Over much of the 2006 season, many Phillies fans who are less than pleased with Charlie Manuel have wondered aloud what life would be like with Jim Leyland in red pinstripes. While the Phillies under Manuel got off to a horrible start, rallied, and in the end fell just short of the playoffs, the Detroit Tigers under Leyland got off to a great start, treaded water, faltered, and made the playoffs.
Now, with the Tigers awaiting either the Mets or the Cardinals to start the World Series, many ask, what if the Phillies had hired Leyland, who interviewed for the managing vacancy after Larry Bowa was fired? Would they be having post season success right now?
Of course, there is no way to know for sure, but there is no doubt that in 2006, Leyland benefited from the luxury of writing in Kenny Rogers, Justin Verlander, Nate Robertson, and Jeremy Bonderman at the bottom of his lineup card (all four of which have an ERA+ of at least 111). At the same time, Manuel was saddled with thirty-five starts from Gavin Floyd, Scott Mathieson, and Ryan Madson (ERA+ of 64, 62, and 81, respectively).
If phans insist on playing the "what if" game, here are two other questions to consider:
1. What if the National and American Leagues were the only two divisions in baseball? In both 2005 and 2006, the Phillies finished with the fourth best record in the NL and ahead of division winners that made the playoffs by simple virtue of having won an arbitrary grouping.
2. What if in June of 2005, Ed Wade hadn't traded Placido Polanco, the 2006 AL Championship Series MVP, to the Tigers for Ugueth Urbina, who reportedly led the Venezuelan Penal League in strikeouts this year? Maybe Polanco would have been shifted to third base in Philadelphia, therefore less playing time for David Bell, and maybe an extra win or two for the Phillies, which may have made the difference in a Wild Card race.
3. What if Scott Rolen had agreed to stay in Philadelphia? Yes, he is high maintenance, but it's likely that Charlie Manuel would be just the guy to massage his sometimes fragile psyche. And wouldn't a healthy Rolen look good at third base and batting right handed in the Phillies lineup? Try this on for size:
2 - Chase Utley - L
3 - Scott Rolen - R
4 - Ryan Howard - L
5 - Pat Burrell - R [granted, he is a whole host of what-if's all by himself]
Of course, the game works both ways... What if the Phillies had decided Ryan Howard still wasn't ready for primetime and held onto Jim Thome?
-----------------
By the way, avid readers may have noticed a few slight changes around here. For one, the links section has been updated to more accurately reflect regular reading habits, while the aggregate of the most recent posts on the "Sidelines" page are now displayed more prominently on the main page. On the "Pheeds" page, a scoreboard for the various sports we obsess over has been added.
