Cesar Hernandez is holding off critics with a hot start to the 2019 season

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Cesar Hernandez has been hitting well for over a month

This piece has to begin with a disclaimer. Few writers who cover the Philadelphia Phillies on a regular basis have been more critical of second baseman Cesar Hernandez over the last couple of years than yours truly.

If I’ve called for the Phillies to jettison Hernandez and install Scott Kingery as the starting second baseman once, I’ve done it a hundred times since the winter prior to the 2018 campaign.

Hernandez registered career highs of 15 homers, 60 RBIs, and 91 runs scored. He led the Phillies with 19 stolen bases, tying his career high mark.

However, Hernandez slashed just .220/.321/.332 over the 2018 season’s final two full months. The Phillies were in first place and 11 games over the .500 mark when his poor hitting began in earnest on July 29. By the time it all officially came to an end on September 29, the club had finished in third place. They were 10 games out, and produced a sixth consecutive losing season.

Hernandez wasn’t the only reason for that 2018 collapse. Not by a long shot. But he was consistently unproductive. Many of the other players who made up the bulk of the losing during the previous few seasons were gone already. Freddy Galvis, Dom Brown, Cody Asche, John Mayberry Jr, Cameron Rupp, Tommy Joseph. All either released or traded away.

The 24-year-old Kingery had struggled in his first taste of the big-leagues last season, but also had been forced out of position to shortstop for most of the year, a position he had never previously played. Kingery had been a star in the minor leagues during the 2017 season, after which he was signed to a club-friendly long-term contract.

The Phillies looked to make wholesale changes to their lineup entering the 2019 campaign. Trades brought in a new shortstop in Jean Segura and a new catcher in J.T. Realmuto. Both Andrew McCutchen and Bryce Harper were signed to take over the corner outfield spots. Rhys Hoskins was moved back to his more natural first base position.

The idea that the Phillies could upgrade the second base position as well was a natural for those of us in the anti-Cesar camp. Find a taker for a player who would turn 29-years-old this year. Turn the Keystone over to Kingery at his own natural position, where he had won a 2017 minor league Gold Glove.

The calls got even louder as the first few weeks of 2019 unfolded. Kingery came out blazing hot, slashing .406/.457/.719 over his first 14 games. Meanwhile, Hernandez was slashing just .246/.329/.391 with just five extra-base hits over his own first 18 games.

Phillies scout Sal Agostinelli honored as a Scout of the Year

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Scouts are they silent key to an organization's success, and Phillies have one of the best

For the everyday fan, baseball scouts are the forgotten people in their favorite organization. But it is the work performed by these individuals that can often spell the difference between winning and losing specific games or series, and success or failure over the longer term.

As the 2018 Winter Meetings opened today in Las Vegas, Nevada, an awards luncheon was held to honor various individuals for their work behind the scenes of the game. Four men were honored as Scouts of the Year, with one of those from the Philadelphia Phillies organization.

Sal Agostinelli was born and raised in the Bronx, New York on September 4, 1961. A baseball fan and player from his earliest days, Agostinelli played both high school ball and in college at Slippery Rock University.

A solid hitting catcher, Agostinelli was selected by the Saint Louis Cardinals in the 22nd round of the 1983 MLB Amateur Draft. Over the next four years he would rise through the Cardinals organization, reaching Triple-A Louisville by 1987. He then received an invite to spring training for 1988 with the big club.

After a struggling season in 1988 during which he hit just .206 at two levels, Agostinelli was released by Saint Louis. He wouldn’t stay unemployed for long. The Phillies signed him and sent him to AA-Reading where he spent the entirety of the 1989 season.

Over the next three years, Agostinelli drifted up and down the Phillies organizational ladder, taking various turns at Reading, High-A Clearwater, and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Though he received an invitation to spring training with the Phillies in 1991, he was never able to impress enough to receive a call to the big-leagues.

After one final appearance in a game with Reading in 1992, Agostinelli retired as a player at age 30. Over 10 minor league seasons he had accumulated a .245/.333/.290 slash line.

The Phillies didn’t think that Agostinelli would be able to help them as a player. But he had impressed with his knowledge of the game and his ability to get along with people. The Phillies asked him to take a coaching job and he accepted, spending time with both the short-season affiliate at Martinsville, Virginia and at Reading.

The next year, Agostinelli became a scout. From 1993 through the 1996 season he worked in the Phillies organization as an area scout, evaluating high school and college players in preparation for the June amateur draft.

Impressed with his work, the Phillies offered Agostinelli the position as their International Scouting Director in 1997. In this role he would oversee a staff covering places outside of the United States and its territories such as the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Japan, and Korea.

What if the Phillies are unable to land any impact talent this off-season?

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Phillies GM Matt Klentak is squarely on the hot seat this Hot Stove season

One of the most highly anticipated and important ‘Hot Stove’ seasons in Philadelphia Phillies history is about to get underway. Dozens of players across baseball are now free agents, and by this weekend they will be able to negotiate with the Phillies and other ball clubs.

The Phillies have a ton of money to spend. It is possible that controlling owner John Middleton and his partners could make upwards of $100 million available to GM Matt Klentak in order to add new players via free agent signings and/or trade acquisitions.

There has been a great deal of speculation among the fan base on which players the Phillies might target. Bryce Harper? Manny Machado? Craig Kimbrel or another elite reliever? Patrick Corbin or some other proven starting pitcher?

For a variety of reasons, both the team itself and those of us who cover the Phillies like to talk and write about the possibilities. Adding the right couple of players, after all, could vault the club to contending status entering the 2019 season.

That kind of talk is exciting. It gets us excited. It gets fans excited. When fans are excited, they like to read about the team. Obvious then why we writers like to drum up scenarios in which the Phillies sign talented ball players.

But just once, and only once because I too like to remain positive, let’s whisper softly the words that no one really wants to consider: what if the Phillies are unable to sign anyone this off-season? By that, I mean anyone of consequence. No Harper. No Machado. No Kimbrel or Corbin or Josh Donaldson or J.A. Happ?

This is, after all, a very real possibility. While the Phillies indeed have tremendous financial resources available, they are not the only team with such resources. They are not the only team that wants to get better on the field. They are not the only team that would like to add a drawing card to their roster.

Let’s say that Clayton Kershaw stays with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The two sides have already agreed to extend their negotiating window by a couple of extra days in hopes of working out an extension. That is a very strong possibility.

And let’s say that Corbin ends up going home to the New York Yankees, which seems a foregone conclusion in the minds of many evaluators. That would be two prime arms off the market.

Imagine a scenario in which the Braves get Harper and the Brewers get Machado. Two NL contenders improve. (Arturo Pardavila III and Ian D’Andrea)

Who else might be a serious suitor for Harper and Machado? There are a number of possibilities. Among contending teams, the Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves appear to be in just as good a financial position as the Phillies.

The Braves are already ahead of the Phillies as the two teams build back from a half-decade of losing. Atlanta won the division going away this year and have some fascinating young talent. Let’s say they add a big basher like Harper to their lineup.

Let’s say the Brew Crew decides to dangle a boatload of cash at Machado in order to get him to give up his shortstop ambitions and play third base for them. And that’s just two competitors. There will be more suitors for both players.

Happ, Kimbrel, Donaldson, Andrew McCutchen, Dallas Keuchel, Nathan Eovaldi all decide they would rather play elsewhere.

You see, it takes more than having a lot of money to throw around. It takes someone on the other side willing to accept your money. There’s an old saying: it takes two to tango. Maybe the players take a look at what the Phillies have and simply don’t see enough opportunity to win.

Phillies to send rookie Enyel De Los Santos to mound on Tuesday night

Rookie Enyel De Los Santos take mound Tuesday night

Thanks to a congested schedule leading up to the MLB All-Star break, the Phillies had some tough organizational decisions to make and questions to answer regarding their starting pitching rotation.

The club chose to answer those questions by giving yesterday’s start to Drew Anderson and tomorrow’s start to Enyel De Los Santos, both promoted from the AAA Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

The two youngsters were sandwiched in between Aaron Nola and Zach Eflin, each of whom will go this evening at the start of a four-game series with the host New York Mets. Those two will get the nod for an increasingly rare throwback, a good old-fashioned twi-night doubleheader.

Anderson was immediately sent back to AAA after the 24-year old’s first big league start resulted in a 4-1 loss to the host Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. He allowed four earned runs on eight hitters over five innings during which the right-hander threw 94 pitches, 64 of those for strikes. Anderson struck out four and walked one, getting no help from a Phillies offense that generated just four hits.

“Drew came up and did a great job for us,” manager Gabe Kapler said per Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports. “He gave us five strong innings. He gave us a chance to win it. We didn’t score a lot of runs, so that matters. Obviously, the spotlight will be on the start, but it’s not the only thing that happened today.”

Now on Tuesday night at Citi Field against the struggling Mets, it will be a chance for De Los Santos to show what he’s got in what will be the 22-year old pitcher’s big league debut. So exactly who is De Los Santos, you might ask?

Born and raised in the baseball hotbed of San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic, De Los Santos was originally signed by the Seattle Mariners as a 19-year old international free agent. He made his pro debut in 2015 with the Mariners organization. Following that season he was traded to the San Diego Padres as part of a deal for Joaquin Benoit.

Over the 2016 and 2017 seasons, the right-hander rose through three levels of the San Diego minor league system. Last off-season, the Phillies acquired him in a straight-up trade for shortstop Freddy Galvis.

Assigned by the Phillies to the AAA IronPigs, De Los Santos has been nothing short of fantastic. He went 9-3 over 16 starts, allowing just 72 hits over 95.1 innings with a 1.98 ERA and 1.080 WHIP.

Phillies farm director Joe Jordan described him as follows in a piece last week by Jim Salisbury for Baseball America:

“He’s big, physical and mean on the mound. It’s a pretty good package . . . He really seems to know who he is on the mound and he gets after it.”

For this strong first half performance, De Los Santos was selected to a pair of all-star teams. This coming Wednesday he was due to start in the Triple A All-Star Game. He was also named as a pitcher with Team World for the upcoming MLB All-Star Futures Game.

Carlos Santana: bad signing by the Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies agreed to terms with veteran free agent first baseman Carlos Santana this past week.

Per a report from Phillies insider Jim Salisbury on December 15, the formal signing will take place pending the results of a physical exam.

This was a wholly unnecessary signing, and I believe that in the end it will prove to have been a waste of $60 million dollars.

The Phillies are mostly a young team. They are finishing up a rebuilding program that has seen major changes within the organization over the last few years. Now the club is trying to find a few more talented veteran pieces that will help their young nucleus move forward in the standings.

Santana (Twitter: @TheRealSlamtana) would appear to fit the bill in a handful of ways. He will turn 32 years old by the first week of April. He has seven full years of big league experience. Santana certainly fits the "veteran" bill.

He also fits in a couple of other ways. The Phillies could use a bit more power and patience in their batting order. Santana has averaged 24 home runs over those seven full seasons, which were all spent with the Cleveland Indians in the American League. His career .365 on-base percentage demonstrates plate discipline that is generally lacking with the Phillies lineup.

Defensively, while Santana will never be an NL Gold Glove Award winner, he does field the position well. His 6.7 rating on the SABR Defensive Index led the American League, and ranked fifth among all MLB first basemen.

Bleacher Report ranked Santana at #12 in their Top 25 First Basemen of 2017 list. Their Zachary Rymer stated the following:

 "Swing-wise, Santana was once again one of the most extreme pull hitters in MLB. This made him vulnerable against shifts, but his pickiness allowed for consistent contact and his strength and solid loft allowed for relatively easy power."

Santana is a veteran who hits home runs, gets on base, and fields his position well. So what's not to like?

First would be his age, and the contract. As previously stated, Santana turns 32 years old at the start of the season. The Phillies have reportedly offered him a three-year, $60 million deal with a team option for a fourth year. The contract commits the team to him at least through his age 34 season, and makes him one of the top 50 highest paid players in baseball history based on average annual value.

That 24 homers per year? It's just an average, one that is propped up by a 34 homer campaign in 2016. He has never otherwise approached that number. He also has a pair of 27 homer seasons upping that average. Those two seasons came four and seven years ago, respectively.

Santana is not an elite middle-of-the-order offensive performer, but he will be paid like one. He has just a career .249 batting average, and has failed to reach the .260 mark in six of those seven full seasons. He has averaged just 80 RBI per full season. That's not bad at all, but nothing special for a 3-4-5 hitter in your lineup.

From what I have seen in my 47 years following Phillies baseball, Carlos Santana does not appear to be the kind of player who is going to sell tickets and merchandise. There will not be a boatload of Santana shirseys and jerseys flying off the Majestic Clubhouse store shelves. This is not another Jim Thome signing. Not even close.

The Phillies are paying $20 million per year for the next three years (at least) for a guy who has received MVP votes just once. A realistic best-case season for Santana would be a .250 batting average with 20-25 homers and 80 RBI.

J.P. Crawford becomes latest phenom promoted by Phillies

Crawford becomes latest Phillies phenom given a shot in 2017

At first blush, 2017 would appear to be yet another in a recent string of Philadelphia Phillies lost seasons. It has been six years since the last winning Phillies club. This will be the team’s fifth straight season finishing last or next-to-last in the NL East Division.

Any outsider who simply peers at the standings and sees their 52-85 record, the worst in Major League Baseball, could be excused for not realizing that something more is going on here. But it is.

While the Phillies are indeed 33 games below the .500 mark, a glance at their game results table reveals improvement. The club has registered a 23-25 mark since dropping the first two games out of the MLB All-Star break in mid-July.

On August 10, Rhys Hoskins was promoted from AAA Lehigh Valley. The 24-year old natural first baseman was hitting for a .284/.385/.581 slash line at time with the IronPigs. He would ultimately be named both the Rookie of the Year and the Most Valuable Player of the International League.

Three days after entering the lineup as a left fielder, Hoskins registered his first big league hit. A day later, he drove his first two big league home runs out of Citizens Bank Park.

The show was on. In 105 plate appearances over 25 games, the rookie has hit for a .307/.419/.750 slash. He has also bashed a dozen homers, driven in 25 runs, scored 22 times, and become the team’s cleanup hitter. Hoskins was named the National League Rookie of the Month for August.

Phillies winning spurts tempered by lessons of history

The Phillies have won eight of their last 12 games

The Philadelphia Phillies walked off the Atlanta Braves on Saturday night. The 4-3 victory in eleven innings gave the Fightin’ Phils their eighth win in the last dozen games.

Despite the hot stretch of winning baseball over these last two weeks, the Phillies remain in last place in the NL East Division standings.

The Phillies are 24 games behind the first place Washington Nationals. They sit 20.5 games out in the National League Wildcard race. The Phils are even 10.5 games behind the two teams tied for fourth in the division, the Braves and the New York Mets.

I’ve noticed a pattern with these little winning spurts by the Phillies in recent years. When they start winning, all is right in the world. Not only for the players and manager Pete Mackanin, but also fans and the media who follow the team on a regular basis.

When the Phillies are winning, social media explodes with platitudes for the current players, extolling their skills and feats. Talk begins of players in their mid-upper 20’s who will be part of the “winning future” core.

As someone who has always considered themselves a “glass half-full” personality, it pains me to add the “but” to this piece. It’s something that I learned a long time ago, an old saying: “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.”

Phillies rebuild reaches difficult transition phase

Hernandez, Herrera, Galvis part of recent losing core

For a fifth consecutive year, the Philadelphia Phillies are in the midst of a miserable season.

The glorious winning decade of success from 2001-2011 reclaimed old fans and captivated a new generation of younger fans. All of that glory and excitement is now, sadly, a faded memory.

The collapse of that Phillies era came shockingly fast. Age, injuries, and poor decisions by the previous management regime conspired to erase any hope of a seemless transition into another generation of similar success.

For a couple of years, the Phillies went through a necessary transformation. There were purges everywhere, from the roster to the front office, even up to control of the ownership group.

The new regime took over where the old had ended, completing the job of turning the page from that faded former glory. As new prospects were brought in via trade and the MLB Amateur Draft, the farm system gradually regained respect from the wider baseball industry.

During the transitional period, a group of players has been taking the field for a few years now as the core of the Phillies lineup. That core group has not experienced very much success.

Carlos Ruiz enjoys a Philly homecoming with Mariners

The beloved 'Chooch' returned to a rousing ovation from the Philly fans

For parts of 11 seasons, Seattle Mariners catcher Carlos Ruiz was a member of the Philadelphia Phillies. He would grow to become one of the most beloved athletes in recent decades among the rabid sports fans in the City of Brotherly Love.

As part of the Phillies rebuilding program, Ruiz was dealt away last August 25 to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Phils received catcher A.J. Ellis in what was essentially a swap of veteran backup catchers.

After being eliminated from the playoffs, the Dodgers swapped Ruiz out to the Mariners in early November in exchange for pitcher Vidal Nuno.

This week, Ruiz returned to Philadelphia for the first time as an opposing player. As anticipated, the now 38-year old was greeted with affection by both his former teammates and by the Philly fans.

Prior to the start of what is a quick two-game stop for Seattle at Citizens Bank Park, Ruiz hosted a few of those former teammates in a get-together at his home in South Jersey.

Day of Reckoning Draws Near for Placeholder Phillies

Time is running out for Rupp, Galvis and the current placeholder Phillies

As management and ownership of the Philadelphia Phillies moved through their own transition period over the last couple of seasons, the roster has also been turned over.

Gone now are the last vestiges of the first decade of play at Citizens Bank Park. Heck, a few of those individuals – Charlie Manuel, Pat Burrell, Jim Thome – have already been enshrined on the Phillies Wall of Fame.

As the front office and playing roster changes have taken place, a group of ballplayers has taken over on the field over the last few seasons. This core group was always meant to be placeholders, while the real, serious talent was developing in the minor leagues.

That core has consisted of infielders Cesar Hernandez and Freddy Galvis and catcher Cameron Rupp. I would also put 3B/OF Cody Asche, 1B/OF Darin Ruf, and outfielder Domonic Brown into the group.

Each of those players has been given an opportunity at one time or another to seize a starting role with the Phillies, to show that they can be a big league regular.

Only Hernandez has shown any consistent ability to successfully compete on both sides of the ball. Galvis has been strong defensively, but aside from some unexpected power has been an extremely inconsistent offensive performer. Rupp is inconsistent in every facet of the game.

This group began to really take over in the 2015 season. The Phillies bottomed out that year, finishing with the worst overall record in Major League Baseball.

A year ago, their 71 wins was an eight-game improvement. But that record was still two games worse than the disheartening 2013 and 2014 teams had finished.

Just one week ago today, the Phillies took an 11-9 record and a six-game winning streak out on the road to visit a pair of anticipated contending teams, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs.

After dropping six of the seven games at Dodger Stadium and Wrigley Field, the limitation of this group are becoming more and more apparent.

Philadelphia Phillies 2017 Preview and Prediction

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Maikel Franco debuted in 2015 and hopes to push the Phillies forward


The Phillies will pack up their gear following their final Grapefruit League game on Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays. It will then be time to say goodbye to Clearwater until next February.

Equipment and personnel will then begin heading north for next Tuesday’s 2017 season opener at Cincinnati against the host Reds.

The lineup taking the field next week at Great American Ballpark should look very different from the one that will come to Florida next winter.

The Phillies rebuilding program is largely winding to a close. In the 2015 season, a Rule 5 draft pick named Odubel Herrera became a spring sensation. He would become the first piece of the longterm lineup rebuild.

In 2016, Maikel Franco took part in his first full season in the big leagues. Tommy Joseph was promoted in May, and platooned at first base with the now departed Ryan Howard. He will get his own first full-time shot this year.

Those three are the only players likely to be in the 2017 Opening Day lineup who have any shot at being a part of the next winning Phillies team. Instead, for a fifth consecutive season, fans of the Fightin’ Phils will be watching a ‘placeholder’ lineup. At least to begin the season.

Phillies 2017: Who Leads in the Clubhouse?

It’s a question that, for a few years now, has had no legitimate answer: who is the Philadelphia Phillies clubhouse leader? Or which players comprise the leadership group?

Past generations would have answered that question with names such as Pete Rose, Larry Bowa, Darren Daulton, and Jimmy Rollins. Players who excelled on the field. Players who were willing to stand up in the locker room to help motivate their peers when difficult challenges loomed.

For me, a truly legitimate clubhouse leader needs to embody two major characteristics.

First, they need to be someone who is performing at a standout level in Major League Baseball terms.

Second, they need to be someone who is foundational. They need to be someone who is going to be around for at least the next few years.

There is a third characteristic that becomes vital, assuming the player can meet those first two basics. That would be that the individual needs to have the respect of, and preferably the affection and admiration of, his fellow players.

Philadelphia Phillies 2016 Grades: Infielders

When the 2016 season opened there were many question marks across the infield, with 3rd baseman Maikel Franco the only player who seemed a reliable source of production.

But as the season unfolded, the infielders mostly answered those questions in a positive fashion. 

In fact, Franco may have been the most disappointing player among the regular performers.

Back in spring training there was hope that a platoon of veteran Ryan Howard and perennially underachieving Darin Ruf would provide combined solid production.

In the middle infield, no one knew what to expect out of 2nd baseman Cesar Hernandez besides perhaps a 20+ stolen base year, and Freddy Galvis was just keeping shortstop warm until the arrival of top prospect J.P. Crawford.

In the middle, both Hernandez and Galvis upped their offensive games, though Hernandez often was as maddening on base paths as he was dangerous to the opposition.As it turned out, there was a very productive 1st base platoon. 

But it was the pleasant surprise of Tommy Joseph, called up in May after a hot start with the AAA Lehigh Valley IronPigs, who produced from the right side of that platoon with Howard.

Those five players received the overwhelming majority of the playing time in the infield. Only one backup player, Andres Blanco, received enough time to warrant a final grade here.

So let’s take a look at the 2016 grades for Howard, Joseph, Hernandez, Galvis, Franco, and Blanco.

I am guessing that it will be the last Phillies grade that I ever bestow on “The Big Piece”, who is going to be leaving as a free agent. Because of his place in club history, I will grade him last.

READ ORIGINAL article at That Ball's Outta Here for full grading.

Phillies Need to Develop Better Middle Infield Options

For more than a decade from May of 2004 through the 2014 MLB trade deadline, fans of the Phillies were treated to perhaps the best middle infield combination in all of baseball, and easily the best combo in the history of the franchise over such a long period of time.

It was in May of 2004 that 2nd baseman Chase Utley received his final promotion to the big leagues. 

He joined the already established but young shortstop Jimmy Rollinsto form a middle infield that would become the core of five straight NL East champs, back-to-back National League pennant winners, and a World Series championship.

They were not only a strong defensive combination with tremendous chemistry in that aspect of the game, but each was a gifted offensive performer. 

Utley was a six-time NL All-Star and four-time Silver Slugger. Rollins was a three-time NL All-Star, four-time Gold Glover, and the 2007 National League Most Valuable Player, also winning a Silver Slugger that season.

Both players naturally aged, and in the last two seasons it became time for them to move on. Each was ultimately dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers, J-Roll in December of 2014 and Chase the following summer. Replacing them was going to be difficult, if not impossible.

At least in the short-term, the replacements at each position are nowhere near the same quality of player. The Phillies performance in the standings deteriorated as age did the same to the former greats. 

Freddy Galvis is a Placeholder as Phillies Shortstop

In 2016, the Philadelphia Phillies will be going with a placeholder as their starting shortstop for a 2nd straight season.

Bridging the gap between longtime icon and World Series champion Jimmy Rollins and the future at shortstop, #1 prospect J.P. Crawford, the key position will once again this season be held down by Freddy Galvis.

After Rollins was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in December of 2014, and with Crawford emerging as the clear future choice but not yet ready, the position was handed to Galvis a year ago.

The now 26-year old had spent three years as an infield backup, appearing in 41 games during the 2012-14 seasons at shortstop. 

This included 25 games as the primary backup to Rollins in 2014 during what was JRoll’s last of 14 mostly spectacular seasons as the Phillies’ shortstop.

No one expected Galvis to be what Rollins had been: a league MVP, postseason hero, three-time All-Star, five-time Gold Glover. It was simply hoped that he could field the position well, and toss in the odd clutch hit.

Phillies 2015 Report Cards: Infielders

Based on plate appearances, the regular starting infield for the 2015 Philadelphia Phillies was made up of first baseman Ryan Howard, second baseman Cesar Hernandez, shortstop Freddy Galvis, and third baseman Maikel Franco.

Others receiving significant playing time in the Phillies infield this past season were Chase Utley, Andres Blanco, Cody Asche, and Darin Ruf. 

Those eight players received the overwhelming majority of the playing time in the infield for a team that finished with the worst overall record in Major League Baseball.

In applying a letter grade to performances for seven of the eight (since one will be evaluated as an outfielder), there was no consideration for things like "potential" or "experience", and instead the players are simply graded on their actual production and performance.

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Ryan Howard - 'D': the veteran played the entire season at age 35, and is quite obviously a shell of the slugger who terrorized pitchers from 2005-11. 

He played in 129 games, and was third on the team with 503 plate appearances, before finishing the season on the sidelines for the final three weeks after suffering a left knee injury. 

'The Big Piece' produced a team-leading 23 homers and 77 RBI, tied for the team lead with 207 total bases, and his 29 doubles were second on the club. But that is all that the $25 million contract gets the Phillies these days, occasional power. 

His .229/.277/.443 slash line is atrocious, his -1.4 WAR figure is troubling, and he led the team with 138 strikeouts. 

His defense remained sub par, though never in his career has he been a threat to win a Gold Glove. He looked in great shape as far as physical conditioning, which appeared to help him make some plays that he wouldn't have come close to making in previous years. 

Howard isn't necessarily washed up, he just isn't an everyday player anymore, as his numbers when facing left-handed pitching are much worse than his overall numbers. 

He's not likely to be traded without the Phils eating his entire contract at this point, and he could be released outright. 

However, the most likely scenario is that he returns for one more go-around in 2016, possibly as part of a straight first base platoon with the righty hitting Ruf.

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Cesar Hernandez - 'C': in his first season as a full-time starter, Hernandez turned 25 years old at the end of May. 

He had some moments and solid stretches of play, but overall was inconsistent. and he does not appear to be a longterm solution at the Keystone position for the Phillies. 

Hernandez was second on the team with 19 steals, and he had respectable batting average (.277) and on-base percentage (.339) figures. 

He has no power, finishing with one homer, 35 RBI, and 20 doubles, but did finish slightly on the positive side with a 0.9 WAR figure. 

He showed some defensive versatility, starting 75 games at second, but also nine games each at shortstop and third base. 

Hernandez finished the season on the DL with a thumb injury, lost at about the same time as Howard, with roughly three weeks remaining. 

The new Phillies management will face a difficult decision in deciding how to proceed with Hernandez, at least for 2016. 

Is he the presumptive incumbent at second base? Does the team return Odubel Herrera there? Does Darnell Sweeney get a chance to challenge for the starting role? Hernandez will likely go to spring training having to fight for the starting nod.

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Freddy Galvis - 'D': inheriting the shortstop position from the traded Jimmy Rollins, Galvis got off to a strong start. But over the course of the season, his offensive production seriously declined. 

He finished with a .263 average and just a .302 on-base percentage. He had little power, hitting just 7 homers and 20 doubles over a team-high 603 plate appearances. 

Galvis has a little more pop, a little less speed, than Hernandez, but otherwise is not very much different as far as value. 

He was advertised as a strong defensive shortstop, but was as inconsistent with the glove as he was with a bat in his hands. 

Galvis finished with a .973 fielding percentage that was basically league-average, and he made 17 errors. To give that figure some context, Rollins never made more than 14 in any Phillies season, and made fewer than 10 errors in five of his final seven seasons in red pinstripes. 

Galvis is clearly only a placeholder until the team's top prospect, shortstop J.P. Crawford, is ready to take over the position. 

That should happen no later than September of 2016, which means Galvis is likely to get one more shot as a regular starter.

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Maikel Franco - 'A': this grade is about performance, and when in the lineup, Franco performed. 

His rookie season began late thanks to receiving about six final weeks of seasoning at AAA in April and into early May, before Franco was finally called up on May 15th. 

Then his season was marred by a fractured wrist that cost him most of the final two months. 

All together, Franco was able to put together 80 games and 335 plate appearances at the big league level, and in that half-season of work showed that he belongs. 

Franco hit for a .280/.343/.497 slash line with 14 homers, 50 RBI, 22 doubles, and 45 runs scored. 

Double those numbers to get his likely full season performance, and you can see why both the Phillies organization and the fan base are excited about his future. 

Defensively, Franco had a below-average .944 fielding percentage thanks to his committing 10 errors. 

If he wants to remain at the hot corner, and he certainly has the talent to stay there, he is going to need to demonstrate improvement over the next couple of seasons. 

Even if he eventually has to move over to first base, his bat should continue to improve enough that he would retain his value. 

The Phillies have to hope that his 1.7 WAR season was just a jumping off point, and he appears capable of multiple seasons that are twice that figure.

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Darin Ruf - 'D': Ruf is to the Phillies 2015 first base play from a right-handed batter perspective as Howard was to the position from the lefty side of things. 

Howard started 112 games there, while Ruf started 43 and appeared in 66 games at first base. He also started 22 games in left field. 

As a first baseman, and as an outfielder for that matter, Ruf doesn't have that much range. But he did manage a .993 fielding percentage at first base, pretty much exactly league average. 

At the plate, Ruf is again a mirror of Howard. He cannot hit righthanders to save his life, but he absolutely punishes lefties. 

In 114 plate appearances against lefthanders, Ruf hit for a .371/.447/.660 slash line with eight homers and 22 RBI. 

I'll leave it at that, because to present his numbers against righties might cause nightmares for some young readers. 

With not many other options, a straight Howard-Ruf platoon might not be such a bad idea for one 2016 season.

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Chase Utley - 'D': it's genuinely hard to give players like Howard and Utley, who meant so much to this team in the previous decade, this type of low grade. 

But this is not about the 2005-10 Howard and Utley, it's about 2015. 

Before being dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers at the trade deadline, Utley was having a terrible final season with the Phillies. 

He hit for just a .217/.284/.333 slash line with 5 homers, 30 RBI, and 23 runs scored in 282 plate appearances. 

He started 62 games at second base in this last hurrah, and fashioned a below average .976 fielding percentage. 

"The Man" remains, and likely will always remain, beloved to the Phillies fan base for his heart and hustle during the championship glory years. 

He and Rollins are in all likelihood receiving their final shot together to relive a bit of that old postseason glory with the Dodgers this October. 

For decades to come, the pair should receive numerous ovations as they are feted in various reunions at Citizens Bank Park. But the 2015 season was nothing to celebrate for Utley.

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Andres Blanco - 'B': the switch-hitting Blanco received a lot of playing time at third base during the two months that Franco was injured from early August until the season's final weekend. 

He showed his versatility by starting at every infield position: (1) first base, (7) second base, (14) shortstop, and (26) third base. 

At the hot corner, Blanco played well, fashioning a .958 fielding percentage that was slightly above league average.

 In his 261 plate appearances, Blanco produced a .292/.360/.502 slash line that was better than any of the regular starters. 

He drove 7 homers and 22 doubles, knocked in 25 runs, and scored another 32 himself. 

Blanco will turn 32 years old early in the 2016 season, so is certainly not going to be a piece to the future Phillies puzzle. 

But he absolutely showed that he can be a valuable and versatile player off the bench for the club, and should return to that infield utility role next season.

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OTHERS: Asche started 51 games at 3rd base. However, he also started 61 and played in 63 overall games in left field. So we're goint to evaluate Asche as an outfielder in the coming days. 

Sweeney didn't make his MLB debut until late August, and appeared in just 9 games at second base and one at third base, so we certainly cannot give him any kind of fair grade based on such limited play. 

Ditto for Chase d'Arnaud, who appeared in just three late-season games at shortstop and one at third base.

Phillies manager Pete Mackanin experimented with a number of lineup combinations and positional roles during the final few weeks of the 2015 season, trying to get a handle of where players such as Galvis and Blanco might be able to best fit in 2016. 

In a September 21st game against the Atlanta Braves, Mackanin started Galvis at second base and Blanco at shortstop.

"It's not going to hurt [Galvis] to move around a little bit. Just keeping him versatile," Mackanin said before the game, per Philly.com's Jake Kaplan. "We've seen him there before, and he's been really good over there. There's no ulterior motive to it other than just maybe change the scenery for everybody."

The Phillies should soon be starting an infield that features Crawford at shortstop and Franco at third base. 

The hope is that combination will spend years together on that left side and near the top of the team batting order, and that the club can find productive pieces for the right side. 

For Phillies fans who have quickly grown weary of the "temporary" infield that was on display in 2015, those days cannot come quickly enough.