Although the Phillies did not make the “Big Splash” at the Winter Meetings like the Yankees did by trading for Curtis Granderson, they made three good moves in the past couple weeks that will improve their team. Brian Schneider is a good veteran catcher who should do a nice job filling in for Carlos Ruiz when he needs the rest. He is certainly an improvement over Paul Bako. The Placido Polanco signing in my mind is four years too late. When Ed Wade was General Manager, he should have asked ownership to eat David Bell’s salary and put Polanco at third base. The Phillies had a young, up and coming second basemen, named Chase Utley, who was splitting time with Polanco at second in 2005, and the Phils thought they had to trade one of them, so they traded Polanco. However, it was clear to me that they could have put Polanco at third, who played there in college and some in the majors, because Bell had a bad back, and he was hurting the team. It is hard to say for sure, but if the Phillies would have made that move, they most definitely would have gotten into the postseason sooner, and they may have even hoisted their World Series Trophy sooner too. Polanco ended up finishing 2005 with a .331 average, the second best year of his career, in his time split with the Phillies and the Detroit Tigers. Nonetheless, let’s flash-forward back to present day.
The Polanco signing is a good one for many reasons. Polanco is a career .303 hitter, which is close to 50 points higher than the man he replaced in Pedro Feliz’s .254 career average, and Polanco will provide an immediate impact on the offensive side for the Phils. Polanco also gives you flexibility in your lineup. A true number two hitter in the lineup, Polanco walks a lot and strikes out very infrequently. In fact, Polanco is second among active players with 14.1 AB per SO. Shane Victorino could move to the seven spot in the lineup, which would give you speed at the bottom of the lineup, and not an automatic out, which it seemed like it was many times with Pedro Feliz in that spot. As good as the Phillies offense was last season, they did not have one hitter finish the year above .300, (Victorino led the team with a .292 average), and therefore, even more so, Polanco will have an immediate impact. He is a great situational hitter as well, which is something that the Phils lacked in their World Series loss to the Yankees. The one area of concern I might have would be with defense. However, in part II of this story, which will be on the site later today, I will explain why defense is not as big of a concern as some might think.
Topics: Brian Schneider, Career Average, Carlos Ruiz, Chase Utley, Couple Weeks, Curtis Granderson, David Bell, Detroit Tigers, Good Moves, Nice Job, Offensive Side, Paul Bako, Pedro Feliz, Phillies, Placido Polanco, Second Basemen, Shane Victorino, True Number, Winter Meetings, World Series Trophy
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