Charlie Manuel began 2007 on the proverbial hot seat.He'll end it as runner-up for the National League's Manager of the Year.
Manuel, the often ridiculed Phillies skipper, finished second today to Arizona's Bob Melvin in balloting announced by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Manuel received seven first-place votes and appeared on 26 of the 32 ballots submitted by two writers from each NL city.
Overall, Manuel finished with 76 points. Melvin, who guided the Diamondbacks to the NL West crown, received 19 first-place votes and finished with 119 points. Colorado's Clint Hurdle finished third with 58 points.
Manuel, 63, led the pitching-poor and injury-riddled Phillies to 89 wins and their first NL East crown since 1993. He worked as a lame-duck manager in 2007 before receiving a two-year contract extension last month. Never the most popular choice to lead the Phillies when he was hired in November 2005, he took criticism in April for the club's 4-11 start. But an April 21 team meeting in Cincinnati sparked a turnaround. Despite injuries to several key players that forced the Phillies to use a franchise-record 28 pitchers, including 14 starters, they went 85-62 over the final 147 games and rallied from a 7-1/2-game deficit with 17 games remaining to overtake the New York Mets in the NL East.
In three seasons with the Phillies, Manuel is 262-224 (.539 winning percentage). He's the first Phillies manager to post three straight winning seasons since Danny Ozark (1975-78) and reached 250 wins faster than any manager in team history since Pat Moran (1915-18).
14 comments:
I guess the writers thought the NL East crown went to the Phils more so because of the Mets collapse. That's exactly what this says to me.
That's all well and good, and I'm happy for Charlie, but the focus should still be on what to do about the team.
Scott:
I don't think we're really calling the Phils brass cheap, we're just saying that they COULD spend more to put a better product on the field. Rowand would be money well-spent. We're not asking the Phils to be a $200 million team like the Red Sox. Working with a budget of around $110-115 million would ease the worry and allow us to keep Rowand and probably Kyle Lohse, and we'd be able to move Eaton to the 'pen.
Eaton could be more valuable as a reliever anyways, since he gets shelled in the first couple innings, is good for an inning or two, and then gets shelled in his final inning. Let him take a long time to warm up and bring him in during long-relief or mop-up situations. A 6.29 ERA out of the starting rotation is NOT acceptable and is a HUGE problem. Lohse's 4.00-4.70 ERA is a lot easier to stomach.
I'm not at all comfortable with the team starting Werth in right field. I'm not comfortable with Werth starting at all.
Open the wallet a little more and keep Rowand and Lohse, and you've got a team that's going to contend for years to come.
Rob I don't know why exactly you want the Phils to overpay for Lohse, a borderline 4th starter. You saw that pitch to Kaz in the NLDS did you not?
If the Phils are going to overpay for someone why not make it worth their while? They overpaid for Eaton and Helms last season, and I see them making the same mistakes this year. Randy Wolf? he had one good half a season here and was hurt all of last season. Carlos Silva? He was terrible here, wasn't he? What's changed?
This team is on the cusp of being a dominate NL team for years to come, they need some pitching help, not hopes and prayers. Let's pray the 45 year old can win double digit games this year. Let's hope that Kendrick can be as good as he was in '07. Can Eaton be any worse? Absolutely.
Please, spend some of that cigar money ownership group.
Anonymous, 3:32 p.m.: I think the vote simply was a reward for Melvin, who won 90 games with a young team that wasn't expected to contend for much when the season started. Factor in that Randy Johnson was injured for almost the entire season and it's hard to argue with Melvin as the choice.
Rob: I can see ownership possibly extending the budget by a few million to re-sign Rowand. But the Phils probably can allocate their money more wisely than spending $50-55 for five years on Kyle Lohse. Lohse pitched well for two months after being dealt to the Phils, but he's 63-74, 4.82 for his career. And because of the weak free-agent market (and his agent, Scott Boras), he's going to get an inflated contract.
Don't count on Eaton going to the bullpen. From conversations I've had with pitching coach Rich Dubee and others, the Phillies don't think he's suited to that role, primarily because he needs a few innings to reach his top velocity. If the Phils brought him into a game for one inning or a few batters, they don't think his stuff would be as effective.
Anonymous, 4:24 p.m.: OK, we agree that Carlos Silva, Randy Wolf, Lohse and others are probably going to get more money than they're worth. So, who do you want to see the Phillies spend their money on?
It seems as if the Phils brass is content with starting Werth though, and I'm not sure why. He's the classic "athlete" that Gillick drools over. I wish he'd change his philosophy. It just doesn't seem like the club thinks losing Rowand is a big deal.
And, if the Phillies aren't going to spend much money on pitching, they're obviously going to have to work a trade out. I just don't want the team to go into must-win-at-all-costs mode and trade away prospects like Outman, Cardenas, or Carrasco for lightning in a bottle. The free-agent crop this year is weak at best. It's a thin line that management has to walk, obviously, but it wouldn't be nearly as thin if they'd be willing to spend a little more than they do now. Their focus needs to be on putting the best possible team on the field. They'll get back any money they put into a player when the fans keep packing the houses to see a team that (as of right now) is bordering on the line of becoming dominant or slipping back into the Phillies we all know of ("We won't compete until 2008." -- remember when Gillick said that?)
The ambiguity this ownership shows and decisions this team makes are maddening sometimes. Whose idea was it to sign Rod Barajas? Adam Eaton? Abe Nunez?
I'd rather them take the money they're going to be paying in inflated salaries to inferior pitchers and put that money into the farm system and used to get some guys from Latin America to replenish our system. Don't spend because we're screaming to spend. Look at the top two free agent pitchers next year: Johan Santana and C.C. Sabathia. Would you rather get that pitcher now or wait a year and go after a real pitcher?
Gammons said on ESPNews that the Phils are hot after Lowell with a back loaded contract...thinking being..they can get him around 8 mil a year this year..and pay 12-14 in future years when some of the other contracts are off the books.
Scott,
What do you know about this?
Man, are the Phillies getting good at lying or what? First the injuries and now Lowell when they said they don't have the money to go after a player like that. I love it, keep playing it coy guys!
Anonymous, 8:06 p.m.: OK, here's what I know to be true, from having spoken to several Phillies people over the past few weeks.
1. Even after getting Brad Lidge and moving Brett Myers to the bullpen, the Phillies are still prioritizing pitching over everything, including upgrading at third base and re-signing Aaron Rowand. They'd like to add one more setup reliever and a back-of-the-rotation starter.
2. If ownership sticks to its plan of keeping the payroll at approximately $105 million, the Phils have about $10 million left to spend. It seems they'd have to stretch the budget to re-sign Rowand or get a third-base upgrade.
Now, having said that, I believe Pat Gillick and Ruben Amaro Jr. realize that losing Rowand would weaken the offense. But they could weather the blow by a) upgrading at third base or b) picking up a lower-cost, lefty-hitting right fielder to platoon with Jayson Werth. Will they have enough money to do that and continue to address their No. 1 concern -- pitching? We'll see.
Are the Phils interested in Mike Lowell? Absolutely. And if A-Rod returns to the Yankees (which now appears to be a possibility) and the Red Sox stick to their guns about not giving Lowell a fourth year, the Phils may actually have a shot. But only if Lowell agrees to a back-loaded contract. Remember: Pat Burrell and Tom Gordon will come off the books after the 2008 season, so the Phils may have more money to play with in '09 and beyond. They could entice Lowell by giving him the four years he's looking for, and in return, they could ask Lowell to sacrifice some money up front and make it up on the back end.
Is it possible? Sure.
Will it happen? Just don't hold your breath.
At this point, backloading Lowell might be the smartest decision the team can make. While I agree with all the detractors who say that we'll regret it in four years, I'd also rather see the money we have go to a solid-at-worst third baseman than the iffy pitchers like Wolf, Colon, Silva, etc. Lowell may have peaked last year, but he's much more of a known commodity. Plus, when Wolf/Colon go on the injured list with Eaton a month into the season, we're right back where we started. There's no super-intelligent way to play this, but we're close enough to controlling the NL that it would be a shame to roll the dice with some of these very suspect pitchers.
I agree.....backload the 4 year contract....go with 8,14,14,16 for a 4 year 52 million dollar deal....use the extra 2 mill this year to get a reliever.....
if eaton cant hang as a 5th..let durbin have it til some of our young SP in the minors are ready.....
I'd love to see the Phils backload a contract to Mike Lowell, but I just saw something on yahoo that said four teams have topped Boston's offer, and Philly wasn't one of them.
Wonder where Gammons heard this from.
yahoo is reporting something from last night and listed the cards as making an offer which ST LOUIS denied....plus why would atlanta make an offer they have a 1b and 3b already.
Today Buster Olney said on the radio and in his blog that the Phils are a major player for Lowell. Stay tuned.
Let's not forget about Lowell's versatility. Not only can he play corner infield, he can hold his own at second base too. I think it was two years ago that he was Boston's version of Abe Nunez - played either position and played it well.
The Cards may let Eckstein walk, which is why they'd be interested in Lowell. Not sure what the deal is with the Braves. Their interest may simply be to drive the price up.
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