We haven’t been giving our World Champion Phillies enough love here at SportsOnBroad these days so I figured it was about time I stop watching NFL Network’s coverage of the Combine and talk a little about our Phills. The biggest question mark on the team heading into the upcoming 2009 season is who will get the 5th sport in the rotation.  There’s 4 candidates for the job - Kyle Kendrick, Chan Ho Park, JA Happ, and Carlos Carrasco - and here’s my very unofficial odds for each of them locking down the spot. Read the rest of this entry »

With pitchers and catchers reporting to Clearwater today for the official beginning of the defense of their World Series championship, here’s a look at how the 2009 Opening Day Phillies will differ from the 2008 Opening Day Phills.

The 2009 Opening Day roster obviously isn’t set in stone yet, but the lineup close to what we’ll see.  If this is indeed the Opening Day lineup, I can’t help but think the Phills will have a stronger lineup and rotation to start the season this year as opposed to last year.

• Adam Eaton won’t be anywhere neat the starting rotation.  He’ll get his $9 or whatever and the bullpen which will be a little short due to JC’s suspension should get a lot more rest since they won’t have to start warming up in the 3rd inning every 5th game.
• Utley could be back for Opening Day, but will probably miss some time as the Phillies will want to be cautious with him.
• Raul Ibanez for Pat Burrell should be a wash.  Ibanez is better in the field and should be a lot more consistent than Burrell was.  He won’t have the hot streaks that Pat the Bat had, but he also won’t experience the ridiculous slumps either.  Ibanez also had 24 more RBI’s than Burrell did in 2008 while hitting in a lineup that provided him with less opportunity for RBIs.
• Jayson Werth should be an upgrade over Jenkins.  Werth has more range and is on the cusp of becoming a very good everyday player.  If Werth can improve his hitting against left handers this spring, he’ll have  abreakout season.
• The rotation in general is stronger.  Cole Hamels took a major step forward last year by tossing 200+ innings for the first time in his career.  Myers has showed up to Clearwater 20 lbs lighter and is in a contract year.  Jamie Moyer apparently sold his soul to the devil in order to continue pitching effectively well into his 40’s.  Boom Boom Blanton still hasn’t lost a game as a Phillie.  The 5th spot is still a major question mark, but can anyone who wins the spot be any worse than Eaton?
• In the setup role, Madson is an upgrade over Gordon and could be our closer of the future if he continues to be the bridge to Lidge.

The one area where we won’t be as strong is in the bullpen because of JC’s suspension.  We had one of, if not THE best bullpen in baseball last year, but the loss of Romero really hurts.  Romero was one of the better left handed bullpen arms in baseball last year and the Phills will need to find someone to replace him at the beginning of the season.

If Utley gets back in the lineup without missing much/any time, we should have a chance to get off to a better start in 2009.  With the Mets improving their bullpen significantly this off-season, we can’t afford to fall behind early in the season.