If he's indeed an elite defender, he might be worth the big bucks. Hitting in the 110 OPS plus range is good enough.

Ambivalent on heyward. Go for it, why not

it's not my money so as long as it doesn't prohibit them from improving the team in other ways(it really shouldn't with the cap space we'll have), why not do it?

Hell yeah

if it happened, i'd wander the streets to find him just so i could yell "I SO HAPPY!!!!" at him before getting beaten up by some Seattle residents of Latino decent.

I've been thinking how very fortunate we've been this year despite our miserable record. We've had five rookies (Franco, Herrera, Rupp, Giles & Nola) show that they can be at least solid major league players, with star potential in maybe as many as 4 of them. I would also argue that we have a two more rookies (Altherr and Sweeney) who have at least shown that they can contribute on the big league level and maybe more. Plus we have two other young guys (Galvis and Hernandez) who may not end up as starters, but who've had shown they can make solid contributions. That's nine young guys who have shown they're legitimate major leaguers.

Add to those nine Crawford, Williams and Alfaro plus the very pleasant surprise Knapp has become and there's a large, talented group of youngsters to grow with. Quinn and Cozens are in the mix, too. It likely won't pan out this way, but our Opening Day 2017 starting 8 could be Altherr, Herrera and Williams in the OF, Franco, Crawford, Hernandez/Glavis and Knapp at 1B, with Alfaro catching. That's an exciting, talented and nicely balanced lineup with 3 RH, 3 LH and 2 switch hitters.

As others have pointed out, the pitching is still weak. Among starters at AA or above, probably only Nola, Eickoff and Thompson are legit major league starters, with Asher and Lively more likely bullpen pieces. Eflin keeps getting results, but his low K rate suggests a Joe Roa type. The good news, though, is that these days pitching is available for a price and the Phils have the resources to compete with anyone. Not that they should or will but, if they really wanted to, the Phils could make a run at, for example, both Price and Greinke this off-season.

I'm guessing the Phils will not be particularly active in this year's FA market, at least not at the top level. I think they'll take next year as an opportunity to continue to assess their young talent and then look to begin to supplement where needed starting in 2017. But the future looks bright no matter how they play it.

Top 2 pick could land them a really great pitcher to throw into that mix.

Doll Is Mine wrote:

Pedro Martinez @45PedroMartinez
As a GM for the Mariners I would look for a manager with presence, someone that will be a leader and a veteran catcher, like Carlos Ruiz

Chooch would hit about .160 as a 37-year-old in Safeco.

he would hire chooch as the manager

pacino wrote:he would hire chooch as the manager

Gonna have to outbid Cold Stone

pacino wrote:he would hire chooch as the manager

I don't speak Pedro, but I thought he'd hire:

- a manager with presence, someone that will be a leader
and
- a veteran catcher, like Carlos Ruiz

Not a manager that:

- has presence
- will be a leader
- is a veteran catcher
- is Carlos Ruiz


But babelfish doesn't translate Pedro to English, so I could definitely be wrong.

Goddammit pedro, punctuation is important

Shore wrote:

Doll Is Mine wrote:

Pedro Martinez @45PedroMartinez
As a GM for the Mariners I would look for a manager with presence, someone that will be a leader and a veteran catcher, like Carlos Ruiz

Chooch would hit about .160 as a 37-year-old in Safeco.

I was going to make some stupid joke about him fitting right in with the rest of the lineup, but I see the five guys that have played catcher for them this year are hitting .175, .160, .126, .071 and .000. for a grand total of .159.

so, yeah.

Pedro-speak
Local dialect used in San Pedro, California, composed of slang terms usually, but not always, related to sailing and/or kicking ass on bass guitar. Spoken fluently by Mike Watt
Boffus found out about Pedro-speak from Watt's page.
by boffus July 16, 2003

I read it the way Shore did but it does go both ways. He's still a crafty guy.

I hope the Phillies hire Heyward along with Price and and someone like Zimmerman to help manage this team.

pacino wrote:Goddammit pedro, punctuation is important

Pedro doesn't believe in the oxford comma

I'd like to see a manager with presents. Good for morale.

WilliamC wrote:I read it the way Shore did but it does go both ways. He's still a crafty guy.

I hope the Phillies hire Heyward along with Price and and someone like Zimmerman to help manage this team.

Ryan zimmerman?

Shore wrote:

Doll Is Mine wrote:

Pedro Martinez @45PedroMartinez
As a GM for the Mariners I would look for a manager with presence, someone that will be a leader and a veteran catcher, like Carlos Ruiz

Chooch would hit about .160 as a 37-year-old in Safeco.

Go the old player-manager route.