TWIOT: Phillies Postmortem

Werth
Photo Credit: CSNPhilly.com/Getty Images

It wasn't supposed to end like this, with Ryan Howard looking at a called third strike and the San Francisco Giants celebrating the National League pennant on our homefield. It wasn't supposed to end in defeat. It wasn't supposed to end with our offense punchless in most of the NLCS. It just wasn't supposed to end like this.

But it did, and now, instead of winning a third straight pennant and being in line for a second World Fuckin' Championship in three years, the Philadelphia Phillies will be preparing for a free Halloween, watching the Giants take on the Texas Rangers in the World Series. It's frustrating to see a team that on paper looked like the best in the league, but we all know that teams don't win titles on paper. We were flat-out beat in the NLCS, and now that it's over, it's time to move on and think about ways we can get back to the top of the heap in 2011.

There are a few hurdles that we have to clear in the offseason to get there. The biggest one is Jayson Werth (who, to keep this somewhat wrestling-related, looks an awful lot like Edge). While GM Ruben Amaro said that re-signing him was possible and a priority, the fact that Werth signed with agent Scott Boras is a troubling sign. Boras is known for wanting to get "Yankee money" for his clients, and at this point, only the Yankees and Red Sox can offer that to multiple people at a time. It's because they have TV networks, something the Phils, being boxed in by New York, Pittsburgh (lol, okay, maybe not Pittsburgh if you're talking strictly baseball) and DC, can't really afford to have a profitable TV network. Ideally, I'd love to convince Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard to restructure their deals and then get rid of some albatross salaries, maybe unload Joe Blanton and Raul Ibanez on other teams, which would give us some wiggle room to re-sign Werth and maybe go after Cliff Lee (who is rumored to want to come back here at a discounted rate, which would give us the best rotation in baseball history, even if we had the decomposing corpse of Abner Doubleday himself as our fifth starter) as well. That would be nice. You know what else would be nice though? Me convincing my wife to have a threesome with Scarlett Johannsen. Not.Gonna.Happen.

So with realism in play here, the odds of bringing Werth back are increasingly slim. If I were Amaro, I'd pay the man, but I also understand that the Yankees are going to look to overbid for any marquee free agent out there. Ditto the Red Sox, who didn't even MAKE the playoffs. Therefore, there needs to be some kind of contingency plan for a right-handed bat to stick into the lineup to replace Werth. I've heard Magglio Ordonez as an option. That seems to be the best option, but then again, nothing compares... no-THING compares tooooooooooo Werth. Oh wait, ahem, sorry to go all Sinead on you, but it's going to be a hard sell for anyone but Werth in rightfield next spring, even if it is wunderkind super prospect Domonic Brown, who was okay in his limited duty this year.

The second thing that needs to be addressed is the top of the lineup, I think. Rollins has been injured a lot since winning the MVP in 2007. While Rollins isn't the prototypical leadoff hitter since he's about as patient as a teenage virgin on a hot date, he makes up for his OBP shortcomings with a high SLG. Shane Victorino at the top of the lineup is like Rollins at the plate, only not as good. Therefore, it's imperative that Rollins gets right. A lot of the spark that was missing from the top of the lineup came because no one got on base for Howard, who hit well in the NLCS (the only person in the lineup who did, really, aside from Werth). With our pitching, we have a chance to be dominant, but the offense has to come through.

Other than that, I see no reason why 2011 can't bring another World Championship to Philly. This team is going to be good next year, especially since we're going to get a full year out of Roy Oswalt. With him, Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels as our top three pitchers, I think the NL East is ours for the taking again. This might be the last year that everything's a foregone conclusion though, seeing as the Mets hired Sandy Alderson, which means they'll be good sooner rather than later. Still, there's no reason to get too down. However, that window is slowly closing, and it would have been nice to have had a World Title this year too...

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!