"Phillies Talk" webcast on tonight 8pm to 11pm, the NL East Podcasts on HerbFM

Tonight the podcast/webcast, commonly known as an internet broadcast, here at FightinPhillies.com called 'Phillies Talk' will be featured along with a few other NL East teams on HerbFM.com, you can listen to the whole lineup of shows right here on the blog starting at 8 PM tonight.

We'll hear our show "Phillies Talk", a NY Mets podcast, Atlanta Braves podcast, and even a NY Yankees podcast. So if you love baseball talk, you're going to love the evening of programming tonight on HerbFM.com.

Listen to 'Phillies Talk' all year long right here on the website, or take us on the road by downloading the show from iTunes or Android podcasts.

Phils add some speed with Pierre

It's no surprise that Juan Pierre has made the Phillies roster out of Spring Training this year. Pierre has been in the league for 12 years now, this is his 13th MLB season with the Phillies. Pierre burst onto the scene in 2000, and he finished 6th for Rookie of the Year in that season.

What Pierre brings to the team is some of what the Phillies have been lacking. Speed.

Pierre may have slowed down a bit, with last year being the fewest bases (27) that he's stolen in his career, and having been caught stealing in 17 other attempts doesn't help too much either. Pierre is still quick though and if he plays regularly, he should add another 30-50 stolen bases to his career total.

Pierre also brings a career batting average of .296 to the Phillies, that is not bad at all given the fact that he is about to enter his 13th season of play. According to Baseball-Reference, Pierre sits at number 24 on the list of all active Major League players for the best batting average with a minimum of 3000 plate appearances.

Keeping Cole: Should the Phillies pursue Hamels?

Hamels on the mound for the Phils, but for how much longer?

Would re-signing Cole Hamels to a longer term contract make sense for the Phillies now?

The Phillies are finding themselves in a curious position of keeping a pitcher that has been a Phillie since he came into the league and who came up in the Phillies minors.

We would probably have to go back to Brett Myers to find the previous pitcher of a somewhat same caliber as being classified as an ‘ace’ that the Phillies will have to make a decision to either try to re-sign him or possibly trade him.

Hamels does have the 2008 World Series MVP to his credit, but has he really accomplished all that much over the past couple seasons? He is a pitcher with great skills and a lot of offer, but let's look at what he's done in his career so far.

Year	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	IP	H	R	Awards
2006	9	8	.529	4.08	23	23	0	0	132.1	117	66
2007	15	5	.750	3.39	28	28	2	0	183.1	163	72	AS,CYA-6
2008	14	10	.583	3.09	33	33	2	2	227.1	193	89
2009	10	11	.476	4.32	32	32	2	2	193.2	206	95
2010	12	11	.522	3.06	33	33	1	0	208.2	185	74
2011	14	9	.609	2.79	32	31	3	0	216.0	169	68	AS,CYA-5
6 Yrs	74	54	.578	3.39	181	180	10	4	1161.1	1033	464
162 Game Avg.	14	10	.578	3.39	34	34	2	1	219	195	87

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Generated 3/29/2012.

Let's look at the first 10 years of Steve Carlton's career numbers:

Year	Tm	W	L	W-L%	ERA	GS	GF	CG	SHO	IP	Awards
1965	STL	0	0		2.52	2	5	0	0	25.0
1966	STL	3	3	.500	3.12	9	0	2	1	52.0
1967	STL	14	9	.609	2.98	28	1	11	2	193.0
1968	STL	13	11	.542	2.99	33	1	10	5	232.0	AS
1969	STL	17	11	.607	2.17	31	0	12	2	236.1	AS
1970	STL	10	19	.345	3.73	33	0	13	2	253.2
1971	STL	20	9	.690	3.56	36	0	18	4	273.1	AS
1972	PHI	27	10	.730	1.97	41	0	30	8	346.1	AS,CYA-1,MVP-5
1973	PHI	13	20	.394	3.90	40	0	18	3	293.1
1974	PHI	16	13	.552	3.22	39	0	17	1	291.0	AS
24 Yrs		329	244	.574	3.22	709	13	254	55	5217.2
162 Game Avg.		15	11	.574	3.22	33	1	12	3	245
		W	L	W-L%	ERA	GS	GF	CG	SHO	IP	Awards
PHI (15 yrs)		241	161	.600	3.09	499	0	185	39	3697.1
STL (7 yrs)		77	62	.554	3.10	172	7	66	16	1265.1
MIN (2 yrs)		1	6	.143	8.54	8	3	0	0	52.2
SFG (1 yr)		1	3	.250	5.10	6	0	0	0	30.0
CLE (1 yr)		5	9	.357	5.37	14	3	3	0	109.0
CHW (1 yr)		4	3	.571	3.69	10	0	0	0	63.1
NL (22 yrs)		319	226	.585	3.11	677	7	251	55	4992.2
AL (3 yrs)		10	18	.357	5.64	32	6	3	0	225.0

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Generated 3/29/2012.

Now keep in mind that most of what Carlton did to get himself into the Hall of Fame actually happened after his 10th year of pitching, he was like a machine. There are similarities in both Carlton and Hamels mannerisms and peculiarities. Carlton went on to pitch 24 years in the majors, and was perhaps the greatest Phillies pitcher ever.

Does Cole have it in him to kick it up a notch? Can he follow in the footsteps of greatness that Carlton earned in the Philly pinstripes?

The kind of money they are throwing at starting pitchers is the problem for the Phillies, there may be teams that would bid up Hamels' worth, but will the Phillies want to match it? 

Many questions cloud Phillies future for 2012

It's partly cloudy on the 2012 Phillies season so far

Is this 2012 Phillies team a legitimate contender? That is the question a lot of fans are starting to wonder as there is only a week to go to the regular season.

 The injuries to several key players, and several new players make this season with the Phillies an experiment that isn't proven yet. The pitching staff is solid, but can the offense get going when it needs to?

 There is no doubt that this Phillies team is going to be starting off in a disadvantage from what players are supposed to be on the field if it weren't for injuries. Time will tell, if the team can sustain itself through the times of not being at full strength, it should be an interesting season.

Utley injury saga continues to stir controversy

Chase's rehab will take him time, but how much time is not known. This photo from last year.

Chase Utley finally talked with the press more in-depth about what his medical problems are that kept him from taking the field in Clearwater the past couple of weeks. That is the good news.

The ensuing chatter on sports talk radio in Philly and on the news following what Utley said is now taking over as a bigger story.

Why was Ruben Amaro Jr. so silent on the matter?, and were the Phillies trying to cover it up assuming Chase was going to be well enough to play for Opening Day? I don't think that is the case, but sometimes it might be just a lack of communication from both the Phillies and the Utley camp on just what the problem is.

One thing we know for sure is that Utley has sought out a second opinion on the troubles that have prevented him now from participating in Spring Training this season and last season. Chase appeared confident that something good will come out of that as well.

Utley is signed through 2013 as he signed an $85M contract from 2007 to 2013.


Some of Utley's stats:

Year	Age	Tm	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	BA
2003	24	PHI	43	134	13	32	2	21	.239
2004	25	PHI	94	267	36	71	13	57	.266
2005	26	PHI	147	543	93	158	28	105	.291
2006	27	PHI	160	658	131	203	32	102	.309
2007	28	PHI	132	530	104	176	22	103	.332
2008	29	PHI	159	607	113	177	33	104	.292
2009	30	PHI	156	571	112	161	31	93	.282
2010	31	PHI	115	425	75	117	16	65	.275
2011	32	PHI	103	398	54	103	11	44	.259
9 Yrs			1109	4133	731	1198	188	694	.290
162 Game Avg.			162	604	107	175	27	101	.290

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 3/27/2012.