GaryMrMets
06-30-2004, 03:05 PM
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/sports/9046506.htm
Posted on Wed, Jun. 30, 2004
Bill Conlin | Phils face major dilemma with Howard
By Bill Conlin
bill1chair@aol.com
IT DIDN'T TAKE Paul Owens and his people long to figure out what kind of manpower transition would be necessary for the move from traditionally configured Connie Mack Stadium to vast, concentric Veterans Stadium. The Phillies were going from a cozy ballpark that was
all angles and everything from double-decked stands from left to center to a long, high rightfield wall bisected by a towering scoreboard.
Connie Mack was a wonderful place for a righty pull hitter, but center was a $2 cab ride. Right was close, but the fence was high and a lot of drives that would have been homers in other parks were "off the wall for extra bases," as By Saam would intone. Only a few extraordinary sluggers - Willie McCovey,
Willie Stargell, Wes Covington and Richie Allen come to mind - cleared the scoreboard.
The lush grass was the best in the game. With that kind of thick carpet, you didn't need middle
infielders with extraordinary range. Average speed guys like Bobby Wine, Ruben Amaro and Cookie Rojas thrived in Connie Mack and left the running to Tony Taylor.
But the Vet was a hearse of a different choler. When lefthander Jim Kaat came from Minnesota in a 1975 winter meetings trade, he called the turf brand
of baseball, "Marbles in a bathtub." It was death on sinkerballers. Mike Schmidt needed
every ounce of his great athleticism to play third there.
And while the dimensions were spacious - 330 feet down the lines, 371 to the alleys - the capricious, swirling winds made it play much smaller - or much bigger. When the flags blew in, pitchers knew there would be a jet stream funneling to both right and left. And when summer set up shop, the turf retained heat like a skillet, creating a thermal that enhanced a baseball's carry.
The Astroturf was quicker than a U.S. Open green and
harder than a USOC drug-tester's heart. Infield gaps and outfield alleys were difficult to defend. Larry Bowa was the perfect turf shortstop. Schmidt's range to his left let the strong-armed Bowa cheat up the middle. This took pressure up the middle off a variety of average-range second basemen, including Dave Cash, Denny Doyle, Ted Sizemore and Manny Trillo. The deal that brought centerfielder Garry Maddox, whose speed cut the Vet alleys down to size, was as important as any The Pope ever made. Maddox was a sleight-of-foot magician who turned doubles and triples into singles.
Now, the Phillies are adjusting to a ballpark that makes Connie Mack Stadium look like something run by the National Park Service. Citizens Bank Park not only has a small footprint, the place appears to have wind patterns conducive to home runs no matter which way it blows. And, because the plate faces due north (for that Center City view) rather than the preferred northeast, the wind rarely blows straight in. North winds are not a common spring and summer direction here. The coastal storm-induced northeast and east winds, common in spring, are a jetway to the seats in left.
The place is a shooting gallery, plain and simple.
So how much speed do you want or need in a ballpark where club home run records are certain to topple? Jogging has been the preferred way to run the bases so far. Jimmy Rollins is a cheetah; Bobby Abreu, a jaguar. After them come a descending order of gaits that end with the pachydermal plodding of Pat Burrell, Jim Thome, Mike Lieberthal and Todd Pratt - Piano Movers 'R' Us.
Which segues nicely into the organizational dilemma I addressed Monday. Will there be a place for Reading slugger Ryan Howard, a 6-4 lefthanded launcher who is pillaging the Double A Eastern League? The dilemma is that Howard, who was hitting .307 with 28 homers and 77 RBI going into last night's game against Altoona, runs slow, bats left, throws left and plays first base. That slams the door shut on a lot of potential position shifts, leaving left as the only
possible opening, at least in what remains of the Jim Thome Era.
When assistant GM Mike Arbuckle made Howard the Phils' fifth-round draft pick in 2001, the Phils viewed the large lad from Southwest Missouri State as a hitter with a big power upside and a project in other areas. As Howard pounded his way through the lower levels of the system, Arbuckle had no way of knowing the Phillies' first baseman of the future would wind up blocked by the long-term Thome signing, the biggest free-agent contract in club history.
Everybody from GM Ed Wade down to Reading manager Greg Legg is acutely aware of the decisions that must now be made on a 24-year-old force of nature rapidly maturing into a primo home run hitter. My only message to them is that it will be criminal to relinquish him in a deal for a July 31 rent-a-pitcher, then have him blossom into a younger Thome for somebody else. Trade him if you must, but better not get cheated...
Arbuckle was kind enough to reply to my e-mail question on the vexing subject.
"We have talked on occasion about Howard trying the OF," Mike wrote. "Everyone in the organization who has seen him, including myself, just do not feel that he can handle the OF."
My reply would be that the Phillies just got wrecked in
Boston by Manny Ramirez, a guy who plays left like a 40-year-old in a twilight beer league, and doesn't always hustle as much as a beer leaguer. He can't throw,
either. But Manny's bat is dragging him toward Cooperstown. He is the game's most dangerous righthanded hitter and baseball historically finds homes for such men.
Pat Burrell back to third, his old college position? (And don't forget, Thome once was the Indians' third baseman.) Don't hold your breath.
"In Pat's case, his hands and arm are fine at third base but his range is also short," Arbuckle
replied. "That is why I felt from the day we drafted him that he would be a position change to first base or the outfield."
Fair enough. If Ryan Howard survives the next trading seasons and is at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre next year, we can revisit this intriguing dilemma.
Posted on Wed, Jun. 30, 2004
Bill Conlin | Phils face major dilemma with Howard
By Bill Conlin
bill1chair@aol.com
IT DIDN'T TAKE Paul Owens and his people long to figure out what kind of manpower transition would be necessary for the move from traditionally configured Connie Mack Stadium to vast, concentric Veterans Stadium. The Phillies were going from a cozy ballpark that was
all angles and everything from double-decked stands from left to center to a long, high rightfield wall bisected by a towering scoreboard.
Connie Mack was a wonderful place for a righty pull hitter, but center was a $2 cab ride. Right was close, but the fence was high and a lot of drives that would have been homers in other parks were "off the wall for extra bases," as By Saam would intone. Only a few extraordinary sluggers - Willie McCovey,
Willie Stargell, Wes Covington and Richie Allen come to mind - cleared the scoreboard.
The lush grass was the best in the game. With that kind of thick carpet, you didn't need middle
infielders with extraordinary range. Average speed guys like Bobby Wine, Ruben Amaro and Cookie Rojas thrived in Connie Mack and left the running to Tony Taylor.
But the Vet was a hearse of a different choler. When lefthander Jim Kaat came from Minnesota in a 1975 winter meetings trade, he called the turf brand
of baseball, "Marbles in a bathtub." It was death on sinkerballers. Mike Schmidt needed
every ounce of his great athleticism to play third there.
And while the dimensions were spacious - 330 feet down the lines, 371 to the alleys - the capricious, swirling winds made it play much smaller - or much bigger. When the flags blew in, pitchers knew there would be a jet stream funneling to both right and left. And when summer set up shop, the turf retained heat like a skillet, creating a thermal that enhanced a baseball's carry.
The Astroturf was quicker than a U.S. Open green and
harder than a USOC drug-tester's heart. Infield gaps and outfield alleys were difficult to defend. Larry Bowa was the perfect turf shortstop. Schmidt's range to his left let the strong-armed Bowa cheat up the middle. This took pressure up the middle off a variety of average-range second basemen, including Dave Cash, Denny Doyle, Ted Sizemore and Manny Trillo. The deal that brought centerfielder Garry Maddox, whose speed cut the Vet alleys down to size, was as important as any The Pope ever made. Maddox was a sleight-of-foot magician who turned doubles and triples into singles.
Now, the Phillies are adjusting to a ballpark that makes Connie Mack Stadium look like something run by the National Park Service. Citizens Bank Park not only has a small footprint, the place appears to have wind patterns conducive to home runs no matter which way it blows. And, because the plate faces due north (for that Center City view) rather than the preferred northeast, the wind rarely blows straight in. North winds are not a common spring and summer direction here. The coastal storm-induced northeast and east winds, common in spring, are a jetway to the seats in left.
The place is a shooting gallery, plain and simple.
So how much speed do you want or need in a ballpark where club home run records are certain to topple? Jogging has been the preferred way to run the bases so far. Jimmy Rollins is a cheetah; Bobby Abreu, a jaguar. After them come a descending order of gaits that end with the pachydermal plodding of Pat Burrell, Jim Thome, Mike Lieberthal and Todd Pratt - Piano Movers 'R' Us.
Which segues nicely into the organizational dilemma I addressed Monday. Will there be a place for Reading slugger Ryan Howard, a 6-4 lefthanded launcher who is pillaging the Double A Eastern League? The dilemma is that Howard, who was hitting .307 with 28 homers and 77 RBI going into last night's game against Altoona, runs slow, bats left, throws left and plays first base. That slams the door shut on a lot of potential position shifts, leaving left as the only
possible opening, at least in what remains of the Jim Thome Era.
When assistant GM Mike Arbuckle made Howard the Phils' fifth-round draft pick in 2001, the Phils viewed the large lad from Southwest Missouri State as a hitter with a big power upside and a project in other areas. As Howard pounded his way through the lower levels of the system, Arbuckle had no way of knowing the Phillies' first baseman of the future would wind up blocked by the long-term Thome signing, the biggest free-agent contract in club history.
Everybody from GM Ed Wade down to Reading manager Greg Legg is acutely aware of the decisions that must now be made on a 24-year-old force of nature rapidly maturing into a primo home run hitter. My only message to them is that it will be criminal to relinquish him in a deal for a July 31 rent-a-pitcher, then have him blossom into a younger Thome for somebody else. Trade him if you must, but better not get cheated...
Arbuckle was kind enough to reply to my e-mail question on the vexing subject.
"We have talked on occasion about Howard trying the OF," Mike wrote. "Everyone in the organization who has seen him, including myself, just do not feel that he can handle the OF."
My reply would be that the Phillies just got wrecked in
Boston by Manny Ramirez, a guy who plays left like a 40-year-old in a twilight beer league, and doesn't always hustle as much as a beer leaguer. He can't throw,
either. But Manny's bat is dragging him toward Cooperstown. He is the game's most dangerous righthanded hitter and baseball historically finds homes for such men.
Pat Burrell back to third, his old college position? (And don't forget, Thome once was the Indians' third baseman.) Don't hold your breath.
"In Pat's case, his hands and arm are fine at third base but his range is also short," Arbuckle
replied. "That is why I felt from the day we drafted him that he would be a position change to first base or the outfield."
Fair enough. If Ryan Howard survives the next trading seasons and is at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre next year, we can revisit this intriguing dilemma.