The Braves traded out of options right-hander Jairo Asencio to the Indians for cash this morning. Here are some more updates from the NL East…
- The Braves have expressed interest in Nationals outfielder Xavier Nady, according to Mark Bowman of MLB.com (on Twitter). The Braves have been seeking a right-handed hitting outfielder, but were said to prefer players who can handle center field.
- Cole Hamels' reaction to the sale of the Dodgers, via ESPN.com's Jayson Stark (on Twitter): "I didn't know Magic Johnson knew anything about baseball," Hamels said. "That's my reaction." The Phillies left-hander hits free agency following the 2012 season but may sign a long-term deal in the relatively near future.
- Chin-lung Hu had joined the Phillies in anticipation of a deal, but failed his physical, Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets.
- A National League scout doesn't think the Phillies are that scary once you get past Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels. "Other than those three pitchers, they're not very good," the scout told Andy Martino of the New York Daily News (Twitter link).
- In case you missed it, I reviewed the Nationals' offseason earlier this morning.
He’s right. Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Placido Polanco, Hunter Pence, Carlos Ruiz, and Jonathan Papelbon aren’t very good.
He should worry about his own team.
Too bad that’s already three more good pitchers than the Mets can claim.
Martino used to cover the Phils for the Daily News.
Yeah I remember. Personally, I’m kind of glad he’s gone. I like Gelb’s stuff a lot better.Â
Jimmy is no where near where he use to be. Same goes for Polanco. Victorino is slightly above average. Ruiz is about average but has improved but he has in theory now reached his peak so he should start to decline. Pence yes and Papelbon is not really a big improvement over Madson. I would say it is a fair assessment. They are not exactly world beaters now.
I’d take my chances with them.Â
your right though i would say victorino is more than above average. he plaed hurt the end of last year which hurt his stats, when healthy he really was a pain in the arse to face.
His career numbers indicate he is not more than above average. Last year was a big year from him but lets see him do it more than once where he manages to hit that well all around it was his highest career OPS+. Other than that he has not been too much to really brag about.
Papelbon is not a big improvement over Madson who is out getting Tommy John Surgery? Interesting assessment. Victorino is not slightly above average. He plays great defense and he is a huge threat on the base pads. Polanco is a 1/2 season performer. Ruiz bats 8th in the lineup for a reason, he is there for his pitch calling with the horses.Â
 Evidently you have never watched Papelbon on a consistent basis. A Closer, from the AL east no less who at one time held the POST SEASON record for consecutive scoreless innings. Still throws 95+ and has one of the nastiest splitters since Bruce Sutter.. nah, he’s no good…
Its easy to say NOW that he is an improvement over Madson given the injury but based off of Madson’s recent history prior to this injury I felt he was about on par with Papelbon.
As far as Vic. His career numbers say otherwise. His career OPS is 104. That is slightly above average. He does have very good SB numbers but he isn’t world class in SB. As far as his defense. He takes bad routes but his plus speed allows him to make up for it.
How can you say Madsons half year of closing can compare to Papelbons career with the Red Sox?Â
While I can indeed see both sides of this argument as it pertains to the Phillies…Papelbon is a top 3 or 4 closer in the majors. Maybe top two. I mean I think Kimbrel is the most disgusting pitcher ever but he has only closed for one year. So I would be inclined to put Papelbon ahead of him. For that same reason-you cant put Madson on equal ground with Pappy. That said: I do see the Phillies becoming maybe a little more vulnerable than they were the past 2 or 3 years. Lets not forget the Phils too had something of a late struggle before running into the pitiful braves and sweeping the last series of the regular season. Rollins, Victorino, Polanco, and Utley might be baseballs version of Garnett, Pierce, and Allen.
The body of work as a closer by JP is far greater than the body of work by Madson in his whole career, even as a 8th inning setup man.Â
Honestly most of them aren’t
rollins was good 5 years ago
Victorino is good but no superstar
polanco: .674 obps from your 3b is nothing to write home about.
Rollins is an above average bat for shortstop.
Victorino is among the top 5 centerfielders in the game.
Polanco was hurt. He’s still an elite defender at 3rd base.
That .674 came during a season with 2 sports hernias and a lower back injury. I dont think thats too shabby considering.
exactly… 2 sports hernias and a lower back injury .. just face it the contract amaro jr gives out are rushed and over the top … and he doesnt seem to be learning from his mistakesÂ
and yet somehow he is continuing to put World Series contending teams out on the field… interesting.Â
Phillies haven’t contended in the World Series in two years…just sayin’.
They certainly aren’t getting any younger, and old players get hurt. They may be able to hold it together for a short while, but it’s going to bite them hard soon enough.
-C
i guess a difference in opinion but i consider making the playoffs and winning a game here and there is considered being a contender
i am not doubting what they did, nor am i claiming the mets are a better team right now as we stand one week from opening day .. with that being said i hope you are smart enough to know that amaro jr was not the gm during the construction of those teams .. since he has taken over for gillick they have only gotten older and more injury prone with bloated contracts due to a depleted farm
i am sorry but 3/4 of what you just said was irrelevant. eventually the phillies are going to have a bad season where they wont make the playoffs, but as long as they have a huge payroll they will rebuild and bring people in and still stay competitive. they are going to be similar to the yankees in the aspect that no matter what they will always be competitive because they will spend money to bring people in.Â
I mean, you’re right. Â Placido Polanco isn’t very good. Â Neither is Jimmy Rollins and neither is Carlos Ruiz. Â They’re average. Â Victorino and Pence are the only real bats in that entire lineup.
Jimmy Rollins isn’t a good player? That’s laughable. He’s an elite defender at short stop and has an above average bat for a short stop.
Wrong. Â He was 10 out of 19 in wRC+ among qualified SS. Â His bat is literally AVERAGE for a SS. Get over your Rollins man crush, he has never OBP’d .350 in a season and Derek Jeter has a higher career SLG%. Â He is career wRC+ is 101. Â He is average at hitting. Â Nothing more.
People seem to think that a team overpaying a player means that they’re good.
 Where did Jeter come in?
There’s a reason there were only 19 qualified shortstops. Because it’s really hard to find ones who can hit enough to play full-time. His wRC+ was 106, which, by definition, means he was above-average for ALL hitters, nevermind shortstop.
Pretty horrendous application of sabrmetrics if you ask me. Why can you tell me are there only 19 “qualified” shortstops? I have no dog in this race. Tyler Pastornicky, Jack Wilson, and Andrelton Simmons will play SS for my team this year. I would consider giving very important body parts for a year or two of J-Roll
ehh. yeah i’d say his bat is slightly above average. his defense is really good i agree, though the advanced stats don’t completely agree, who cares about them.
all in all i think he is more of a veteran ignition than a superstar . he had a couple really good years (i.e. the mvp year) when he was younger.
Hahaha, first off dont forget it is a NY writer and how about he lists a couple more players that once you get by they arent very good.Â
Other than dwayne wade and lebron james, the heat aren’t very good either
 Different spot LeBron proved with 1 superstar on a bad team you can have the best record in the NBA with the Cavs. Not the case in baseball
with pitchers sure you can..
phillies have 3 aces that can pretty much win games single handedly. I don’t see how its any different.
What about when their pitchers have off days. How about when they keep failing to get run support. They did pitch well but I saw some struggles from them last year as well early when Philly was struggling to score runs.
And they still won 102 games, right?
you’re still missing the point..
Roy Halladay has more control over 1 game, then pretty much any other athlete in any sport. So comparing 1 game to 1 game is inaccurate
Not like basketball has any relevance in this, but LeBron wasn’t the only one to prove that, there were many before him.Â
LeBron James and Dwayne Wade don’t sit out 40 percent of the games.
and they also don’t hold the opposition to less than 2 runs in 8 innings of work.
“The Beatles… John, George & Paul – other than those three, they’re not very good.” –Â A National League scout
 Trying to remember what George Harrison did on his own, other than Crackerbox Pallace.
Like Simon &Garfunkel.. All Paul Simon where Artie garfunkel just stood on stage with his hands in his back pockets and sang. Couldn’t play any instrument and couldn’t write either.
he had a cameo in Monty Python: The Life Brian lol
actually, georgie boy produced the movie and loved the pythons
All Things Must Pass?
thats not really true, cause Ringo was a badass…
Andy Martino is a clown and holds a grudge against Philly from his brief time here. Â Have fun covering a 100 loss team.
Let’s ignore Victorino, Pence, Ruiz, and Polanco I guess.
Polanco should not be on your list.
Hu? Why would we want a career .176 hitter?
He’s an average defender and an average bat. Get over it. Being paid alot =/= being good.
Not very scary past 3 of the top 12 pitchers in baseball. If they win 75% of those starts and 50% of Blanton and Worley Theyll still win 95 games. The friggen Giants won the world series 2 years ago with Aubry Huff as their big bat.Â
 Actually it was Buster Posey.
Actually when that team was constructed prior to the season, it WASNT Posey. Aubrey Huff was their middle of the order stick along with the Panda.
The scout is right. Howard and Utley are in the DL. Rollins and Victorino are average to a little bit above average. Only real threat would be Hunter Pence. I doubt they would even be competing if you take away the three aces or just had the rotation of 2008.
you dont say?
 Yes.
lol lets take away the 3 best players or pitchers from any team and lets see if they will still compete.Â
The Braves have the depth to be up for that challenge, but good luck on anyone agreeing who the top three pitchers are…
-C
i would say the phillies depth at pitching are just as good as the braves, but i cant argue your point too muchÂ
Give me an example of a team that would compete after losing their top 3 Starters….
I thought Vance Worley was pretty sharp on the mound last year. He’ll obviously regress a little this year, but for a #4, he should put up decent stats. Just don’t look at his most recent spring start.
With the exception of 2 horrible starts Worley has had a very good Spring. Â I think everything wants him to have some sophmore slump.
There are reasons for concerns when your 3-4 hitters are out for an extended amount of time, it is just funny how people are jumping off the bandwagon. I will take a healthy Howard and Utley for a 2nd half of the year for a playoff run than have them play a full season struggling through their injuries. It is just funny how the national media is suddenly so low on the Phillies coming off a terrific 102 game winning regular season and so high on the Eagles coming off a underachieving 8-8 regular season lol.Â
I hate the Phillies beyond belief but I gotta come to their defense here. Not very good? Which team are you watching?!?!
Another Braves fan here….and im goin plus one. The Phillies are the class of the league. That said they are indeed getting older. Everybody is. Well except for college freshmen.
thank you, I take that as a compliment, well I did throw my back out yesterday lifting so I’m feeling old today, 🙂
Yea that guy sucks. Might be college freshmen
Hu Dat?
Heard this same stuff last year and Philly won 102 games and the Braves died. They had injuries at the end and ran into a hot team who won it all. All you have to do is make the playoffs and like the Giants, Cards and Phillies (2008) get hot in the end. Braves, Marlins and Nats are going to have to show something. The Mets are still a joke.
Sometimes Cole Hamels comes off as a little punk.
He acts like a high school athlete. Don’t matter what he says…he’s already wearing blue and surfing in his mind.
The question was designed to bait him. He handled it about as well as possible.Â
Andy Martino is still slimy I see.
Why don’t these sports journalist talk about the aging Yankees? Â Yes they have young talent mixed in with the vets. Â The thing is most of the young talent (Granderson, Cano, Swisher) will be either free agents after this season or the next.