Man Do I Smell A Phillies Fan

Allen Ariza at Scout.com writes an analysis about the National League East and where he feels each club will place at the end of the season. In his assessment, at the end of the season the order will be Phillies, Mets, Braves, Nationals and Marlins.

He goes on to say:

Since October, the Phils have added to their roster such talent as the aforementioned reliever Brad Lidge, as well as starter Travis Blackley, infielder Eric Bruntlett, outfielders Geoff Jenkins. Chris Snelling and So Taguchi and situational hurlers Chad Durbin, Shane Youman and Lincoln Holdzkom. Gillick also resigned reliever J.C. Romero while saying good-bye to stalwart centerfielder Aaron Rowand as well as infielders Abraham Nunez and Tadahito Iguchi, catcher Rod Barajas, outfielder Michael Bourn and relief pitcher Geoff Geary.The only names on this list, that qualify as his “talent” are a 34 year old Geoff Jenkins, who only hit .255 last year and the skittish closer Brad Lidge, who if the Houston fans got to him, he’s in for a hurting in Phillie.

I think I smell a Phillie fan and man is it apparent, because he goes on to praise them and their off season moves. He even gives them a pat on the back for not re-signing Aaron Rowand when they go as far as to say that Jenkins will make up for the lack of the slugger.

Is this guy for real? So Jenkins is going to hit over .300, hit in the upper 20’s home runs a year and win them a Gold Glove? If he is, then Jenkins will go down in history as the most underrated free agent in history and it also means that at 33 years old, he hasn’t even begin to hit his prime.

As for the Mets he says:

There is no better place to start than in New York with the rival and still talented New York Mets. At present this team that has made several changes in their roster looks weaker than the one that lead the NL East for all but a handful of days in 2007 before eventually falling below the Phils. Gone from the Mets '07 squad are such important cogs as Tom Glavine, Paul LoDuca, Shawn Green, Lastings Milledge, Guillermo Mota and Jose Valentin.

The Mets have added to the mix outfielder Ryan Church, catcher Brian Schneider, and relievers Brian Stokes and Matt Wise. The team does possess such outstanding players as David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran and pitchers Pedro Martinez, John Maine and reliever Billy Wagner. Still, the club looks less imposing than they did when beginning the 2007 season.

Now I bolded that sentence for a reason. If you notice Allen said,” Gone from the Mets '07 squad are such important cogs as Tom Glavine, Paul LoDuca, Shawn Green, Lastings Milledge, Guillermo Mota and Jose Valentin.”

The thing that strikes me as odd is that he called the important cog’s to 2007 were Mota, Green, Valentin and Milledge. None of those above mentioned players produced defining moments for the Mets in 2007. In fact I would go as far as to say that a couple of those players had a negative effect on the season in Mota and Green. The only thing that might save Green is his September performance, but in my eyes, too little too late.

So, Allen, before you jump to any conclusions, you should do some more research to back your findings. I mean I can make a case for the Nationals with the same dribble you put out there.

I’m not saying that the Mets are going to be the team to beat in the East, but I am saying that the way this article was worded it sounded like the rest of the National League had just better pack their bags and head for the golf course:

On the hill, Cole Hamels has only to stay healthy to take his place among the elite pitchers of the game and Myers, despite his hesitation at returning to the rotation, should fit quite snugly behind Hamels in the rotation. All eyes will be on young Kyle Kendrick to prove that the "sophomore jinx" took a detour sign on Interstate 95 while incoming rookies like Carlos Carrasco, Josh Outman, Andrew Carpenter, J.A. Happ and Joe Savery look to show that they can emulate the success of Kendrick during the summer of '08.

Is this team good enough to compete for an NL Eastern championship again this year? Well, if the saying "good enough is the enemy of excellence" should suffice, the team wishes to make "good enough" its Public Enemy Number 1 very quickly. It has more ambitious designs that just being "good enough."

As presently assembled, this team has visions of grandeur not seen in Philadelphia since the days of Schmidt, Carlton and Rose. It fully believes, and with some justification, that the mantle of supremacy train in the Eastern Division has left the station in Atlanta, had a brief stopover in New York and is now headed non stop towards Philadelphia with nary a speed bump to slow it along the way.

So in this case you are saying that Hamels is a better pitcher than Pedro Martinez? Well that’s great and even Brett Myers with his 4.33 ERA is a better number two pitcher than John Maine or Oliver Perez who finished the season with a better ERA. Now you can use the fact that Myers was in the bullpen to justify why his ERA was bloated, but his best ERA of 3.72 in 2005 only beats Maine’s 2007 ERA by .19.

I just don’t get some people some times. That’s all I’m going to say.