This page contains links to recent blogs by Lincoln Mitchell
Tagged with: Jimmy Rollins
It is striking that while after Jeter resigned last year, the baseball blogosphere was teeming with criticism of the Yankees, the Phillies have not been targeted in this way for the Rollins signing. This is not surprising given the role the Yankees play in the collective baseball consciousness, but the Phillies are also a big market team which has now been forced into another big market mistake.
This year’s World Series will be the second in a row in which neither the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox nor Philadelphia Phillies will be playing. The 2011 payroll for each of these teams was over $160 million; and in the case of the Yankees, well in excess of that number. No other team spent even $140 million on payroll in 2011. The Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals had the 11th and 13th highest payroll, with each spending between $90-$110 million assembling their pennant winning teams.
The Phillies will probably still be a very good team in 2011 with a four man pitching rotation that could carry them very far into the post-season. However, there are still scenarios where things could go wrong for them. Key hitters could continue their declines; Werth could prove difficult to replace; or their pitchers might not all have great years like they did in 2010. More interestingly, the Phillies have become a team big market team with all the advantages, such as the ability to sign Cliff Lee, and disadvantages like being old and committed to big contracts that are almost impossible to move, like Ryan Howard’s. Big market teams sign the best players, but they also set very high expectations, favor veterans, and often overpay for talent. This will also be the Phillies’ story in 2011.
When Robinson Cano tossed the ball to Mark Texeira for the final out of the sixth game of the World Series, the Yankees won their 27th World Series and fifth since Major League Baseball first used the current expanded playoff system in 1995. The Yankees have now won one third of all World Series since 1995, an impressive accomplishment given how difficult it is to survive a three round playoff system. Clearly the Yankees have benefited from a front office that is willing and able to spend the money needed to put a strong team on the field every year, but just as clearly, there are additional explanations for the Yankees’ success.
While the depth of the Yankee lineup may give them a slight edge, Howard, Werth and Ibanez are sufficiently strong home run hitters to make that edge only marginal. There is, however, one more major difference between the lineups that gives a greater edge to the Yankees; and it has nothing to do with power. The top of the Yankee lineup is one of the few real advantages either team has in this series. Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon, posted on base percentages of .406 and .365 this season. These numbers dwarf those of the Phillies first two hitters Rollins (.296) and Shane Victorino (.358). In a short series, if these four players perform as they usually do, there will be a slight but unambiguous advantage for the Yankees, one that may lead to a few more runs for New York and fewer big innings for the Phillies. Ironically, in a World Series that pits the top home run hitting teams in each league against each other, it may be the top of the order that makes the difference.