Welcome Back.. 2013 Phillies' Storylines

Hello every one, I'd like to welcome all you Wahoo-Maniacs to another exciting season of Indi- Excuse me - Hello every one, I'd like to welcome all of you to another roller-coaster Philadelphia Phillies baseball season!

As many of you have realized, the Phillies' pitchers and catchers reported to spring training in Clearwater last week. The Phils are still over a month away from starting their 2013 season but I figured why not get things started with a bit of a new format to gear up for what figures to be an interesting season. The Sixers and Flyers are certainly not satisfying most people's hunger for exciting Philly sports these days.

My goal for the new format is to put out at least one mini blog per week chronicling one of the Phillies' numerous story lines. When I start thinking about what this season is going to be like there are so many "ifs" and giant glaring question marks. Since that is the case I thought it would be hard to put together a comprehensive season preview and take an in depth look at all of the different trials and tribulations this team will no doubt have to endure over the next eight months. I've put together a list, in no particular order, for all things Phillies that I'd like to go over with my loyal readers. Feel free to post comments or suggestions about what you'd like to hear about most.

Charlie Manuel - Manager

Ryan Howard - Slugger

Jimmy Rollins - Catalyst

Chase Utley - Nails

Roy Halladay - Is the Doctor in?

Ruben Amaro - Downward trending GM

Ben Revere - Speedster

Cliff Lee - Enigma

Cole Hamels - Hollywood

The Platoon - Dom Brown, Darren Ruf, John Mayberry, Delmon Young

Chooch - Juicing

The Competition - Lots of it

As you can see, the Phillies are not exactly short on story lines as pretty much every topic above could warrant in depth analysis and prognostication.

Charlie Manuel

It is hard to place a large burden of last season's undoing on the amiable West Virginian. Cholly played the hand he was dealt last year. That hand included his best two position players playing a combined 154 games and only 11 before the All-Star break when the Phillies had all but played themselves out of contention. He also got dealt a banged up Ace in Roy Halladay. Halladay had not missed a start and had been brilliant for his two seasons with the Phillies. When he did come back, it was clear he was either not the same pitcher or not quite 100% (here's to hoping its the latter). More injuries and lackluster play from players that were counted on to do more contributed to an 81-81 season for a team with the second highest payroll in baseball.

Having said all that, some blame can certainly land on his 6 foot 4 250 pound frame. The decisions that always seemed to work out for Charlie in the past did not seem to come up roses last year. His bullpen tactics were questionable. He is clearly afraid and/or not willing to use Jonathan Papelbon in anything but a save situation. The guy is making $50 over 4 years, let's make it count. He never seemed to come up with a lineup that produced consistently despite constant tinkering.

My two biggest issues with Charlie, however, could make or break this season for the Phillies.

1. Jimmy Rollins must be removed from the leadoff spot if he can't get on base more than Ben Revere.

Jimmy Rollins has never been the prototypical leadoff guy. I could get into the stats right now, but we'll save that for the Jimmy Rollins post. Charlie can no longer be reluctant to remove Jimmy from the leadoff spot. The Phillies do not have another season to waste with Jimmy popping up the second pitch of the game forty times this year. I have absolutely no issue with Jimmy starting the season batting in the 1 spot, but if the Phillies are not winning and he is not producing come Mid-May; push better start coming to shove Charlie Manuel for a better option at leadoff.

2. The Phillies' hitters must have a more disciplined approach at the plate and that has to start with him.

When the Phillies went down (swinging at least) in the 2011 NLDS to the Cardinals it was evident that their approach at the plate was lame at best. They did not work counts. They did not take advantage of hitter's counts (which they saw few of because of the last sentence). They lacked discipline by swinging at balls instead of strikes.

All of that was supposed to change for the 2012 season but I just saw more of the same. What are these guys doing when they aren't actually playing baseball? Are they eating, drinking, sleeping and living for baseball? If they are they better all be studying film on their iPads for hours on end. If I'm Ryan Howard and I'm due $25 million each year for the next four years and my name shows up as Number 3 on the list of worst contracts in baseball I'm doing everything in my power to prove the naysayers wrong, not to mention win another title and cement a Hall of Fame legacy. I'm doing everything in my power to figure out how to stay above .250 against left handed pitching. If I'm any hitter on this team I want to be more prepared than whom ever I am playing against when it comes to pitchers' tendencies. This type of approach must be employed for the Phillies to be a winning ball club. That starts with Charlie Manuel telling these guys what needs to be done.

Charlie Manuel has always been the "hitting" manager. He was the hitting coach in Cleveland when Jim Thome, Albert Belle, and Kenny Lofton were killing the ball at the Jake. He values hitting more (it seems), so he needs to start changing the mindset and approach of some of the Phillies most important hitters in order to breed more success at the plate.

If Charlie can handle those two situations correctly, and about 40 other things fall into place, the Phillies could be taking home their 6th division title in 7 years.

Until next time folks..