2014 Outlook: Philadelphia Phillies

When you look at the Philadelphia Phillies, on the surface, they look somewhat archaic.

And they are.

The average age of their projected infield, including catcher, is 32 and a half years old. Other than Cody Asche, if he even wins the third base job, they're all 34 or 35.

Those aren't golden ages when you're talking about baseball players. And we haven't even started talking about Marlon Byrd and some of these pitchers.

All that said, yes the Phillies are old. But I see no reason why this group can't contend for a wild card in the National League.


I look around the NL and I see the East pretty well a two team battle between Washington and Atlanta. So the East is a bit of a stretch. I look at the central and it's a three horse race, but the Pirates and Reds leave me underwhelmed at their offseason improvements. And the NL West is almost a one-man show in the Dodgers.

So you take away the division leaders and then the Braves/Nationals (or the team that doesn't win the East) and you stack them up against the Phillies. I'm looking at Cincy, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco, and I say, Philly could make a push for the Wild Card in 2014.

Now getting three teams from one division into the postseas is going to be incredibly difficult, but, it's not out of the realm of possibility.

There are a lot of variables when you look at Philadelphia.

I realize Chase Utley has had his share of injuries the past several seasons. Can Marlon Byrd continue to be the post-steroid (or 2013) Marlon Byrd? Can Ben Revere finally hit his stride? Can Domonic Brown (right) continue to build on his break out 2013 campaign? Does this rotation have enough to fill in where Roy Halladay left?

I have almost zero concerns about this bullpen. I've come to expect nothing short of lights out closing from Jon Papelbon. I've always thought Mike Adams is one of the more underrated relievers in baseball, and the rest of the bullpen doesn't look terrible.

The beauty of what Philadelphia has going on right now, is all the positions that are question marks, the Phillies almost have a minor league answer for all of them.

Their farm system, while somewhat dismantled after some very big trades in the past five years, is rather solid.

But I'm not ready to give up on Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins or Chase Utley.

Utley is one of the toughest players and hard nose guys in the game. Unless he can't walk and hold up the bat, he's usually on the field.

While Ryan Howard seems to be on the back incline of his career, in that bandbox of a ballpark, he can still power mistake pitches out.

Jimmy Rollins is like Utley, in the fact he's going to grind and grind and grind. He may not be productive, but his presence, I think, is almost a must have in the locker room, and the line up.

I don't know much about Cody Asche to be honest, but I know a lot about this Maikel Franco kid they've got in their farm system. I know it's early, but if Franco has a solid spring training, he may not be far from a call-up, if he's not put on the opening day roster.

He's played exceptional in back-to-back minor league seasons, and is on the verge of being a real star in Philadelphia.

The Phillies rotation may be the real wild card this year.

Cole Hamels is so hit-and-miss, it's almost hard to predict what kind of year he will have. He can be dominant at times, and then look like he doesn't belong in any big league rotation others.

Cliff Lee is almost a given. You'll get a line like 7.1 IP, 4H, 1ER, 2BB, 9K. He's as automatic as one pitcher can get. I have zero questions about him.

My other wild card is AJ Burnett. Since he left New York, it seems like AJ Burnett's whole perception has changed across baseball. In one season in Pittsburgh, he really made a huge difference. While there was a lot of talent in place there, I think his leadership was one of the big reasons that team was so good last year. I think he gave them that boost they needed to get over the hump.

The problem is, he was on a young team. The Phils, like I've pointed out, are not young. So Burnett doesn't need to be that guy. It was the same situation in New York. I see that playing one of two ways in Philadelphia. The most positive is, he lets the established leaders on this team continue to do their thing, and he sits in the background and quietly puts together a great year. Or the not-so-good, he sulks about it. Gets unhappy with his role, doesn't pitch well. Doesn't connect with his teammates well, and has a terrible year.

I like Burnett, I think he can be a great asset for the Phillies, but he may be the biggest wild card on this entire roster. So we'll see.

But after Burnett, I like Kyle Kendrick. He's a solid middle of the rotation guy. I'm not sure how much I like Miguel Gonzalez in Philly, but he might work out.

In my previous previews, I've given a lot of love to the Mets and Marlins rotations, and I think how this Phillies rotation does when they get matched up against shut down guys like Fernandez, and soon-to-be Harvey, Wheeler and others will determine how far this team goes.

For 2014, I think the Phillies are a fly under the radar team that just might sneak up into a Wild Card race in September.