Good or Great?

Definitely good, not great. But I don’t think there’s a single “great” team in the entire league, and arguably all of MLB.

At this point I think I’d characterize the starting rotation more as pedestrian than “bad.” And I’m not at all certain that I’d make that Howard trade.

I agree on all points with taco pal here.

Further, I’m not sure that any team that’s won the World Series in this decade, with the possible exception of the two Red Sox champions, could be called “great” by historic standards. Good plus Luck does it.

But I also think Neudol’s right about what it would take to get this team to “great”: a return to form by Myers, one more #2-type starter, and everything else as it’s been through the first third of this season. If you think about the work we’ve gotten from Moyer, Kendrick and Eaton over the last three games, that’s more than adequate from the #3-5 starters—even factoring in that the same performance against the Braves or Cubs rather than the injury-depleted Rockies probably would be more like 5-6 IP, 3-4 runs than the better lines they actually put up.

Meanwhile, so long as Feliz, Jenkins, Ruiz and Victorino-the four non-stars in the lineup-keep hitting decently, they’ll score runs. If Hamels is healthy, we know what we’ve got there. Same if Lidge stays intact and level-headed. I’m not sure I see a clearly better team in the NL right now, even being short of “greatness.”

Good stuff, good stuff. I got five minutes here so I want to explain myself on the Howard/Sabathia swap. Here is where I am coming from. Howard is 28, Sabathia is 27. So, we would be getting the younger player. Also, I assumed in the trade that we would sign Sabathia to a 4-5-6 year contract at the going rate (what is the going rate, 16 per?). So, I know Sabathia would not be cost controlled like Howard is, however, I am not sure you can consider Howard to be cost controlled even though he is in his arbitration years. I am assuming that Howard will make roughly the same 16 million per season over the next however many years. So, assuming we would have both for the same amount of time and roughly the same amount of money, it comes down to worth. How much is Ryan Howard worth? His defense is atrocious and takes away from his value as an all around ballplayer. Offensively, he will hit HR’s and collect RBI’s. However, since his first full year, he has seen his BA and OBP steadily decline. In my opinion, he is the third best offensive weapon in our own lineup. Sabathia is an ace, and I do not think there is even an argument that can be made against that opinion. His first four appearances of ‘08 were bad, but since then he has given up only 9 ER in 50.1 innings of work for an ERA of 1.61. So, I feel that Sabathia has more value as a player than Ryan Howard does over the next 4-5-6 years for the same amount of money. The last thing to take into consideration is health. Pitchers obviously are much more volatile in terms of health and production. But, to forecast an injury is like trying to forecast the apocalypse. Best of luck. Finally, I think this team could win a championship this year if we made that trade. Hamels, Sabathia, and Myers combined with a lineup of Rollins, Victorino, Utley, Burrell, Werth, Feliz, Ruiz/Coste, International Man of Mystery (I wouldn’t mind seeing a platoon of Dobbs and Coste at first with Ruiz getting the majority of starts behind the plate), and the Pitcher is championship worthy in my opinion. With Howard and our flaky starting pitching, I do not think we have any real shot. Anyway, that is my two cents. I know it won’t happen, but it is still fun to talk about. Besides that, I really do not want to deplete our farm system for a Joe Blanton type. I think this team is going to need an infusion of young talent in 2-3 years, and our farm system us currently positioned to do just that. I would really hate to see our young players disappear for a half hearted attempt at a championship.

Nope. Phillies don’t give pitchers deals longer than 3 years. Sabathia isn’t consistent enough to warrant the trade. If there was a good minor-leaguer waiting in the wings, maybe.