Five concerns I have with the Phillies

The Phanatic Magazine welcomes Drew Silverman to its staff. A veteran writer with stops at ESPN, Rivals.com and Comcast SportsNet , Silverman debuts with a look at the Phillies.

By Drew Silverman

There sure is a lot of optimism with the Phillies these days, especially considering they haven't won the division since 1993, haven't made the playoffs since 1993, and haven't given their fans legitimate reasons for optimism, well, since 1993.

I am actually an optimist by nature when it comes to the Phillies. I was optimistic when they brought in Jim Thome, Kevin Millwood and David Bell. And I was optimistic when Billy Wagner and Eric Milton came to the City of Brotherly Love.

But I just see too many question marks with this current team. I think there are legitimate questions surrounding both the offense and the starting pitching - even though people don't want to admit it - and obviously the team's bullpen, defense and baserunning leave something to be desired.

Enough with generalizations. Those are usually boring, vague and uninformative. Let's get right into five players on the Phillies that I am concerned about. And this list does not include Pat Burrell and Tom Gordon, both of whom I am very concerned about, but I'm also very sick of hearing about them. So let's move on to...

1) Adam Eaton - I didn't care for the signing when it took place and I still don't care for it. And my reasons go far beyond the $24.5 million the Phillies are paying for what I'm sure will be three Hall of Fame seasons. My problems are more with the fact that he's injury-prone and has never won more than 11 games in a season. Just so we're clear, that's not 20 wins or 17 or even 14 - that's 11 wins for a career high. Even Mitch Williams of all people won 12 games for the Phillies in 1991. And the prospects of Eaton possibly ending up in the bullpen doesn't excite me either. It just doesn't make sense for a pitcher who is a slow in-game starter (last season he posted an 8.87 ERA in his first 30 pitches of the game.) Nevertheless, the Phillies are going to have to find a spot for this guy. I just hope it's not the 60-day disabled list.

2) Wes Helms - Back when he was on the Braves, I used to call Helms the worst player in baseball. Now obviously the guy has found a little bit of a niche in the league and is coming off a nice season for the Marlins, so I've backtracked off that comment. My problem isn't so much with Helms but rather the idea of him being the team's starting third baseman. I feel strongly that on a team that opts for offense over defense at first base, second base, left field and right field, that your third baseman has to be a good defensive player. This seems like a good time to mention the fact that Helms started five games at third base last season and that when he did play regularly in the past, he is not a good defensive player. I also don't think the Phillies need Helms' strikeouts in the middle of their lineup, but quite honestly I think I've already dedicated too much of my afternoon to Wes Helms, so we're moving on.

3) Shane Victorino - I want to say first off that I really like Victorino as a player. I appreciate the energy and speed he brings both offensively and defensively and I think he's a better hitter than people give him credit for. But it can be a very tough transition for some players to go from role player to every day starter. I am actually fairly confident Victorino can pull it off, but there has to be some concern here. I believe he's a more natural center fielder than right fielder, where he'll be playing mostly, and at his size - 5-9, 180 - there has to be concern as to whether he can physically hold up throughout the entire season. That being said, I do understand that Victorino is not at the top of the Phillies' list of problems at the moment.

4) Ryan Madson - Oftentimes with relief pitchers, ERA is an overrated statistic. They can come in for one-third of an inning, give up seven runs and their ERA never recovers. But with Madson, his plump 5.69 ERA from last year tells the story. In fairness, he accumulated a lot of that as a starter - and not a very good one at that - but all in all, he just didn't get the job done. Opponents hit .321 against him last year, meaning he basically turned the average batter into a Hall of Famer. For whatever reason, hitters aren't fooled by his changeup as much any more and they tend to sit on his juicy fastball. I think Madson can be serviceable as a long reliever, but if the Phillies are planning to trot him out there in the eighth inning, I think they're going to watch a lot of 4-2 leads turn into 5-4 deficits in a hurry.

5) Ryan Howard - I'd estimate that four out of every five people who read this will see Howard's name here and stop reading at this point. And that's fair. 'Ryan Howard? This guy Drew's an idiot.' Everyone is entitled to their opinion and mine is just that it will be impossible for Howard to match lastyear's performance. Howard was so outstanding in 2006 that he could easily hit 40 homers and drive in 110 runs and he'll look like Dickie Thon compared to what he did last season. As great as Howard's been, there is just not enough of a sample size at this point to guarantee he can do it year in and year out. It is almost inevitable that Howard won't meet expectations this season, being that the expectations are through the roof. But, you just have to hope that he doesn't lose confidence and that the fans don't lose patience if Howard goes through some ups and downs, like all third-year players tend to do.