The Best Phillies Team

The Phillies’ two World Series-winning teams would seem to be the obvious choices as the best clubs in team history. But not so much.

As I wrote in the previous days’ entries, the fourth-best team was the 1950 club, the third was the 1976 101-win team. That leaves the competition down to the 1980 champions and this year’s team, one that’s significantly better than last year’s World Series winners. By adding a reigning Cy Young Winner (Cliff Lee), a 2009 All Star (Raul Ibanez), and a confidence that comes with the title, the ’09 team easily trumps the ’08 winners. But how do the 1980 and 2009 teams compare?

The 1980 team featured two Hall of Famers (Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton) and a hard-to-believe 17 players who’d be named All Stars during their careers. Seven of the eight regulars were All Stars at some point (Garry Maddox was the only one not named).

It’s hard to tell how the careers of the 2009 players will play out, but already 11 players on this year’s team have been named All Stars, including six of the eight regulars (except Carlos Ruiz or Pedro Feliz) and not counting yet-to-be-activated Pedro Martinez.

The key to comparing the teams is to focus on the individual season and not a player’s career. Some Phillies greats didn’t produce in ’80, or haven’t yet in ‘09: Bob Boone (.229), Greg Luzinski (.228), and Garry Maddox (.259) struggled then, while Jimmy Rollins (.242) and Ruiz (.231) are having off years now.

Conversely, Carlton won the Cy Young and Schmidt was NL and World Series MVP. Barring a freakish hot streak by Chase Utley or Ryan Howard, there won’t be any regular-season award-winners on the ’09 club.

The ‘09 team, however, has strengths the ’80 team didn’t. The starting rotation of Cole Hamels, Lee, Joe Blanton, J.A. Happ, and Jamie Moyer/perhaps Martinez is far better than the ’80 staff of Carlton, Dick Ruthven, Bob Walk, Randy Lerch, and Nino Espinosa/Larry Christenson.

The ’09 everyday regulars are also having better years than the ’80 starters. Howard tops an aging Pete Rose (.282 BA, .352 OBP), Utley’s better than Manny Trillo, Ibanez bests Luzinski, and Shane Victorino is better than ’80 Maddox. Boone/Ruiz is a wash. That leaves Bowa over a slumping Rollins, Schmidt ahead of Feliz, and Bake McBride ahead of Werth.

The ’80 team gets points for its bullpen and bench strength. Tug McGraw was otherworldly after returning from his injury (1.46 ERA for the season), and Ron Reed, Dickie Noles, and Kevin Saucier held down the fort. The ’09 team has potential over the next two months to swing the vote, though, with Brad Lidge finally coming around, and J.C. Romero, Chad Durbin, and Brett Myers due back.

The ’80 team demolishes the ’09 club in bench depth. Lonnie Smith, Keith Moreland, Greg Gross, and Del Unser pushed the ’80 starters for their jobs, while ’09 backups Greg Dobbs and newly acquired Ben Francisco are the only bench players who could be considered starters on other teams.

The final tally: the ’09 team’s everyday lineup and starting pitching are better than the ’80 club. Only the ’80 bullpen and bench beat the ’09 club. Remember, the ’80 team finished just 91-71, winning the division following a gut-wrenching series in Montreal on the season’s last weekend. Aside from a total collapse, the ’09 team should easily win the division and head to the playoffs as the defending World Series champs and likely NL favorites to reach the World Series.

What do you think? Let me know by commenting or sending me an e-mail.

Best Phillies Team, Part 2

Following up on yesterday’s entry: Is this year’s Phillies team the best in club history? I’ve narrowed the competition down to four: 2009, 1980, 1976, and 1950.

I expected the 1950 team would give the ’80 and ’09 teams a challenge, but it looks like just the fourth best of the bunch. The Whiz Kids got hot for one season behind 25-and-unders Robin Roberts, Richie Ashburn, Curt Simmons, Del Ennis, Granny Hamner, and Willie Jones.

Despite having just three players named to that year’s All-Star team (Roberts, Jones, and Jim Konstanty), the Phillies claimed four of the top seven spots in the year-end MVP balloting and six of the top 16. Reliever Jim Konstanty (16-7, 22 saves) won the award and Del Ennis (4th), Granny Hamner (6th), Robin Roberts (7th), Andy Seminick (14th) and Curt Simmons (16th) rounded out the group.

Despite the team’s strong lineup, the Phillies lacked starting pitching beyond Roberts and Simmons; the other four starters combined to go 31-32. Also, the bench was weak, with no player hitting above .250. The team, under manager Eddie Sawyer, finished 91-63 and won the National League by two games over Brooklyn before the Yankees beat them in the World Series in four straight.

Next up: the surprise of the bunch, the 1976 Phillies, a team loaded with highly talented players at divergent stages of their careers. A whopping 14 players on the roster would make an All-Star team at some point in their career, from 40-year-old reserve Tony Taylor (an All Star in ’60) to 25-year-old Greg Luzinski, in the middle of four straight All-Star seasons. Every starter (Bob Boone, Dick Allen, Dave Cash, Larry Bowa, Mike Schmidt, and Luzinski) except Garry Maddox and Jay Johnstone would be selected at some point.

The pitching staff featured six eventual All Stars and two Cy Young winners in Steve Carlton (’72, ’77, ’80, ’82) and 34-year-old Jim Lonborg (’67 with Boston), whose 18 victories that season would be one less than he’d collect in his final three seasons combined. Jim Kaat, Ron Reed, Tug McGraw, and Wayne Twitchell were the other All Stars.

Manager Danny Ozark’s ’76 team went 101-61 and won the division by nine games before running into the Big Red Machine. Cincinnati beat the Phillies in three straight before demolishing the Yankees in four straight in the World Series.

Schmidt, Luzinski, Maddox, Carlton, and Lonborg had standout seasons. Bowa (.248), and aging vets Allen (15 HR, 49 RBI) and Kaat (12-14) didn’t. The bullpen was phenomenal with Reed, McGraw, and Gene Garber putting together the first of two straight seasons that Baseball Prospectus would rank second all-time in baseball history.

The ’76 team had a solid bench (Bobby Tolan, Tim McCarver, Ollie Brown), but only a so-so rotation beyond Carlton and Lonborg (Kaat, and 22-year-olds Larry Christenson and Tommy Underwood). As a result of its average starting pitching and off years by a few regulars, the ’76 group is just a notch below the 1980 and 2009 teams, whom I’ll profile tomorrow.

Is This The Best Phillies Team Ever?

The big question raised by the imminent arrival of pitcher Pedro Martinez to the Phillies lineup isn’t who will be the team’s fifth starter. When you’re talking about a team choosing for its fifth starter between either a three-time Cy Young winner or one who’s won more than 250 career games, can you really go wrong?

The more intriguing question: with Martinez, who also finished in the top five in Cy Young voting seven times, and the recent addition of reigning AL Cy Young winner Cliff Lee, is this now the best team in Phillies history?

Sadly, of course, the Phillies aren’t the Yankees when it comes to great teams, so the list of contenders is shorter than Carlos Ruiz (does every home-plate umpire have to be taller than him?).

The contenders include the title teams of 2008 and 1980, the World Series teams of 1915, 1950, 1983, and 1993, and the 100-regular-season-win teams of 1976 and 1977, as well as this year’s group.

It’s pretty easy to eliminate some from the list quickly, starting with the World Series teams. Grover Cleveland Alexander’s ’15 team featured three Hall of Famers but pitcher Eppa Rixey (the Reds) and shortstop Dave Bancroft (New York Giants/Boston) would make their names elsewhere. Pitching carried a workmanlike lineup.

The ’83 Wheeze Kids included the most Hall of Famers ever on one Phillies team with four (Mike Schmidt, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, and Steve Carlton), not counting Pete Rose. But as the team’s nickname implies, they’d seen better days.

The ’93 team had unique chemistry—Lenny Dysktra’s arms indicated maybe there was a little too much chemistry—and a solid pitching staff led by Curt Schilling (16-7) and Mitch Williams (43 hair-raising saves). The 97-victory team knew how to win and how to have fun, but Schilling is the only possible Hall of Famer, so the greatness factor is missing.

Then, you have to choose between the back-to-back teams. The 1976 and '77 teams were similar except for a few players that give '76 (Dick Allen, Dave Cash, Jay Johnstone) the edge over ’77 (Richie Hebner, Ted Sizemore, Johnstone/Bake McBride) The pitching staffs were roughly the same, though Jim Lonborg and Jim Kaat were better in ’76.

And, without a title to back it up yet, I’ll still take the 2009 team ahead of 2008: Raul Ibanez over Pat Burrell, Lee over Kyle Kendrick, and the '09 team has the swagger of having won a World Series. Brad Lidge and the bullpen were better last season, but there’s still two months and an incoming Brett Myers to remedy that. This year’s group has the largest division lead in the majors at 7 games, has a better winning percentage than last year (.575 vs. .567.), and gets Lee and possibly Martinez for the rest of the season.

That leaves a Final Four of 1950, 1976, 1980, and 2009 for tomorrow’s entry.