I could not have been more wrong in my analysis of the 2018 Phillies. This might not be a bad thing in the larger landscape.
My ego can take it, plus I have experience to draw upon. I had the 2017 Eagles in last place.
To recap, I saw Cap'n Kap's group running a solid lineup out nightly to try and outscore mediocre-to-poor pitching on non-Nola nights. To be fair, that was before we signed Jake the Snake.
But I wasn't the only one. One notable scribe explained that it would take at least three young starters making Justify like strides for the squad to be competitive.
That's exactly what's happened, as Nick Pivetta, Vince Velasquez and Zach Eflin have been pretty good overall.
The Phils have pitched it. With the bats in hand, however, they've produced about as many big hits as solo Art Garfunkel.
Every single hitter in Sunday's lineup was well below his career batting average, with two exceptions. Scott Kingery is a rookie, and Odubal Herrera has roughly equaled his career .289 batting average.
Unfortunately, since peaking at .361 on May 17, the Human Rain Delay II is hitting .169 with a .204 on-base percentage.
It is too soon to make any dramatic conclusions, of course, but what is known is that new hitting coach John Mallee wants his guys taking pitches and having long at-bats. Whether this is sapping aggressiveness or not is a storyline to watch as the summer drags into the dog days.
As it pertains to the future Phils, the balance of power transfer from hitters to pitchers is a good thing. To note the obvious, when you've been a last-place team for five years, it's good to see anyone develop.
To put a finer point on it, it's harder to find and develop pitching than hitting. Finally, pitching is the more important ingredient. After all, despite the Phils horrific hitting, they maintain a winning record.
I expected us to draft a RHP Brady Singer or LHP Matthew Liberatore, and sign a stud starter like LHP Dallas Keuchel.
Suffice to say, the former didn't happen and the latter is looking less and less a possibility.
The Phils drafted 3B Alec Bohm, probably a better value than any pitcher available. But the bonanza lies in free agency. Either OF Bryce Harper or SS Manny Machado would be a wonderful fit and fill several roles (power, on-base ability, lineup fear) of desperate need.
While the Phils are tough to watch at the moment, unless you enjoy strikeouts and stranded runners, the long-term fit between need and availability is very good.
Of course, I already sorta suggested a hard pass from both Machado and Harper.
That can only mean it's looking pretty good one will be wearing Philstripes next spring.
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