2022 Phillies Wall of Fame

Do we think Jimmy has the best HOF chances? My data-centric view was more 50% for Chase, 30% for Jimmy, and like 2% for Ryan in terms of their chances of eventually getting in. I could see where Jimmy gets more intangible support from the veteran's committee since he has the counting stats and Gold Gloves, but one would hope the electorate is educated enough these days to see Chase is a little bit ahead on career impact (not too mention peak value).

I wonder whether Chase has some baggage from "the slide." I've heard from some New Yorkers that they still haven't forgiven him.

I blame David Bell if Chase doesn’t get in. He cost Chass at least a year at the height of his abilities I remember taking a sign to a Barons game saying “Free Chase Utley” when they sent him back to AAA for the third year.

It's interesting to remember that David Bell was actually very good in 2004, a 4.4 WAR season for him. Bell seemed to fall apart right at the time they traded Polanco.

(I'm not arguing that Utley shouldn't have been playing more and earlier, and that he was clearly the future for the Phillies at that time.).

Perhaps that is why I find the current management so refreshing after years and years of being a Phillies phan. There is no way the Phillies of the past release Familia, Herrera, and Gregorius mid-season.

It really needs to be Rolen next year.

It would be quite a big deal and they can make themselves look very classy and professional in the process after the Rose stuff this year.

Give him a bobblehead or something, too.

The 2008 guys are not a draw. They are around quite a bit. Alumni weekend used to be a big deal and this year they were outdrawn by an Eagles open practice

I've said many times before that if the Phillies did not sign David Bell and kept Polanco at thirdbase from 2002-12, they win the Rolen trade. And, who knows, considering how narrowly we missed the Postseason in 2005 and 2006 and how good Polanco was in those seasons in Detroit, maybe we would have been talking about a seven year Postseason run.

Utley came up to the majors for good in June 2004. He played only part time that year, but in 2005 he was in the majors all year (he pinch hit on opening day). Charlie Manuel was the new manager and played Utley a lot more than Bowa had. Charlie tried to get creative to get Utley into the lineup, sometimes playing Utley at 1B, and sometimes playing Polanco at 3B (he even started Polanco twice in LF and once at SS). Polanco was traded on June 8, but even before the trade, Chase had started more games than Polanco.

Bell had been much better than Polanco in 2004 (he had even been better than Utley, though Chase wasn't getting a chance to play regularly that year). Bell started slowly in 2005, but in the 21 games before the trade, Bell hit .342 and had an OBP of .407. So it wasn't really a slam dunk that Bell should have been the one to be traded, and releasing him would not have made sense at the time.

In hindsight, we remember that Bell didn't hit after the trade and Polanco hit .338 for the Tigers. But at the time of the trade, it wasn't at all clear that Polanco was better than Bell (and they were both very good defensively).

To be clear, I am certainly not saying that Utley was handled correctly or that the earlier Bell signing was a good one. Or that they shouldn't have moved on from Bell (or Polanco) earlier to get Utley into the lineup regularly.

And there are other reasons why it might have made more sense to move Bell than Polanco (Bell is a few years older, for one). But at the time of the trade, the Phillies had what seemed to be an excess of good infielders, and it was not clear which one they should move (except of course that moving Utley would have been very bad!).

The Phillies Wall of Fame is just that, a wall of plaques of those who attained glory in a Phillies uniform. There are a few long service-types honored, but McBride and Reed are exactly the sorts of players the Phillies want to toast on the wall. I guess that's why Rolan isn't in the WOF.