Phillies Notes: My Take
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/sports/15267563.htm
From Todd Zolecki's column this morning.
The Phillies have just four players on their bench, and it caught up to them this weekend in two extra-inning games against the Cincinnati Reds.
The Phils have an eight-man bullpen, which includes seldom-used lefthander Fabio Castro. Castro, who had not pitched above single-A ball before this season, must remain on the 25-man roster for the rest of the year because he is a Rule 5 Draft pick.
Castro (0-0, 0.00 ERA) has pitched just six times since the Phillies acquired him in a trade with Texas on June 29. He has pitched just once this month.
"It's always good to have that fifth guy," manager Charlie Manuel said of the bench. "We'll see how it goes. We've only got a couple weeks to go before we can bring people up [when rosters expand Sept. 1]. I'm not saying we'll stand pat on that. We might make a move on somebody."
I could've used more details of how the Phils' bench hampered them, but this is absolutely correct. On Friday, the Reds intentionally walked Ryan Howard three times because there was no one on the bench. Right now the Phillies are employing a four man bench and those four players had a combined 91 career at bats coming into this season. Chris Roberson just can't hit (although he's useful as a defensive replacement and pinch runner).
Eight relievers is overkill. Fabio Castro is a useful mop-up man who will take the ball every day. Brian Sanches isn't going to win games with his pitching and it's useless to keep him around for the heck of it.
In good company
Ryan Howard, who hit his league-leading 41st homer yesterday, became just the seventh player in baseball history to hit 40 or more home runs in his second season. The others: Chuck Klein hit 43 in 1929 for the Phillies, Joe DiMaggio (Yankees) hit 46 in 1937, Ralph Kiner (Pirates) hit 51 in 1947, Eddie Mathews (Braves) hit 47 in 1953, Ernie Banks (Cubs) hit 44 in 1955, and Jim Gentile (Orioles) hit 46 in 1961.
Klein, DiMaggio, Kiner, Mathews and Banks are in the Hall of Fame.
A friend asked me the other day if Ryan Howard would make the Hall of Fame, and I said he does not have a prayer. My friend was stunned, and I explained why. In the history of baseball there has been just ONE player who became a regular at the age of 25 and went on to have a Hall of Fame career (Sam Rice). Look at the list of players above. Ed Mathews was 21 when he hit 40+ home runs. Dimaggio was 22, and Klein, Kiner and Banks were 24. Jim Gentile was 27, and he's the odd man out.
It's not that Gentile was a bad player. Gentile got a late start because he came up in the Dodgers system when they were overstocked with outfielders. Gentile was finally traded to the Baltimore Orioles before the 1960 season. (On a fun side note, one of the players the Dodgers acquired in this deal was a career minor leaguer named Bill Lajoie. Lajoie is now a senior executive in the Red Sox' front office.) Gentile hit 21 home runs his first year, and 46 the next (an expansion year). The raw stats make the next years look worse than they really are. After 1961, the majors took steps to reduce offense. Gentile was still a good hitter for several seasons. A trade to the Astros and their spacious dome harmed his raw numbers moreso, and Gentile retired in 1966. I doubt Ryan Howard will have the same issue with playing environments.
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