Final Regular Season Grades for All 25 Philadelphia Phillies
October 3, 2012 by Greg Pinto
Filed under Fan News
“Disappointing.”
That’s a word that you are going to hear a lot over the next couple of weeks when people talk about the Philadelphia Phillies, and it isn’t just going to go away after that time. Whenever the 2012 Phillies are discussed, that’s what they’ll be associated with—disappointment.
It surely is not unjustified. This is a team that came into the regular season with the highest payroll in the National League. If you include Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Roy Halladay, they were a team with an All-Star at seven different positions. Carlos Ruiz would later make it eight.
Of course, counting Howard, Utley and Halladay isn’t easy. All three of those players missed a significant amount of time in 2012 and I don’t think it is unfair to say that not one of three performed up to their own, personal expectations.
It’s hard to win when the middle of your lineup and the ace of your starting rotation are shelved, but when you refer back to that payroll, Plan Bs should be in place. Someone has to shoulder the blame.
So while there were certainly some bright spots and pleasant surprises this season, without a doubt, the Phillies’ grades must reflect the one overarching emotion that fans are going to feel until spring training opens in February of 2013—disappointment.