Philadelphia Phillies: In Need of a Closer, Is Joba Chamberlain an Option?

Worrying about who will close games for the Phillies seems almost comical. When you have Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels as your front four, there’s not much else to be concerned with.

The Phillies lead baseball in shut outs (5), and rank fifth in baseball in starter’s ERA (3.32). They’d be even higher if not for Joe Blanton’s 5.92 ERA.

However, while the Phillies would love to get complete games every night, that’s not exactly realistic.

Someone has to close out these wins.

Brad Lidge landed on the DL during spring training, and could be out as late as the All-Star break.

But have no fear, because Jose Contreras took to the closer’s role like a duck to water, posting a perfect 0.00 ERA and five saves in as many chances.

That’s all over now, as Contreras joined Lidge on the DL yesterday with a strained tendon in his right elbow.

Oh woe is the Phillies!

Ryan Madson will now take over the ninth inning duties for Philadelphia. Madson has pitched well so far this season. He’s 2-0 with a 1.00 ERA in nine innings. However, Madson has never been very effective in the ninth inning. And with very limited options, the Phillies might have to look elsewhere for a closer until Lidge returns.

Madson finished last season with a 2.55 ERA and 64 strikeouts in 53 IP, but his ERA was 4.42 in 19 1/3 innings in the ninth. Not a huge sample size, but compared to his 1.52 ERA in the eighth inning, the contrast is worth noting.

Madson is off to a good start as the Phillies closer. He’s 2-for-2 in save opportunities, both coming on back-to-back games against the San Diego Padres over the weekend.

But depending on how long Contreras and Lidge are out, the Phillies may find themselves in need of a closer. Madson is better suited to pitch the eighth inning. The Phillies can probably get away with Madson in the ninth for a while, but if he struggles, the Phillies will need to find a replacement.

Could they get Joba Chamberlain from the New York Yankees?

Chamberlain was supposed to be the heir apparent to Mariano Rivera. He certainly looked the part, posting a 0.38 ERA in 19 games in 2007. He’s served dual roles as both a starter and reliever for the Yankees, but has never really found a home in either role.

This season, Chamberlain has a 4.91 ERA in 11 innings.

Rivera has blown back-to-back saves, but he doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. The Yankees also added Rafael Soriano this offseason, who can easily step into the closer’s role if needed.

The Yankees’ bullpen was supposed to be their greatest strength this season, and while it hasn’t exactly lived up to expectations (15th in MLB with a 3.58 ERA), they do have plenty of solid arms.

But Chamberlain is the bullpen’s weakest link.

It’s very possible that Chamberlain could find himself included in a mid-season trade if the Yankees decide to seek out a starting pitcher. If the Yankees are willing to deal him, and there’s no reason to think they wouldn’t, the Phillies could be a team interested in adding Chamberlain.

It’s very possible the Phillies will give Oswalt his walking papers at the end of this season, but there’s no way they’d trade him to a team they might meet in the postseason. The same goes for Hamels.

One of the Yankees’ biggest problems in the bullpen is a lack of left-handed relievers. They signed Pedro Feliciano this offseason, but he couldn’t make it out of spring training without landing on the DL and is likely out for the season.

Right now, Boone Logan is the only lefty option in the bullpen, and the Yankees could be interested in adding another. They intended on carrying both Logan and Feliciano this season anyway, so having two isn’t a new plan.

Logan currently sports a 3.86 ERA, which is respectable, but lefties are hitting .273 against him, so he’s not exactly fulfilling his role.

Perhaps the Phillies could simply pull off a one-for-one trade with the Yankees that would send Chamberlain to Philadelphia and left-handed relief options to the Bronx.

All of this, of course, is dependant on Madson proving unable to close out games. It’s no guarantee he’ll even have to serve that role for an extended period of time, and with their starting rotation firing on all cylinders, there’s no reason to even be concerned with the ninth inning.

If the Phillies trade for Chamberlain, and Lidge returns healthy, Chamberlain simply slides back into a relief role as he’s already doing now for the Yankees.

If Madson struggles, the Phillies could simply employ a closer-by-committee, as many teams are doing this season, and wait for Lidge’s return.

But if they do find themselves in need of a ninth-inning arm, Chamberlain is a player the Phillies could have an interest in.

 

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Cole Hamels: Did Last Night’s Start Make Him Trade Bait for This Season?

After getting three straight aces, the Philadelphia Phillies flopped a joker last night, as Cole Hamels was pounded by the New York Mets last night in Citizen’s Bank Park.

The Mets tagged Hamels for six runs on seven hits and chased him after just 2 2/3 innings. Hamels fell to 2-9 in 14 career starts against the Mets.

Much has been made of the Phillies’ “Phab Phour” heading into this season and rightfully so.

A rotation of Roy Hallday, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels certainly brings with it high expectations. But with those expectations comes the risk of disappointment, which the Philly Phaithful tasted last night.

As Hamels walked off the mound, he was booed viciously by the 127th consecutive sell out crowd.

Today, the word being used to describe Hamels isn’t “ace,” but rather “inconsistent.”

Could Hamels also be described as trade bait?

Hamels entered this season in the final year of the three-year, $20.5 million contract he signed in January 2009. Last offseason, the market for starting pitching was barren. The New York Yankees and Texas Rangers each found themselves competing for the services of Cliff Lee.

Higher and higher the money went, each team trying to find that golden ticket that would land Lee. The Rangers tried to appease the lefty with visits to his home in Arkansas, while the Yankees did as they always do and kept adding zeros to their checks.

But in the end, it was the chance to join Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels in Philadelphia that won the Phillies Lee, creating the so-called “Phab Phour.”

But the great offseason the Phillies had also came with a price. They lost a right-handed bat, Jayson Werth, to the Washington Nationals. Top prospect Dominic Brown was expected to win the right field job, but a broken hand in spring training landed him on the DL.

Throw in an injury to second baseman Chase Utley, who still shows no signs of returning, and the Phillies find themselves in a tough spot.

They don’t have the farm system to fill these holes at the major league level, having dumped their farm system to land Halladay and Oswalt, and they don’t have the money to sign any useful free agents or take on the contract of a guy like Michael Young.

Despite a 3-1 start to the season and a tie for first place in the NL East, the Phillies are not without their weaknesses.

On the occasions when their starting pitching doesn’t come through, as it didn’t last night and partially in their season opener with Halladay on the mound, their bullpen isn’t a strength.

Closer Brad Lidge is on the DL and Ryan Madson is better suited to pitch the eighth inning than the ninth. With that in mind, the blueprint to beat the Phillies should be chase their starter early, as the Mets did last night, and get into their bullpen.

Or keep the game close and make it a bullpen battle, a battle which a team like the Atlanta Braves would love to have.

Additionally, though the loss of Utley actually allows the Phillies to work another right-handed bat into their lineup, they’d rather have Utley back. If that happens, they’ll be more vulnerable to left-handed pitching than they already are.

So in order to fortify their weaknesses, the Phillies should draw from their strengths. Namely the starting rotation and specifically Cole Hamels.

As thin as the last offseason was for starting pitching, it’s even worse next year. C.J. Wilson, Joel Piniero and Mark Buehrle are the biggest names available, and there are going to be plenty of teams fighting over them, and someone is going to be left out in the cold.

Hamels is in need of a new contract, and his inconsistency over the last few seasons leaves his value in doubt. A bad season would make bringing him back a tough decision for the Phillies, while a great season could price them out.

Is Hamels worth the five-year, $120 million contract the Phillies gave Lee?

Hamels is just 27 years old and already has six years of big league experience. He’s won a World Series and a World Series MVP. A five-year contract would take him to age 32, still within the prime years for a lefty.

And though the Phillies have the expiring contracts of Raul Ibanez and Jimmy Rollins to look forward to, and they may not pick up the options on Lidge or Oswalt, they also have big raises coming to Lee and Ryan Howard.

In 2012, the Phillies will have nine players guaranteed $110.5 million, not including a contract for Hamels, or the $16 million mutual option for Oswalt or the $12.5 million team option for Lidge.

Throw in the state of their farm system and the Phillies may have a hard time filling every spot to their liking.

General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. will have to chose between taking on a massive payroll full of aging players or allow Oswalt, Lidge, Rollins and Ibanez to become free agents, leaving their roster in shambles.

Trading Hamels midseason might seem like a big risk, but he would fetch a hetfy price and land the Phillies some much-needed prospects.

A team like the Yankees would drool over a chance to land Hamels. The Yankees have several top pitching prospects in their organization, and Hamels would land the Phillies any one of them. Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances and Adrew Brackman are all close to major league ready and all looked impressive in spring training for the Yankees.

Having one of those three to slot into the Phillies rotation for 2012 would not only give the Phillies a great starting pitcher at a low cost, but infuse some youth into a rotation that already has four pitchers over the age of 30.

In any trade for Hamels, the Phillies should target right-handed prospects of either the infield or outfield variety, or both ideally.

Dealing Hamels would be a very difficult decision and doing so would probably be met with outrage from the Philly fans. But they already seemed pretty outraged as they booed and jeered Hamels last night.

Trading one strength to improve multiple weaknesses could be the right long-term decision for the Phillies.

 

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Philadelphia Sports Fans Voted Worst in America by GQ Magazine

“Yo Adrian! We did it!”

That’s right, Philadelphia, you certainly did.

There is a long-standing perception in sports of the Philadelphia fans as nasty, vitriolic enemies of all that is good and decent.

How much of that is true is open to debate, but not according to a recent poll by GQ magazine.

GQ voted the Philadelphia sports community, specifically fans of the Phillies and Eagles, the worst fans in America. The Phillies landed in the No. 1 spot, while Eagles fans were No. 2.

Fans of the red and green landed at the top of Adam Winer’s “well-researched list” of “the bleacher creatures, bottle-throwers, couch-torchers, sexual harassers, projectile vomiters and serially indifferent bandwagon-hoppers marring our national landscape.”

Here is a small piece of the article:

“Over the years, Philadelphia fans have booed Santa Claus, their own star players and, most absurdly, the recipient of America’s very first hand transplant, whose crime was dribbling in a ceremonial first pitch—thrown with his freshly transplanted hand. Boooo! Admittedly, there are some things fans have cheered. Like Michael Irvin‘s career-ending neck injury and a fan being tased on the outfield grass. Things reached their nadir last season, when Citizens Bank Park played host to arguably the most heinous incident in the history of sports: A drunken fan intentionally vomited on an 11-year-old girl.”

It’s all true, of course. All of those events happened and certainly don’t shine a favorable light on the City of Brotherly Love.

It’s not all bad, though. There are some things about Philly to love, and I say that knowing full well that I live in supposed “enemy territory” in New York City.

You’ll never find a better cheesesteak than in Philly (I’m a Geno’s guy), “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” is perhaps one of the funniest shows on television, and I have to admit, I’ve seen more Mets games at Citizen’s Bank Park than Shea Stadium or Citi Field, simply because it was much closer when I lived in New Jersey.

So, it’s not all bad, Philadelphia. I’ll give you your due credit.

However, I can’t defend or explain some of the behavior we’ve seen out of your fans. The article in GQ does get pretty harsh as well:

“The truth is this: All told, Philadelphia stadiums house the most monstrous collection of humanity outside of the federal penal system. ‘Some of these people would boo the crack in the Liberty Bell,’ baseball legend Pete Rose once said. More likely, these savages would have thrown the battery that cracked it.”

Ouch.

Pretty harsh, though I think Pete Rose should have kept that little nugget to himself, as there’s plenty to be said against him.

But can the actions of individual fans, such as the so-called “Pukemon,” be used to lay a sweeping label across the entire fanbase?

GQ certainly thinks so and the poll doesn’t lie. Results are results.

But the Philadelphia fanbase is also very passionate, selling out Phillies and Eagles games on a regular basis.

Now, how much of the Phillies’ attendance is based on recent success is unknown to me, but I’m sure it certainly plays a role.

Regardless, what do you think? Are Philadelphia fans the worst in sports, or does that title belong to someone else?

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Philadelphia Phillies: If It’s Surgery for Chase Utley, Go Get David Eckstein

The Phillies‘ march to the World Series hit a little bump in the road this week, as the team announced that second baseman Chase Utley is suffering from patellar tendinitis, chondromalacia and bone inflammation in his knee.

Utley received a cortisone injection, which had no effect and surgery is becoming a more realistic possibility with each passing day.

Utley has come back from numerous physical issues ahead of schedule in the past, including tendinitis in his knee, but even Utley himself admits he can’t play through this one and he has yet to appear in a spring training game.  

“I think at this point, we’re not trying to find the easy way out,” he said.

“I’m trying to look at this in the big picture, and that’s the frustrating part, because I think everyone that knows me best knows that the only place I’d rather be is on the field. So it is disappointing. But right now it’s probably not in my best interests to be out there.”

The Phillies are taking it easy with Utley, exploring every possible course of treatment, while not ruling him out for Opening Day. But if knee surgery is the likely outcome, which could sideline Utley for four to six weeks, why not go under the knife now with the start of the season three weeks away?

That’s up to Utley and Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr., but for now, they’ll continue to explore every “non-operative” option.

But if the Phillies do lose Utley for an extended period of time, who will take his place at second base?

As far as in-house candidates go, Wilson Valdez is currently listed at No. 2 on the Phillies’ depth chart at second base. Valdez is having an excellent spring, batting .476 with a home run and an RBI in 21 at-bats.

Valdez, 32, appeared in 111 games for the Phillies last season and batted just .258 with four home runs. For the short term, Valdez isn’t a bad option, but if he’s forced into full-time duty, he gets exposed.

The Phillies had explored a trade for DH Michael Young, but while the their payroll pushes $160 million, it’s unlikely they’d be willing to take on Young’s salary. However, a trade package centered around Joe Blanton would probably get Young to Philly.

That scenario is probably a bit of overkill though.

The best and, quite frankly, most obvious option would be to go out and get David Eckstein, who is still floating amongst the offseason refuse.

Last season for the San Diego Padres, Eckstein batted .267 with a .321 on-base percentage in 116 games. A perfect example of a “gamer,” Eckstein fits perfectly into the Phillies hard-nosed style of play.

He doesn’t hit for power at all (just one home run last season), but he puts the bat on the ball (92.2 contact percentage in 2010) and he does well with runners in scoring position (.276 last season, .292 with RISP, two out).

Not to mention his defense is excellent, even at age 36. Eckstein didn’t commit a single error in 107 games at second base last season.

Having made just $1 million last season, Eckstein can be had on the cheap and serve as an excellent replacement for Utley, should he miss significant time this season.

For now though, Chase Utley is still the Phillies’ second baseman and they still have time to figure out the best course of action to handle his injury.

One thing is for sure, the Philly offense can’t afford to have Utley go down without a suitable replacement, and they may want to start looking at their options now.

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Philadelphia Phillies Give Cliff Lee a Contract Full of Risks

Now that Cliff Lee has finally made his decision, spurning superior offers from both the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers, we can move on.

Lee has joined a starting rotation that already includes last season’s Cy Young winner, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels.

The addition of Lee gives the Phillies arguably the best rotation in baseball; fans of NL East teams are seeing flashbacks of the Atlanta Braves‘ rotations of the 1990s.

The Phillies signed Lee to a five-year, $120 million deal which could grow to $135 million over six seasons.

After looking over how the deal breaks down in terms of dollars, it is a very risky contract for the Phillies.

The bidding for Lee’s services began at six years. The initial offer from the Yankees was a six-year deal and the Rangers started at five years but quickly added a sixth.

While Lee is one of the best pitchers in baseball and easily the best available free agent pitcher this offseason, most people felt that a commitment of that length to a 32-year-old pitcher with back problems was too risky to justify the amount of money.

Shortly after Carl Crawford signed with the Boston Red Sox, the Yankees added a seventh year to the deal and brought it up to as much as $150 million; that’s seven guaranteed years, not six with an option.

But the Phillies were able to get Lee for less years and less money. Great deal for them, right?

Not so fast.

Under the new deal, Lee will make just $11 million next season, but after that it goes up and up.

It breaks down as follows: $21.5 million in 2012; $25 million in 2013; $25 million in 2014; $25 million in 2015.

Lee will turn 33 years old in August. So, for those who said devoting such money into an aging pitcher was a bad idea, consider that the Phillies will be paying Lee $25 million in 2015 when Lee will be 37 years old.

But now on to the sixth year option. In 2016, Lee’s option year will be guaranteed for $27.5 million should Lee pitch 200 innings in 2015 or a combined 400 innings in 2014 and 2015. Also, Lee must not finish the 2015 season on the DL because of a left shoulder or elbow injury.

Should Lee not complete those provisions, he has a $12.5 million buyout.

Sound like a good deal?

Nevermind the fact that the Phillies will be paying Lee $25 million at ages 35-37.

But with the exception of the 2007 season, Lee has thrown at least 200 innings in each of the last five seasons. Over the last three seasons, Lee has averaged 221.1 innings pitched.

It’s a bit of a double-edged sword for the Phillies. Should Lee throw his required 200 innings in 2015 to guarantee his sixth year, he’ll be making $27.5 million at the age of 38. And while you can assume that Lee would have been healthy and effective in order to reach 200 innings, that’s not a fair assumption.

Just because he reached 200 innings, doesn’t mean he was effective.

At the age of 38, in a pitcher friendly park like Citizens Bank Park, it’s not hard to imagine Lee having a hard time.

So even if he hits the 200 innings mark in 2015, it’s no guarantee he’ll be worth the $27.5 million the Phillies would have to pay him.

The stipulation concerning Lee’s status on the DL at the end of the 2015 season is even more confusing. To review, Lee cannot end the season on the DL because of a left shoulder injury or elbow injury.

Okay, but when Lee missed time last season due to injury, where was the injury? That’s right, his back. So it’s okay if Lee’s back continues to be an issue over the next few years in Philly because even if it lands him on the DL at the end of the 2015 season, he’ll still get his $27.5 million.

Or what if it’s an ankle injury? Or maybe an injury to his quad muscle? What if he takes one off the head and goes down with a concussion? No problem! $27.5 million in his pocket.

So to put it this way—if Lee pitches 200 innings with a 4.25 ERA in 2015 and ends the season with a broken ankle, his contract is guaranteed at $27.5 million for the 2016 season, when Lee will be 38 years old at the start of the season and turn 39 years old that August.

So the Phillies were able to steal the best pitcher in baseball this offseason. They stole him for less years and less money than the team that always seems to land that big free agent they want, the New York Yankees.

And if the Phillies win the World Series next season, hell, let’s say they win two straight, they’ll still be paying Lee a ridiculous amount of money which only increases as he gets older and could find themselves paying a so-so pitcher, able to suffer from any injury except to his shoulder or elbow, $27.5 million at the age of 39.

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Cliff Lee To the Philadelphia Phillies: A Conspiracy Two Years in the Making

Late last night, it was reported that the New York Yankees were out of the running to sign free agent pitcher Cliff Lee and that the Philadelphia Phillies were making a late push.

As I fell asleep last night, I couldn’t help but wonder about the timing of those two reports. The Yankees were out and the Phillies were suddenly in it? It could only mean one thing:

Cliff Lee was going to leave millions on the table to add his name to a rotation that already includes Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt to form the best rotation in baseball.

And so he did. He turned down an offer which, at one time, was reported at $161 million from the Yankees.

He left as much as $40 million on the table to return to the team which traded him away to the Seattle Mariners just a season ago.

Not only that. But he left two whole years on the table.

The Yankees began with a six-year offer, which they later added a $16 million player option which would have brought the deal to around $148 million, according to an unnamed source (as usual).

So instead of seven-years, $161 million, Lee chose the Phillies’ five-year, $120 million offer which came like a bolt from the blue.

Lee’s agreement with the Phillies is the third-richest contract for a pitcher in baseball, behind the Yankees’ CC Sabathia ( $161 million) and the San Francisco Giants‘ Barry Zito ($126 million).

In July 2009, the Phillies acquired Lee from the Cleveland Indians and he carried them on his back into the World Series, posting a 4-0 record and a 1.56 ERA in the playoffs.

Lee came to love Philadelphia during his time there and when the Phillies traded Lee to the Seattle Mariners last December, after acquiring Roy Halladay from the Toronto Blue Jays, Lee and his wife, Kristen were “heartbroken.”

So how did Lee repay the Phillies’ kindness?

He took a $40 million pay cut and came crawling back.

Trading Lee to Seattle enabled the Phillies to complete their trade for Halladay. Did Lee sacrifice himself to ensure the Phillies obtained Halladay, knowing he’d return once he hit free agency?

Sure, he didn’t know he’d then be traded again, this time to the Texas Rangers, but he knew he’d hit free agency at the end of the season, so whether he was traded or not before that didn’t matter.

Lee could have accepted the Yankees’ offer, like everyone expected from the beginning, and salvaged their starting rotation. He would have slid in right behind fellow lefty CC Sabathia and given the Yankees a tremendous one-two punch.

Or he could have gone back to the Texas Rangers, the second team in two seasons that Lee came to halfway through the season to lead into October. Rangers fans had held out hope for weeks that Lee might return, and were bolstered by the Rangers’ ability to hang in with the Yankees’ offers all offseason.

So after all the wondering; after all the theorizing and praying from Yankees and Rangers fans alike, the Phillies swoop in like a thief in the night with their low-ball offer and steal Lee away.

The Phillies’ GM Rubin Amaro Jr. threw the club’s handbook out the window in order to sign Lee. Previously, the Phillies never went beyond three years with any pitcher. After trading for Halladay, the Phillies signed him to a three-year, $60 million contract.

That wasn’t going to get it done with Lee, so the Phillies pulled out all the stops.

We’ll never know, and it’s probably sour grapes on my part, but was an eventual return to Philadelphia once Lee hit free agency discussed before the Phillies shipped Lee to Seattle?

Outfielder Jayson Werth, one of the fan-favorites on the Phillies, became a free agent this season, and most people expected the Phillies to make a push to resign him. They made him an offer which was considered enough to bring Werth back, but instead he bolted for Washington DC and signed a seven-year, $125 million contract with the Nationals.

Given the reports surrounding another free agent outfielder, Carl Crawford and the type of contract he was looking for, and given Werth’s agent is Scott Boras, the Phillies had to know that a contract of anything less than six-years and $100 million wasn’t going to be enough for Werth.

But they offered less than that.

Did they know Werth wouldn’t take it? Maybe.

But by making an offer they knew Boras and Werth would decline, no one could say they didn’t try to resign him and they could then direct that money towards another free agent, say, Cliff Lee.

A contract of five-years, $120 million for Werth would have raised some eyebrows, but it would have looked realistic in the face of Crawford’s seven-year, $142 million deal with the Boston Red Sox.

Instead, that $120 million sat in their back pocket until the doomsday clock reached five minutes to midnight and they swooped in to sign Cliff Lee and leave the Yankees and Rangers out in the cold.

Some said seven years on a pitcher of Cliff Lee’s age (32) was too long. Well, the Phillies got him for just five years. Some said spending $140-150 million on Lee was too much. Well, the Phillies got him for the basement price of $120 million.

Less years and less money got Lee to Philadelphia. Interesting.

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NLCS Preview: Five Questions for Phillies-Giants

The 2010 NLCS begins this Saturday in Philadelphia between the Philadelphia Phillies and the San Francisco Giants. Both teams bring impressive pitching rotations into the series, highlighted by the Game 1 match-up between Roy Halladay and Tim Lincecum.

Impressive hardly describes each of their first postseason starts during the NLDS.

Halladay, in the first postseason start of his career no less, no-hit the best hitting team in the National League, the Cincinnati Reds, and Lincecum threw a 2 hit, 14k, complete game against the Atlanta Braves. With Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt looking to take the ball for the Phillies and Jonathan Sanchez and Matt Cain behind Lincecum for the Giants, the match-up between these two teams is all about pitching.

That being said, neither team is without issue. Here are 5 questions heading into the National League Championship Series:

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