Philadelphia Phillies: Roster & Team Report

Our full team report of the Philadelphia Philles. Take a look at the current roster, stats, and team leaders for this ball club, as well as the numbers that have been set out by the MLB odds makers.

MLB Betting Lines

MLB Odds to win National League: +230

MLB Odds to win National League East: -280

MLB Betting Odds to win World Series: +500

The Phillies do not have a strong offensive lineup entering the 2012 season. They will start the season without Chase Utley and Ryan Howard and Hunter Pence will only offset a portion of the lost offensive production. Through many significant injuries, the Phillies were 13th in MLB averaging 4.40 RPG. They will need to match that in order to support their CY Young starting rotation in order to win the NL East again.

Must get more small ball orientation by manager Charlie Manual to offset power outages. Left Field is still up for grabs with Ibanez now gone to the Yankees. Home runs will be down, but RBI and OBP, which is what really matters will be on the rise from last season. So, they may not have power hitting Howard entering the season, but I strongly believe they will score more runs per game and get off to a fast start.

Ryan Howard led the team, again, with 33 home runs and 116 RBI. Ibanez was second in home runs with 22, but Pence will offset that loss with considerably more RBI batting in the five hole. Rollins led the team with 152 hits and despite his aging body, his stats and performance have not declined. Victorino led the team with a .279 batting average and that number needs to rise this season.

DEFENSE

The Phillies have a great defense that augments the ‘Three Aces’ starting rotation. Moreover, the Phillies committed just 74 errors in 162 games ranking second best in MLB and best in fielding percentage at 0.988% spanning 6,125 chances. The biggest question for the defense is at first base.

Thome and Wittington have been brought in to help. Thome is a certain Hall of Famer, but is far past his prime and may not be able to play everyday baseball. Wittington is solid defensively, but lacks bat speed at this level. So, Phillies defense and starting pitching will present major tests for any team wanting to win a series from the Phillies no matter how badly the offense may struggle.

Pitching

With three aces in Roy Halladay, Hamels, and Lee, the bullpen often was not recognized for their significant contributions to the Phillies success last season. They will be this season as they added Jonathan Papelbon to the closer role. Middle relievers Kyle Kendrick and Jose Contreras will have limited action given that the starters will average more than sevens per start. Phillies loaded at setup position with acquisition Chad Qualis and youngster Michael Stutes.

Dismissed

Ibanez won the best teammate award presented by MLB in 2010, an award voted on by MLB players. As much as that means to any locker room, his stay in the ‘Big Show’ is over. The fourth ‘ace’ in last year’s rotation Roy Oswalt has been released and no team has picked him up. These are losses to the Phillies based on their historic contributions, but they are either retiring or should be retiring from the game.

Contenders

The Phillies are loaded again despite the injuries to Howard and Utley. They have pitching depth and fundamental defensive execution that no team in MLB can match. With that combination they will always be in a game and rarely get blown out of one. The fact of the matter is, it only takes on key hit from a strugglig offense for this team to win games and a lot fo them.

When it comes to 'Season Win Totals', using the current betting odds, I like ‘Over’ 92 ½ wins and a National League East crown for the Phillies in 2012.