How were Phillies key players doing last year at this time?
by Scott Butler 7/10/10

To say the Phillies offense is worse than last year would be a huge understatement. But how do some our key players compare to last year? To answer that question, I decided to look at just the main power guys in the Phils lineup: Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Raul Ibanez, and Jayson Werth.

To keep it simple, we will compare their numbers straight up with the same number of games played last year and just focus on the main hitting categories. This allows for an exact comparison to last season. Here they are:

		G	H	HR	RBI	BB	AVG	OBP
2009	Ryan Howard	85	85	22	67	41	.257	.341
2010	Ryan Howard	85	101	17	65	26	.299	.352

2009	Chase Utley	72	80	17	52	48	.304	.432
2010	Chase Utley	72	73	11	37	40	.277	.383

2009	Raul Ibanez	83	99	26	75	32	.306	.370
2010	Raul Ibanez	83	71	7	39	39	.247	.331

2009	Jayson Werth	82	81	20	56	52	.258	.362
2010	Jayson Werth	82	81	13	49	39	.282	.367

Ryan Howard's numbers are very interesting. Everyone has been talking about his lack of power, but his production is nearly identical. If you think about it, we should be giving a lot of credit to Howard. He has basically sacrificed a little power for a higher average and on base percentage. And he has nearly the same amount of RBIs with less guys on base in front of him.

Chase Utley is a different story. Utley's numbers are down in every single major category: 6 less homers, 15 less RBIs, his average is down 27 points and his on-base percentage is 49 points lower. Injured or not, Utley's struggles at the plate hurt the Phillies in a big, big, way.

If you have a weak stomach, you may not want to look at Raul Ibanez's numbers. He puts Chase Utley to shame in his decline. Wait until you see this: IBANEZ HAS 19 LESS HOMERS AND 36 LESS RBI'S. That is simply unbelievable. It would be tough for anyone to measure up to what he did the first half of 2009, but that is ridiculous.

Finally Jayson Werth. It is hard to believe, but Werth's numbers aren't as far off from last year as you might think. He has quite a few less homers, but his RBIs are close and his batting average is much higher. However, his numbers are clearly lower overall and that is despite a very hot start for Werth. He has time to make up for it, but if this trend continues, Werth will not get anywhere near the money he wanted in free agency.

Now for the group numbers of Howard, Utley, Ibanez, and Werth:

	H	HR	RBI	BB	AVG	OBP
2009	345	85	250	173	.293	.369
2010	326	48	190	144	.264	.341

No, it's not pretty. The difference between 2009 and 2010 breaks down to this:

37 LESS home runs

60 LESS RBIs

29 Point LOWER batting average

28 Point LOWER On-base percentage

If you run those numbers over an entire season, that's 74 less home runs and 120 less RBI's. That's pretty powerful stuff right there. And that is clearly not gonna hack it if we can catch the Braves.


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How were Phillies key players doing last year at this time? by Scott Butler 7/10/10

How were Phillies key players doing last year at this time?
by Scott Butler 7/10/10