5th place in NL East
20-28, 6 games back of the NY Mets
LATEST TEAM INFO:
The Phillies acquired Jeremy Giambi from the Oakland A’s for John Mabry. Thus far this season, Giambi is hitting .274 with 8 homers and 17 RBI. The A’s got down on Giambi’s apparent one-dimensional game that translates to a good hitter with no speed and poor fielding ability. Giambi is expected to play some outfield and take signficant playing time away from the struggling Travis Lee at first base. With interleague play around the corner, he’ll also DH. In his first game as a Philly, Giambi slugged two homers in a 13-9 loss against the Expos.
LOCAL PERSPECTIVE:
With their first winning season since their pennant winning ‘93 campaign under their belts, fans and players had hopes of a great year. However, the Phils have got off to a slow start and find themselves at the bottom of the mediocre NL East. While they have played great at home going 16-9 at the Vet, the Phils are an atrocious 4-20 on the road. While the team hitting finds itself at the middle of the pack in almost every offensive category, the pitching is second to last in team ERA. This would appear to be the cause of most of their struggles so far. Injuries to Randy Wolf and Robert Person have not made it any easier on their pitching staff.
The two bright spots on the offensive side of the ball have been Jimmy Rollins and Pat Burrell. Jimmy Rollins has followed up his rookie campaign with the same type of success this year. He’s the only Philly starter hitting over .300 at this point in the season. He’s a premier shortstop in the league as he has a complete game with speed and some power. So far this year he’s hitting .307 with 5 homers and 21 RBI while batting leadoff. His stolen base percentage isn’t as stellar as it was last year but he’ll likely turn that around. Pat Burrell is looking more comfortable at the plate and is turning into the premier power hitter that the team expected. In April, Pat hit .265 with six homers, 15 RBI and 12 walks. So far in May, Burrell is hitting .309 with 6 homers, 14 RBI and 10 walks. While he is still striking out about once per game, if he can continue his improved plate discipline, you can expect continued success from this young slugger.
From the rubber, Vicente Padilla has lived up to the hype of a potential ace landing in Philly. Padilla who was acquired in the Curt Schilling deal of 2000 is 6-3 with a 2.57 ERA and a 0.99 WHIP. He has nasty movement on his pitches and has been extremely strong so far. Unfortunately the rest of the staff has been less than sparkling. Terry Adams has been mediocre at 2-3 with a 3.75 ERA. Brandon Duckworth (2-3, 4.42 ERA), Randy Wolf (3-3, 5.09 ERA), Dave Coggin (6.48 ERA) and Robert Person (0-3, 5.45 ERA – now on the DL) have all been disappointments.
Overall things don’t look very good in Philly, but there is hope. Robert Person is expect back in the rotation soon and if Rolen and Abreu can pick up their games, this offense could really put some runs on the board.
RUMOR MILL:
The Atlanta Braves are rumored to be interested in struggling first baseman Travis Lee. Lee is currently hitting a weak .234 with 4 homers and 15 RBI. Atlanta is looking for any improvement over the duo of Wes Helms and Julio Franco. With the acquistion of Giambi, dealing Lee is a definite possibility.
While GM Ed Wade is expected to stay patient with his struggling offense, the team is said to be interested in Jeff Weaver of the Tigers who is a good friend of lefthander Randy Wolf. Weaver would give the Phils some quality innings and has the potential to be a front end starter.
Rumors will whirl all season about Scott Rolen. He has re-iterated his stance of waiting until the offseason to negotiate a new contract. Most of his teammates don’t expect the star third baseman to return next season after many squabbles with management and media in Philly. If the Phils continue to find themselves at the bottom of the division or out of contention, look for Wade to deal Rolen before the trade deadline.
INJURIES:
Robert Person (P) – Status: rehabbing in AAA, placed on DL May 3rd with strained right elbow
A healthy Person would be a welcome addition to the struggling starting staff. In his first rehab start at AAA Scranton, Person allowed two runs in 3.3 innings of work. He is expected to make another rehab start before returning to the starting rotation.
Dave Hollins (3B) – Status: perhaps Spiderman?
Hollins is on the DL after suffering a spider bite infection in his left knee. It strangely coincides with the opening of Spiderman the movie – perhaps a marketing pitch? Hollins has no business on any fantasy roster. If he’s on your roster, maybe you should be checked for possible spider bites as well.
ON THE FARM:
It’s hard to imagine that Doug Glanville could be worse than last year, but he’s somehow doing it. He’s batting .225 with a .306 SLG - just not acceptable for any outfielder in the majors. Giambi’s acquisition will not spell Glanville so the Philly faithful are holding their breaths for the call-up of Marlon Byrd from AAA Scranton. The 6 foot, 225, right-handed hitter is now batting .280 with 10 doubles, 5 homers, 23 RBI and 9 steals.
From the rubber, the faithful are looking for the call-up of Brett Myers to help the weak starting rotation. His current minor league numbers are impressive: 4-3, 2.40 ERA, 0.89 WHIP and 40Ks in 56 IP. However, Myers missed his last start with a blister on his finger.
QUICK VIEW:
Add or trade for:
Bobby Abreu: the struggling outfielder will start to come around, I promise
Scott Rolen: should benefit from a hot Pat Burrell
Pat Burrell: the breakout year that was expected is here and now
Jimmy Rollins: great follow-up to rookie year
Vicente Padilla: fantastic rookie performance, ace in the making
Robert Person: soon to return from the DL, could be a nice sleeper for the 2nd half
Not worth a roster spot:
Doug Glanville: just awful, enough said
Travis Lee: he’s better than the Atlanta first basemen but still not worth a spot
