Phillies Set to Be Contenders for A While

     While Phillies G.M. Ruben Amaro Jr. watched the New York Yankees extinguish 

his team’s chances at becoming baseball’s first repeat champion since 2000, he surely must have had mixed feelings.

Despite coming up two games short of earning the franchise’s third Commissioner’s Trophy, Philadelphia’s 2009 campaign was a success. The franchise, which endured a 13 year playoff drought following its 1993 World Series loss to Toronto, claimed its third consecutive NL East championship. The Phillies also proved themselves to be the unquestionable cream of the crop in the National League. Just as in 2008, they cruised past the Dodgers in the NLCS in five games. But the Yankees proved to be too much and a highly competitive series ended with Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera celebrating. The Phils’ cast of characters were left with their heads down in the dugout, their dreams of a second consecutive victory cruise through the streets of Philly shattered in New York.

The 2009 Phillies were good enough to win another title; it’s highly likely that this unit was superior to the 2008 version. But from what we saw in their most recent journey to the World Series, they roster had room for improvement. So Amaro decided to tinker.

He needed to find a few arms for the bullpen. Chan Ho Park became a free agent and, because of Brad Lidge’s health issues, a back-of-the-bullpen pitcher with the ability to finish games became necessary.

Enter Jose Contreras and Danys Baez. Contreras has been up and down as 

a starting pitcher throughout his career, but much like Park, he has the pitches to potentially make him a very effective middle reliever. Baez will share the role of set-up-man with holdovers Ryan Madsen and J.C. Romero. He is also expected to be the team’s number two closer should Lidge fail to recover.

Amaro needed to decide whether or not to stay the course at third base. The team had its choice of activating the 2010 option on Pedro Feliz’s contract or dumping the defensive stalwart in favor of a more reliable weapon at the plate.

The Phillies front office went with offense when it elected to bring in a familiar face, scooping up the Tigers’ Placido Polanco early in free agency. While Polanco is naturally a second basemen, he played third for the Phillies when they initially acquired him in the Scott Rolen – St. Louis trade.

Polanco will bat second in the team’s potent lineup. The addition of the former all-star provides the Phils with a low strikeout, high contact hitter at the top of a power heavy order. It also adds depth to the lineup, as Shane Victorino will slide to sixth behind Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez fills the seven hole.

Finally, came Amaro’s big decision. What to do with starting rotation? In Cliff Lee the Phillies had a legitimate, as evidenced by his phenomenal postseason run. J.A. Happ nearly won baseball’s rookie of the year award and Joe Blanton was probably the rotation’s most reliable pitcher throughout 2009.
Then there is the enigma known as Cole Hamels, who went from toast of town in ’08 to the thorn in every fans side last season. King Cole had turned into an average pitcher overnight. He vowed to rededicate himself this offseason, particularly by developing a curve ball to accompany his fast ball and one of the game’s best changeups.
Hamels may want to consult Amaro, who threw the baseball world the biggest curve ball of the offseason. First, the Phils acquired the game’s best pitcher in Roy Halladay. It cost the farm system’s top pitching prospects and one of its best bats but suddenly Halladay was a Phillie. A new contract extension ensured he’d be in red pinstripes for at least the next three seasons.

On the same day they brought Halladay to the city of brotherly love, the Phillies pulled the trigger on an equally brazen trade. They broke up a potential Halladay-Lee-Hamels dream rotation before fans could even begin salivating.

Lee was shipped west to Seattle in exchange for a trio of the Mariners’ top prospects. Pitching prospect Phillipe Aumont was the player in the package who most intrigued the Phils’ brass. The 6-7 Aumont is viewed as a potentially dominant closer in the making. But regardless of what the Phillies got back in return for Lee, Amaro certainly had some explaining to do after telling last year’s October hero to pack his bags after just a few months in town.

Amaro defended the move, saying he was focused on making the Phillies a contender for the next decade not just 2010. The franchise couldn’t afford to leave the minor league cupboard bare. With three year extensions given to Victorino, Blanton and catcher Carlos Ruiz, the Phils made sure its rapidly expanding core would stay intact through at least 2011 (when Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins become free agents).

Philadelphia also bolstered its bench with the additions of Juan Castro, Brian Schneider and Ross Gload. They will join Gregg Dobbs and Ben Francisco, who played well as the team’s fourth outfielder after coming over from Cleveland in the Lee Deal.

With the offseason approaching an end, let’s look at the Phils chances in 2010. They are, without a doubt, the clubhouse favorite to win their third consecutive NL pennant. But should they again face the Yankees next October, have they improved enough to squeak the two extra wins they needed last year?

The offense will be even better. This should scare the hell out of every manager in the league. Polanco will help balance out the lineup, Chase Utley isn’t coming off of hip surgery and Jayson Werth is in a contract year. Big run totals appear to be in the cards.

As for the pitching staff? This one will be up in the air until the moment Hamels throws his first curveball in April. He is unquestionably the x-factor on this club. If he regains his dominance and forms a ridiculous righty-lefty tandem at the top of the order this team should win 100 games. If he pitches like a number four starter then the absence of Cliff Lee will haunt Amaro and Phillies fans all season.

The Phils will enter the 2010 season with a lineup filled with perennial MVP candidates (Howard, Utley, Rollins) and arguably the best opening day rotation that Philadelphia has ever seen. We’ll have to wait and see how it all translates on the field. One thing is for sure, the culture of this franchise has changed forever and Philadelphia has become a baseball town for the first time in 25 years.