Swing and a Miss

Newly acquired centerfielder Ben Revere has been compared to Juan Pierre.  Let's look at the film.

By all accounts Revere is an outstanding fielder.  And Pierre?  Never more than adequate.  Revere has a weak arm.  Check.  Revere can burn up the bases.  Check.  Revere is a slap hitter.  Check.  Revere has yet to hit a home run in nearly 1000 major league AB's.  Well, Juan isn't the second coming of Babe Ruth but once in a while he has an accident and the ball goes over the fence.  Hard to imagine in 1K AB's Revere hasn't had at least one!  Revere bats from the left side and wears his hat slightly tilted in the same orientation.  Check.

Was this acquisition the answer to the Phillies' needs.  Not entirely.  Film clips of Revere show a hitter who reminds me more of Michael Bourn, the centerfielder whom the Phillies happily decided not to overpay.  And there is the key.  Revere is cheap.

Speaking of costs, what about the two pitchers the Phils gave up?  Vance Worley never impressed me.  He may have pitched through an injury most of last season, but what I saw was an average arm with limited stuff.  Batters had figured him out by last season and it's quite conceivable the Phils' alleged brain trust figured that out!  The other pitcher the Phils traded was Trevor May, who prior to last season was one of their top prospects.  May had a losing season at AA Reading last year and walked a lot of batters in the process.  (Yes, Virginia, there is a connection between free passes and losses.)

On balance this looks like a good trade to me.  The Phils' alleged brain trust resisted the temptations to land an unpredictable outfielder (Upton), an overpriced one (Bourn) and a completely risky one (Hamilton) who wasn't really a possibility in the first place.  Perhaps they were constrained by dollars alone (the Braves outbid the Phils for Upton's services), but this time it looks like Ruben Amaro did his due diligence.