Thing is, each of those teams were legitimate WS contenders. Having the top pick is nice...but is there a Steven Strasberg/Bryce Harper-type player? Or are we looking at another 4-5 years to develop (a la Jesse Biddle)? The Dominican slugger has definite potential - but he's only 16. He could also be at least 3-4 down the road.
look at Nola...i told my buddy to stop taking HS kids and start taking college kids. they take nola and 1 year later he's in the bigs. yes, the draft doesn't have a harper or strasburg. doesn't mean they can't find the right guy they need. i pray it's a college player. so sick of the project guys. all that wait like biddle, who is now toast with his arm, takes too long to wait for!
High schoolers are more of a crap shoot - thought Biddle was going to be a good one, but he was just 2-4 at AAA with an ERA over 6.00. This was his SIXTH year in the farm system!
biddle has the talent but his velocity wavered and his control got worse and worse. now he's out for a year with tommy john. he could come back from it, but he is a total crapshoot.
He's still only 24, so he has time. But he's gotta make some strides when he comes back. He's been in the system for a while now.
yeah his time is running out. his stats showed he wasn't that good. and now with the injury - a bad sign. they cut defratus and he was on the team the last 2-3 yrs.
the phillies have more prospects (7) in the top 100 than any other team. nice. that's what trading rollins, utley, hamels and papelbon gets you on top of nice drafting!
The Phillies are going to be very competitive this season and are on the right track to be a true force to be reckoned with. Hope you have a great season and I look forward to talking more baseball with you. Im getting Spring Training fever already... just 16 days away, Wo0T !!!
thanks Will. I think they will be bad this year but in 17 they free up a TON of money, including Ryan Howard's and the new owner has deep pockets. Between the minor leagues, they will buy some free agents and contend in 17 for sure. they are leaning towards drafting a HS pitcher out of NJ with the #1 pick, which i dislike. I am all for college kids. Whomever they draft, i hope to God he works out.
another lead blown away in the late innings! ugh! 0-2 going to be a longer season than i expected! At least Nola did his job !
It's early. Dont panic. Starting off against the big red machine is not easy. Met's aint too shabby either. Good Luck.
Will the early struggles of the bullpen really scare me. they weren't going to contend but man do they look bad early.
atlanta is 0-7 - bwhahaha. phils playing decent hardnose baseball. love it over the old farts dogging it like the last 3 yrs. these kids hustle and come to play - win or lose. i love that.
Phils 18-14. If the season ended today, they'd be in the playoffs. Regardless of what happens, Phils are better than I thought they'd be. Future looks pretty good.
axe-i have already laid out 17 and 18 for the phils. good times are coming to South Philly. Many of them are only signed this year, so they are looking for multi-contracts, so they are all hungry and playing their hearts out. Can they beat a top team like Chicago? No, but I don't expect them to this year. It will be fun again in South Philly real soon!
