Kuzul

Philadelphia Phillies fans were devastated when they heard the news, especially the fact that it was so sudden.

It can also be said that it was shocking to see our everyday right fielder, Jayson Werth, sign to a team within our own division.

Well, like normal, Philadelphia fans panicked immediately, just like every time when something like this happens.

It’s hard to admit, but as a Phillies fan myself, it’s true.

But let me be the first to tell you that there isn’t too much to worry about.

Yeah, we lost our right fielder, but that’s why we have young prospects to take his place.

Not only that, but it will also make every other player know that they lost something valuable and they must step up their game in place of it. 

Without further ado, the 10 ways the Phillies can make up for the loss of Werth.

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Cliff Lee agreed with the Philadelphia Phillies Monday night, leaving many people across the country to wake up to a piece of surprising news. Since when did the Yankees not get who they wanted? And when were the Phillies ever in the conversation?

The contract is said to be a five-year deal worth $120 million, $30 million less than he could have gotten from the Yankees. In all likelihood, Lee wanted to go back to a place where he felt like he’d be at home again. 

He wanted to rekindle the magic of his 2009 World Series run.

Lots of people are going to jump to hasty conclusions and claim that Lee makes the Phillies immediate World Series favorites this year and that it won’t even be close. 

While Lee gives the Phillies an incredible rotation, don’t be so quick to anoint them champions without even playing a game. 

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Shortstop is a position that has a lot of players with the potential to excel and make fantasy owners look brilliant, but very few certainties. 

Even among some of the top options, you have to wonder what you are going to get.  Let’s take a look at how things currently look on our Top 15 rankings:

1. Hanley Ramirez – Florida Marlins
2. Troy Tulowitzki – Colorado Rockies
3. Jose Reyes – New York Mets
4. Elvis Andrus – Texas Rangers
5. Jimmy Rollins – Philadelphia Phillies
6. Derek Jeter – New York Yankees
7. Alexei Ramirez – Chicago White Sox
8. Starlin Castro – Chicago Cubs
9. Stephen Drew – Arizona Cardinals
10. Rafael Furcal – Los Angeles Dodgers
11. Jhonny Peralta – Detroit Tigers
12. Ian Desmond – Washington Nationals
13. Juan Uribe – San Francisco Giants
14. Alcides Escobar – Milwaukee Brewers
15. Yunel Escobar – Toronto Blue Jays

Thoughts:

• Shortstop has quickly developed into as shallow a position as there is in baseball.  Yes, there are decent players at the bottom of the rankings, but there is only so much quality and then a ton of question marks.
• Headlining the questions is Jimmy Rollins.  If he stays healthy, he is a stud option, but at this point it is far from a lock that he does so.  While the average has struggled the past two seasons, so has his BABIP (.251, .246).  He’s not likely to produce like 2007, but he’ll score runs and is worth the gamble.
• Speaking of staying healthy, Rafael Furcal anyone?  He has had over 400 AB just once in the past three seasons, so if you are going to draft him, I’d make sure I have an Ian Desmond or Juan Uribe on my bench.  In other words, make sure you have someone you can plug into your lineup for a few weeks, just in case.
• It will be easy to argue Andrus’ spot in these rankings, but I stand by my opinion of him.  This is a debate that we’ll have in the near future.
• If you can stomach a poor April, Alexei Ramirez has proven that he has the ability to be among the better shortstops in the league.  Just don’t panic when he’s hitting .200 on May 1.
• We can all tell that Derek Jeter is slowing down, but he’s still hitting atop a loaded Yankees lineup.  That means all he has to do is hit .270 and he’ll be near 100 runs scored.  If he is able to rebound at all, he could easily top 110 and maybe even approach 120.  There’s a lot to be said about that.
• Yesterday I posted my projection for Jose Reyes, which you can view by clicking here.

What are your thoughts on these rankings?  Who’s too high?  Who’s too low?

Make sure to check out our early 2011 rankings:

• Top 15 Catchers
• Top 15 First Basemen
• Top 15 Second Basemen
• Top 15 Third Basemen
• 2011 Fantasy Draft First Round Breakdown

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I can say without a doubt that I am seriously spoiled as a Phillies fan. I admit it.

Ten consecutive seasons of at least 80 wins. Eight consecutive winning seasons. Four straight division titles. Two pennants. And a world championship.

I cannot even imagine being a Pirates fan. An Orioles fan. A Nationals fan.

I have been blessed to witness 41 postseason games in the last four seasons—25 of them victories. I have witnessed countless moments that I will cherish forever 0151moments that have helped define me as a passionate Philly sports fan.

I narrowed the list down to 40. My 40 favorite Phillies’ moments of the Charlie Manuel era, which began at the start of the 2005 season. 

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Hey there, baseball fans! Welcome to Game Five of the NLCS between the visiting Philadelphia Phillies and the San Francisco Giants.

Amateur baseball historian Evan Adrian here, guiding you through what could be the final game of this series.

The Giants won a classic October contest last night, beating the Phillies 6-5 on a ninth inning sac fly courtesy of Juan Uribe. They now stand just one game away from closing this thing out and punching their ticket to the 2010 World Series.

In a pitching rematch of Game One, the Phillies trot out their ace Roy Halladay to face the Giants’ ace Tim Lincecum. Philly is hoping Halladay can conjure up some of his no-hit NLDS magic and take this series back home. San Fran is hoping to close this one out in front of their raucous home crowd.

Keep it locked right here to follow the action every step of the way!

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With the 2010 regular season behind us, and all the normal MLB trade rumors completed, why not take the opportunity to discuss who will be headlining the Trade Rumor department in 2011?

The free agency market next year is rather large, and there are a number of players that could be mentioned here, so I will simply take a look at who I believe will be some big names taking center stage.

I’ll try to look at each position, and throw in a wildcard player that could be the next diamond in the rough.

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Good evening baseball fans! Welcome to Game Four of the NLCS between the visiting Philadelphia Phillies and the San Francisco Giants.

Bleacher bum Evan Adrian here, taking you every step of the way through this pivotal matchup.

Philadelphia decided not to send Roy Halladay out on short rest, so Joe Blanton will take the mound for Philadelphia the first time this postseason. San Francisco trots out 21-year-old rookie Madison Bumgarner, who pitched six solid innings against the Braves, giving up just two runs in the series-clincher.

Philly is desperate for a win, which would tie this NLCS at two games a piece. Can Blanton come through? Keep it here to find out!

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Phillies’ skipper Charlie Manuel has played things pretty much straight up over the past two postseasons and has two NL Pennants and a World Series ring to show for it. With his team finding itself down two games to one and the next two contests in AT&T Park, the time is right to veer from previous course. 

San Franciso Giants manager Bruce Bochy adjusted his lineup for Game 3 and it paid large dividends. 

Moving certified Phillies killer Cody Ross up to the five hole put him in position to drive in the games first, and ultimate winning run. The line single to left plated non prototypical leadoff hitter Edgar Renteria, who had started the rally.  

And, former Phil Aaron Rowand got his first start of the postseason in place of Andres Torres, who has provided nothing offensively other than a breeze from his empty whiffs. Rowand, of course, responded with a double and later scored to extend the Giants lead to 3-0. 

Any notion that Jimmy Rollins might have kick started the Phillies offense with his bases loaded double on Sunday night was quickly dismissed with another moribund postseason showing. 

Yes, Matt Cain is pretty good, but the Phillies have owned him prior to his two-hit, no run work over seven innings yesterday. He was 0-3 with a 6.23 ERA against the Phillies coming into the game. 

Cain, Javier Lopez, and the anti-Beach Boy Brian Wilson combined to shutout the Phillies on three hits. They seemingly alternated between striking out Phillies hitters and getting them to hit routine ground balls to second baseman Freddy Sanchez.  

The time has come for Manuel to change things up to perhaps trigger a spark or avoid digging a bigger hole. Here are four suggestions for tonight’s game that could make a difference. 

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People always tend to point fingers at different players when a team begins to struggle.  But who should take the blame for the Phillies‘ recent struggles in the NLCS? 

Jimmy Rollins is always a fan favorite in Philadelphia, but he could be the odd piece to the puzzle right now.  With several injuries to his lower body, including the nagging hamstring injury suffered late in the season, J-Roll is out of his game. 

While Rollins had the key hit Game 2 of the NLCS, roping a three-run double off the top of the out-of-town scoreboard in right field.  However aside from that hit, Rollins has really struggled in the series with only three hits. 

The hamstring injury may not be what is holding back the former MVP, but rather his confidence in his leg.  Rollins is not quite at 100 percent yet, but is not in a condition where he can’t play.  On the field, he seems nervous to try to push his hamstring to any extent.

The biggest example of this showed in the ninth inning of Game 3.

After lining a ball of the wall in right, Rollins quickly scampered back to first base after the ball was quickly thrown back in by outfielder Nate Schierholtz.  At 100 percent, Rollins would have easily stretched the hit into a double.

But it did not stop there.

On the game-ending double-play ball, Rollins loafed it into second base, not even making an attempt to break up the double play.  Was it laziness, lack of confidence in the bottom of the lineup or his hesitance to push his hamstring to the limit? 

In my opinion it was his hesitance.  Players, however, cannot be hesitant in the postseason.  This is where you go all out and lay it all on the line because there are no second chances.

Wilson Valdez did an excellent job of filling in for the injured Rollins throughout the majority of the season.  The table below shows a comparison of the stats for the two shortstops.

Both have very similar numbers.  Valdez has played more games this year than Rollins and has no errors.  Rollins, on the other hand, has four on the season.

Both have the same number of doubles and triples.  Valdez’s only downfall is hitting into double plays.  Valdez grounded into 20 double plays on the year, while Rollins only did so four times. 

So what should Charlie do?

In his opinion, Rollins has to be on the field because of his leadership and his overall presence.  In my opinion, Valdez almost has to start at shortstop tonight.  Manuel has already switched up the lineup from the NLDS to the NLCS to have the best possible batter/pitcher matchups throughout the lineup. 

Throwing Valdez into the equation gives you speed, a sure-handed fielder and a potential run producer at the plate.  It also gives you a player who is playing at 100 percent. 

It will be interesting to see what Manuel decides to do with the Phillies in need of a win to bring the series back to Philadelphia.  The team needs a change to spark some offense and produce runs.  The starting pitchers are keeping them in the games and giving them a chance to win, but the offense is not getting the job done.

Valdez could be that missing piece to the puzzle to get the team going.

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Texas Rangers pitcher, Cliff Lee had one of the 2010 MLB postseason’s best performances last night at Yankee Stadium.  He struck out 13 New York Yankees hitters, while only allowing two hits and zero runs in eight innings.

While that seems like an outstanding game, (which it is) a couple other performances have one-upped Lee when it comes down to the final stat line.

2010 is definitely the year of the pitcher (outside of 1968), a couple of hitting performances have been just as important. 

Did the slugger of your favorite postseason team make the list?

Here are the top five performances of the 2010 playoffs (besides Cliff Lee).

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