MLB | Considering 2016 expectations, Phillies have been impressive

by Jack Kerwin  |  [email protected]

Gotta say …

Ninety games into the 2016 season, am thoroughly impressed with the Phillies.

Seriously.

Yeah, yeah, they had that somewhat fluky 24-17 start accomplished mostly through smoke, mirrors and test-the-bounds-of-reality one-run victories, creating some misguided buzz about a playoff berth, then followed that with an abysmal, energy-sapping 6-26 stretch, creating some misguided buzz about them being the worst team in baseball.

So, they’ve experienced the extremes. That happens.

What doesn’t necessarily is the stabilizing of things after them. Especially after a crash-and-burn eclipses all the positive vibes borne in the first two months with a young, unproven team seemingly leapfrogging several steps along a massive rebuild ladder.

Hey, at 42-48 as Major League Baseball takes its annual “break” for the All-Star Game, they are a fair-to-middling club with each game, each series, each week they play … not being a foregone conclusion.

Don’t knock it. Those 100-loss predictions prior to the season had their merits.

Aside from hype-fueled hope surrounding third baseman Maikel Franco and a few question marks, the Phillies needed help everywhere. Even manager Pete Mackanin seemed at best a hit-or-miss prospect and at worst a pulse ahead of Ryne Sandberg on the flatline scale.

Now?

Well, after that cliff jump placed them at a season-low 13 games under .500, they’ve responded with 12 wins in their last 17 games. Over the last 10, only the best team in baseball, San Francisco, and 2015 postseason entries Toronto and Pittsburgh, all 8-2, have been better than the Phillies at 7-3.

More important …

It appears they’re set in center field with first-time all-star Odubel Herrera, at catcher with Cameron Rupp and at the hot corner with Franco, whose production is starting to catch up with his popularity. Second baseman Cesar Hernandez’s bat has come alive, shortstop Freddy Galvis is great on defense and a surprising source of offense at times, and Peter Bourgos and Cody Asche really do seem to have places on a major-league roster.

Slugging first baseman Tommy Joseph remains an enigma at this point, but he, like the club, is on another upswing. So there is hope … that the Phillies finally can move on from Ryan Howard.

The pitching staff? It’s still a work in progress, especially with a guy such as Aaron Nola, whom the club and the fan base have placed some pretty high expectations, really struggling. But Vince Velasquez has special arm talent, and Jerad Eickhoff and Jeremy Hellickson are proving to be solid starting rotation candidates for years to come.

The bullpen is a mystery, mostly because it’s hard to believe closer Jeanmar Gomez has the “goods” to have 23 saves already.

But, all told, Phillies pitches collectively rank 15th in MLB with a 4.35 ERA … which, all told, seems just about right.

As does 42-48.

May sound mediocre, because it is, but when 70 wins seemed a pipe dream, and anything more than 62 a stretch, coming into the season, the judgment scale wavers a bit.

This time in favor of the Phillies.
​

---

... they’ve experienced the extremes. That happens. What doesn’t necessarily is the stabilizing of things after them. Especially after a crash-and-burn eclipses all the positive vibes borne in the first two months with a young, unproven team seemingly leapfrogging several steps along a massive rebuild ladder. Hey, at 42-48 as Major League Baseball takes its annual “break” for the All-Star Game, they are a fair-to-middling club with each game, each series, each week they play … not being a foregone conclusion. Don’t knock it. Those 100-loss predictions prior to the season had their merits.