Wheels Tupay wrote:

JFLNYC wrote:
But the franchise can't take the half measures Rube did this off season. He arguably had one last chance to go for it with this core. He either had to be all in, which would have meant signing someone like Hamilton and/or Swisher or finding some way to get Justin Upton or he might as well have started the rebuilding. He did neither. He tried to get by with the current core while adding cheap and questionable pieces.

You are assuming that ownership would have signed off to go over the luxury tax threshold which seems like a big assumption.

Not necessarily. At this moment they're still ~$12.5MM below the tax threshold. With careful planning before the acquisition of MY10 and the signing of Adams, there was enough payroll space to sign a hitter. And, even if they started out the season nominally above the threshold, if they didn't get results, they could have unloaded at the deadline as they did last year.

Anyone else see the lineup tonight? Chuck gon' manage.

Rollins
Utley
Young
Howard
JMJ
Brown
Revere
Quintero
Doc

I actually like it.

He's trying to bunch his (relatively) productive hitters at the top of the lineup, but he still isn't ready to move Howard out of the cleanup spot.

It's a winning lineup.

JFLNYC wrote:

Wheels Tupay wrote:

JFLNYC wrote:
But the franchise can't take the half measures Rube did this off season. He arguably had one last chance to go for it with this core. He either had to be all in, which would have meant signing someone like Hamilton and/or Swisher or finding some way to get Justin Upton or he might as well have started the rebuilding. He did neither. He tried to get by with the current core while adding cheap and questionable pieces.

You are assuming that ownership would have signed off to go over the luxury tax threshold which seems like a big assumption.

Not necessarily. At this moment they're still ~$12.5MM below the tax threshold. With careful planning before the acquisition of MY10 and the signing of Adams, there was enough payroll space to sign a hitter. And, even if they started out the season nominally above the threshold, if they didn't get results, they could have unloaded at the deadline as they did last year.

True, I always forget it is where you end the year not where you begin.

Curious to know how long it's been since Utley and Howard started the same game and didn't hit back to back.

TheFrank wrote:Curious to know how long it's been since Utley and Howard started the same game and didn't hit back to back.

Pence hit between them some in 2011 and in the playoff series in 2011agsinst the cards

I'm so excited I can't focus.

JFLNYC wrote:He's trying to bunch his (relatively) productive hitters at the top of the lineup, but he still isn't ready to move Howard out of the cleanup spot.

What's the optimal lineup that has Howard in it? It's not like there's any better option at that spot in the lineup. Jayberry or Brown? (I'm not being flip, I'm asking legitimately)

Honestly, we'll laugh about it, but Delmon might actually be the best cleanup option when he gets back. Which is nightmare fuel.

JFLNYC wrote:I'm so excited I can't focus.

I laughed

7 GB

I really wanted Mike Napoli. Fucking Howard and moron fucking Amaro. Great job.

Trent Steele wrote:7 GB

Chipping away at that starts tonight

Trent Steele wrote:7 GB

me speaka too soooon

No one is really talking about the Angels as a player for Cliff Lee, which seems surprising given their total investment and complete skid mark of a starting rotation. The Angels are clearly going for it right now and would probably give up Trumbo for Lee, Howard, and money. The Phillies could also take back the bad contract of Fatty Joe to offset some of the money necessary to send the Angels' way.

To piggyback off of FTN's good post, I wouldn't be shocked to see Ruiz moved for a high risk/high reward prospect. The Rays are a good fit, and I'm assuming that the club soured so badly on Tim Beckham that he could be pried away. He''s terrible, but it's high risk for a reason.

Trent Steele wrote:

Trent Steele wrote:7 GB

me speaka too soooon

already down to 6GB

We're doing it!

The Phillies averaged 7,895 fewer fans per game in their first 12 home dates this season compared to last season's first 12. Only the Miami Marlins have suffered a larger per game decrease (10,588).

This is a staggering number. Assuming for argument's sake that it holds, that's over 600k fewer fans this year. Average ticket price is around $40, although I assume the empty seats are the lower priced tickets. Even you assume around $30 or so, that's around $20m in lost revenue from last year just on tickets.