Philadelphia Phillies: Grading All 25 Roster Players After MLB’s First Month

The first month of the Philadelphia Phillies‘ 2012 season is in the books, and it hasn’t been pretty.

All things considered, for a lot of teams, kicking off the season hovering right around the .500 mark isn’t a terrible thing. There’s still a lot of baseball left to play, and a .500 record means, more often than not, that said team is still in the hunt early on.

But this isn’t a team built to play .500 baseball. This is a team with three legitimate aces. This is a team with one of the best closers in the game and a bullpen that has pitched well in front of him.

Sure, the Phillies have their excuses. Any team that has to play with their regular third and fourth hitters on the disabled list is at a disadvantage. People expect the offense to struggle, but this badly? Even without Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, three members of the Phillies’ offense—Hunter Pence, Shane Victorino, and Placido Polanco—were All-Stars last season.

The Phillies have their excuses, but this isn’t a team that makes excuses.

So with a month of baseball in the books, it’s time to grade each player’s performance from the month of April. Which players played well, and who needs to step up his game to help the Phillies turn this thing around?

Begin Slideshow