When Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Shane Victorino were on the disabled list, the Phillies were forced to turn to a lineup stocked with bench players. Domonic Brown, though inexperienced, was a significant part of that spark that the bench provided.
Since Victorino returned to the team, Brown has become a nonfactor. He has been relegated a pinch hitting role, and isn’t seeing enough at bats to get a feel for major league pitching, thus reducing his effectiveness.
Throughout his career as the Phillies manager, Charlie Manuel has been loyal to his players. He was very reluctant to bench Jimmy Rollins when he was barely hitting over .200 in 2009. He waited until late August/early September of 2009 before he temporarily stopped going to Brad Lidge in save situations.
This season Manuel has continued to be faithful to his players. Even though his stars have been underachieving all season long, Manuel has stayed the course. As long as his regulars are available, those are the players Manuel will play.
However, it has reached the point that Manuel needs to strongly consider benching certain players. Outfielders Victorino, Raul Ibanez, and Jayson Werth are not getting the job done right now.
Victorino has not done what the Phillies need him to do. Victorino’s job is to hit close to .300 and consistently be getting on base. Victorino fell in love with the number of homeruns he hit early in the season, and has been swinging for the fences ever since. When he returned from the disabled list, he briefly played like the player who made the All-Star team in 2009, but has since fallen back into his bad habits.
The only way to get through to Victorino may be to temporarily bench him. The Phillies could play Jayson Werth in center field, and Domonic Brown in right field like they did when Victorino was injured.
Raul Ibanez had a surge after the All-Star break, and looked like he may have figured out his problems at the plate. But Ibanez has returned to his pre All-Star- break form. He is hitting just .216, and is no longer drawing walks. There isn’t any reason Brown can’t and shouldn’t spell Ibanez once or twice a week.
The calendar has reached September. The Phillies are going to be in a dogfight with Atlanta for the division, and multiple teams for the Wild Card. When the playoffs come, the Phillies need to have their regular starters performing. However, they aren’t getting the job done right now.
With the regular lineup struggling to score more than two runs in a game, the Phillies need to do something to spark the lineup and take pressure off of the starters. Manuel has a very talented player in Brown sitting on the bench collecting dust. By rotating Brown into the lineup, Manuel could find that spark the team needs to get going.
yeah it shouldnt be to hard to find time for him
raul is old givem a cpl days off period
and when theres a tough rightie going give werthy a day off
i agree shane should do push ups for every pop up he hits (warning track power its very annoying)
They should have Traded Victorino earlier in the Season while his trade value was still high..
The way he’s played the last 4 months, I am not sure there will be much of a return for him anymore..
Pitch him curve balls and he’s a .250 hitter.. and PW is correct, he must lead the league in
pop-up/fly ball outs… he should choke-up on the bat and hit down on the ball and he can return to
batting .285-.295 and take more pitches so he can walk more so his on-base % would be closer to .400% which is where it should be… He hit too many Homeruns starting the season and has since then,tried to jack too many balls out of the park (I call it the Jimmy Rollins Syndrome)
Agree with PaulMan about trading Victorino, or possibly Werth who they obviously are not going to try to resign. Of course his recent baserunning efforts can’t help him… BUT having said that, we are where we are, and baseball is like 90% from the neck up right? The trio has done it before, and is less likely to be spooked or intimidated by pressure than the kid. I liked the idea of keeping him up, as obviously they are priming him for RF for next year.
Great article and interesting repsonses. I am a huge fan of Charlie Manuel. He is, bar none, the best manager of the 21st Century. Managing is not a head to head, stratomatic dice or computer game. Look at that grand genius Tony LaRuesa and his roster of Carpenter, Wainrite, Garcia, Puhols, and Holliday and their place in the standings. Charlie Manuel is player manager who knows how to deal with the dysfunctional egos of almost 40-men. Who do you want to see over his set line-up? Valdez? Sardihna? Dobbs? Ransom? Hoover? Sweeny? Fransisco? Bring back Castro? With that said and done, I was shocked that Ibanez did not get a day-off yesterday in Colorado. I’m not in favor of how Ruben ‘A has sacked the farm system. Nevertheless, a GM trading prospects for veterans and a manager’s reluctance to go with unproven rookies is part and parcel what almost all contending teams do. Werth will walk via free agency. Ibanez is again showing his age. The true Yankee advantage (Over aquiring any player they want on the market- welcome Cliff Lee in 2011) is that they can eat contracts that have out-lived their usefulness. I can’t imagine any scenario where Ibanez improves in 2011 over his present production. I agree with Paulman and Beijingjake that the Phillies should market Vic off-season for a right handed power bat. I also agree that Brown needs to spell Ibanez and get run out there for Werth after his next mental lapse.