Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
March 19, 2007
Improving the Phillies

The Good Phight likes the idea of the Phillies taking a chance on making Michael Bourn the everyday centerfielder, then trading the redundant players on the team.

The answer might well be "yes." The rumored deal of Rowand and Lieber for some combination of top prospect Josh Fields, setup reliever Mike McDougal and a third player--maybe utility man Rob Mackowiak, maybe lefty bullpen prospect Boone Logan--would shore up the bullpen, strengthen the bench while adding a possible long-term answer at third base or in an outfield corner, and dramatically lower the payroll.

There's also a good discussion of Rollins as a leadoff hitter, basically saying that despite his low OBA, he does a good job of scoring runs due to his power and speed. There is still a cost, however, in outs, and those outs take chances away from Utley and Howard. In a way it's the Vince Coleman/Wade Boggs argument. Vince would make up for his low OBA by using his speed to score often when he was on base. Boggs reached base a lot, but it was tough for him to move more than one base at a time. So the runs scored evened out. But Boggs, by making fewer outs, expanded the offensive context for the rest of the team, increasing the run scoring capacity of the team as a whole. That's what Jimmy fails to do as a leadoff hitter.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:45 AM | Team Evaluation | TrackBack (0)
Comments

I am far from sold on Michael Bourn.

That being said, I've been wondering why the Phillies won't consider going to a six-man rotation. You would ease the burden on your starters, until someone inevitably stinks or gets hurt; then you go back to a five-man rotation and are glad you kept the extra man.

I'm not saying that's definitely the answer, but the team and the media seem to see at as something completely beyond the pale - I've never even heard it discussed.

Posted by: T at March 19, 2007 11:29 AM

In the abstract, a six-man rotation takes starts away from your best pitchers and gives them to your worst starter. For the Phillies, this takes starts away from Brett Myers/Freddy Garcia and puts them in Adam Eaton's hands; that can't be a good thing.

Posted by: Subrata Sircar at March 19, 2007 04:25 PM
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