Better or worse than last year?

I think the team is marginally better in several areas, and weaker in none.  
Subtracting Nunez, Barajas, Alfonseca and Mesa adds to the overall talent level of the team.  Another subtraction, Bourn, does not seem ready now (and if not now, when?) to be a major league starter.  The OF platoon of Jenkins/Werth should equal Rowand's production as he reverts to the mean. I doubt Feliz is much of an upgrade or downgrade offensively over Dobbs/Helms, but having a 3B who is a capable defender gives Ole Charlie more flexibility. I prefer a rotation that begins Hamels, Myers to Hamels, Moyer.  A return of his missing mojo would make Lidge the equal of Myers as closer.  And the bench is more flexible with Bruntlett, Coste, Taguchi and maybe Snelling than with Bourn, Barajas, Nunez and Helms (presuming he is dealt.)  Apart from the failure to add an above-average FA SP (and who exactly would that have been?) I don't find anything not to like, though I'm sure someone will.

I think the whole team is totally better than last year. I agree that Rowand was so much better last year than we have expected.

Offense: I think they'll score fewer runs than last year, but not that many fewer. I love Victorino, but he's just not going to replicate what Rowand did last year. It's not outrageous to expect Rollins and Utley to regress a tad, but we could also see Howard improve a bit if his batting average can creep upward. Feliz is an out-making machine, but OFJOAB favors him, and it's not like he's replacing anyone great at third.

Starting pitching: Same, really. Hamels and Myers, sure, but the back end is, to put it mildly, worrisome. Eaton should regress (in a good way) to the mean a bit, but I'm very worried about Kendrick's inevitable BABIP reality check.

Bullpen: Better. I'm a believer in Lidge, and one could certainly do worse than Gordon, Romero and Madson to set up. I'm also hoping for Mathieson and maybe Happ to be meaningful contributors (of strikeouts) this season.

Defense: Better. Putting aside for a moment his cringe-inducing OBP, Feliz really is that good defensively, and having him there instead of Helms or Dobbs will count for something. I also think Victorino is an upgrade over Rowand in center. Of course, we downgrade in right from Vic to Werth/Jenkins, but overall I consider it a plus.

So in the final analysis, unless they outplay their Pythag by a considerable margin, it seems to me we're looking at another 85-90 win team. Maybe I'm just depressed about the Mets right now, but I think it's back to the WC fight for the Phils.

i this team is about as good as the one that started 2007 and the one that ended 2007.   thanks to all of the injuries last year, it is somewhat better than the average of all phillies teams that took the field last year.

last spring, the rotation looked pretty solid to me since i was assuming decent health and solid production from lieber-garcia-myers as starters.
gordon and alf made the bullpen look vunerable, and i didn't really expect the huge years from rowand and rollins.  i was afraid of helms imploding and was hopeful but very uncertain about werth and victorino.   this year i'm no more worried about feliz than i was about helms, and much more confident in rollins and the outfield, but the rotation after the top two is so questionable that i'm more scared of it than almost any time since myers arrived.

comparing things to the end of last season, the arrival of lidge and jenkins and feliz are enough to counter the loss of rowand and lohse, but not to be an improvement.

again, i think there should be a net improvement relative to the whole of last year `cause its hard to worse injury luck than the losses of hamels-myers-utley-howard-gordon-lieber-garcia.

 the trouble is that thanks to pedro and johan, the mets are even more improved, so the slightly improved phillies might still lose more games than last year.

I tend to be positive and looking a what the team lost vs gained I feel we have made some good moves.

Starting with the losses.  I loved Rowand and how he played the game, he really was a Philly guy ie: Dykstra. I am not sure he could have put up the same numbers this year and frankly isn't worth the $ the Giants paid him.  That said I wish him well.

Lieber, being in a contract year I thought he would have shed 25 pounds and come to camp in shape.  Nuff said.

Garcia was hurt before we got him, Sept '06 should have sent up the red flags.  But I say that in hindsight as I was as excited to get him as I was Millwood a couple of years ago (sigh).

Geary came off an excellent '06 and I thought he came into his own, wrong.  No big loss here.

Jenkins is gonna love hitting in the bandbox.  Feliz may have a horrible OBP but his glove will atone for it as will an occasional homer.  Lidge has lots of motivation to prove Houston wrong, he needed out of there and has something to prove.  He'll be fine.

Smitty we are talking 2007 here son.  From Aug 29th on Santana was 1-4 4.5 ERA. Scouting reports also showed he lost about 4 MPH off of his fastball.