FanPost

The Phils' Suffering

I'm not a Phillies fan. If there are things that are inaccurate or incomplete, feel free to fill in the details. This is just my perception.

It's a competitive year for the Brewers. We're holding a 2 game lead over the division and enjoying the great character of our team, with its quirks and personalities and platoons. It's especially nice that the team theme is more about excitement and potential and less about drama. We don't have problem people, we don't have players trashing/getting trashed in the press, and we aren't carrying non-productive players on bloated contracts or watching the tail end of a career wither on the bench or in the bullpen.

Not so for the Phillies, and it's ok to enjoy their suffering a little.

When we do look up from our Brewers entertainment and see other teams our attention is often to the health, strength and progress of our division rivals, all of whom have their flaws, but also have the potential to give us fits all season long. Our remaining attention is saved mostly for the events that crop up during a season. Lincecum threw a no-hitter. Cameron Maybin got a drug suspension. David Price may be traded. Etc.

But there are other storylines that are worth paying attention to if you have the time, and one of them is bloated paryoll rotting the Phillies' roster right now. They are carrying some massive contracts that haven't brought them extended success. It shouldn't matter too much to us, except that some of those expensive deals had a financial impact on our team.

The recent success arc of the Phillies in summary goes something like this:

2000 - The ace of the staff is Randy Wolf, because the Phils trade Schilling to Arizona. The big bats in the lineup are Bobby Abreu and Scott Rolen. Pat Burrell is a rookie outfielder.

2001 - Schilling wins a World Series with Arizona and is co-series-MVP with Randy Johnson. Philly is ok with this, because for the first time in 8 years they have a winning record (86-76) after they fire their terrible manager, Terry Francona. Rookie Jimmy Rollins looks like the real thing at shortstop. Their payroll is 24th in the league, just behind the Brewers.

2002 - Vicente Padilla, acquired in the Schilling trade, is an all-star and wins 14 games. Jose Mesa has 45 saves, and saves are very trendy right now. The club dips a game below .500, mostly because the rotation is not good.

2003 - Travis Lee (also acquired in the Schilling trade) is not the answer at first base, and he leaves via free agency. The Phillies like winning, so they open the purse and sign Jim Thome away from the Indians. Thome is age 32, and he's a really big guy so he may be prone to injury and decline, but the Phillies take the chance. It pays off, Thome leads the NL with 47 dingers. Although this is a good move, it sets a precedent for some rather bad gambles. Kevin Millwood is signed away from the Braves and he eats a lot of innings. The Phils win 86 games.

2004 - Phils trade a bunch of junk for Billy Wagner, and he performs. Eric Milton is wearing Looper's Magic Amulet and wins 14 games while allowing 43 HRs. Chase Utley starts sharing second base with Placido Polanco. They do enough to tread water. They have a productive lineup, but the rotation is still weak. They finish with 86 wins again, but 10 games behind the Braves. They fire Larry Bowa and hire Charlie Manuel.

2005 - Phils sign John Lieber away from the Yankees and he is very productive, taking the innings-eater role away from Randy Wolf. Rule 5 pick Shane Victorino acquired from the Padres. Free agent Kenny Lofton has a resurgent year, and an inury-prone Jim Thome loses time at first to big man Ryan Howard. They win 88 games, only 2 behind the Braves.

They can taste it. These aren't the same Glavine & Maddux Braves. They feel they are close to becoming the team to beat in the division. They have made some questionable free agent moves, but they paid off. Bad habits and greed are a dangerous combination.

2006 - Ryan Howard hits 58 dingers in a lineup that leads the league in OPS, but they only win 86 games and watch the Mets take the division because they have genuine aces in their rotation (former Brave Tom Glavine among them) , and their closer is Billy Wagner, lured away from the Phils in free agency. Ryan Howard wins the NL MVP.

2007 - Things start to come together. Howard is hitting dingers, and so are Rollins, Utley, Rowand and Burrell. Jamie Moyer wins 14 games, but he's 44 years old. They win the division by one game over the Mets, and get swept by the Rockies. Jimmy Rollins wins the NL MVP.

2008 - They win it all. When you win the World Series, everything you have done becomes validated. The guys you traded, traded for, signed, let go, fired, hired, developed, overpaid - it's all a strategy that worked. Winning a World Series is something that you can't take away from the team or its fans, and can be used in arguments in bars for the rest of your days that on your best day you were the best in the world. Guys who put in their time like Geoff Jenkins and Tom "Flash" Gordon get WS rings. Years from now, fans watching a team in decline can hark back to the 2008 team as a real success. If they're #BestFans they can use it for every argument ever.

2009 - The team wants to ride their success. 2008 saw attendance go up by 10%, and with the right moves they could capitalize on guys under contract in their prime and take over the division for years to come. Free agency is the answer, and they sign Raul Ibanez. In May Brett Myers goes down with an injury and they trade for Cliff Lee, and drag Pedro Martinez out of retirement for one last run.

They make it back to the World Series, and Lee is a big reason, in games 1 and 5 he posts wins over Sabathia and Burnett. Chase Utley has 5 dingers in the 7 game series. But Mariano Rivera and the Yankee bullpen shuts them down. The Phils make a calculated decision, and trade Cliff Lee to the Mariners, probably thinking he will never have more value.

2010 - Getting to the World Series is good, winning it is better. They are greedy to win (and who wouldn't be?) They make sure Ryan Howard never hits free agency by locking him up with a $25M/year contract through age 37. This is a painful hit for the Brewers, because they have a young slugging first baseman who also hit 50+ dingers in Prince Fielder, and it will now be impossible to re-sign him for anything less. When the time comes, it's not even a question of if he will leave, but where he will go, and for how much.

They also make two more acquisitions, trading for Roy Halladay in the offseason, and Roy Oswalt before the trade deadline. Together with Cole Hamels the Phillie rotation is looking dangerous.

The mariners struggle and Cliff Lee was in traded again mid-season. It was probably confusing for Lee to go from pitching greatness in the World Series to his third team in seven months. He ended up back in the World Series again, with the Rangers. They lost to the Giants. Roy Halladay wins the NL CYA.

2011 - Free agency has always served them well, and they are benefiting from increased revenue, so they re-sign the pitcher they traded away, Cliff Lee, for $120M over 5 years. The rotation is now an unbelievable Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, and Vance Worley. Jayson Werth is signed away by the Nationals, who are looking to build a foundation around their young talent, and is replaced mid season by Hunter Pence. Closer Brad Lidge suffers injuries and makes way for Ryan Madson as the closer. The team wins 102 games and they look unstoppable. Management looks like geniuses.

They are beaten in the first round by Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals. In game 5 Chris Carpenter outduels Roy Halladay, 1-0.

The Phillies won the World Series in 2008 with a combination of player development, shrewd trades, and high-risk, high-reward free agent acquisitions. Now heading into 2012 they have a payroll upwards of $170 million, most of it locked into contracts for players that are past their prime. If they were still making shrewd decisions they would have started to shed pieces, but they refuse to go quietly.

Prince Fielder leaves the Brewers, signing a 9 year $214M guaranteed contract with the Detroit Tigers.

2012 - The Phils acquire closer Jonathan Papelbon in free agency from the Red Sox, and this is the second time in two years that the Phillies have majorly inflated the market, artificially inflating the value for closers. K-Rod is paid $8M by the Brewers, more than Ryan Braun or Aramis Ramirez.

The high-paid talent starts to break down. Howard, Utley, and Halladay all miss time with injury. Eight players on the roster are paid more than $10M a year. Shane Victorino is traded mid-season before his contract expires. The Phils 17 games out of first, behind the Braves and the surging Nationals.

2013 - The bleeding continues. The Phils have their first losing season since 2002. Cliff lee is amazing, but with Howard out of the lineup due to injuries, the punch isn't there. Roy Halladay is hurt and ineffective. They have the 3rd oldest roster, score the 4th fewest runs, and give up the 6th most to opponents. Their payroll is $15M higher than the Red Sox, who win the World Series, and $50M more than the Cardinals, who are runners up. Their personnel is questionable enough that they sign Yuniesky Betancourt and Carlos Zambrano in spring training. Only Jimmy Rollins is healthy enough to play every day, and he scores 65 runs the whole season.

2014 - Here we are. The Phils are in last place, 13 games out at midseason. They will not recover, and they can't make any moves because they are tied down with $180M in payroll. Considering the way they injured the trade market, good. They aren't the Yankees, and they never will be, but they tried to play the Yankees' game for a while and forgot what made them successful to begin with. Meanwhile, everyone else deals with the remains of market inflation, and they can't even spend their way out because the Dodgers have emerged with even more money than the Yankees.

Wseio3k_medium

They had their time, they had their glory, and the smaller markets who got torched trying to fight their way through it should have no sympathy for them. Don't bother trying to unload your contracts on us, we've already been paying for your mistakes. You just sit in the cellar and think about what you've done.