The Champion-less Phillies Open 2017 Spring Training
Don’t hate me when I say this, but 2008 is now a distant memory, Phils fans. Sure, we all love to think back to that memorable October night in which Brad Lidge struck out Eric Hinske to ensure the Phillies of their first World Series championship since 1980. That was by far one of the best days of my almost 23 years of life. I was 14 years old on October 31st, 2008 when the parade took place through the streets of Philadelphia. My dad drove me down and just dropped me off right by City Hall. I had no idea where I was going. I had no cell phone reception. I didn’t even care about these things, though, as I was filled with way too much joy over the atmosphere of the sea of red shirts around me. Alright, I won’t go on forever. You know the rest. Many emotions were shared that day and many memories were made. Where am I trying to get at with all this? Well, it’s now 2017. 9 years later, the glory days of Phillies baseball and the team that brought that title to the City of Brotherly Love are now long gone. Not only has a lot of time passed, but the players have moved on as well.
Spring Training 2017 will be the first time that the Phillies will go into the season with zero players from that World Series championship team since actually winning the title. Can you believe it? Chase Utley, Cole Hamels, Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, Carlos Ruiz and the rest of the crew have all moved on. Last year, it felt odd enough looking at a team without Utley, Hamels and Rollins on it. Now, with the Big Piece and Chooch out of the fold, this Phillies team has a whole new look to it. The only person who was a part of this team players wise that will head into this season with the Phils will be 2008 NLCS hero Matt Stairs. Moving from the booth to the dugout (thank goodness), Stairs is in his first year as the Phillies’ hitting coach. Out of the actual 25 players that the Phillies will head into the season with, though, none of them will be wearing a 2008 World Series ring around the clubhouse.
We all knew this day would come. Even through the days of Ruben Amaro Jr. holding onto these Phillies legends with all of his might, eventually all of our heroes that we grew up watching were bound to move on from the Phillies organization. It brings a fun and interesting thought to mind. Will there ever be a group of Phillies players who can repeat the success of your “Golden Era” players? Are there players on this team right now that you will look at in the same light as your Utley, Hamels, Rollins and company? Can players like Maikel Franco, Odubel Herrera, JP Crawford and Aaron Nola fill those voids and become a part of Phillies lore forever? We will have to wait and see.
So that brings us to the thought of how the Phillies will get by without these star players. We know that this Phillies team has talent. The young studs on this roster and down on the farm have obvious intangibles that they will hopefully turn into Major League success for a long time. With that said, one thing that stood out about the aforementioned veterans, even when they weren’t as good of players in their last few years as they were early in their careers, was their leadership. The Phillies might be missing this type of a presence as they head into this upcoming season. What players on this team can pick up that role? From the outside looking in, it doesn’t seem as though the Phillies will miss their veterans, but if you asked the young guys who have been around this franchise for a few years now, they will likely tell you how much they will miss the veteran advice and leadership that is now seemingly nonexistent. Players such as Ryan Howard and Carlos Ruiz are obviously at the tail ends of their careers. Howard still hasn’t found a job for the 2017 season, and Chooch finds himself in a back-up role with the Seattle Mariners. Although they won’t deliver much on the stat sheet anymore, what they do deliver is experience and that knowledge that a young team like the Phillies needs around. They offered the Phillies this type of dependency from the younger players that now might be something that the guys still with the team will be looking for throughout Spring Training.
The Phillies acquired a number of veterans this offseason. Players such as Howie Kendrick, Joaquin Benoit, and Pat Neshek have been around the block. They can most certainly provide the veteran insight the younger players are looking for as long as they are in a Phillies uniform. The only thing about that is they might not be in those uniforms for very long. Matt Klentak made acquisitions this offseason with the intention of unloading these players for some more young talent. It’s a good strategy, but that veteran presence in a clubhouse is always key for a good ball club. The Cubs won the 2016 World Series with a team mostly full of young players who are still just on the cusp of what they can really be. Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Kyle Schwarber and the rest of the young stars on the Cubs still have plenty of baseball to play. The Cubs didn’t just win because of these players, though, as grizzled veterans such as Jon Lester, Ben Zobrist and David Ross were the biggest reasons for this team’s success. Do the Phillies have a nucleus such as this where they could follow the same strategy to get back to the promised land? They just might.
Remember, guys, the Phillies aren’t expected to immediately win 100 games this year. Their Lester, Zobrist, and Ross type players could end up being Aaron Nola, Odubel Herrera and Cameron Rupp by the time this team is back to winning a lot of ball games. The key for this team and this fan base is going to be patience.
It’s a funny sight for most of us looking at pictures of the 2017 squad getting going in Clearwater right now, with none of our veteran heroes running around at the newly named Spectrum Field, but it’s something we’re going to have to get used to. I believe that with the players that we do have the pleasure of watching in Phils uniforms for the foreseeable future, we can find some new heroes who will bring a title back to Philly sometime soon.
Happy baseball season, Phils Nation! It is truly the most wonderful time of the year.
Photo: Bryan Green (Via: Flickr)
Follow me on Twitter at @SportsTalkDP for all the latest on everything I have to say or retweet in sports, with an obvious Philly bias.
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