2011 MLB Draft: Philadelphia Phillies Select Larry Greene with 39th Selection

On Sunday afternoon, I posted a piece here on Bleacher Report that summarized just how much of a mystery the draft strategy of the Philadelphia Phillies was heading into the first round on Monday evening, and when all was said and done following the Supplemental Round, that was still the case, as the draft crew wrapped things up with more curiosities than answers.

Heading into Monday, it was rumored that the Phillies were interested in building some depth at their weakest points in the Minor Leagues—catcher, middle infielders and left-handed pitching—but when the 39th overall selection of the 2011 First Year Player Draft came to pass, the Phils’ didn’t select a player from any of the above positions.

Instead, the team of scouts, led by director Marti Wolever and general manage Ruben Amaro Jr., selected a high school outfielder out of the state of Georgia who’s bat was just too good to pass up on. In somewhat of a surprise selection, the Phillies picked the only player to be in attendance at Studio 42, the left-handed outfielder out of Nashville, Ga., Larry Greene.

On one hand, the selection isn’t much of a surprise. Wolever in on the record say that if push came to shove, he would take the best player available in the draft when the Phillies selected with their 39th pick, which was compensation for losing Jayson Werth. So as it turns out, taking the talented outfielder was almost appropriate.

With Domonic Brown and Jonathan Singleton being the most recent examples, the team has not shied away from drafting left-handed bats with the athleticism to play in the outfield, though Singleton has recently moved back to first base. So even with a number of highly touted left-handed arms and a very nice catching prospect still on the board, the Phils’ went with the sweet, raw left-handed swing of Greene.

Standing at 6’1″, 225 lbs., Greene was easily the biggest high school outfielder to go thus far in the draft, and as MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki pointed out in an interview with Wolever, it’s no surprise to hear the Phillies’ scouting director call Greene a “man amongst young men.”

In the same interview, Wolever compares Greene to Singleton, saying that although the former is likely to hit for more power, the stroke and bat speed are comparable.

The high school outfielder isn’t going to win any Gold Gloves on defense, but he projects as an average corner outfielder, most likely in left field for the Phillies, should things go as according to plan, and even then, he’ll probably play better defense than Raul Ibanez is right now. (Zing!) Regardless of his defensive ineptitude, this guy is going to make his money at the plate.

In his latest season of high school baseball, Greene destroyed local competition. He posted an average well above .500, slugging 19 home runs, 11 doubles, a triple and even stole 13 bases. It isn’t hard to see where his power comes from, just looking at the guy, and he projects to hit for big time power at the major league level, drawing comparisons to another slugger and former Phillie, current member of the Los Angeles Angels, Russell Branyan.

Wolever wasn’t happy with that comparison, however. He thinks that Greene is a much better overall hitter than Branyan and expects him to make much better contact than Branyan, who is a career .233 hitter.

For Greene though, he was just happy to be picked to play baseball, and Spencer Fordin of MLB.com had him covered. It was an emotional moment for Greene, who’s mother passed away just last year.

“I knew this is what my mom wanted me to do. She got what she wanted,” he said. “Words can’t explain it. It’s a blessing. I’m happy to have my dad and family behind me. I thought I was going to be a Brewer, but I’m happy to be a Phillie.”

And the Phillies are happy to have Greene in their outfield mix for the distant future. Though they’ve never been a team that has shied away from the player they want because of sign-ability issues, it sounds like Greene is ready to begin his career playing professional baseball, and moreover, will begin said career with the Phillies.

“I’m going to go home and think about it,” said Greene on his probability of signing with the Phillies, “but more than likely, I’m going to play pro baseball.”

I’m personally a huge fan of this selection by the Phillies. Looking over Greene’s swing, I’m surprised he fell into the compensation round but pleased that he did. The thought of having both he and Brown playing the corner outfield spots for the Phillies way into the future is an interesting thought, and with the way this system develops pitching, it is picks like this that keep the Phigtin’ Phils’ on top.

As always, I’ll be following the draft well into days two and three, so stay tuned to Bleacher Report for all of the latest draft news regarding the Phillies!

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Philadelphia Phillies: The 5 Worst Free-Agent Signings in Franchise History

The Phillies have had the best record in the National League for the majority of the 2011 season. They are in the midst of the most anticipated season in the entire 121-year history of Phillies baseball.

They have four of the top 15 pitchers in baseball in Halladay, Lee, Oswalt and Hamels. They have some of the most popular players in the game in Utley, Howard, Rollins and Victorino.

This team’s core was built from the inside-out, with many of their key cogs being home-grown players. Those home-grown players helped lead the Phillies into the best decade of Phillies baseball ever. 

The Phillies kept on winning and they kept raking in the cash. Consequently, they were able to bring in some of the biggest names in the game, whether it was via trade or free agency.

We all know the offseason acquisitions that were brought in by the Phillies that made significant impacts towards the team’s success, but allow me to play GM for a moment. After all, I led the “Fire Ed Wade” chants at Citizens Bank Park and the Vet for many years.

Here are the five worst free-agent signings in Philadelphia Phillies history.

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NL East: Ranking Each Team’s Starting Rotation

The National League East’s offseason plan for their pitching staff can be expressed simply as rebuild and reload. The Phillies added ace Cliff Lee to their rotation and the Mets and Braves are slowly developing their young guns to contend in the future.

These five teams have incredible talent but only the best will win the division. After combing through the top 5 starts on each team, I’ve compiled a list of the best starting rotations in the division. Stats used include strikeouts per nine innings, fielding independent ERA, and opposing batting average. The top 5 pitchers in terms of games started were included and current players on the disabled list were not exempt. Read on for more.

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MLB Draft 2011: As Draft Nears, Philadelphia Phillies Strategy Still a Mystery

What is the price of success? Since 2007, the Philadelphia Phillies have been the cream of the crop for Major League Baseball. They’ve won the National League East in four consecutive seasons, appearing in the World Series twice—back to back—in 2008 and 2009, bringing the title to Philadelphia in 2008.

Over that same span of time, they’ve seen a lot of great players dressing in the red pinstripes. The Phillies have sent nine different players to various All Star Game venues across the country. Over those years, they’ve housed an MVP (Jimmy Rollins in 2007) and a Cy Young (Roy Halladay in 2010.) So what exactly is the price for this level of talent?

Well, that’s a broad conversation with a plethora of answers, but in a crude sense, the price for this level of talent revolves around the level of success a team has in the First Year Player Draft, which will take place this Monday, June 6.

Looking around baseball, it isn’t hard to see that the Phillies have used the draft to build a lasting success. They’ve used their picks wisely, be they on “can’t miss” talents like Cole Hamels, Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins, or gems found in later rounds, like Ryan Howard, Ryan Madson and Domonic Brown, the Phillies have built their current core through the draft, but that’s hardly where the production ends.

You see, building a strong Minor League system is how the Phillies have become and remained successful over their current run. Not only do they draft players that will help them at the Major League level, but they draft players that other teams will eventually have interest in, and trade them for the final piece to a contending team’s puzzle, be it Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, Brad Lidge or any other name you can think of that the team has acquired in a trade.

So needless to say, the Phillies invest an incredible amount of resources into the draft each year, and all in all, they’ve been incredibly successful, using the draft picks they have wisely. But being a contender year in and year out has its drawbacks in regards to the draft, if you can believe it.

Because of their success at the Major League level, the Phillies haven’t selected higher than 19th overall since 2007, when they took pitcher-turned-slugger Joe Savery. In 2009, they didn’t even have a pick in the first round, when they handed their pick to the Seattle Mariners as compensation for signing “Type A” outfielder, Raul Ibanez.

That hasn’t deterred the Phils, though. They’ve simply found ways to be more efficient in the draft, investing more time and money into scouting than ever. They’ve drafted local players, like last year’s top selection Jesse Biddle, and thanks to some due diligence, have found gems like Jarred Cosart in the back end of the draft.

Already with one of the strongest farm systems in baseball, it’s difficult to imagine which direction the Phillies will head this year. While rumor has it that the Phils will scour the draft boards for catchers, middle infielders and left-handed pitchers, scouting director Marty Wolover hasn’t been shy in saying that they’ll take the best player available at any given time.

That said, they’ll have to be creative. Yet again, the Phillies do not have a selection in the first round, having lost their first-round selection to the Texas Rangers for the signing of Cliff Lee. However, they do have a pick in the supplemental round, where they’ll pick 39th overall as compensation for losing Jayson Werth to the Washington Nationals.

So which players can we expect to see the Phils target on day one? Well, that’s still a mystery.

Even with the rumor that they’ll look towards middle infielders, catchers and left-handed pitchers, one of the names that continually pops up on mock drafts is Charles Tilson, who is an outfielder yet to graduate high school. He may not play in a position of need for the Phils, but he has a sweet left-handed swing and above-average speed that may be too good to miss.

But what if they don’t go in that direction? Who are some of the players the Phillies could take with their 39th pick?

I recently finished my mock draft of the first round, and I projected that both of these catchers would be off the board well before the Phillies pick, but they would love for Austin Hedges or Andrew Susac to fall into their hands. Hedges is one of the best catchers available, but could slide thanks to his asking price. On the other hand, questions about Susac’s swing could drop him down the board.

With just a day remaining before the Phils’ first pick, nabbing Hedges or Susac seems like a pipe dream, at best. They could always target a middle infielder with the 39th pick, and while Kolten Wong is exactly what the doctor ordered, he’ll probably be long gone by then. There simply aren’t many middle infielders to be had at this point in the draft.

Outside of Levi Michael, whom some project the Toronto Blue Jays to take with their first pick, common names around this spot are Brandon Martin and Phil Evans—both shortstops out of high school that are going to need a good amount of time for development. The Phils need reinforcements in the middle infield as soon as possible, so expect them to take a middle infielder out of college.

If I was forced to make a prediction, I think the Phillies pick a left-handed starter here, and there are a few good ones to be had. One interesting name is Matt Purke, who has fallen way down the draft boards. He has the potential to be a top-five pick, and would have been last year, but injuries and inconsistency have moved him down. If the Phils are willing to take a small chance, Purke could pay dividends.

A couple of other interesting left-handed pitchers that could go in this position are Andrew Chafin and Sean Gilmartin, whom the Phillies would love to have at 39th overall, seeing as how they’re shooting up the draft boards during the final weekend.

All in all, it’s hard to go wrong in the first couple of rounds. This is one of the deepest drafts in recent history, and there is plenty of talent to be had. What does that mean for the Phillies?

This is the perfect draft to build upon. One of the best farm systems in baseball is about to get better.

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Philadelphia Phillies: Phillies’ Hitting Does Not Match the Quality of Pitching

Yet again, the Philadelphia Phillies’ hitting does not show up, only this time, it resulted in a 12th inning 2-1 loss at the hands of the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park on Friday night.

Throwing eight innings, allowing only one run and one hit, Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels continued to show why he is a reliable starter for the team.

But although Hamels pitched a terrific game, he, along with other Phillies pitchers this season, didn’t receive the run support needed to capture the win.

Jimmy Rollins acquired two of the Phillies’ minuscule six hits and he obtained the only Phillies run of the night.

The Phillies have averaged four runs per game so far this season, which seems pretty favorable when you consider that the Phillies have four aces in their starting pitching rotation who, when healthy, shouldn’t need more than four runs in support to win.

However, if the Phillies’ season up to this point is dissected, it is evident that if the Phillies could have compiled at least four RBI a game, they could have an additional 10 wins instead of losses.

The team has had unfortunate run-ins in the past with hitting slumps and cold streaks, so the team not generating run support isn’t anything new.

The Phillies have not scored more than two runs in three straight games, including this game.

If the Phillies’ hitters and pitchers don’t get on the same page and become a formidable cohesive unit, then they could see another team hoist the championship trophy for the second consecutive year.

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Don’t Worry. Cliff Lee Is Still a Dominant Pitcher.

After his May 31 start where he gave up six runs, two homers, and three walks in just over five innings, the over-reactors are in full force. Fortunately his name is not Cole Hamels, or people would be looking to cut him already.

As always when someone is doing worse or better, than normal, people will look to find a reason. In my opinion, when you start hearing a multitude of reasons, the chances are much greater that they really have no clue.

Lee’s current 3.98 ERA is no way indicative of his ability. In fact, I believe you can make a better argument that this year could be his best yet. With an xFIP of 2.63 and SIERA of 2.81, good for fourth and third in baseball, respectively, suggests he’s having a great year. They also beat last year’s career-best marks of 3.06 and 3.03.

The main cause for such a jump is his strikeout rate. Increasing over two batters per nine innings will tend to do that. His increased strikeout rate does not appear to be a fluke, either.

His swinging-strike percentage (9.8 percent) and contact percentage (79.5 percent) would be career bests over a full season.

As far as the primary luck stats go, his BABIP is over 40 points higher than his career norm and his home runs to fly ball ratio is a shade higher than normal.

However, I wanted to make it a priority delving into topics I hear people announce as being his problem, such as his control and release points.

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2011 Philadelphia Phillies: Why the Phillies Must Trade Raul Ibanez Today

As Philadelphia sports fans, we often tend to shower our affection upon our local athletes in a way that fans from other cities see as, for lack of a crueler word, idiosyncratic.  We tend to be hard on our superstars (lookin’ at you, Donovan McNabb) and love our less-than-valuable fan-favorites (smooches, Aaron Rowand).

One must certainly hope that Phillies’ fans, and more importantly the Phillies’ front office, are not weathering the storm with Raul Ibanez out of some sort of idiosyncratic love for a hard-nosed and likable local favorite.

Because as much as we love Raaauuuuulllll, the Philadelphia Phillies absolutely must trade him to an American League team for whatever is being offered as soon as possible.

And I mean today.

Make no mistake about it: I am a Raul Ibanez fan.  My admiration for Ibanez goes back roughly ten years, to when he suddenly emerged, at the age of 30, as a run-producer and power threat with the Kansas City Royals after a career spent in the Seattle Mariners farm system getting the occasional call-up.

And what Ibanez has done since that season has been amazing.

Ibanez turned 30 in the middle of the 2002 season.  Prior to that season, he had 27 career home runs and 112 career RBI in parts of six seasons.  Then, in 2002 he very nearly matched that production in one season, hitting 24 home runs and driving in 103.  And from 2002 to the present, he has hit 213 home runs and driven in 887 RBI.

It has been an incredible second half of a career.  In fact, Ibanez may end up going down as one of the all time great players who played their first full major league season after turning 30.

But let us not get sentimental: Raul Ibanez is very much hindering this Philadelphia Phillies team.

We are not talking about hitting.  If we were, then the numbers would prove us to be liars.  Oh, sure, his current .246 average, .296 on-base percentage and .427 slugging percentage are not pretty.  

But in the month of May, Ibanez was practically the Phillies’ leading hitter, hitting seven home runs with 19 RBI while batting .315 with a .941 OPS (compare that to Mr. Ryan Howard).  After a rough start to the season, Ibanez is once again being productive with the bat, so no fears there.

What we are talking about is defense.  As in, it’s the defense, stupid.  As in, pitching and defense win championships.

If a team can live with, and even succeed with, a guy like Ibanez at the plate, it would take a freaking miracle to succeed with such a poor defensive left-fielder.

Where to begin?

How about . . . range factor.

As soon as the baseball world decided to stop relying upon fielding percentage as to the teller of the tale for defense, the baseball world (or should we just say Bill James) developed “range factor,” which is not the latest and best stat, but is a nice starting point.

The league average range factor for left fielders in baseball is 2.16.  That number does not mean anything in a bubble, but know this: Ibanez’s range factor is 1.54, which is significantly lower than 2.16.

So low, in fact, that only a handful of major league outfielders, as in all of baseball, have a worse range factor.

Fangraphs.com, an excellent repository of baseball statistics, has a statistic it tracks called “Range Runs,” which quantifies a player’s range into a runs-style analysis.

Not only is Raul Ibanez last amongst all major league left fielders in Range Runs, but he is last amongst . . . sitting down? . . . . all major league players in Range Runs.

No, really.  Out of 166 major league baseball players who qualify, Ibanez is dead last.

I would love to tell you that this is an anamoly, but it is not.  Fangraphs.com also has a statistic called Ultimate Zone Rating, or UZR, and Ibanez is dead last in that category as well.

Fangraphs.com’s UZR per 150 games?  Dead last.  In all of baseball.

There is also a defensive statistic called Defensive Runs Saved, which both Fangraphs.com tracks using the plus/minus analysis of John Dewan’s company Baseball Info Solutions.  

Ibanez is not dead last in this category, but he is fourth worst amongst all major league outfielders, behind Lance Berkman, Nate McLouth, and Michael Brantley   

From here, the numbers just kind of snowball.

Ibanez is tied for the fifth worst outfielder in what BaseballReference.com calls Total Zone Fielding Runs.

He is tied for the fewest plays made outside of zone with Jayson Heyward, who has played 100 fewer innings than Ibanez.

He is last amongst all major league outfielders in what Fangraphs.com calls Outfield Arm Runs, which is a measure of how many runs an outfielder saves with their arm.

Look, a team can live with a merely above-average fielder, a mediocre fielder, or even a bad fielder.

What a team cannot live with is the worst fielder, by position, in baseball.  And that is what the Phillies currently have in Raul Ibanez.

Right about now, you may be asking yourself the following: Yeah, but how do we know his defense is killing us?

Okay.

Philadelphia Phillies fans can all agree on one thing this season, I would hope: the Phils have an awesome pitching staff.  Terrific.  Outstanding.  Once in a lifetime.

And that fact has been born out in a number of ways:

• The Phillies have the third best ERA in all of baseball.
• The Phillies have the second best runs allowed per game in all of baseball.
• The Phillies lead the majors in strikeouts.
• The Phillies lead the majors in strikeout-to-walk ratio by a considerable margin: 3.10 vs. a second-place 2.86.
• The Phillies have allowed the fifth fewest home runs in all of baseball, and the four teams ahead of the Phillies all play in extreme pitchers parks.

And here’s another one for you: the Phillies rank 13th baseball in hits allowed per nine innings.

. . . . 

Did you hear the needle come scratching off of the record?

Ask yourself the following question: what is it that makes home runs, walks and strikeouts different from hits.  Many of you already know the answer: home runs, walks and strikeouts all reflect purely upon the skill of the pitcher, while hits depend on the defense behind the pitcher.

So what does it say to Phillies’ fans that the Phillies are one of the elite teams in baseball in so many statistics, but are mediocre when it comes to hits allowed?

It says the defense is not getting the job done.

Indeed, while the Phillies are third in baseball in ERA, when you look at the Phillies’ FIP—which stands for fielding-independent-pitching, as in what you would expect this pitching staff to be doing without regard to the defense behind them—the Phillies are the best in baseball.

Now, ask yourself this question: which Philadelphia Phillies pitchers have performed below expectations this season?

Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt each have ERA’s in the twos, while Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee have ERA’s in the threes, with Lee approaching 4.00.

Now, other than not being named Roy, what do Hamels and Lee have in common that Halladay and Oswalt do not?

That’s right, they are both left-handers.  Which means, they both have the platoon disadvantage against right-handed hitters.  Which means, they both depend upon the defense of the left-fielder more than their right-handed counterparts.

Want to see something crazy?  Here is the ERA for each of the Phillies’ Big Four, next to their individual FIP, i.e. ERA that does not depend on defense:

Lee: 3.94/2.78 (+1.16)

Hamels: 3.01/2.41 (+0.60)

Halladay: 2.56/2.12 (+0.44)

Oswalt: 2.70/3.41 (-0.69)

By looking at the difference between the ERA and the FIP for each of these players, we can see how their defensive support is helping them or hurting them, and as can see that Lee would be expected to be allowing over a run less per game than he actually he is.  And, in fact, of 137 pitchers with over 40 innings pitched in 2011, Lee ranks 14th in the size of the gap between his ERA and his FIP.

Because of the defense behind him.

The thing of it is, when you have a guy who is killing you like Ibanez is—as in, not merely a bad fielder, but a horrific fielder—you do not need a great or even good fielder to improve your defense and help your pitching staff.   From where Ibanez is sitting, even a mediocre fielder would be a massive improvement over what he is giving the team right now.

But do not take my word for it.  The proof is in the incredibly small sample size of pudding: the Phillies are 4-1 when Ibanez is not in left field, and they have allowed 11 total runs in those five games.  

In the one game they lost, they only gave up one run in a 2-1 loss.  And, the starters only allowed six total runs in those combined five starts.  (Curiously, Cliff Lee has not started a single game without Ibanez as his left fielder.)

A lot has been made of the Philadelphia Phillies’ 2011 pitching staff, and where it ranks amongst the all time great rotations.  When having the discussion about the all time great pitching rotations, three teams have consistently been included in this debate: the Chicago Cubs of 1906-1908, the Baltimore Orioles of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, and the Atlanta Braves of the 1990’s.

What has rarely been mentioned is that those teams also had something else in common: they all had tremendous defenses.  

The Braves had numerous Gold Glovers in the hey-day of Maddux-Glavine-Smoltz.

The Baltimore Orioles had one of the great defenses of all time, with Paul Blair, Brooks Robinson and Mark Belanger leading the way.

The Cubs had freaking Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance, the standard by which double-play combinations are measured.

And the Phillies have entrusted their once-in-a-lifetime pitching staff to a defense that features one of the worst defensive players in baseball.

This just cannot stand.

All of which is to say: Nothing against you, Raul.  We love you to death.  But this just is not going to work out, and we’ve got too much riding on this team, and this pitching staff, to give it away out of loyalty to a great but aging guy who simply is not getting it done.

The Philadelphia Phillies simply must trade Raul Ibanez, and they simply must do it today.

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Philadelphia Phillies: Was Optioning John Mayberry Jr. the Right Move?

With center fielder Shane Victorino coming off the disabled list, the Phillies had to make a move.  Their choice was to send John Mayberry Jr. back to Triple-A.

Mayberry is an excellent outfielder, who can also play first base.  His defensive skills are nearly comparable to Victorino’s and he was the only solid center field back-up option.  But Mayberry struggled at the plate, hitting only .231 with three homers and 12 RBI this year.

The other players the Phillies could have moved were Michael Martinez, Ben Francisco or Ross Gload.  They were not going to send down a pitcher, as manager Charlie Manuel seems to like having 12 pitchers on the roster.

Martinez seemed like a logical move, but a few issues have kept him in place.  First, he is a Rule-5 player and the Phillies will likely lose him if he is placed on waivers.  Second, with Chase Utley’s knee still a sticky situation, Martinez is now the only real back-up infielder behind Wilson Valdez.

On the other hand, Martinez is a far inferior defensive player in both the infield and outfield.  He has also been unimpressive at the plate, hitting only .184 with three RBI in 49 at-bats.

Francisco won the right field job out of spring training, but has since been in a downward spiral.  His defense is not up to par and his bat has gone to sleep since hitting .308 in the first 10 games of the season.  In May, Francisco hit only .167.

And Francisco still has a minor league option available.  The deterrent, however, seems to be his $1.175 million salary.

As for Gload, he is playing with a muscle tear in his right hip and it appears that he cannot run.  The last two times he reached base as a pinch-hitter, a pinch-runner was sent in for him.  Gload is a great pinch-hitter, but can the Phillies really afford to carry a player on the roster who cannot run or play the field?

The only fix for Gload’s hip is surgery, which would end his season.  He has no options, but the Phillies could have placed him on the DL to buy time.

So with all of this, plus a lack of production at the plate, Mayberry finds himself back in Triple-A.  In the long-run, it may be the best move for him as he will get more at-bats.  However, if Raul Ibanez begins to cool off, the Phillies may question this decision later.

In my opinion, I believe Martinez should have been the one to go.  Aside from being a Rule-5 player, he had the least amount of upside.

Then again, with more playing time, maybe Mayberry will return later with a renewed energy and more life in his bat.

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Philadelphia Phillies: Why is Michael Martinez still on the Phillies Roster?

Today the Phillies optioned John Mayberry Jr. to Lehigh Valley and decided to keep the 5′ 9” 145 lb., I guess you can call him utility man. 

I understand why the Phillies optioned John Mayberry Jr. because he will see little to no time with the call up of Domonic Brown and the return of Shave Victorino. The only thing I question is why better players are in AAA while all Michael Martinez does is sit the bench and struggles when he does get a chance.

The answers is Michael Martinez is without a doubt the worst player to be on the Phillies team since Charlie Manuel took over and will never be a Major League caliber player.

Even if he is a Rule 5 draft pick, why in the world would you keep a guy on a Major League roster when he will NEVER, I repeat NEVER, start for the Philadelphia Phillies. He wouldn’t even start in AAA or AA for that matter.

His number are unbelievably terrible and he plays almost worse defense. In 29 games he has one double, zero triples, zero home runs, three RBI, a .184 AVG and .212 OBP.  Is that a joke?  And who saw him try to play center field, when he broke in for the ball and it ended up 20 feet over his head. Come on Charlie, let’s be serious.

Some say he has speed and can pinch run, but currently Martinez does not have a single stolen base. Also, Charlie Manuel has only used him to pinch run in a handful of places—definitely not enough to keep him on the roster.

Martinez will also be turning 29 in September, he is not getting faster, stronger or better at this point in his career and is a total waste of a roster spot.

The fact is that Michael Martinez does not have the skill set to be a Major League player, he does not even have the skills to be a quality utility man. In this age of baseball, utility infielders are a dime a dozen, Martinez being more like a penny.

An argument is that we need another infielder to spell Chase Utley and I agree wholeheartedly.  That need can be filled with one of two infielders currently in the AAA system.  Josh Barfield .274 BA, 4 HR, 24 RBI.309 OBP and Ronnie Belliard .253 BA, 2 HR, 21 RBI, .314 OBP are all 10 times the player Martinez is and can actually help this team win games.

Charlie Manuel needs to stop wasting a very important roster spot and release Michael Martinez now and bring up Josh Barfield. Even if the Phillies were to put him on waivers, who would want a player like Martinez at this point in the season? The answer is no one.

On the upside, Shane Victorino is back and the Philadelphia Phillies will have their preseason line up together for the first time all season.

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Philadelphia Phillies: 5 Trades to Solve the Offensive Problem

The Phillies have the most wins in the MLB, but they have had many offensive struggles as of late. 

The Core Four have lived up to the expectations and have pitched very well. The bullpen has been very solid as well.

The offense however is struggling and is the cause for several losses. The Phillies will most likely make a roster move to bolster the offense before the trade deadline. Here are some options for trades that could help the offense. 

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