All Things Baseball

Buster Olney has written what is (so far) a fascinating account of the Yankees, George Steinbrenner, and their collapse beginning with their loss to Arizona in the 2001 World Series. I've only read the first 4 chapters (I've only owned it for about 15 hrs), but so far it is chock full of an insider's account of Steinbrenner's maniacal tendencies, Cashman's woes, and the perspectives of every Yankee from that 1996-2000 championship run.

I'll leave it to you to read the book and see what Olney says, but suffice it to say that one of his bottom lines is that Steinbrenner in recent years has killed his team by signing declining stars to expensive and long contracts, depleting his minor leagues to the point of absurdity, and creating an atmosphere of tension around the clubhouse.

Sound somewhat familiar?

Now, the Phillies aren't 100% similar to the Yankees by any stretch of the imagination. But surprisingly, they're not that far. Just take away all the tradition (at least, the *winning* tradition) and about 100 million dollars from the salary total, and you kinda have the Phillies! Take a closer look:

At $95.3 million, the Phillies have the 4th highest payroll ... the 4th highest! Now, after all our years of complaining that we were such a great market with a terribly low payroll, it seems kinda whiny to now complain about the 95 million. But I'm not complaining about the 95 million... I'm complaining about the players it has brought. Note however, I can't really complain about Pat Burrell or Jim Thome. Both of those signings were lauded at the time they were made, and justifiably so. After all, Pat Burrell was coming off a .289, 37 hr (or something like that) campaign, and Jim Thome was the perfect signing for a new Phillies team. Obviously, though, neither contract looks that great right now.

My problem is more general... for $95 million, we have a terribly low number of exciting players. David Bell? Placido Polanco? Cory Lidle? Randy Wolf? Rheal Cormier? Where's the life?

Certainly not in our minors, which brings us to another similarity. Ironically, we were blasting Ed Wade for holding on to certain prospects instead of getting a big gun (ie: NOT A MIDDLE RELIEVER). However, what we've done is trade a lot of draft picks, a lot of middle prospects, and we've received very very little back.

Our minors are a combined 20-50 (approximately). Our top pitcher, depending on who you ask, just got shipped down from the Phillies to AAA (Gavin Floyd) or just broke his hand in a bar fight (Cole Hamels). Our top positional player is in single-A ball. The other top prospects are projects. There is no Andy Marte, there is no Felix Rodriguez, and there is no Delmon Young.

Again, I know, hindsight is 20/20. But that's the point of Olney's book. In the midst of pursuing immediate help, the cost was to deplete the minors. It's an easy trap to fall into, but the consequences are long-felt. It'll take some time for this team to really be a true contender. We'll need to actually draft and develop some real players. Trading ppl like Burrell and Polanco and even Ryan Howard will help. (I'd keep Thome, bad back and all, b/c in the end, he's an iconic-type of player, and we'll need those).

Another upshot from Buster Olney's book: Hopefully Cashman will be fired by the Yankees soon, b/c then the Phillies can hire him. THAT would be heavenly.