Philadelphia Phillies storyline: Center of attention

Does Darin Ruf alter the plans for the Philadelphia Phillies in the off-season? Or can he add to the offensive power from the right side?

TAL’S HANDY CAPS

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CAP-SIZE HINDSIGHT: 4-1 Triumph

TYPE	PLAYER	REASON
The Crystal Champagne Toast	Chooch Ruiz	Five-Star Performance
The Penthouse	Chase Utley Chooch Ruiz Nate Schierholtz Cole Hamels	* Hit A Sac-Fly RBI For A 1-0 Advantage In The 1st * Smacked An RBI Double To Take A 1st-Inning Lead Of 2-0 During His 3 For 4 Day * Produced An RBI Single, Increasing The 1st-Inning Score To 3-0 During His 2 For 4 Afternoon Escaped Runner-At-3rd 1-Out Jams In The 5th & The 6th Fired 7 Solid 5-Hit Innings
The Fun House Of Mirrors	Juan Pierre Chooch Ruiz	* Avoided A Hand Tag At 2nd In The 1st * Escaped A Line-Drive DP During The 1st
Rally Tal & Cap	5 Players & 3 Runs	* A BB (J-Roll), A Single (Pierre), A Sac-Fly RBI (Utley), An RBI Double (Chooch) & An RBI Hit (Schierholtz) In The 1st
The Workhouse	Home SP	* A 37-Pitch 1st Inning
The Animal House	Cole Hamels	Punched Out The 1st 3 Batters In The 1st
The Leather Warehouse	2 Starters	A Runner Gunned Down At Home By Brown (Throw) & Chooch (Plate Dive & Tag) In The 4th
The Kangaroo Court House	Cole Hamels	Had Throwing Errors In The 4th & The 6th
The Outhouse	3B Ump	Missed The Tag On The Over-Slide SB In The 6th

Above Asterisk ( *) = Corresponding Play And/Or Event

Chase Makes The Outfield Catch In The 8th

NITECAP INSIGHT

Fielding A Free Agent Bat:

Parity means limitations on all franchises, even the Yankees. It hinders the rich from poaching the poor’s talent. It also keeps salaries from exploding for the most part, because organizations, like the Phillies, are limited in their spending. Rube Amaro re-signs Cole Hamels to keep one of his best arms, which means that Hunter Pence, Joe Blanton and Shane Victorino cannot fit under the competitive-balance threshold. The table below indicates that Amaro has allotted $163.5M of the $178M for the 2013 budget. That equals $14.5M available, which is approximately the amount that Pence will be paid next year.

Chooch Makes The Dive To The Dish For The Out In The 4th

If the GM inks players in centerfield and for 8th-frame set-up, he will deduct 2 contracts from the $163.5M. The bullpen slot is the $500K minimum and the outfield spot is at most $1.45M. In other words, that means $16.5M is the 2-position limit. Therefore, you can forget Josh Hamilton and Michael Bourne. Scott Boras represents Bourne and will move too slowly for Rube, who prefers to do acquisition business before January.

$178M Maximum Before The Luxury Tax:

The last review of this table was on 5/21.

DOLLARS	ALLOCATION	PLAYERS
$72.14M	Core Four	Rollins, Utley, Howard & Hamels
$56.50M	Aces & Closer	Halladay, Lee & Papelbon
$06.25M	2 Starters	Kendrick & Lannan
$12.75M	5 Regulars	C Ruiz, 3B M. Young, CF Revere, RF D. Young & LF Brown
$03.70M	5 Bench Spots	Mayberry, Nix, Kratz, Frandsen & Galvis
$10.00M	6 'Pen Seats	Adams, Bastardo, Durbin, Horst, Aumont & De Fratus
$10.75M	Set Aside	$5M (Trading Deadline), $3M (Achieved Incentives, Replacements & Injury Replacements) & $1.45M (D. Young's Incentives) Lannan's $1.3M Included in Row Total (See Add-on at Bottom).
$02.00M	Buyouts	Polanco, Contreras & Wigginton
$173.59M	TOTAL	25 Roster Spots
$04.41M	Original Balance
$01.30M	Add Change	$1.3M Lannan's Incentives (Unreachable due to Injury)
$05.71M	New Balance

J-Roll Goes 1st-To-3rd In The 2nd

Melky Cabrera will find a cheap deal with an also-ran, because he has to recover from his drug-test suspension. Victorino is hitting .229 with 2 HR, 15 RBI, 18 BB, 14 SB and 2 CS for the Dodgers. B.J. Upton is a centerfielder who will want more than the Phils or Rays will offer, but he might have to take less. CF Torii Hunter will command $10M per over 2 campaigns, and that is due to his age. A veteran reliever will run $4-5M, which means $10M for a right-handed power bat in center. Rube only has a surplus of young ’pen studs to complete a swap, and will finalize FA decisions before spring training, which makes Ruf a long shot.

PLAYER & AGE	2012 $	AVG.	HR	RBI	BB - IBB	SB - CS
LH Josh Hamilton, 31	$13.75M	.285	43	128	60 - 13	07 - 04
LH Michael Bourne, 30	$6.845M	.274	09	057	70 - 01	42 - 13
RH Torii Hunter, 37	$18.00M	.313	16	092	38 - 01	09 - 01
RH B.J. Upton, 28	$07.00M	.246	28	078	45 - 00	31 - 06
SH Shane Victorino, 32	$09.50M	.255	11	055	53 - 01	39 - 06
SH Melky Cabrera, 28	$06.00M	.346	11	060	36 - 04	13 - 05

Kyle Kendrick Toils In The 2nd At The Bank On September 26 Against The Nats

PRECAP PITCH

Kyle Kendrick:

He has worked 6.1 innings plus in 11 of 24 efforts with 8 debacles. Against the Nats for 4 outings at both parks (1 away), his ledger reads: 1-2, a 3.92 ERA, 20.2 frames, 21 hits, 10 runs (9 earned), 8 free passes and 10 whiffs.

	STARTER	RECORD	TM	STARTER	RECORD	DAY & TIME
3	LHP Cliff Lee	06-08, 3.12 ERA	@ Nats	RHP Edwin Jackson	09-11, 4.13 ERA	Wednesday, Day

John Lannan Dials Up A Heater In The 2nd At The Bank On September 26 Against The Phils

John Lannan:

He is 2-0 with a 5.94 home ERA, which is 4.30 lower on the road. He has worked 7 innings in 1 of 5 opportunities with 1 clunker. He faced the Phils last Wednesday with this line: 5.1 frames, 5 hits, 2 both-earned runs, 1 walk and 3 strikeouts on 82 tosses.

DELIVERY = PITCHER’S 2012	DEFINITION OF SEASON
Over The Top	Excellent
3-Quarter Sidearm	Good
Sidearm	Above Average
Short Arm	Approximately Average
Submarine	Below Average

Starters’ photos, not described otherwise, are in the 1st inning.

Quality number of the pitcher: 1 – 5

Slot on his club: 1 – 5

Ranking is 1 to 5 & 15 for the less adventurous.

*** = Approximately equal to after plus-and-minus computation

HURLER	Kyle Kendrick	John Lannan
NUMBER	A Five	A Five
CLUB SLOT	Four	Five
FOR 2012	Sidearm	Short Arm
'12 RANKING	3rd of 5 Categories	4th of 5 Categories
LAST START	Eephus Pitch	Slurve ***
LAST HIGH OR LOW	13th of 15 Categories	9th of 15 Categories

	PITCH	INN	ER - R- H		PITCH	INN	ER
1	Gyroball	9 (CG)	0 - 0 - 3	10	Screwball	6	4
2	Fastball	9 (CG)	0 - 0	11	Knuckleball	5	3
3	Cutter	9 (CG)	3	12	Forkball	0 - 4.2	Monstrosity
4	Split Finger	7	2	13	Eephus Pitch	0 - 2.2	Disaster
5	Curveball	7	3	14	*Palm Ball	Ejected
6	Sinker	6.1	3	15	*Spit Ball	**Ejected+
7	Slider	6	2		*Breaking Ball	Injured
8	Changeup	6	3		*Fosh	Rain Interrupted
9	Slurve	5	2		*Knuckle Curve	Pitch Count
	** = Suspended				* = A 2nd Pitch Also

STATS APOCALYPTIC HORSEMEN COLE HAMELS
COLE'S LINE: 7 INN, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K & 99 DARTS

ACE	W - L	ERA	INN+	CONV	CG - SO	BAD	INN	ER	BB - IBB	SO
Total	34 - 23	3.48	6.1	59 of 86	2 - 2	12	582.2	225	114 -2	557
Hamels	17 - 06	3.05	6.2	21 of 31	2 - 2	03	215.1	073	050 - 2	218
Lee	06 - 09	3.16	6.1	23 of 30	0 - 0	02	211.0	074	028 - 0	207
Halladay	11 - 08	4.49	7.0	15 of 25	0 - 0	07	156.1	078	036- 0	132

22TH AND FINAL RIDE OF THE HORSEMEN FOR 2012:


ACE	W - L	ERA	INN+	CONV	CG	SO	BAD	INN	H	R	ER	BB	IBB	SO
Total	2 - 0	2.84	6.1+	2 of 3	0	0	1	19.0	14	6	6	4	0	20
Halladay	1 - 0	7.20	6.1+	0 of 1	0	0	1	05.0	06	4	4	3	0	07
Lee	0 - 0	1.29	7.0+	1 of 1	0	0	0	07.0	03	1	1	0	0	05
Hamels	1 - 0	1.29	7.0+	1 of 1	0	0	0	07.0	05	1	1	1	0	08

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