Phillies Say Goodbye to a Number of 2015 Players

While the Philadelphia Phillies have brought in a number of new players for 2016, the club has also lost a few from the organization.

Aside from the obvious loss of closer Ken Giles in the big trade for five young pitchers, there are a number of other players who contributed significantly to the 2015 big league club, to other recent Phillies teams, or who were long time minor league prospects, who will not return to the organization next year.

The biggest name is also the one that was most obviously not returning, former lefty ace Cliff Lee, who has unsuccessfully battled injuries over the last two seasons.

The now 37-year old Lee is a free agent, and has been linked to a number of teams including the Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians, and Kansas City Royals. 

Lee is most likely to catch on with a contending team on a non-guaranteed contract with a spring training invitation, assuming he can play at all.

Three starting pitchers who took the mound for the Phillies in 2015 will also not be returning. 

Phillies 2015 Report Card: Starting Pitchers

To fashion the worst Philadelphia Phillies season since 1972, a deficiency in talent and results from the 2015 starting pitching rotation was a key element. 

However, mixed in with those deficiencies were a few notable bright spots.

Fifteen different pitchers took the mound at the start of a game for the Phillies this past season. 

Thirteen of those made at least five starts apiece, while seven received double-digit starting assignments.

Those seven who did receive at least 10 starts all received at least 13. They will receive grades on their performances, along with the next highest, who received eight starts.

If others want to waste time grading the performances of the other seven starting pitchers individually, that’s fine. 

Suffice it to say that both individually and as a group, they receive an ‘F’ from me.

AJ & KK: Innings Don't Grow on Trees

Kendrick and Burnett were healthy rotation regulars in 2014

There has been a thought process floating around in some baseball circles that the more innings a team can get from it's starting rotation, the more likely the team will have success.

One school of thought has floated the number of 1,000 innings as a goal for a starting rotation. If a team's starters can accumulate 1,000 innings during a season, the team will usually win.

Most teams won't reach the mark. Per KC Royals writer Craig Brown, between 2003-2012 just 1 in 5 teams reached the mark. 34% of those teams reached the postseason. More importantly, those teams averaged 87.4 wins among them. Clearly, the more innings your rotation gives, the better your chance of contending.

In 2014, the World Series champion San Francisco Giants starting pitchers totaled 978 innings pitched. But remember, the Giants won 88 games in the regular season, finishing in 2nd place, 6 games behind the Dodgers and tied for the NL Wildcard spots. The Dodgers got 972.2 innings from their starters.

In 2014, in the NL East Division, among the Phillies rivals, the division-winning Washington Nationals had the best record in the entire National League, and totaled 1,019 innings from their starters.

The 2014 Phillies rotation, believe it or not, did indeed top the magic 1,000 mark. The Phils rotation members were able to go 1,014 innings for the team this season. That's with Cliff Lee injured and only able to make 13 starts, contributing just 81.1 innings himself to the effort.

Phillies Receive 7 GIBBY Awards Nominations

7 Phillies nominations for 2014 GIBBY's

“Greatness In Base Ball Yearly”, that’s what MLB’s GIBBY Awards celebrate. The awards were begun by Major League Baseball back in 2002. They are awarded for extraordinary performances by players, managers, executives, and others in the game.

For 2014, the Philadelphia Phillies organization has been announced as having nominees in 7 categories. Those are:

BEST PLAY: September 1st, Marlon Byrd makes a diving catch to preserve the team’s combined no-hitter vs. Atlanta.

BEST MOMENT: June 14th, Jimmy Rollins singles for his career franchise record-setting 2,235th hit.

BEST PITCHING MOMENT: September 1st, the combined no-hitter, first in franchise history, by Hamels/Diekman/Giles/Papelbon.

BEST HEROICS: Ryan Howard, for a trio of walkoff hits that came on May 28th, August 5th, and August 10th.

BEST CLOSER: Jonathan Papelbon, who had 39 Saves, a 2.04 ERA, and a 0.90 WHIP, with a 63/15 K/BB ratio, allowing just 45 hits in his 66.1 innings pitched.

ODDITY: Jerome Williams, registered wins against the Oakland A’s during 2014 with 3 different teams – Phils, Astros, Rangers.

'CUT4' TOPIC: Tom McCarthy, June 27th – while broadcasting with the team’s announcers from center field, TMac donned his baseball glove, reached out, and snagged Freddie Freeman’s massive homerun on the fly while still calling the play-by-play.

Voting is conducting by MLB alumni, the media, baseball front office personnel, SABR, and fans. The fans can vote by going to MLB.com/gibbys until 11:59pm on November 21st. The winners will be announced at MLB.com and on the MLB Network on December 6th.