Last chance saloon for Velasquez

Published September 24, 2020

You have to wonder how many "last chances" an athlete can have for one team. For Vince Velasquez, the number is too high to count, but the situation dictates that the Phillies have to use him in a veritable "do or die" on Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays.

I think we can finally say, once and for all, it's time to put up or shut up and get out of town.

The five-year Velasquez experiment has had a few nice moments, but it's largely been a disappointment, one fueled by inconsistency and an inability to translate raw talent into tangible results. Vinny V has pitched in 111 games (98 starts) for the Phils, sporting a 4.75 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP. Those are numbers that simply don't get it done, unless a guy is unquestionably your fifth starter and you're good enough to bail him out offensively most of the time. Needless to say, however, that hasn't been the case over the past few years.

Velasquez shouldn't have sniffed the rotation at all this year, let alone be taking the mound in such a crucial contest, but the team has no choice. His last two starts have shown us everything we've already known about him. In a big game against Miami, he was brutal and couldn't escape the fourth inning. Then he mostly redeemed himself with six good innings against Toronto, although he needed his typically high pitch count (104) just to get that deep. This is the finished product of Vince Velasquez, no longer a young player at age 28. He's not getting any better; he'll always be the poster child for unfulfilled promise, a maddening array of hits and misses.

Still, can he pull a rabbit out of his hat, just this one time? You'd be foolish to discount the possibility that he can come through in a critical spot, although you'd be exposing yourself to the same wounds that he's inflicted in the past. Do we even dare to allow for the possibility of being hurt yet again by a guy that we've already given up on more times than we can count? Like the Phillies, we have no choice. It's sink or swim with Vinny V, as scary as it might be.

This isn't to say that a good Velasquez performance in Tampa should guarantee an extension of his Phillies tenure or offer the organization some renewed hope in him. Far from it. Instead, it's an opportunity for this pitcher to give the team an iota of value for all of their troubles over the last five years.

Come up big and help this team make it into the playoffs, and Vinny can continue his MLB career somewhere else at least content in the knowledge that he came through in a tough spot and showed some return on investment for a team that needed him. He can safely avoid being a Phillies pitching punchline for years to come.

But if we see the Velasquez that we've gotten all too familiar with...overthrowing, walking guys, putting balls right over the plate for hitters to crush...then he should be spared no mercy.

One last dose of "classic Vinny V" that keeps the 2020 Phillies from missing the playoffs (yes, there is plenty of blame elsewhere as well) would be the final insult and absolutely make it open season on this guy. He would go down as one of the most painful busts we've seen in decades, something made even worse because the organization felt the need to give him chance after chance even when it was clearly a lost cause.

Am I basically threatening Velasquez here? Pretty much. And here it is, spelled out…

Prove that you belong in the majors and that this team didn't completely waste their time on you. Bring your best on Friday against Tampa. Because if you don't, if you show that we were right about you all along, then pack your bags and don't ever look back. Ya bum.

Was that last chance-y enough?

Hopefully Velasquez realizes the magnitude of the situation and responds in the best way possible. All you can do with this guy is hope. If he doesn't show up on Friday, the 2020 Phillies will be without any.

This will be his 99th start with the Phillies. It should be his last. Make it count.

Note:  Since I wrote this article last year, and that was technically last decade, I stand by these rankings.  But I can't see anything topping how bad Thursday's Buffalo blunder was for the Phillies going forward.  Anyway, enjoy this article from yesteryear (i.e. last year). Try not to cry. 

Originally published June 20, 2019

The 2019 Philadelphia Phillies season was not supposed to be like this. 

Specifically, its offense was expected to be a juggernaut.

But the team’s criminally underachieving bats hit (or didn’t hit, which was the problem) a new low on Wednesday, as they cranked out a total of two runs on ten hits in dropping a pair of games to the Nationals. The Phillies couldn’t even plate a run against a pitcher who had broken his nose less than 36 hours before facing them. Talk about flaccid.

It was an embarrassment.

But is it the worst doubleheader that the Phillies have experienced this decade? Our crack staff is on the case, looking over the other instances since 2010 where the Phils dropped two games in one day. There’s a surprisingly large number of them. Or, if you have ever watched the Phillies, it’s not surprising.

Here’s a quick look at the facts.

Yesterday was the Phillies’ 20th doubleheader this decade. They have been swept in ten of them. Half! Ridiculous. They also have 7 splits, and they’ve won both games a measly 3 times, and not since 2012.

Let’s go from “just bad” to “biggest disaster”...

September 11, 2015

Taking on a far superior Cubs team, the Phillies had basically zero chance on this day. Some great pitcher named Jake Arrieta shut them down in the first game, a 5-1 Cubs win. Adam Morgan started and lost for the Phils. Remember that failed experiment? In Game Two, the Cubs started scoring right off the bat against Alec Asher (ew), and the Phillies had to dip deep into the ‘pen to trot out the likes of Kenny Roberts, Dalier Hinojosa and Nefi Ogando in a 7-3 loss. My God.

August 22, 2017

Facing the Marlins, Aaron Nola got lit up in the first game to the tune of 7 runs, and the Phillies bullpen of Jesen Therrien (who?) and Ricardo Pinto (also, who?) didn’t fare much better. The Phils actually hit 5 homers of their own, but it didn’t matter in a 12-8 loss. Nick Pivetta was even worse in the second game, as he couldn’t make it through the second inning, allowing 6 runs. The rest of the game didn’t matter, as the Phillies largely sleepwalked through a 7-4 loss.

June 28, 2014

In a close game vs. Atlanta, Antonio Bastardo imploded in the 8th inning to pave the way to a 10-3 Phillies loss in the first game of that day’s twinbill. The Phillies’ bats were then eerily silent in a 5-1 loss in the second game against a collection of Braves pitchers that I’ve never heard of.

June 24, 2012

Even though Cole Hamels outdueled David Price in the first game of this day’s Rays-Phillies doubleheader, the Phils’ bullpen couldn’t hold a lead, and they lost 3-1. In the second game, Cliff Lee allowed 5 Tampa runs, and a random collection of Rays pitchers handled the Phillies in a 7-3 Tampa win.

September 24, 2011

Coming into the day having lost 6 games in a row as they coasted into the playoffs, the Phillies saw their skid reach 8 games after they mailed in this entire day against the Mets. They dropped the first game 2-1, and then a costly Hunter Pence error turned into 4 unearned runs in the second game, which made the difference in a 6-3 Mets win. These would be the Phils’ last two losses of that regular season. Don’t ask me how the playoffs went.

September 20, 2011

In a tightly contested opening game, the Nationals eeked out the go ahead run in the 10th inning against Phils legend Michael Stutes, winning 4-3. In the second game, the Phillies committed as many errors (3) as they managed hits. Needless to say, they didn’t score in a 3-0 loss. It was a pretty uncharacteristic day for that year’s excellent (in the regular season) Phillies team.

October 3, 2015

When it’s the next-to-last day of the season and you’re 27 games out of first, these things happen. In the opener, the Phillies took a 6-5 lead into the 9th inning against the Marlins. One Ken Giles blown save later, they had lost 7-6. Alec Asher was at it again in the second game, allowing 3 runs in 2 innings in a 5-2 setback, the Phillies’ 99th and final defeat of that season.

August 30, 2017

The Phillies hadn’t lost a doubleheader in eight days, so they were due. The Braves blew up Jerad Eickhoff, and the Phillies had no answer for knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, who stifled them for eight innings. It all ended in a 9-1 loss. The Phillies, as they so often do, then fell behind immediately in the top of the first of the second game. They would lose it, 5-2. The Phillies only managed 13 hits the entire day. Pretty bad, but of course we’ve seen worse.

September 11, 2018

Another pair of losses to the Nationals, but this one came at the not-so-friendly confines of Citizens Bank Park. In the opener, the Phillies’ anemic offense didn’t score until the bottom of the 9th in a 3-1 loss. The nightcap ended up being an unmitigated disaster, as the bullpen choked on a 6-3 lead in the 9th inning and allowed the Nats to tie it up. Then, the Phillies got their first two runners on in the bottom of the inning but were unable to score. In extras, a Juan Soto bomb gave the Nats a 7-6 win and a sweep of the day.

So there’s our power (or weakness) rankings. As you saw, some of those days were pretty bad, wretched even. But I’ve reached the conclusion that yesterday was the single most putrid day of Phillies baseball this decade, and that’s saying something.

Yes, they were just two regular season losses in June, and that hurts far less than losing a single game down the stretch in a tight pennant race. But they all count the same, and the abysmal showing yesterday highlights some serious problems with this current team.

Basically, yesterday was the worst.

How’s your seat feeling, Gabe?

Published August 15, 2020

The fact that Nick Williams was claimed by the Cincinnati Reds, a few days after the Phillies designated him for assignment, doesn’t really matter. He had been relegated to the status of an afterthought for a few seasons, both for reasons of his own doing and the team’s reluctance to ever really trust him.

No, the main takeaway here is that the Phillies have now officially parted ways with every piece they received in the trade for Cole Hamels, just over five years after they did the deal. And based on what we all expected when they pulled off the swap, that’s a pretty large disappointment. When the Phils traded Hamels (and Jake Diekman) for six players, it was believed that at least a couple of those guys would be key cogs in a return to the postseason for the Phillies.

Didn’t happen. In fact, not even close.

First off, one of the players was pitcher Matt Harrison, who was hurt and never pitched again. So he doesn’t really count. Alec Asher was the first of the players to actually crack the bigs, and he was hot garbage in 12 starts over parts of two seasons. Jake Thompson wasn’t much better in 30 appearances (18 starts) with the team. And injuries derailed what looked like a potentially promising career for Jerad Eickhoff after he had a nice debut in his first full season. The Phillies finally let him walk after 2019, leaving Williams as the last vestige of the Hamels trade. But that’s now over, and history will show that that the team got next to nothing in exchange for their ace.

As I wrote before about Williams, his failure to capitalize in a Phillies uniform was both self-inflicted and a result of the Phillies never giving him a true chance. He was basically headed out the door after the signings of Andrew McCutchen and Bryce Harper locked down the corner outfield spots, so it was surprising that he remained under team control even this long. Maybe if they had acted sooner, they’d have been able to get something for him. But as it stands, they got nothing.

Hamels himself has been good, not great, since the trade. And we may in fact be seeing the end for him, as he’ll likely miss this whole season with an injury after signing with the Braves last year. He’ll try to come back as he pursues some career milestones, but it doesn’t seem like the Phillies traded away a pitcher whose best years were ahead of him, as they did with Curt Schilling 20 years ago. Still, the fact that an aging Hamels has managed 16 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) since the trade, while all of the players the Phils received in return haven’t even produced half that number combined, really shows you how badly this turned out.

Yes, I deliberately haven’t mentioned the last player from that trade: Jorge Alfaro. Some will point out that he was flipped to acquire J.T. Realmuto, which gives him some value beyond solely what he produced in Philadelphia. But when you factor in that the Phils also had to surrender top pitching prospect Sixto Sanchez, not to mention the strong possibility that Realmuto might not stay with the Phillies past this year, Alfaro’s net contribution doesn’t equate to much either.

While the loss of Williams on the waiver wire seems like a pretty small transaction, it slams the book closed on one of the most important trades the Phillies have made this century. Unfortunately, the book was rife with errors and really could have used an editor.

Can Williams make something out of himself in Cincy? Common sense says “no”. He’s nearly 27, and he’s going on three years without any kind of MLB success. But stranger things have happened; if the Reds are willing to give him a shot, they could be rewarded. It’s something that we never really had a chance to find out here. We all should have expected more after trading away Cole Hamels.

Then again, it was one of the last deals of the Ruben Amaro Jr. regime. Maybe we shouldn’t have been surprised.

Published August 1, 2020

I’m just going to say what we’re all thinking, and probably have been for some time: The Miami (I have to make an effort to not say “Florida” anymore) Marlins are a garbage franchise in a terrible sports market, and they don’t belong in baseball. This has been the case for some time, but this week’s developments seal the deal even further.

A perennial losing club, they weren’t going to factor into the standings one bit during this abbreviated 2020 season, but they’ve managed to make their impact by being so wreckless that they’ve likely cost themselves their own season and, much more importantly, looks like they may have robbed Phillies of theirs. I mean, I fully expected the Phillies to torpedo their own season by being unable to beat the sad sack Fish again this year, but now they might not even have the chance.

Throw in the collateral effects on teams like the Yankees and Nationals, and the potential cancelation of this experiment can all be traced directly back to the Marlins’ decision to go out and party in Atlanta. Some people would say to just wipe out the remainder of the Marlins’ season and fine the franchise, but I’m fully onboard with the nuclear option of getting rid of them entirely. They’re a joke, and their COVID tests are the first positive thing they’ve ever produced.

Yes, they won two World Series, and I’ll get to that. But this is a team that has only had six winning seasons in 27 years, making the playoffs twice (just so happening to win it all both times, but whatever). You know who else has more playoff appearances than them during that time? The Orioles, the Pirates, the Mariners...basically everyone. The Marlins have been sub-.500 every year since 2009, back when they were “Florida” and played their home games at a terrible football stadium. Now they’re “Miami” and play in an even more terrible new baseball-only stadium, wearing way worse uniforms as well.

There is nothing good or interesting about this franchise, and even people who play fantasy baseball get sick to their stomach when they find themselves having to draft a Marlin or see an otherwise useful player sign with or get traded to Miami. They can’t draw flies to their games, and this is despite their World Series wins in 1997 and 2003 that you’d think might have cemented a fanbase but didn’t. Those titles were merely the byproduct of a blind squirrel finding a couple of acorns, as they needed Jose Mesa to blow a save and a Cubs fan to do something stupid. Oddly enough, Moises Alou was involved both times. That guy really had a hands-on approach to things. Anyway…

Flags fly forever, and the Fish do have those two pennants in the back pockets of their ugly unis. But think about how long ago the 2008 Phillies season feels. Then tack a few more years onto that. Pitbull and the other seven Marlins fans out there have long forgotten what that excitement feels like. What we’re left with is a franchise that has produced nothing good for a decade and a half, and now their lack of self-control will probably end up ruining the 2020 MLB season for everyone else.

Don’t even let them back in the league, and disperse the players from their organization to the rest of the teams. Also, give the Phillies the first overall draft pick in 2021 for pain and suffering if they don’t play another game this year/the season as a whole ends prematurely.

The world would be a better place without the Miami Marlins. Let’s make it happen.

Published July 16, 2020

Well, it sounds like the sports fans in this fair city won't be permitted to see their teams live and in person until at least March for the purposes of containing potential virus spread, although even that timeline is in question because nothing is ever set in stone in this world anymore. 

Regardless (or, irregardless, since we just learned that's a real word), it seems like a premature decision to say that no fans will be allowed into the sports complex for such a length of time. After all, Philadelphia's fans are a hearty bunch. Here are some items that offer testimony to that fact…

Editor's note: We fully acknowledge the ongoing seriousness of the pandemic and encourage you to follow all CDC guidelines and local mandates. That being said, if you can't at least have some sense of humor about things, stop reading now.

Anyway…

• We all spent our fair share of time in crowded bathrooms at the Vet, including the suspiciously long lines at the sinks. You know what I'm talking about. I can't imagine that our bodies weren't exposed to every contagion under the sun at that point, yet here we are. I think that makes us basically indestructible.

• Philly's water (or "wooder") has slowly inoculated us all over the years, most notably in the "soft" pretzels you'd get in paper bags outside of the Spectrum and which would crack the sidewalk if you dropped them. Those things really put hair on your chest.

• Experts agree that an important aspect of this whole thing is mental health. It's essential that you take care of yourself in this way. And I can attest to the mental fortitude of this fanbase because it had to endure decades of Chris Wheeler on Phillies' broadcasts. Those trials are over now, but we can all agree that what didn't kill us made us stronger. We’re ready for anything, even Joe Buck calling Eagles games. Maybe not Collinsworth, though.

• As most are aware, the Wells Fargo Center is built on the site of old JFK Stadium, a cavernous building that was a dilapidated shell for many years before finally being torn down to make way for the new arena. For my generation of fans, JFK’s sole use was as an outdoor toilet before and after games at the sports complex if you happened to park near it. Anyone who participated in this has automatic immunity.

• We’ve ridden SEPTA (when it’s not on strike) and eaten cheesesteaks from Pat’s and Geno’s right out of the guys’ hands. I mean, you can see the dude sweating right on the grill. At any rate, the germ factor in these places and elsewhere in the city (PLEASE TOUCH MUSEUM?!?!) is super high, and it’s served us well.

• Finally, we’ve all been exposed to the most toxic material of all: local people who are Cowboys fans. Anyone who’s spent two minutes with these people can take anything that man or nature throws at them.

I urge local leadership not to underestimate the virility of the Philadelphia fan. Our immune systems are strong. So pack us three-deep when our teams hit the field/ice/court. Let’s go!

But seriously, just do what the experts tell you.

Published June 29, 2020

One of the narratives that came out of MLB’s official announcement about a 60-game season, on the local front at least, was about how tough things will be for the Phillies during this abbreviated campaign. NBC Sports Philadelphia even went so far as to call it “brutal”.

Give me a break.

Of course it’s not going to be two months’ worth of easy games; that’s the whole point of sports. But everyone seems to be talking up how difficult it’s going to be for the Phillies, starting with the competitiveness of the NL East. Well, yeah, it’ll be a challenge for them. The Phillies are clearly behind the Nationals and Braves in the division, and they’ll have to go through one or both to make any kind of run. We already knew that was going to be the case in a normal 162-game season. This 60-game season, if anything, makes it easier to overcome stronger competition because the Phillies (or any team facing a bit of an uphill battle in their division) are more likely to hang tough over 10 games against an opponent in a season than over the normal 18 games, where the “better” team is more likely to separate itself.

Then there are the Mets. Come on. The Phillies are at least as good as them, and should frankly be embarrassed if they can’t finish ahead of the Mets in the standings and at least break even in their games against them this season. If the Mets are still better than the Phillies even after losing Zack Wheeler to them, then I don’t know what else to say. The Phillies have to at least move past New York.

As for the Marlins, the Phillies have had well-documented issues against their fishy foes in recent years. They went 9-10 against them in 2019, with one of the losses ranking as their worst of the year and possibly among the most putrid in decades. The Phillies must go 7-3 against Miami at a bare minimum in 2020. The Marlins actually improved a bit since the end of last season, but there can still be no excuses.

Now let’s head over to the American League East, where the Phils will meet each team four times for some hot interleague action. Yes, the Yankees and Rays will be tough. But is that really any more difficult than the series against the Athletics and Astros that the Phillies were originally supposed to play this season? Toronto isn’t a big deal either, and neither is Boston. I don’t know why the Red Sox are all of a sudden part of some American Gladiators-style Eliminator gauntlet that people are making this schedule out to be, but I guess everyone is conveniently forgetting that Boston traded away their best player after last season and were widely regarded as having gotten worse as a result. And that was in addition to their manager getting fired in disgrace. Yeah, real tough opponent there.

Finally, there are the Orioles. The Phillies were not originally scheduled to play the O’s in 2020. That means they went from 0 of 162 games against one of the worst teams in baseball to now having 4 out of 60 games (6.67% of their schedule) against them. Sign me up. Again, there are no excuses not to mop the floor with an inferior opponent.

On top of all this, the Phillies will avoid good NL clubs like the Brewers and Cardinals, as well as the Reds, who were the consensus “most improved team” just a few months ago. And let’s not forget the Dodgers. The Phillies won’t have to worry about them or their annual West Coast disaster this year. Every season, they go 1-8 on that trip. How can this new schedule be any worse for them?

No, it won’t be an easy 60-game season. But a long season wasn’t going to be a piece of cake, either. The Phillies aren’t a lock to improve from last year, and the team still has numerous weaknesses. But when people have to make a story out of it and point out how tough this modified schedule is going to be, it’s just annoying. These are probably the same dopes who discuss the Eagles’ schedule every year and talk about how “the NFC East is one of the toughest divisions in football” and “anyone can win a divisional game, regardless of record”. It makes me want to bang my head against a wall.

Let’s just take whatever the Phils give us during this 60-game season. It should be wild. Then, after it all goes down the tubes immediately, we can bang our heads collectively and the “brutal schedule” crowd can say they were right.

Published June 19, 2020

I realize that this comes on the heels of news that several Phillies players and staffers have tested positive for the coronavirus, but that doesn’t take away from the reality of this scenario.

We might actually get baseball in 2020. And, for some time, we’ve known that the designated hitter will be universally instituted for this abbreviated season. Even if MLB doesn’t return till 2021, this will almost certainly be the case as well. So it stands to reason that once we go all DH all the time, we’re never headed back to pitchers hitting in the National League. Pitchers won’t want to deal with batting ever again, and managers and clubs will be happy to have an extra reliable hitter in their lineups. Fans might like it too, since it should lead to more runs scored.

For the Phillies, this is a particularly fortunate scenario, owing to the personnel currently in the organization. Side note: it should go much better for them than their first taste of the DH did back in 1997 when interleague play became a reality.

First, this all hinges on Rhys Hoskins bouncing back from what was a wretched second half of the 2019 season. If he can become a reliable bat and run producer, the Phils will happily keep him around for an indeterminate amount of time because he can easily be slid into the DH spot even if he becomes a total liability over at first base. He won’t have to be “shipped out” to the American League like so many have over the years because they couldn’t be relied upon to play the field.

But it goes beyond Hoskins.

As far as the current roster, J.T. Realmuto is still here as the everyday catcher (although, check back in next year). Let’s all hope that the Phils can somehow get him signed long term, which would be an even smarter investment than it was previously since Realmuto can fill the DH role even on days where he isn’t behind the dish. Yes, you’ll miss his defense while you pray that Andrew Knapp or some other bum doesn’t mess things up, but keeping his bat in this Phillies lineup is a top priority. Thank you, DH slot!

Looking toward the future, though, this is where it really becomes important. I’m talking about you, Alec Bohm. The Phillies’ top prospect is a third baseman, but all the pundits say that he’s too big and doesn’t have the skills to stick at the hot corner long term, projecting as a first baseman in just a few years. Now, the Phillies can put him at first while also keeping Rhys Hoskins. This feels like the solution to a big future problem, although once again this depends on Hoskins stabilizing his stroke and Bohm actually delivering on his promise.

Finally, way way down the road, this will give Bryce Harper a home to live out his golden years. He should be able to age more gracefully between now and 2031 (it still feels weird to write that) if he can take a day off from the field once or twice a week while still getting his cuts in.

These benefits aren’t unique to the Phillies, as every NL club is no doubt lining up scenarios in their minds and delighting over now being able to fit in certain kinds of players that they wouldn’t have previously been able to. But from a Phils perspective, the likely institution of the DH permanently in the National League going forward is a big win.

As starved as we all are for sports in this town, let’s take any kind of win we can get right now, even if it’s just on paper like this is for the time being.

Published June 12, 2020

I know that baseball is different from the NFL or the NBA. You don’t expect the players that you draft to make an immediate impact, except in very rare cases. Baseball’s developmental and minor league system (except for this year) is deliberately set up so that young players acquire the tools that they need and are as ready as possible when it’s time for the big leagues.

Still, we’re going to have to wait a long time for shiny new toy Mick Abel to get to the major leagues, and that’s frustrating if you’re someone who’s hoping for this Phillies team to fulfill its potential in the short term.

Dreaming about Abel and Aaron Nola forming a dominant 1-2 punch atop the rotation? Maybe, but Nola is going to be in his 30’s by the time Abel debuts, so it’s no sure thing. Aaron Nola figures to have the most productive seasons of his career in the immediate future while Abel is still climbing the ladder, if such a thing will even exist in organized baseball after the mess of 2020. After that, who knows? In fact, I can only think of three or four current Phillies who are virtual locks to still be on the team by the time we see Abel toe the rubber at Citizens Bank Park for the first time. Between now and then, it’s going to be near total roster turnover, so the fact is that Abel doesn’t do much for this current iteration of the team.

I’m not taking anything away from the 18-year old kid. He was the top high school pitcher selected in the draft this year for a reason. He’s big, he throws hard, and experts think highly of him. But he’s got so many hurdles to clear that you’d think a supposedly contending team like the Phillies would have gone with a college-aged player with their top pick this year in the hopes that maybe they could crack the club within two years a la Mr. Nola. Instead, a high school right-handed pitcher who just had his senior season wiped out by the pandemic is about as far away from “major league ready” as possible. We’re all going to need to wait a long time on this one, and even that depends on baseball not self-destructing before then.

The Phillies wised up with their later picks in the 2020 draft by taking college players, including a guy who strikes me as a Scott Kingery clone (which isn’t a knock on him). Maybe the Phils will also supplement their strategy by signing as many players as possible during the unprecedented undrafted free agent free-for-all that starts on Sunday. Then again, it’s not totally up to them, since these players are free to choose between whichever teams make them an offer. The Phillies really shouldn’t be banking on unearthing too many hidden gems in that field. 

Let’s all hope that Mick Abel stays healthy, keeps developing, and takes a reasonable amount of time before he’s ready to let it rip in Philadelphia. At the same time, we’ve also got to hope that the Phillies are a competitive club when he arrives, and not some rebuilding sad sack franchise who wasted the best years of Aaron Nola, Bryce Harper, and others. Because that would be awful.

This is all a very fatalistic view when it comes to the team’s first round pick, but you also have to be realistic when it comes to evaluating the potential of long-term success for a player as young and untested as Mick Abel.

Maybe the Phillies did end up with the best player available, and maybe they’ll reap some big rewards down the road. It’s just going to take far too long for my tastes. Abel could be great, but he doesn’t do anything for this team or its fans right now. I’d love to eat crow about my opinion, though. Show us what you got, Mick.