Kuzul

Most nights, for an inning or so, it all still makes sense—the Philadelphia Phillies still look like the Phillies.

Friday night’s game, for example, saw Roy Halladay take the ball.  He gave up a solo home run to Carlos Beltran in the first inning, but after that he was really excellent and never in any serious trouble.

Just how you remember it. 

The Phillies’ first four batters in the game were Jimmy Rollins, Juan Pierre, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard.  Four legitimate major league baseball players, two former National League Most Valuable Players. 

Or to put it another way, an aggregate of over $47 million in salary to four hitters.

Save for the occasions when Jonathan Papelbon ($11 million) comes in at the end of the game (as he did Friday night), that is where the similarities to the Phillies you remember ends.

After Howard on Friday night, the next four hitters in the Phillies’ lineup—the team that led the National League in run differential going away in 2011—were Domonic Brown, Nate Schierholtz, Erik Kratz and Kevin Frandsen.

Or to put it another way, an aggregate of far, far less than $47 million in salary to four hitters.  Actually, far less than $4.7 million, as only Schierholtz is making more than $1 million this season.

Three games out of five, you still get to watch Halladay, Cliff Lee or Cole Hamels pitch.  You are no doubt well aware of their significant contracts.  Hamels is getting by on $15 million this season before his lucrative extension kicks in.  Halladay and Lee are being paid $20 million and $21.5 million, respectively, this season.

Trouble is, once they stop pitching and before (if) Papelbon pitches, the pitching staff, like the back half of the lineup, gets tough to recognize.

Antonio Bastardo is still there, but after him, so many of the names and faces are so hard to place.  Could you pick Josh Lindblom, B.J. Rosenberg or Jeremy Horst out of a lineup?  You might be the only one.

Going back to Friday night, the last four position players in the lineup combined to go 3-for-12, all of the hits singles, with one run batted in (Brown) and no runs scored.

Utley bailed the offense out with a mammoth home run to deep right center field in the bottom of the eighth inning.  Rollins, standing on third base when Utley struck it, simply smiled and pointed skyward.  And again, it felt like old times, if only for a moment.

All the while, an announced crowd of 43,122 (98.8 percent capacity, if you care) did what it has done for the past five successful seasons.  It sat idly when things were going poorly, it roused when the Phillies threatened, it willed some big outs from Halladay.  Then it erupted when Utley played the hero.

This, then, is how the remainder of your 2012 Phillies season is likely to play out.

Even though the team’s playoff hopes are all but dead, the park is going to be plenty full for many of the remaining home dates…because the money is already spent on the tickets.  That money is not coming back, either, at least not on StubHub or eBay.  The tickets have been devalued by the team’s poor play.

In the past, the choice was often just to stay home and eat the tickets.  But when the cheapest seat in the stadium costs $20 (and with so many seats already bought for so much more) it is much harder to justify watching the game on television or, for that matter, going out and doing something else. 

That would mean burning entertainment dollars twice on the same night.

So on the surface, then, the 2012 Phillies continue to look sort of like the Phillies teams of the recent past: plenty of people in the seats, big names in the lineup and for most games, big names on the mound.

Looking closer, though, it does not take long to notice that these Phillies are not the genuine article.

You usually know by the middle of the second inning.

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At nine games under .500 and 11 games back from the N.L. East-leading Washington Nationals, to say that the Philadelphia Phillies have been a disappointment is an underwhelming statement.

The fact is, many of us were called “doomsdayers” when we forecasted a seismic shift in the winning percentage for the Phillies in 2012.

Sure, the same, tired arguments are sufficient in making excuses for the excessive failures of the Phillies in 2012. Ryan Howard is injured, Chase Utley missed 70-plus games, Lee and Halladay have been nicked up and the bullpen misses the 2011 forms of Antonio Bastardo and the still-injured Michael Stutes.

Injuries aside, another tired narrative focuses on where the Phillies went wrong. Unfortunately, the finger is usually wagged in the wrong direction.

While all of the following deserve some blame, they are not the primary culprits of the Phillies lost season of 2012.

Manager Charlie Manuel has made some questionable moves from the dugout.

Shane Victorino is having a down year.

Jimmy Rollins couldn’t hit a beach ball until his child was born.

With the exception of Jonathan Papelbon, the bullpen looks like it belongs in Double-A.

Hunter Pence has struggled mightily in situational hitting.

John Mayberry has been a bust.

Juan Pierre’s defense is worse than Raul Ibanez (mostly attributed to his Chad Pennington-like arm).

Cliff Lee has yet to earn a win.

No, the aforementioned are not the primary culprits to this season’s woes.

The primary culprit is general manager Ruben Amaro Jr.

Upon former GM Pat Gillick’s retirement after the Phillies’ 2008 World Series victory, Amaro Jr. proceeded to shed the Phillies farm system of its talent.

This is the part where it hurts.

Jonathan Singleton, a first base prospect who was sent to the Houston Astros last year has been raking in the minors. Similar to Ryan Howard but only 20 years old, the Phillies received Hunter Pence in return for Singleton.

Never mind the fact that Hunter Pence is making more than $10 million this season and will be entering into arbitration with the Phillies for 2013.

Needless to say, Pence’s future is cloudy in Philadelphia albeit the fact that the Phillies traded away one of the top prospects in baseball for the lanky outfielder.

22-year-old Jarrod Cosart was also packaged to Houston in the Pence deal. While his numbers thus far do not scream “stud,” his peripherals are of that of a very good prospect with the upside of a No. 2 or No. 3 pitcher in the Big Show.

Outfielder Anthony Gose, part of the deal where the Phillies landed Roy Oswalt from the Astros, is likely to be promoted to the majors shortly. When he does, a lot of regard will be traveling with him.

After all, Gose is one of the top outfielder prospects in Triple-A. With Shane Victorino on his way out of Philadelphia and Juan Pierre signed only in 2012, Gose would have been a more than formidable starter in the future. He was much more regarded within Phillies’ circles than John Mayberry.

Despite recently tearing his PCL, Toronto prospect catcher Travis d’Arnaud is widely regarded as the top catching prospect in all of baseball. Acquired from the Phillies in 2010 as part of the Roy Halladay trade, d’Arnaud is likely to end up making the Phillies regret trading him.

Sure, there are no regrets in getting Halladay but, with Halladay likely reaching the apex of his career last season—and with Carlos Ruiz possibly gone after 2013—the Phillies are going to be stuck in neutral with some lackluster catching prospects in their farm system.

There have been numerous other prospects who have emerged as decent MLB players that the Phillies have traded away in order to bolster their win-now approach.

Either way, Ruben Amaro Jr. turned the Phillies into a house built out of papier-mache. 

One could easily say that the prospects traded away might never materialize on the Major League level—much like Domonic Brown. On the flip side, most would rather like to find out instead of overpaying on the like’s of Jimmy Rollins, Jonathan Papelbon, Chad Qualls and Ty Wigginton.

Speaking of Jimmy Rollins, the former NL MVP and fan favorite in Philadelphia, is making $11 million annually until 2016. When he plays out the length of his current contract, Rollins will be 36 years old. Sure, his recent splurge has given him an uptick in his statistics but, overall, Rollins’ numbers have been on a steep decline since he won the NL MVP Award in 2007.

By overpaying on Rollins, Amaro Jr. was faced with the prospect of having to go cheap on key positions that matter to the Phillies lineup.

Prior to his injury, Laynce Nix was not producing at the level he was expected to when platooning with the equally nonproductive John Mayberry.

Juan Pierre is hitting for a good average and stealing bases, but he struggles with extra base hits and continues to demonstrate his vulnerabilities defensively.

Ty Wigginton is a Triple-A player with a $4 million salary.

Mainstays such as Placido Polanco, Brian Schneider and Shane Victorino have been terribly awful too.

Needless to say, it is Amaro Jr.’s job to have a keen ability to manage the finances of the Phillies in order to win with a sharp eye on tomorrow. He has failed in both respects.

He overpaid for closer Jonathan Papelbon.

He overpaid for Jimmy Rollins to return.

He overpaid Cliff Lee (as ungrateful as that may sound, many of us thought that when the deal went down, despite Lee taking less to sign with the Phillies instead of the New York Yankees).

The sweetheart deal struck with Ryan Howard is more bittersweet than ever.

Here are a couple reminders.

The Phillies brought back the aging and injury-vulnerable Placido Polanco instead of pursuing then fellow free agent third baseman Adrian Beltre.

Instead of locking up the most dynamic pitcher in the rotation—when age is a factor—in Cole Hamels, Amaro Jr. overpaid for Rollins, Papelbon and Wigginton.

Admittedly, it is as if Amaro Jr. has done everything in his power so the Phillies can win now. When I say now, I mean from 2009-2011.

Without the foresight to acknowledge that the window has closed on the Phillies, the organization is going down the tubes. Reports continue to linger that the Phillies are still in the race.

Theoretically, they are.

Realistically, last weekend’s sweep to the Miami Marlins was the funeral for the 2012 Phillies.

Sorry folks, Amaro Jr. has exported our young talent for a win-now approach that is now tired. The reckless moves he has made has forced the boat to leave the harbor.

Presumably, Cole Hamels is on that boat and will likely never be seen in a Phillies uniform again.

The run was great but Ruben Amaro Jr.’s actions have turned the lights out at Citizen’s Bank Park.

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Since its opening season, in 2004, Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has completely changed the face of the Phillies organization.

In 2003, the Phillies ranked 24th in the MLB in attendance. After the inception of Citizens Bank Park in 2004, they rose all the way to fourth. The Phillies have now led all of baseball in attendance for the past three seasons. They are now working on a 204-game sellout streak going into the 2012 season. The stadium sells out every single night, and the atmosphere is perpetually electric.

Not only does this state-of-the-art, $336 million stadium draw in massive crowds, but it supplies them with everything that a baseball fan could possibly dream of. 

The Philadelphia Phillies have created a model of success for other teams to follow in Major League Baseball. Over the past decade, they have gone from the basement of the National League to a perennial powerhouse. This turnaround all began with the introduction of the baseball paradise that is Citizens Bank Park

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According to Jim Salisbury of CSN, shortstop Jimmy Rollins has signed a three-year, $33 million deal with the Phillies.

While it’s a relief to hear that J-Roll is coming back, one must also consider what his signing means to other aspects of the team.

Jimmy Rollins may only be the shortstop, but his impact is far-reaching throughout the organization.

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For all the mounting criticism directed at Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr.—he traded Cliff Lee, overpaid Ryan Howard, failed to extend Cole Hamels (so far)—there’s no doubt he and the franchise made out beautifully in the just-announced re-signing of incumbent shortstop Jimmy Rollins.

The Phillies gave Rollins a three-year deal worth $33 million with a vesting option fourth year. From the get-go, Rollins wanted a five-year deal and the Phillies felt they couldn’t go higher than three.

In the end, the Phillies got their man at their price. For a team with scant alternatives, the deal validates Amaro’s hard line and keeps Philadelphia’s window for a third championship open for the next few years.

And for those preoccupied with Rollins’ shortcomings—pops up too much, doesn’t see enough pitches, takes plays off—the stats tell the story.

Here are Rollins’ ranks among major league shortstops over the last five seasons in the major player value categories:

WAR: 5th

HR: 5th

RBI: 5th

Walks: 7th

SB: 2nd

SLG%: 5th

OPS : 5th

The argument against Rollins is largely one of passion and inference. But looking at the numbers, it’s clear Rollins is one of the best at his craft.

Add to all that the fact that Rollins has been one of the league’s most valuable defenders and efficient base runners, and I’d say the Phillies just got one of the league’s better shortstops for a mighty reasonable price.

Even accounting for the indignities of old age, Rollins figures to be one of baseball’s ten best at his position over the life of his contract.

All of it amounts to tremendous value for a team built to compete for a World Series over the next few seasons.

The Phillies made sure his talents stayed planted in South Philadelphia and secured a franchise great through the waning years of his decorated career. Bravo.

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The show goes on in Philadelphia. Jimmy Rollins will be back after signing a three-year deal with the Phillies, along with a vesting option for a possible fourth year.

Rollins, No. 11, will make a reported $11 million annually for the contract to play with the team he’s been the starting shortstop the past 11 years.

So what can we expect from J-Roll the next few years? Maybe some more J-Roll moments. He’s had many already.

Here are the 11 greatest moments of the Phils $11 million/year shortstop, from the past 11 years. 

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According to a multitude of reporters, the Philadelphia Phillies have agreed to terms with shortstop Jimmy Rollins on a three-year, $33 million contract with a vesting option for a fourth year worth the same. Rollins, the team’s longest-tenured member, seemingly waned from his previous demands of a five-year deal or a four-year contract with a fifth-year player option.

That’s great for the team, considering that Rollins doesn’t have five years left in the tank.

With Rollins back, this spells a few things. First and foremost, Freddy Galvis will not start for the Phillies anytime soon. He’ll be stuck in Triple-A Lehigh Valley for the next three or four years, yet he’ll still be only 24 years old should Rollins’ new contract stand for four years and call for Galvis to start following its conclusion.

Then again, the Phillies could also use Galvis as a trade chip in any sort of deal should one be necessary next July or even sometime in the next few years. His defense is superb and his offense is gradually improving, and should it climb even higher next season, he’ll be a hot commodity.

Whether Dontrelle Willis’ signing with the team was a courtship to bring Rollins back to the City of Brotherly Love is a question for another time, but it sure helps nevertheless. However, the biggest question remaining in the minds of Phillies fans is this: will the team extend Cole Hamels next?

Until Vance Worley worked himself into the Phillies rotation, Hamels was the team’s last homegrown player in the starting rotation as well as the rotation’s youngest member, which consisted of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, Hamels, and Joe Blanton on Opening Day of last season.

All of those pitchers were acquired via trades or free agent signings except Hamels, and all were at least 30 years old except Hamels.

Now that Hamels is one of the premier starting southpaws in the game, it begs the question: what will it take for the team to keep him beyond next season?

Phillies GM Ruben Amaro, Jr. stated in an interview with NBC HardBallTalk’s Craig Calcaterra at last week’s Winter Meetings that the team would like to keep Hamels a lifelong Phillie, but that re-signing Rollins was his priority. Now that that’s come to pass, how much will Hamels extension talks heat up?

Hamels’ career numbers have been compared to those of Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim ace Jered Weaver, who signed a five-year, $85 million extension with his team late last season. But with Hamels being a lefty, his value automatically increases. and the fact that he’s an ace drives it up even further.

It’s been said that Hamels should command an extension comparable to Weaver’s, but with Hamels being one of the best starters in the 2013 free agent class alongside Matt Cain and Zack Greinke, he could command even more, possibly becoming a $20 million-a-year player.

There’s little doubt that Hamels will attain at least five years from the Phillies in an extension, but the price he’ll come at if extended is vague. Will he take a hometown discount and sign for an extension around the price of Weaver’s, or will he demand a contract worth an amount similar to one he’d make in free agency?

If the Phillies sign Hamels to an extension with an average annual value worth over $20 million, they would be the first team in major league history to have three starting pitchers on their roster making over $20 million a season. Will they offer that kind of contract to their organizational gem, or will they let the season play out first?

If I were Ruben Amaro, Jr., I’d lock him up now. He’s vastly improved since his 2009 fall and will continue to do so should he stay on his current track. If he does even better next year, imagine the money he’ll command in free agency next year. If the team wants to remain young and competitive beyond next year, they need to lock Hollywood Hamels up before it’s too late.

Here’s hoping Amaro knows what he’s doing.

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The Philadelphia Phillies have re-signed Jimmy Rollins for a contract of three years worth about $33 million, according to Jim Salisbury. There was also a vesting fourth year added to the deal.

Phillies fans should be thrilled about this deal.

Of course, this does mean that the Phillies are not trying to get younger. I realize that, and I realize that infield prospect Freddy Galvis is in a bit of a predicament right now. However, like I have written many, many, many times before, the Phillies are in a position right now to win.

They are getting much older, and eventually they will need to rebuild. Every team goes through that cycle.

However, before that happens to the Phillies, they need to make the best possible effort to win right now. Rollins will help them do that much more than Galvis. Sometimes it takes young players a few years to actually break out and perform at the level that we know they can. It could take a few years for Galvis to reach the level of production that the Phillies need right now.

As a more established veteran, Rollins is in a better position to provide that to the Phillies. He has a great combination of power and speed that is rare among shortstops. Yes, he is getting older, but his career is definitely not over, and he still has a lot to provide to the Phillies.

I would like to think that this move came about because of all the writing I have done about why Rollins should return to Philadelphia. However, the real reason that Jimmy Rollins is returning to Philadelphia is undoubtedly because Ruben Amaro Jr. believes that he will help bring another world championship to Philadelphia.

That would certainly make all Phillies fans happy.

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Jimmy Rollins has agreed to a three-year deal with the Phillies, according to Jerry Crasnick of espn.com. The deal is said to be worth around $33 million with a fourth-year vesting option, according to Jim Salisbury of csnphilly.com. 

The Milwaukee Brewers were among other teams who were in the running for Rollins, but Crasnick himself stated, “Brewers made an offer, but he ultimately wanted to stay home.”

Rollins, who is 33 years old, hit .268 with 16 HR and 63 RBI last season. He has spent his entire career in Philadelphia, and Phillies fans will be satisfied to see him stay put.

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With the future of free-agent shortstop Jimmy Rollins up in the air, here is an interesting rumor for you all to consider as a shortstop:

Omar Vizquel has been rumored to be working with the Phillies on some type of contract.

I first read about it on MLB Trade Rumors, but the original rumor broke with Enrique Rojas with ESPN on Twitter.

I really cannot imagine Vizquel being the top option for the Phillies. For a team widely considered to be far too old already, a 44-year-old shortstop doesn’t exactly help fix the situation. However, as much as it pains me to say this, I wonder if this means that the Phillies are planning on letting Rollins walk this offseason.

With Jose Reyes now off the market with his massive six-year deal with the Miami Marlins, it now affords the veteran shortstop a bit more leverage over the Phils. Talks between the two sides are reportedly not going well, however, as Rollins continues to insist on a five-year deal, while the Phillies won’t budge past three.

Please follow my logic on this one.

If Rollins does not return, the everyday shortstop could very well be 22-year-old Freddy Galvis. He had an excellent year in the minor leagues last year with a .278 average, eight home runs, 43 RBI and 23 stolen bases. However, Galvis still has some things to work on and it still trying to obviously reach his potential.

Who would possibly be a better mentor than a shortstop with the second-best fielding percentage of all time at the position? Vizquel has played more games at shortstop than anyone in history with a .272 career average. Could there possibly be a better mentor for a player who might possibly develop a similar skill set?

I know that is one very well could be purely speculation because the Phillies already have Michael Martinez and Wilson Valdez, with both capable of playing the position. It may not even come to more than this one article. For anyone who has read some of my previous articles, you know that I do not think that Rollins should go anywhere.

However, you have to admit that this is a pretty creative thought that I would have never even thought about speculating if the Phillies do not re-sign Rollins.

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