The AP story on the Phillies signing Pedro Feliz, written by Rob Maadi, includes the following sentence: “He’s an upgrade over the trio of Greg Dobbs, Wes Helms and Abraham Nunez.”
That’s not a quote. Those words are Maadi’s. How often do you see such straightforward, undisguised opining in a standard, just-the-facts wire story? And if you do see it, it’s generally about something beyond indisputable, like, “Tiger Woods, the world’s best golfer… ”
So is Feliz an obvious upgrade? The third-base position hit .255/.321/.368 for the Phils last year. Feliz hit .252/.288/.433. Wes Helms, widely considered a disaster, was .265/.326/.435.
Feliz’ on-base percentage is not a misprint. Two eighty-eight. Only one National League regular, and only four major-league regulars, did worse. BaseballEvolution.com gives an annual award (the Dave Kingman Award) to the player who makes the most outs at each position. Feliz won the Kingman in 2005 and ‘06 and earned honorable mention last year.
This is not a good, or even passable, offensive player. The acquisition isn’t irredeemably awful because Feliz can really play third base. He was top-rated at the position in the majors last year, and his career performance in all the defensive metrics is excellent. He’s essentially Abraham Nunez if Nunez could hit a home run every 10 days or so.
Here’s the real question: Is a defensive upgrade at 3B worth four-plus million a year in the context of the Phillies’ other needs?
Here’s the real answer: No.
(Just FYI: Ex-Astro and -Padre 3B Morgan Ensberg is still out there. He’s not a great player, but he can hit, and would probably cost about what Feliz did.)
The Phillies say they know they need pitching, and it’s obvious ownership only gives them so much money to spend, but they’ve acquired four position players this off-season (So Taguchi, Eric Bruntlett, Geoff Jenkins and Feliz), to whom they’ll pay over $13 million next year. Only one of them figures to play regularly. There’s not an .800 OPS in the group.
At least based on what he says publicly, Pat Gillick never seems to think the pitching on the market is worth the money. He has no similar qualms, evidently, about position players who can’t hit.
The Mets, meanwhile, are reportedly the leaders in the clubhouse for Johan Santana.
Are you like me? Do you have to remind yourself that the Phillies actually won their division last year?
