What should the Phillies do with Pat Burrell?

Question

Trade him and hope for a good deal or keep him hoping that he shines this season?

Answer 1

Keep him

Even though he doesn't hit for the highest average, he's got a .400ish on-base percentage every year and he hits for lots of power as well. He could turn back into the .300 hitter he once was. He did hit .280 something in 05.

I don't think they should move him to 3rd though. He was moved from 3rd to 1st in the minors because he couldn't play the position very good. Wes Helms was a top prospect years ago with the Braves who was a bust for them, but he's coming off the best year of his career and could reach his potential this year. If he's merely average, the Phils have the best infield in baseball with Howard, Utley, and Rollins.

If they stick with Burrell, they've got one of the best middle of the orders in baseball, with Howard, Utley, and Burrell.

The last thing Philly needs to do is to trade Burrell when the Mets are in disarray and the pitching may finally be coming together. They should be considered the preseason favorite to win the East, if not the favorite to win the NL (after all, they won 2 more games than the Cards).

Answer 2

Burrell will likely have lots of HRs and pile on the KOs just like he does in his "good" years. Given the KO rate of Howard Burell's KO's are just a minor sting. He appears to honestly attempted to cut down on his KOs and become a better hitter and that tinkering is what appears to have caused that 2 year hole in his offensive stats. Once back to free swinging he seems to have returned to more normal Burrell stats.

If the Phillies want any chance of making the WS they need to trade not just Burell but also Howard and a couple other players. You don't make the WS with guys swinging for the fences with every AB like that. The only teams that ever did had exceptional defense up the middle, some exceptional clutch hitting and very strong pitching to make up for the offensive problems caused by their free swinging lineup. When you stack a line up with Burrell and Howard kinds of hitters it's an all or nothing offense. You eat the heart of the lineup against a pitcher who is on that day who'll rack up KOs right and left and KO hitters to end rally after rally if anybody does get on base. A pitcher on a bad day will see a softball like racking of the score up on them. Balls will fly over the fence and they can see 5 runs tacked to their ERA in a very short time. The hot and cold offense like what the Phillies have right now is a recipie for going cold in the post season when teams face only the best pitchers of the other team normally and pitchers who are not on are quickly replaced. The KOs are the biggest problem. Come from behind wins are nearly impossible on a team with high KO guys in the heart of the lineup.

The Phillies are hurting all over in pitching right now. So it's not really a big issue keeping Burrell and Howard. The Phils don't have the exceptional defense up the middle or the clutch hitting to force their way through the post season. The best they can hope for is getting into the post season. Which Howard and Burrell do not hurt them very much. The killed rallies are made up for by explosive offense on other days. So even if the Phils pitcher gets bombed that day it might not matter.

If I were the Phillies manager I'd keep those two to fill boxseats while I gathered the future Phillies team. In three years pretty much the whole team would be gone. Exchanged for the kind of team that can win a WS.

Answer 3

Burrell is a solid hitter, he strikes out a lot but he draws a ton of walks to make up for his mediocre batting average. His defense is below average because he has no speed, but the guy can hit and he's not a liability.

The Phillies need his bat in the line-up to help protect Utley and Howard, so they would be stupid to do anything with him except get him 500 AB's.

Answer 4

Unfortunatly they probably missed their chances of trading him for this season. Hopefully he realizes that he isn't the one who is suposed to carry the load on offense anymore and can just relax out there. I dont expect .300/40/110 from him anymore, but if he can go .265/30/90 then i think the phils will be ok. To be honest im more worried about the catcher and 3rd base situations. Go Fightin's!

Answer 5

Trade him. I dont think it will ever work for him in Phili. I think they missed there chance to get sumthing for him last season. Now, i think they should get what they can, and move on. THey should still be able to get sumthing decent back, he is still pretty young and he is a good slugger... but ild be tired of watching him K in big spots if i was the Phillies... ship him out.

Answer 6

He's lookin pretty good in spring training so far
batting .500 (4 for 8) and 3 RBI's including that 2-run knocker today.
(albeit, they've only played seven games so far)...
Heard he needs contacts though (no joke).
I'd say, let's keep him this season and hope he improves greatly over his (non) performance of last year.
He's owed $27 million over the next two years and I don't think any team is going to go for that kind of a risk anyway.

Go Phils! beat Mutts!

Answer 7

Doesn't he have a no trade clause? If so, it's whatever Burrell will let them.

Answer 8

He is going to dominate very, very soon. He is the next great power hitter. However, team wise, I would almost trade him to a team like the Angels or Oakland, who need a big bat, and can give up some pitching

Answer 9

trade him and rebuild, they have howard for a while so try and rebuild this team needs tons to contend. They are a weak team.

Answer 10

They should keep him. The production they'll get out of him will outweigh whatever they get back for him.