The Zo Zone

Again, the Santana acquistion took a team that even Billy Wagner said was looking like a third place team and has made them the slight favorites on paper. This just levels the field, and certainly isnt consigning us to mere wild card aspirations.

Slight favorites?? Check the Vegas Odds now (after the trade) and see if you think the Mets are just "slight" favorites. A team that was picked to finished 2nd (and sometimes 3rd) in their own division is now the favorite to win the entire League.

I hate the Mets and I hope they choke (again) but this was a HUGE trade for them.

Yes, slight favorites. I dont care what Vegas says, my power rankings are as such:

Arizona
Chicago
New York
Phillies
Colorado

oh no, a team of chokers and head cses just added a starting pitcher. better give them the trophy now.

relax everyone, it is one pitcher that goes on the mound every 5th day. he also got to pitch in a dome half the time. not exactly Flushing in April. as for vegas they want everyone to waste their money on the mets this year. makes them richer. they way i keep reading about santana i thought he was going to start 162 games this year.

Hey, KoolEarl, what are you, a closet Cub fan with annual delusions??!!?? The Cubs rated second in your "Power" Rankings!!! What a joke - they won't even win that weakarse division they're in. Otherwise, you got it about right for now. Additional trades and signings as well as injuries could effect things down the road.

I dont understand how everyone says the Mets look better on paper, forgetting how the Phils have the best offense in the NL...go stat for stat on paper and the Phillies look pretty nasty.

Bud, I am not a Cubs fan, but beleive they have
a very strong team that congealed under Piniella last season and are ready to rock in 2008...anonymous, keep in mind that its pitching, pitching and pitching, which is why overall you have to give a slight edge to the Mets. The rotation is better and predicting bullpens is usually a total crapshoot. The Phillies banging bats do help narrow the gap and Hamels/Myers could turn out to be close enough to Santana/Pedro.

Apparently the people calling the Mets a team of chokers forget about how well the Phillies performed in the playoffs

The Phillies were in the playoffs - unlike the Mets.

Brett "the wife beater" Myers is delirious. Must still be drunk from the celebration last year.
"The Phillies have the best bullpen in baseball" B. Myers. When is the last time Gordon pitched a full season? Madsen was solid in the 6th inning slot in 06 many moons ago, but he can't deal with pressure. He is a taller version of Geary. As a matter of fact Geary had heart so Madsen's confidence problems are to troubling for me to count on him. Romero is an adrenaline guy. He thrived during the heat of the race. As an ex-athlete, I know the type. It will be interesting to see how he performs in May and June when it's more of a grind. Lidge was run outta Houston. The Phils paid to much if you ask me. Bourn will be missed. They would have been better off trading Werth, IMHO. I don't think he will handle Philadelphia all that well. Another Wagner, minus the velocity.

The Mets win the division going away.....

Truth- Of course Myers is going to talk highly of his fellow players. Fact: Bullpens are highly unpredictable. The Mutts pen killed them last year, the Braves pen killed them in 2006 etc etc. Really, other than the Angels, Twins and Padres, which teams seem to have a strong pen year-in/out?

Well certainly, the addition of Santana gives them a great lead guitar player and...huh, it's Johan, not Carlos?

Never mind.

Since we are Phillies fans the more appropriate question would be, when was the last time the Phillies had a good bullpen?

Truth, don't call yourself a Phillies fan.

Truth- 1993?

an appropriate question for mets fans would be, when is the last time they beat the Phillies.

I am quite pleased that the Phils/Mets rivalry has finally solidified.

Truth, let me guess, besides your other predictions you think that Santana is going to be healthy and pitch 200+ innings for the next 6-8 years and the same level he has pitched for the last 5 seasons?

folks, they might not even sign the deal 28 hrs left. I however think the mets and santana are just stalling as a negotation tactic. Either way the phills should sign kyle lohse now why the mets are busy. If they do sign santana then the phillies would have countered with something even if it's minor compared to santana. If the mets can't finish the deal which is unlikely then the phills would have taken away the mets back-up plan leaving them with some great options, such as aquiring adam eaton.

Kool, In order for it to be a rivarly more than one team has to spend money to win. One collapse/fluke does not make it competitive. One loud mouth by the name of B. Wagner does not make it a rivarly. Until the Phils consistently do what it takes to win, they will be an 85-88 win team. Until they take care of their players, they will be a 85-88 win team. One thing about Larry Brown he knew he was leaving he took care of his guys before he left basically screwing the Sixers for years to come but we had a heck of a ride on 01....
Gillick should have taken notes.....

If/when the Phillies have another good year, make the playoffs and potentially more, Truth will be the first guy/gal on here (under a different name I suppose) saying I told you so. I say guy/gal because I don't know which it is. I'd assume Truth is a guy, but with all this whining, I have to say its 50/50. Truth suffers from WIP syndrome - which is complain about everything until something good happens then get on the bandwagon.

Truth, so Gillick should've taken notes on how to give a team a "heck of a ride" while crippling the team for the future? You're absolutely right, the Sixers are the perfect model for any self-respecting GM to follow!

Truth = Eskin?

Truth = John Madden?
Truth = Bill Walton?

Maybe Truth is Eskin's online persona. If anyone gets a flower delivery - watch out.

Talk about leverage going into the negotations. The Mets have to give whatever Santana asks

I'll take the Sixers '01 ride over the 15 yrs since '93 any day.
You wouldn't understand. You accept and expect mediocrity.

"Until they take care of their players, they will be a 85-88 win team"...Yeah payroll is only 10th in league.
"One thing about Larry Brown he knew he was leaving he took care of his guys"...ask Billy King, Ed Snider, Mo Cheeks and Ed Stefanski how's that been working out?
"we had a heck of a ride on 01"....see above
"Gillick should have taken notes"...he did, on NOT what to do
"As an ex-athlete, I know the type"...enough about yourself
"Bourn will be missed"...it's so hard to find a good pinch runner
"The Mets win the division going away...well, based on the theory that at least a broken clock gets it right twice a day, you may be right.
And were is our Phils's are classless and Ryan deserves more money rant for the day?

Ok,, time to get back on your meds.

And you complain on a blog. I enjoyed watching last year, obviously you didn't. Go root for the Yankees.

"As an ex-athlete, I know the type"...

Nothing like a frustrated jock, eh?

The Phils have a solid team, no worries mate!

If you look at every position on the Phills roster next to the Mets, even thier pitching staff, we match up well against them:

1st
Howard vs Aging Delgado - Us
2nd
Utley vs Castilo (I mean c'mon) - Us
ss
Rollins vs Reyes (He can only steal a base if he gets on... He's hot and then cold too much) - Us

3rd
Feliz vs Wright (better D on our side) - them for offense, us for defense

The only outfeilder they have really is Beltran, Alou is playing less and less games every year.

We have 3 proven vets out there with two young guns in Werth and Dobbs who can play a little ball. - Us

Our line up is better than theirs. Sure, we could use another starting pitcher. Hamels is not Santana yet, but could be, he had a break out year. I'll put Myers against Pedro any day, and the rest of the guys are serviceable (minus Eaton till he makes beleivers out of all of us). With the offense we have it doesn't matter that much. Santana has never visited the Bank. Pitching matters, but not in our house!! Till the spring...

Hamels 50% chance he breaks down before midway pt.
Moyer is like 100 yrs old-his fast ball tops out at 79mph 40% chance he breaks 12 vicories. He also is a break down possibility.
Eaton= sux
Durbin=sux
Lohse,if they sign him=sux
Kendrick= unproven commodity
Myers= Has never lived up to his potential in the pen or as a starter. Honestly, I respect his heart but he is not yet a proven commodity even though your phillies gladly paid him. He was avg as a closer last yr. He was often on the ropes in close gms and blew quite a few, in other words he gets shook up regulary. Can't deny that guy's.
In other words come July they may be in deep trouble.

We have the bats but we must work on our defense in the spring to get off to a good start. Remember the base running mistakes last yr. Someone has to get Lopes under control as well. Cholly needs to have a good spring.

I look at it this way myself. A case can be made that the Phillies are better then the Mets at every position on the field other then 3b and cf. I also believe Hamels and Myers can potentially match Santana and Martinez win for win. Hamels is going to be awesome this season. He won 14 games last season despite missing an entire month. He was basically unhittable after coming back from that injury and was striking out people at an absurd pace. I also like the Phillies pen more. Basically,its going to come down to Moyer and Eaton not being total disasters because the main edge the Mets have over the Phillies is John Maine and Oliver Perez are better then Phillies starting pitcher in those spots. The Phillies are going to be very good this year don't kid yourselves people. Very good.

Pedro 50% chance he breaks down before midway pt.
El Duque is like 100 yrs old-his fast ball tops out at 79mph 40% chance he breaks 12 vicories. He also is a break down possibility.

Perez= wildly inconsistant
Pelfrey= unproven commodity

Heilman= Has never lived up to his potential in the pen or as a starter. Honestly, I disrespect his heart but he is not yet a proven commodity even though your Mutts gladly paid him. He was avg as a set-up last yr. He was often on the ropes in close gms and blew quite a few, in other words he gets shook up regulary. Can't deny that guy's.
In other words come July they may be in deep trouble.

We have few bats but we must work on our defense in the spring to get off to a good start. Remember the base running mistakes last yr from Anderson?. Someone has to get Reyes under control as well. Willie needs to have a good spring

If the Phills can some how get Loshe we can match up with their staff fairly well. Hamels won 15 games not 14... I think Perez will have an off year. I live in NY and he is just back and forth consistantly. I like Maine but he started to show some kinks in the armor last year, some weaknesses. The Mets are very beatable. They are going to be crippled for years to come by signing Santana to this mega-mil deal. They dont have anyone to replace Delgado or Alou or Castillio. They are an aging group and that showed toward the end of last season, they ran out of gas in the last month of the season. It was so rewarding watching their post game shows after the Phills beat them. Their announcers talk so much trash before and during the game about the Phills. They were reluctant to give the Phills any credit at the end of last year.

I love the Phillies but let's get real. You can't say that Hamels matches up evenly with Santana. I hope that he does but right now you cannot tell me that a pitcher that has a history of injury (and I don't think has ever played a full year without an injury) is going to match up against Santana. Have you looked at this dude's stats? He's been consistantly good for years.

I hope Hamels has a break out year. But right now, he cannot be considered Santana's equal.

Truth: if you live in Jersey, I'll send you the toll money to walk out on the Walt Whitman, since you are so depressed, I'm sure you will be jumping by June. Hope not.
Dude, you gotta lighten up. The Phil's have a ton of questions but you're already blowing up the season. Have a little faith my friend, if they tank, we will all be on the bandwagon with you and you can say I told you so.
Try to at least enjoy the optimism that every spring brings. Remember 1993, none of us had a clue it would be a good year. And who thought last year would turn out so well. God only knows what you think about the Eagles or Sixers.
BTW, Davey Lopes had a hell of a year last year.

I think the "your Phillies" reference is Truth letting it slip that he is a Mets troll.

I think the Phillies are still the team to beat in the East. As a whole, I dont think the Mets have really improved much from last season.

I also have concerns about Santana. I am shocked that the Twins jumped on this very poor offer from the Mets, instead of waiting til mid season. Lots of scouts reported that Santanas velocity was way down in his final 7 starts last year, and he refused to throw a slider at all towards the end of the year. He also gave up a TON more home runs last year then he ever has. I think the Twins have some serious concerns about Johans health.

I also think the signing of Feliz is very underrated. He is an excellent fielder, and since becoming a full time player has had over 20 home runs and at least 78 RBI's every season. That was also in a very pitcher friendly park, on a team that didnt score very much. On our team, he could easily go for 30 home runs and 100 rbis. Fantastic numbers when you consider he is going to hit 6 or 7th in our lineup.

Truth,
Can you please give me your prediction as to how Santana will perform over the next 6-7 seasons? Will he be the next Mike Hampton, the next Barry Zito, or what?

Yikes, Shane is tone deaf.

Phillies bullpen will be fine.

Bullpen ERAs over the last three seasons.
Lidge 3.68
Gordon 3.30
Romero 3.90
Madson 3.90

Not spectacular but solid. Mets are probably a little stronger in that area, but not by all that much.

You know what is going to be outstanding? ...when the Muts sign Kyle Lohse and the opinion of "Truth" changes dramatically. New York fans are a joke. They're fat, gutless, jobless, "ex-athletes" that spend they're time of a Phillies blog...except during the 3 week period their team is going through a monumental collapse. Let Truth have his fun...by September, he'll crawl back under a rock like the rest of those cockroach Mut fans.