How to defend a World Series Title

Call me crazy, call me a pessimist, call me what you want. . . . plenty of other people did when in mid-November my Phillies conversations turned from, “I still can’t believe Utley made that play” to “How the heck are they going so survive arbitration and still field a full roster.”  Maybe it’s just my nauture, maybe I’ve watched too many Rocky movies, but I believe that a champion becomes, and stays, a champion by never becoming comfortable and always looking to improve. Ironically, sitting here in March, I find myself wondering if my beloved Phils may have taken this notion to heart just a little too much.  

The offseason began with Pat Gillick stepping-down from the GM position. This was pretty much expected, yet still upsetting.  Seemingly over night, Ruben Amaro Jr. was promoted from within the organization to take over the GM duties.  Again, a move that surprised no one.  Amaro Jr. has virtually no experience, but the trust of many in the organization.

Waiting for Amaro, was a pretty large “to do” list, however he got to work with vigor saying his goals were to improve the pitching staff, and find a right-handed OF bat to protect Ryan Howard since all 3 of our starting OF were at the end of their contracts.  Ryan Howard, Pat Burrell, Shane Victorino, Jayson Werth, Cole Hamels, Joe Blanton, Jamie Moyer,  Ryan Franklin, and Brad Lidge were all free agents, or arbitration eligible.  In summary, 4 of our 8 starting position players, 3 of our starters, our closer, and our 7th inning relief pitcher were all in question for next year.  Amaro did a nice job avoiding arbitration with Hamels, Blanton, Vic, Werth, and ultimately Howard.  Lidge was resigned early, as was Moyer in time.  Burrell was never offered a contract, although there are two sides to that story, and Raul Ibanez was signed for 2 yrs 22 million to take his place.  Chan Ho Park was signed to compete with 3 emerging prospects, Kyle Kendrick, J.A. Happ, and Carlos Carassco, for the 5th starter’s spot, which Kendrick and Happ filled with moderate success in ‘08. Ronnie Paulino and Marcus Giles filled out our offseason signings, although their spots on the Major League roster are still in question.  

All-in-all not bad right? Most of our line-up remains intact, Ibanez is a proven run producer, and our staff is young (minus Jamie Moyer, who apparently owns a plot of land that contains the fountain of youth). Before you too contents, lets rewind to beginning of the offseason. Our goals: 1) improve the pitching staff.  The absolute best improvement we may have accomplished would be taking a young promising starter, who we’ve deveolped as a organization, and replacing him with Chan Ho Park, who is, well Chan Ho Park.  Not only is it not a significant upgrade in performance, but what does that say to these kids who we drafted and put our trust in last year?  I didn’t expect CC Sabathia, or Jake Peavy, but Derek Lowe would look pretty good in red pin stripes.  2) Find a right handed OF to protect ryan howard. I don’t know if the Phillies knew this but they had just that in Pat Burrell. Anyway, they decided to sign the left-handed hitting, 36 yr old Ibanez to fill this need. Anyone that follows baseball knows Ibanez can drive in runs, but that was in Kansas City, where he was the only source of offense in the lineup.  Hitting 5th behind Chase Utley and Ryan Howard (over 250 combined RBI last year) has a way of sucking some RBI from the back of your baseball card.  Just ask Burrell.

No one can say the Phillies had a bad offseason, but when you compare the goals they set in place for themselves in Novemeber, and the moves they made all winter, fans are left scratching their heads. The worst part may not be that we didn’t meet these goals, sometimes its  just not possible, after all there is a business aspect to this sport. But when you think back to the fact that Amaro was given the job without even interviewing anyone else, Ibanez was signed before OF bats such as Manny, or Burrell himself, and that fact that Park was our only attempt to meet our #1 goal of the offseason in a market that was riddled with top and middle tier starters and relievers, it is easy to see that the opportunities were there. Were the Phillies so eager to do somthing that they didn’t really care what? So how do you defend a World Series Title? By never becoming satisfied or complacent? I don’t have the sure fire answer.  How do you give away a shot to repeat as champions? The Phillies may be writing that book all summer long.

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