Philadelphia Phillies Season Outlook (Season 10)

Last season was a disappointing one in Philly, finishing last overall. Pitching stats were high, offense numbers were low. It was a transition year, to say it as positive as possible. Hopefully, season 9 marks the turning point for the Philly franchise, having never made the post season in World Major Leagues, nor ever even finished higher than third in the NL East. New direction was added, a plan was formed to keep advancing in that direction, and goals have been targeted at the end of that plan. Unfortunately, this season in itself does not promise a whole lot more than number nine.

It will be better...but small steps better, not the type of progression we were actually hoping for for this franchise. One of our short term goals, finishing .500, was supposed to be in sight this season, backed by some strong FA market activity. However, due to vacation plans and unanticipated lack of internet, those major signings were few and far between. Philly had their sights on two of the top Pitchers in this year's FA mad scramble, Kyle Powell and Victor Solano, which would have greatly improved this team. Looking back though, it's a double sided two edged sword bullet that was narrowly dodged, in terms of contracts. It was lucky in one sense to have avoided the slippery slope of Powell's contract, but unlucky to miss out on Solano who went for lower than expected. .500 is still in sight, but it might take a lot of good fortune to hit it this season.

The focus in Philly still remains on the long-term. Youth, depth and quality are the four buzz words that front office seems to fall back on after such set backs as this past FA period. A few decent Pitchers were signed, and some higher quality hitting will improve the team from last year, but not much was achieved in the long run. Two youthful pitchers, Todd Leon and Rafael Santiago, stand on that mound on the horizon, waiting to make their ML debut and impact on the franchise and the league. Most likely that will happen next season though, season 11. A budget that can attack the FA market could play a major role in that season ahead. For now, some fresh faces and a number one draft pick add some life to what will most likely be an event depleted season 10. There have been some rumors of trade, but wheeling is dealing is difficult when assets are low.

The goals for Philly are .500, 90 wins and a division title. Small steps though, small steps....for now.

Season 10 Predictions

jgnjr asked jonboynky and I who we thought the division favorites were for season 10, presumably because we were the World Series representatives from season 9, and I figured it might make a good blog post and (hopefully) something that the prior year's World Series participants are willing to do on a yearly basis. Also hopefully, something that Minnesota management will have to do in season 11 and beyond! ;-)

Without further ado, here are my picks for division favorites.

NL North
Milwaukee Brewers - The class of the NL North, the Brewers return an impressive staff bolstered by the big FA signing of Kyle Powell. When a 100-win team adds to its strength such as the Brewers have, it's tough to see them anywhere but the top of the division.

NL East
Washington D.C. Nationals - This will likely be a battle, and the Mets return seemingly intact after a division title last season. With no major losses and a couple of savvy veteran role player signings in FA - including the very experienced defensive wizard Jesus Moralez - the Mets could easily be the team to beat for the time being in the NL East. That said, the Nationals were solid last season and I think this may be Washington's year, and what fun is it to just predict repeat winners anyway?

NL South
St. Louis Cardinals - In what is likely the toughest division in the NL, the Cardinals have taken the somewhat unusual step of mixing things up via trade immediately following a title run. It remains to be seen how it will impact the franchise, but while the rest of the division is nipping at the Cardinals' heels, they've yet to make the move that would put them over the top to unseat St. Louis.

NL West
San Francisco Giants - Years of quality drafting and excellent international scouting have quietly turned SF into something of a powerhouse on the left coast. Not given much media coverage way out west, SF nevertheless is poised to repeat as division champs and make a deep postseason run.

AL West
Oakland Athletics - A regular season juggernaut, and with the franchise's core of talent locked up this season and beyond, there's no reason to expect Oakland to slip in season 10. After the incredible run of regular season success Oakland has had, however, it's fair to say that fans have become impatient and merely winning the division crown is not nearly as satisfying as it once was.

AL South
Nashville Sounds - In season 9, Nashville posted the best record ever by an AL South member, improving on the division's previous best by a remarkable nine games. Though Tampa also turned in a good effort to finish .500 - giving the division two teams at or above .500 for the first time since season 2 - Nashville has separated itself a bit from the pack and is the pick to beat in the division until proven otherwise.

AL East
Baltimore Orioles - With a relatively quiet off-season, it looks as though no one has been able to close the gap and catch Baltimore, who won the division in season 9 with a comfortable 18-game cushion.

AL North
Chicago White Sox - Ah, yes, the bloodbath that is to be the AL North. Defending division champion Detroit hasn't missed a step and should see the post-season again, but I couldn't just pick all of the season 9 AL division winners to repeat, and Chicago has made great strides signing two top FA bats - Turk Weaver and Taylor Mullin - and landing front-end pitcher Mike DeJean from Seattle for minor league prospects. These new additions should be enough to boost Chicago to the top of the division, though it'll be far from easy and Detroit remains a force to be reckoned with.

New For Season 10!!!

In an effort to bring the World Major Leagues Blog up to speed, a chat-room as been added to help facilitate trade discussions. You can find the link to the chat-room in the upper right-hand corner of the blog. Hopefully this will be the first of many additions to the blog this season (I say that every season, don't I?). Good luck in the long season ahead!!!

In Pursuit of Perfection... (Clean Sweeps)

Sure, if you have sacrificed your future for the present, you can win the majority of your Major League games pretty easily. And yes, if you have all of your best players sitting in the minors, it's pretty easy to win most of those games, too.

The true mark of a successful owner, however, is when he can be successful at every level. Likewise, the true mark of a great HBD cycle is when your franchise accomplishes a clean sweep - a win in every game it played during that cycle.

Let's see what owner can reach perfection the most often during the season. Send me (Minnesota Twins) a trade chat if your franchise experiences perfection during a particular cycle, and I'll add you to the running tally below. For purposes of this tally, only cycles with at least 4 games played will count as "perfection." The final winner will get my hearty congratulations and some modest bragging rights.

For this season 8, our first tracking the "clean sweeps," the tally will begin post-All-Star break.

Good luck everyone!

Season Totals
1.......7*......Oakland Athletics
2.......6*......New York Mets
3.......3.......Nashville Sounds
4.......2.......Houston Astros
5.......1.......Milwaukee Brewers
5(T)....1.......Montreal Expos
6.......0.......Everyone Else

Perfect Cycles
Houston Astros - 8/3 PM (6/6); 8/3 PM2 (6/6)
Milwaukee Brewers - 8/8 PM (6/6)
Montreal Expos - 8/14 AM (6/6)
Nashville Sounds - 8/7 PM2 (6/6); 8/8 PM (6/6); 8/17 AM (6/6)
New York Mets - 8/4 PM1 (6/6); 8/5 AM (5/5; rookie off); 8/5 PM (6/6); 8/7 PM2 (6/6); 8/11 AM (5/5; rookie off); 8/16 PM2 (5/5; rookie off)
Oakland Athletics - 8/4 AM (5/5; ML off); 8/5PM2 (6/6); 8/7 PM (6/6); 8/10 AM (6/6); 8/10 PM2 (6/6); 8/11 PM (6/6); 8/15 PM (6/6)

First Half Pickup of the Season (Minnesota Twins edition)

The Twins enjoyed a great deal of off-season stability once again heading into Season 8, so this particular accolade was not hotly contested. Only two ML contributors ended last season as a member of some other franchise. Coincidentally, both of those players ended last season as part of the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Runner-up for the First Half Pickup of the Season (Minnesota Twins edition) is Wade Harper. The only Rule 5 acquisition for the Twins this season, Harper was selected in Round 1 of the Rule 5 Draft, with the 32nd overall pick. Though he has been part of the platoon, along with William Koh, that was asked to replace departing Free Agent Solly Yearwood, management was fully aware that Harper's value was tied to his glove rather than his bat.

Prior to being picked up by the Twins, Harper had never been fully appreciated by the franchise that employed him. A Third Round pick (108th overall) in Season 3 by donaldkey and the Chicago Cubs, Harper signed for the modest sum of $425,000 as a signing bonus. He then logged 190 AB in 69 games for the Cubs' Rookie League team that season before he was released. Recognizing his value as a minor league defensive replacement, jonboynky claimed him off of the waiver wire on behalf of the St. Louis Cardinals and assigned him to the AA level after the season had ended.

For the next three seasons, Harper toiled away at the AA level as a part-time player. He production with the bat was unspectacular, but he slowly forced himself into the lineup more and more often by virtue of his defensive prowess. His AB progressed steadily from season to season, from only 70 AB in 101 games in S4, to 191 AB in 100 games in S5, to 238 AB in 102 games in S6. Finally, in S7, still at AA for STL, Harper broke into the lineup full-time, posting a .224/.299/.310 line in 504 AB in 144 games. Though he struggled to make contact at times (103 strikeouts), Harper did accumulate 30 extra-base-hits and 20 stolen bases in that full season. Nevertheless, he did not fit into the long-term plans of STL, and so was left unprotected in S8's Rule 5 draft, where he was snapped up by the Twins.

Since getting his break in Minnesota, Harper has filled his role admirably. As the primary SS against right-handed hitting, Harper has batted .205/.271/.308 in 117 AB over 40 games. He's also been successful on 5 of his 6 stolen base attempts and contributed 14 runs, 4 doubles, a triple, 2 home runs, and 13 RBI. More importantly, he has fielded the SS position well, turning in a .981 fielding percentage and a 5.09 Range Factor thus far.

All that said, while Harper has undoubtedly been a valuable role player for the Twins so far, he is clearly not the winner of the First Half Pickup of the Season (Minnesota Twins edition). That honor goes instead to Hideo Hyun.

Primarily a left fielder in S7 for the Cardinals, Hyun was reasonably productive last season, particularly with the bat, hitting .243/.319/.513 with 38 HR and 23 SB. Eligible for his second arbitration hearing in S8, however, Hyun was seeking more money than the Cardinals thought he was worth. As such, he found himself in the unenviable position of being released and looking for work before Spring Training in S8.

The Twins, at that time, were faced with a bit of a dilemma. Management thought the ML squad was one big bat from becoming a top contender, and while Blade LaRue had filled in admirably towards the end of S7, he wasn't quite what management had in mind long-term. After some very surprising arbitration hearing results (most notably Virgil Mendoza and Gabby Martin losing their cases and being awarded the league minimum of $378,000 each), the Twins had an unanticipated payroll surplus and went looking at the available free agents.

By this point, four days after arbitration hearings, most of the better FA had been signed and were holding press conferences showing off their new uniforms. Hyun, however, had seemingly slipped through the cracks. Though not the big bat Twins management was hoping for, Hyun's combination of power and speed seemed to fit well with the Twins transition to a more well-rounded offensive team, and management thought he would be worth the signing as a stop-gap until the big bat could be landed (those attempts eventually proved fruitless). Hyun, anxious for a place to play, signed with the Twins for the reasonable salary of $3,750,000 in a one-season deal.

Four years removed from a stellar rookie season (.285/.346/.655, 56 HR, 102 runs, 130 RBI), Hyun found himself at a career crossroads when Spring Training opened. With All-Star candidates Jay Black and Hiram Bang firmly entrenched at the corner OF positions, Hyun was given the opportunity to compete for AB at 1B/DH. With the pressure on, especially with Donn Stafford expected to make the jump to the Major Leagues as the primary DH, Hyun performed admirably, hitting .389/.421/.667 in 18 Spring Training AB. While Stafford opened the season in AAA, Hyun played on a nearly daily basis early in the season at DH vs LH pitchers and 1B vs RH pitchers. When Stafford was called up, Hyun stuck as the 1B vs RH SP and the 4th OF vs LH SP, used to keep other players fresh (Moe Larkin generally starts vs LH SP).

So far, Hyun has recaptured the potent production that characterized his inaugural ML campaign. Appearing in 53 games, Hyun has logged 217, batting .313/.373/.650 for an OPS of 1.023 to go along with 20 HR and 10/11 SB. A 20-20 season seems in the works, and if playing time allows, 30-30 seems a possibility as well. Hyun has fit particularly nicely into the #3 spot in the batting order, allowing him to both score runs (53) and drive them in (50).

For all these contributions, Hideo Hyun has unquestionably been the First Half Pickup of the Season for the Minnesota Twins. For that Twins management salutes him, and vows to do its best to help Hyun add a World Series title to his collection of baseball accomplishments.