Ryan Franklin
News Story (Phillies.com) - 1/5/06
The Phillies' search for depth in the starting rotation brought them to Ryan Franklin, as the veteran right-hander agreed to a one-year, $2.6 million contract on Thursday.
...
The 32-year-old became a free agent when Seattle -- Philadelphia general manager Pat Gillick's old team -- declined to offer him a contract by the Dec. 20 deadline. He was 35-50 with a 4.34 ERA in six seasons with the Mariners, including a 12-31 mark over the past two years. Last season was particularly difficult for Franklin, as he went 8-15 with a 5.10 ERA. It also included a 10-day suspension for violating baseball's steriods policy.
What I Said About the New Guy - 1/1/06
Let's see if we can sum up how bad a move this would be without going on for pages and pages:
The Great GM Search of 2005 was a sham... Looking back, this initial list of GM candidates was pretty pathetic. We heard all the rhetoric about the GM search being so "exhaustive" and "comprehensive" so as to not leave any stone unturned. Interviewing a couple of retreads, a couple of guys within the organization, and one token "Moneyball" candidate to appease that particular faction is an embarrassment to the franchise.
...
If this was the early 90's, I'd love to have Pat Gillick as my GM. Unfortunately... it's still 2005.
...
The Philadelphia Phillies were born in 1883. They have one world championship. When the 2006 season begins, 25 years will have passed since that championship. 12 years will have passed since the last postseason trip (losing of course to Gillick's Blue Jays in 1993). Any logical person would look at this history of losing and detect a few losing patterns. Same general leadership, same like-minded baseball people in place, same results - year after year after year. The Phillies had their chance to finally do something right by simply doing something different. They have proven that they are far more comfortable staying the course. The Phillies have always looked to "stand pat" rather than bring in an outsider with new and scary ideas that could potentially, heaven forbid, lead to a change in the Phils fundamental beliefs on how a baseball team should be run.
The Phillies' search for depth in the starting rotation brought them to Ryan Franklin, as the veteran right-hander agreed to a one-year, $2.6 million contract on Thursday.
...
The 32-year-old became a free agent when Seattle -- Philadelphia general manager Pat Gillick's old team -- declined to offer him a contract by the Dec. 20 deadline. He was 35-50 with a 4.34 ERA in six seasons with the Mariners, including a 12-31 mark over the past two years. Last season was particularly difficult for Franklin, as he went 8-15 with a 5.10 ERA. It also included a 10-day suspension for violating baseball's steriods policy.
What I Said About the New Guy - 1/1/06
Let's see if we can sum up how bad a move this would be without going on for pages and pages:
- Franklin doesn't strike anybody out - only 100+ strikeouts in six major league seasons, 427 K's in 811.2 innings, only 93 K's in 190.2 innings in 2005, and a 4.39 K/9 number
- Franklin is as extreme a flyball pitcher as there is - his GO/AO career ratio is 0.76...that is 1148 flyball outs in his career vs. 812 groundball outs
- Franklin the flyball pitcher also gives up homeruns at an alarming rate - 34 in 2003, 33 in 2004, and 28 in 2005
- Franklin is a has-been (or maybe a never-was) - he will be 33 in March and is coming off back to back seasons with ERA's of 4.90 and 5.10 (good for ERA+ of 88 and 85)
- Frankin is a cheater - on August 2nd, 2005, Franklin became the 8th major leaguer to test positive for steroids and was suspended for 10 games
The Great GM Search of 2005 was a sham... Looking back, this initial list of GM candidates was pretty pathetic. We heard all the rhetoric about the GM search being so "exhaustive" and "comprehensive" so as to not leave any stone unturned. Interviewing a couple of retreads, a couple of guys within the organization, and one token "Moneyball" candidate to appease that particular faction is an embarrassment to the franchise.
...
If this was the early 90's, I'd love to have Pat Gillick as my GM. Unfortunately... it's still 2005.
...
The Philadelphia Phillies were born in 1883. They have one world championship. When the 2006 season begins, 25 years will have passed since that championship. 12 years will have passed since the last postseason trip (losing of course to Gillick's Blue Jays in 1993). Any logical person would look at this history of losing and detect a few losing patterns. Same general leadership, same like-minded baseball people in place, same results - year after year after year. The Phillies had their chance to finally do something right by simply doing something different. They have proven that they are far more comfortable staying the course. The Phillies have always looked to "stand pat" rather than bring in an outsider with new and scary ideas that could potentially, heaven forbid, lead to a change in the Phils fundamental beliefs on how a baseball team should be run.
posted by XXX at 1:20 PM
2 Comments:
And it means no Madson in the rotation, too, in all likelihood. With "options" for fifth starter like Floyd, Tejeda, and Brito, Madson will again be deemed more valuable as a reliever.
Even more sick, the Phillies project to win 87 games next year anyway.
Looks like Hamels is out as an option for the fifth spot (as if he was ever a real candidate) and that Ricardo Rodriguez will be in the mix. I wonder if the Phillies will pick up talks with any other available relievers (Julian Tavarez is still out there) in order to keep Madson as a candidate to start. I'd love to see him pitching every fifth day as I think it would be in the best interests of the Phils in the long and short-term.
Hopefully the asking price of some of the relievers out there will drop as it gets closer to March and the Phillies go that route. Having a stiff like Franklin in the rotation and Madson pitching in relief would be a great way to minimize the available talent on the roster. Probably a typical Phillies move come to think of it.
Thanks for the comment though, I really always appreciate them.
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