Phillies Fans Have Many Positive Things to Look Towards in 2017

Yeah, it’s still 2016 and the Winter Meetings just ended. It’s pretty early in the offseason to be excited about anything for 2017. Who knows what the next four months hold for The Phillies – could be a huge free agent signing, a big trade or could be nothing at all. But regardless of that unknown future, the Phillies have already done some things that are worthy of at least getting a little excited about.

First and foremost on my list is Matt Stairs as hitting coach. I know, strange thing to get excited about, right? But the Philies were so atrocious at the plate last year that literally any change should be cause for excitement. And personally, I think this is going to mark a dramatic difference in what we see from young batters like Maikel Franco and Tommy Joseph.

If you listened to the television broadcasts over the past two years you could hear it in Stairs’ voice as he was calling the games. You could hear the desperation, the desire to reach down from the broadcast booth and grab some of these players by their shoulders and just shake them while screaming “What was going through your head during that at bat.” If you’re reading this then chances are you had the same feelings from your living room. I did.

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Another reason for excitement is the bullpen. The Phillies bullpen has been a serious problem over the last few years, but Phillies GM Matt Klentak and the front office did an excellent job in identifying and acquiring two players to help sure it up; Pat Neshak and Joaquin Benoit.

The Phillies bullpen had the eighth most losses (28) and the third worst ERA (5.05) in baseball last year. This is especially disconcerting because they pitched the 15^th least innings. So, asked to do less but failed more.

Among the bullpen’s many problems were issuing free passes and giving up home runs. Phillies relievers combined for the seventh worse base-on-balls per nine innings pitched while also giving up the most HRs/9. So walk a guy and then give up a two run shot. That’s not the best recipe for winning ballgames.

It wasn’t all bad though. They did have at least three relievers who were very effective: Hector Neris, Jeanmar Gomez and later Edubray Ramos. All three showed great promise, and they should be returning for 2017’s campaign.

Of the 135 qualified relievers, Gomez was 61^st in BB per nine and Neris was 82^nd. Ramos didn’t have enough innings to qualify but he would have slotted in at 41^st. With regards to giving up the long ball, Gomez was 51^st, Neris was 83^rd and Ramos would have been 98^th. Basically they were all “middle of the pack” in these categories but they each had a saving grace: Neris and Ramos could strike out batters with the best of them and Gomez could induce a ground ball. Neris and Ramos were 18th and 67th respectively in strike out rate and Gomez was 39th.

It’s also worth mentioning that in Ramos’ case one very bad outing is significantly throwing his ERA off. In Colorado at the infamous hitter-friendly Coors Park, Ramos gave up five runs while only recording one out. Without that appearance his ERA drops more than a full run, from 3.83 down to 2.47 where he would have been 28th in the majors.

Adding Neshek and Benoit to those three make things look a lot better.

Jul 16, 2016; Seattle, WA, USA; Houston Astros relief pitcher Pat Neshek (37) pitches to the Seattle Mariners during the sixth inning at Safeco Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports /

Among relievers with at least 200 innings pitched over the last four seasons (50 IP per year average) Neshek has been 10th in baseball in walks per nine and 11^th in HRs/nine and Benoit is third in left-on-base percentage at 85.1%. Both pitchers are among the leaders in fWAR for that span with 3.6 WAR for Benoit, good for 20^th and 2.5 for Neshek, good for 36^th.

And if this doesn’t blow you away I don’t know what to tell you: For relievers with at least 400 IP over the last seven years Benoit has a 0.98 WHIP. Only two relievers are lower, Kenly Jansen (0.89) and Craig Kimbrel (0.95).

Lastly, I’m excited about “the Future,” personified.

What I mean is that the Phillies are at a point where they’re not “rebuilding” per se but are “built.” They have a good idea of what they’ll look like going forward and a lot of the dead weight, and that’s really for lack of a better term, is gone. They’ll be fielding almost a complete team of what they hope will be the core of their competitive future.

Franco, Joseph, Herrera, Rupp, Velasquez, Nola, Eichoff and Neris and Ramos should all be turning a corner this year and either making a place for themselves or letting the team know they’re not going to cut it.

Rounding out the active roster will no doubt be guys starting their big league careers and attempting to show that they’re ready. Players like Quinn, Alfaro, and Joely Rodriguez in the pen, and Thompson and Eflin in the rotation.

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And I’m sure at some point we’ll see the likes of vaunted prospects like JP Crawford and Nick Williams. It’s all phuture from this point on, we can stop with the “soon” and start with the “now”.

That’s not saying they’re going to come out and contend for the division or anything but more so that when they do start contending it’ll be these guys leading the way. Think about the 2005/2006 Phillies where Rollins and Utley and Howard were just starting to make names for themselves.

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