And You Thought Burrell Was Dead Weight

I've harped before on the number of ill-advised contracts the Phillies have accumulated just in the past year, bringing their payroll just south of $90 million, and the club's struggle to validate its new spendthrift ways for the first couple months of the season.


Even though the Phils have picked up the pace again, currently two games behind the Mets for first place in the NL East, it's sobering to remember that this is a club that has made a string of financial decisions that include still paying part of Jim Thome's salary. The fans love Jim, but I can bet you the Phillies' bean counters were among the few booing lustily upon his return to Philadelphia this past week.


I must admit that this team finally looks like it wants to fulfill the heavy investment, both financial and emotional, of all the panic-stricken naysayers. For the benefit of those crusty cynics--which, quite frankly, often includes myself--I can present to you a funhouse mirror of sorts, an image that shows how big-time blunders become much more destructive with access to big-time bucks. I am speaking, of course, of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Apparently, we don't like Juan Pierre anymore. He doesn't hit for power and he doesn't get on base. He takes odd routes in the outfield and, when he and the Dodgers are lucky, covers the mistakes with speed. He throws poorly. He does steal bases and he does hit singles.

And, for that, he'll be paid $44 million through 2011.

Yet while Gary Matthews, Jr. and Arte Moreno are laughing maniacally in Anaheim, the Dodger faithful are feeling a little buyer's remorse:

He is a slap-hitter on a team that does not hit home runs. He is a base stealer on a team that does not take many pitches. He is a center fielder between a near-rookie in right and a near-40-year-old in left. There have been better fits.

He won't apologize for his game, because it's every bit of what he's got. The Dodgers wanted him. Here he is. All of him. Every day.

With lines like that last one, it's reeeallly hard to believe that anyone in Dodgerland truly thinks Pierre is going to turn it around, which raises the question: Why mince words in the first place? Clearly you cannot be optimistic about it. The article is titled "Wait and See" for crying out loud! Does that sound familiar to anyone?

This is an often-ignored facet of the "moodiness" of Philadelphia sports fans. To quote Beavis and Butthead, we don't like things that suck. And there's no reason to pretend that we do, either. If you have a starter on a potential playoff team that is a colossal drag on all but one or two statistical categories and he's also maligned by fans, insiders, and media alike, then there's only one reason to keep up the charade: there's just too much money at stake.

So while it's reasonable to dig overpaid, underachieving guys like Pat Burrell and Freddy Garcia, the Phaithful should be thankful that the buck generally stops at the ceiling of approximately $10 million per year.

Poverty, relatively speaking, is bliss.

Wait and See [Yahoo! Sports]

You Know It's the Phillies When...

...they lose 2 out of 3 to the Royals after sweeping the Mets on the road.

...the very worst team in the major leagues beats them by 12 runs.

...Ryan Howard homers twice--one in each loss.

...they're still just 5 games out of first in the NL East.

These symptoms of inconsistency are so pervasive that the only thing everyone--fans, players, the national media--expects the Phillies to do consistently is...be inconsistent. It's telling when a preseason World Series dark horse dangerously close to collapsing under the weight of expectations and bullpen hubris isn't even a noteworthy story. I guess Kansas City has got to hear some good news every once in a while, but the failure of the Phillies to realize their full potential has become a tired old yarn.

On the bright side, Liebs finally gave Philadelphia its first shutout of the season after they suffered their first one on the losing end to the Giants a week earlier--a great way to kick off the Second Jose Mesa Era.

Still, it was a brutal weekend and dangerously close to being this season's nadir if it weren't for the Manuel-Eskin Deathmatch in April. A series this momentous deserves its own special name:

"Willie Wilson's Revenge"