team addresses the issues. As for Darin Ruf …
“Ruf is not a right fielder,” Amaro said. “I think he can fill in for us. I think he can fill in in certain areas, but I can’t sit here and tell you that he’s an everyday player for us … It’s hard to say that he’s an everyday player in the outfield. I think we’re doing ourselves a disservice, because we just need to be better in the outfield defensively.”
The best outfielders on the market are Red Sox sparkplug Jacoby Ellsbury (.298 average, 52 SBs, 92 runs) and Reds on-base machine Shin-Soo Choo (.423 OBP, 21 HRs, 107 runs in 2013), both of whom are Scott Boras clients and are left-handed hitters. Neither of those aspects are appealing to the Phils, although Amaro seemed ready to completely tilt his team to the left side of the plate if needed.
“We might even have to go more left-handed,” he said. “If the quality of the player needs to be left-handed, and he’s a quality player who can play the outfield and play defense and play the way we need him to do, then we might have to go with a left-handed hitter.”
 The quality drops hard after those two, so Amaro might have to get creative and bold with trade offers.
“As far as the free-agent market is concerned,” Amaro said, “it’s maybe a little bit better (than last winter). But we have our internal options that will be better. We have some guys who have grown up a little bit. They've had an opportunity to grow up. I won't anoint Cody Asche as the third baseman, but he is a viable option. I frankly hope there is a great competition in spring training between Maikel Franco and Cody. That can create a heck of a situation for us. They are both very, very good young players. A lot of it depends on how they handle it.”
The player decisions are destined to start with Carlos Ruiz, and a source said the organization has begun an attempt to preemptively get the veteran catcher off the market. After struggling with production at the plate until late July, Ruiz hit .281 with 17 extra-base hits, 28 RBIs and a .789 OPS in his final 46 games (41 starts). With top catching prospect Tommy Joseph’s progress stunted by concussion problems and Cameron Rupp at the moment a safer bet as a backup, the position is a priority.
Amaro also mentioned Roy Halladay as a “concern,” but it seems ridiculous to think that the fallen ace will have a team before January. Odds are strong teams will want to see the 36-year-old throw off a mound and see if his recovers both weight on his gaunt frame and velocity on his dying fastball.
“As far as monetizing his contract, I have no idea where to go there yet,” Amaro said of Halladay. “It's going to be something that is south of where he is now ($20 million) clearly, but the question is how far south do you go without embarrassing the player? How far south do you go risking what he will be for us? … But we have some time. It's not a pressing issue.”
As for the payroll, there wasn’t a team that spent as much to be as bad as the Phillies. So, while there will be a discussion about a possible increase of the $165 million Amaro spent in 2013, he doesn’t think it should be necessary to succeed. 
“I really haven’t talked to David (Montgomery) about that,” Amaro said of the team president, who was in Atlanta last weekend with the team. “Obviously we had a lot less people coming to the ballpark this year. We have to be cognizant of that. We have been greatly supported – our payroll was, what, $165 million? That should be enough to put a contender on the field.
“We didn’t do it for a variety of reasons – some from the decisions that we made, some were because we just didn’t have the health that was necessary to have success. We have to make better decisions.”

And if that change in the tides hasn’t already started, it better soon.

Phils stub out a Dubee

The Phillies have brought an end to Rich Dubee’s nine-year tenure as pitching coach.
They made the announcement Monday morning that Dubee would not have his contract renewed. It comes hardly as a surprise considering the Phillies have a new manager in Ryne Sandberg and are coming off a season where the pitching staff ranked 14th in the National League in ERA, with some of the decisions and lack of progress focused on the pitching coach.
Dubee was stridently back by veteran pitchers like Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels. In Halladay’s case, it’s no wonder : Dubee was complicit in keeping Halladay’s back issues last season from view, and this year Dubee continued to give an overabundance of leeway to the right-hander as he pitched with a hurt shoulder and stomach problems. Halladay had four starts in the opening 32 days of the season where he was pummeled so badly the team had no shot to compete behind him. That deference showed a wiliness to put Halladay ahead of what was right for the pitching staff and the team, and even if the front office wrongly supported that decision, Dubee had the tenure and expertise to be the one to have the organization reconsider it.
Dubee’s other fatal flaw was his inability to get much out of the young relievers the Phillies banked on filling out their bullpen entering this season. Not one of the young relievers showed a great deal of promise during spring training, with hard-throwing right-hander Phillippe Aumont becoming completely unraveled in the process. By the time guys like Jake Diekman, Justin De Fratus and  B.J. Rosenberg  started to have their talents begin to pay dividends, the season was long lost.
Those are the reasons Dubee is out. However, he deserves credit for being there as Halladay won a Cy Young and finished second another year, Cliff Lee continued to thrive into his mid-30s, and Hamels remained one of the top left-handers in the game. He also took a mediocre starting rotation and unheralded bullpen in 2008 and helped it delivered a World Series title to the city.

A replacement for Dubee has yet to be determined, but Rod Nichols, who had been a longtime and well-regarded minor-league pitching coach in the minors for the Phils, kept a low-profile as the bullpen coach for the Phils this season and will be under consideration for the gig.

PHILS HAVE 7TH PICK IN DRAFT, WHICH HAS BEEN KIND OF AWESOME

The bad news: The 2013 Phillies were absolutely awful.
The good news: They were awful enough that the Phillies have the No. 7 overall pick in the 2014 June Draft, their highest pick in a draft since they took Gavin Floyd with the fourth overall selection in 2001.  
So, what should fans expect out of Mr. Seven?

 “What’s in the booooooooox?!?!?!”

Actually, what has been in the box at the No. 7 pick in the baseball draft since the turn of the millennium is some pretty sweet stuff.
Matt Harvey (Mets) and Mike Minor (Braves) were No. 7 picks and likely will be tormenting the Phillies on the mound in the N.L. East for years to come.
The best pitcher in baseball, Clayton Kershaw, was the seventh pick in 2006. Homer Bailey (Reds) ain’t shabby. He was No. 7 in 2004.
Some hitters you might have heard of also were Lucky Sevens: Troy Tulowitzki (Rockies in 2005), Nick Markakis (Orioles in 2003) and Prince Fielder (Brewers in 2002) are All-Stars, and Yonder Alonso (Reds in 2008) has become a solid, if unspectacular, pro with time to improve.
As with any draft hole, you get the occasional dud. Matt LaPorta (Brewers, 2007) has had injuries and a terrible glove make him a dud, and one of the most infamous draft losers ever, Matt Harrington, was taken seventh by the Rockies in 2000. He turned down seven-figures from them and again the next season from the Padres and never signed a pro contract with a major-league franchise. The last time he was heard from, Harrington was changing tires in a Costco garage.
However, all in all, No. 7 has been a game-changer for franchises. Heaven knows the Phillies could use some of that.
As for which players to track over the next nine months before that pick reaches gestation, here are a few guys projected to go in the first half of the first round and have a Phillies profile:

  • Braxton Davidson: He’s a big left-handed hitting prep outfielder from North Carolina with major power.
  • Michael Cederoth:  The lanky San Diego State right-hander rolls it up there close to 100 mph and has a hard slider and changeup (and some control issues, so the Phils will love that).
  • Alex Jackson: He’s a right-handed-hitting catcher/outfielder from SoCal with loads of pop.
  • Trea Turner: The N.C. State shortstop/third baseman has the type of skills that could make him a speedier, right-handed-hitting Chase Utley.
In case you’re wondering, the last time the Phillies had a No. 7 pick, it was 1986 and they drafted one Brad Brink. And if you’re asking, “Who is Brad Brink?” … yeah, that didn’t go so well.

Sometimes what’s in the box is Gwyneth Paltrow’s head.

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Cliff Lee: 2016 is it, won't be "struggling and fumbling through the end"


By DENNIS DEITCH
ddeitch@delcotimes.com, @DennisDeitch
ATLANTA – Cliff Lee had a month that no pitcher, in terms of strikeout and walk dominance, had ever matched or surpassed.
He also lost his last two starts of 2013, Friday night’s defeat a 1-0 loss to the Braves at Turner Field. He won’t pitch in October, again, this season. And although he has pitched terrifically in each of the last two seasons, and absolutely brilliantly in the last two Septembers, he is 35.
He wants another shot at a championship – but he isn’t going to pitch beyond his usefulness to get it.
“Yeah. I am getting up there in age,” Lee said after he worked eight stellar innings, striking out 13 Braves and walking none to make him the first pitcher in major-league history to have more than 50 strikeouts and allow one or no walks in a calendar month. “I’m 35 years old now and when this contract’s over I plan on going home, so I’m running out of opportunities.”
Barring injury, Lee has three more years on his contract, and when asked if he really planned on those three years being his final three years, Lee said yes.
Before speaking to the media after the game, the southpaw was speaking to his family via FaceTime on his iPhone. He was looking into the eyes of his children. He has grown weary of being limited to that view for six months every year.
“There are a lot of things that can happen between now and (the end of his contract in 2016),” Lee said, “but I just know that my kids are 12 and 10 and I’ve basically missed the first half of their lives. I’m financially able to shut it down, so … that’s how I feel right now.
“But when they time comes I might look at it differently.”
As Lee spoke about his future, he stood next to the locker of Roy Halladay, who went from a struggling season in 2012 to a miserable one in 2013 that included shoulder surgery, weight loss and a startling decrease in velocity.
Maybe that didn’t influence what he had to say next … but it’s tough to imagine it didn’t.
“I also want to finish being good,” Lee said, “not struggling and fumbling through at the end. I want to finish strong and take it to the house. Next year I want to win a World Series, then another one, then another one and take it to the house. That’s what I’m wanting to do.”
Lee finished September with an astounding 54 strikeouts and one walk in his five starts covering 39 innings. Two pitchers in history had ever had 50-plus strikeouts and two walks in a month, both of them former Phillies – Curt Schilling in May 2002 (62 K, 2 BB) and Pedro Martinez in August 2000 (51 K, 2 BB).
In his last two Septembers, Lee has a 1.63 ERA, 105 strikeouts and just four walks in 12 starts.
This start ended in a loss when Atlanta third baseman/fun cop Chris Johnson golfed a two-strike, ankle-high slider into the first row in left to lead off the bottom of the eighth. That was enough to give the Braves and Kris Medlen – who took a no-hitter two outs deep into the sixth inning – the victory.
There is a chance the Phillies will end the season with their first 90-loss season since 2000. They might have the money to turn things around quickly, but it will mean making some wily and aggressive decisions this winter.
Lee might want to be holding his children instead of looking at them on a smart phone screen, but he assured that he will be watching Ruben Amaro Jr. closely as well.
“I’m always curious to what they are going to do, no matter what,” Lee said. “When you know you’re going to be a part of an organization for years … it’s just the natural thing to do.
“What gives me hope is the fact that this has been a winning organization for quite a while, and you’ve got to expect the front office to make moves and do everything they can to keep that going.”
What Lee expects most is for his best efforts to no longer go to waste.

Location:Atlanta