Veteran sportswriter Jim Salisberry of CSNPhilly was on Daily New Live today and he talked about the possibilities of what could happen in rightfield for the Phillies this season. He believes that the solution to rightfield might not be worked out until later in the season. Charlie Manuel stresses being patient, so he’s going to give the guys plenty of time.
Young Dominic Brown and veteran outfielder Ben Francisco were the names that came up right away concerning right field. I heard Manuel a couple of weeks ago talking about being patient with Brown and letting him relax and play ball the way he knows he can during spring training.
Salisberry said Manuel wants Francisco to show more fire. He’s a nice guy, who tends to be low-key most of the time, but Charlie wants more passion out of him, but he definitely likes the pop in his bat.
He went on to say that the Phillies might consider bringing in former Phillie outfielder and current San Francisco Giant Aaron Rowand, but that would mean the Giants would have to pick up part of his salary.
Here’s the lineup which Salisberry said we will probably see at the start of the season.
Philies Line Up Vs. Righthanders
1. Jimmy Rollins
2. Placido Polanco
3. Chase Utley
4. Ryan Howard
5. Raul Ibanez
6. Shane Victorino
7. Dominic Brown
8. Carlos Ruiz
I would give Dominic Brown 80% of the reps in RF. The 20% of the time that he doesn’t play would be against the Lefties…this would mean that he is getting good experience against lefties. Lets not break the kids confidence by always sitting him against lefties..They will ruin his head with that approach.
They should have signed Free-agent OF Matt Diaz (formerly of the Braves) who signed a 2 year
deal with the Pirates for a little more $$ that the Phils signed Ben Francisco for…
D Brown needs another full year at AAA and is not MLB Ready in 2011 I believe..
Another year of AAA…he tore it up last year…maybe we can wait until he is 30 to bring him up. He is a better alternatlve than anyone else on the team..Lets let the best ball players play.
To dkherc,
How did Brown Tear it up all last year in AAA, didn’t he sit on the Phils bench July,Aug,Sep,Oct.
after filling in for a while while Werth was hurt.. He played in 35 Phils Game and batted .210
with an .077 hitting average versus Left-Hand Pitching..
He has lots to work on before being a everyday MLB player . He’s only 23 years and probably needs
a good full season at the AAA level (500 At Bats) to work on his all around hitting. Anyone counting on him for big things this year is just wishful thinking, the kid is simply not ready…