As they rebuild, Phils in need of offense
Draft, trades should bring hitting prospects to team
Refuse to trade Cole Hamels for anything less than a team’s top two minor-league power-suppliers. Exchange value for value if necessary.
When the Phillies and their executives first walked into Citizens Bank Park and realized it was a Par 3 to left field, they knew they’d eventually be forced into a chicken-oregg riddle.
What would be best? To load up quality pitchers, compensating them $20 million a season if necessary, and to try to minimize the flight of baseballs into the seats? Or to make their operation look like one of those traveling slow-pitch softball sideshows, complete with a batting order full of over-sized sluggers plopping home runs into those seats, rat-a-tat-tat style?
They made their choice, committing to pitching, once collecting enough acknowledged aces to command the cover of most baseball magazines. That worked to a point … and that point was the playoffs, where other championship-level teams had good pitching, too.
Eventually, most of those aces turned old and brittle. And whatever power the Phillies had assembled would be drained.
Four of the Phillies’ last six No. 1 draft choices were pitchers. The other two were shortstops. It’s as if they have been determined to subject their fans to a drip-drip-drip of 2-1 games into eternity, too many of which they will finish on the sorry side.
As the weekend approached, there was the team with a left field so compact it shouldn’t require a riding mower to maintain, and it was stuck in last place in the major leagues with 30 total home runs. Seriously, that’s not a baseball issue. That’s a physics thesis waiting to be composed. How can a major league team play half of its games in that ballpark and so infrequently scuttle a crowd with a home run ball?
But the rebuilding has begun. Maikel Franco has arrived, and he has brought some clout. The draft is Monday, and the Phillies will select 10th. And soon enough, Cole Hamels, Ryan Howard and Jonathan Papelbon will be offloaded for prospects.
The last time they tried to solve a riddle, the Phillies went chicken. This time, it should be egg. Refuse to trade Hamels for anything less than a team’s top two minorleague power-suppliers. Exchange value for value if necessary. Might a team needing speed be interested in Ben Revere for a more powerful hitter? The Phillies should even invest some of their pitching prospects, and they are said to have a tidy stable, for some home run hitters.
And if that next No. 1 draft pick cannot compete successfully in a Pete Incaviglia look-alike contest, it will be a wasted selection.
The Phillies have tried to be the boxer too long. It’s time for them to start being the puncher.
If I grant you Batman, will you join me in wondering what Robin was all about?
Since creating a stir is its core mission, either in a stadium or outside of one, the support group of the Union recently staged a well-publicized carry-on to protest the soccer club’s habit of losing.
Since there was a mock coffin, the slam-dunk of such a staging, it was serious.
That night, the Union won. Then it won two of its next three, including a 3-0 put-down of Columbus the other night in Chester.
The Union is blessed to have the support of the Sons of Ben, who not only are over-the-top loud but participate in some welcome charitable endeavors. But since that protest, the Union has won three times by shutout. And as it entered the weekend, there it was in the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference. That would be good for a playoff spot.
That meant that either the supporters were premature in their rant, overreacting and looking to in- ject a little hooliganism into their ever Euro-trending act, or that the Union really did need a fresh way to be shaken from the sixth year of a long, long nap. Either way, the cause-effect is worth monitoring. Because if all it takes is a mock Irish wake to spur some on-field success, that’s a lot easier than continuing to audition goalkeepers and changing coaches.
Listen, count me out of the add-bacon-to-everything craze, if that’s OK.
First Kevin Love was lost for the bulk of the postseason when his shoulder was yanked out of it socket, requiring surgery. Then, in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Kyrie Irving limped into the locker room with a knee injury requiring the MRI routine.
Suddenly, there were Cavaliers, once robust NBA favorites, all but looking around for volunteers to help Cleveland win its first championship in any major-league sport since the 1964 Browns ruled the NFL.
The first thought: The Flyers sure must be able to relate.
Not an excuse, not a rationalization, not a hall-pass for their 40 years of inability to generate Stanley Cup 3.0, it just happens to be an observation. From Bernie Parent to Tim Kerr to Eric Lindros to Keith Primeau to Chris Pronger to the point where it must puzzle any injury-risk actuary, the Flyers have had enough bad luck to qualify as a disaster area.
That’s not always the reason for a franchise’s chronic failures. It’s not why the Eagles haven’t won since 1960, or why the Sixers are 0-since-1983, or why the Phillies didn’t win more than one championship during their five-year N.L. East reign. But like the 2015 Cavaliers, injuries have been cruel to the Flyers. And like the sports fans of Cleveland, their fans have deserved better.
Damon Feldman is planning a July 17 celebrity boxing card at Harrah’s in Chester. Jeff Mayweather, the uncle of Floyd Mayweather Jr., is scheduled to engage David Long of Dragon Box fame in the main event. Doors open at 8. Go to webtix.net for ticket info.
• Reader Mark Francis writes that he has created the Albert James “Bunkie” Francis Jr. scholarship fund in honor of his deceased father, a devoted Chester High sports fan and youth-sports coach in Chester. He is looking to honor a Chester studentathlete. His e-mail is fishingfool115@gmail.com.
• The International Boxing Hall of Fame will induct eight members next weekend, including Ray Mancini, Riddick Bowe, Prince Naseem Hamid, Yoko Gushiken, agent Rafael Mendoza, journalist Nigel Collins, broadcaster Jim Lampley and referee Steve Smoger.
Smoger is the best ref of his generation, known for using his courage and uncanny timing to let the fighters battle up to the split-second before a stoppage becomes necessary. He deserves to have his arm raised in victory for once.
And if you must ask if I got the press over-coverage of the royal baby, you already know the answer.