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Why Bill Conlin Isn't A General Manager
Written by wrigleyville   
Friday, 17 October 2008

(Updated with further details, clarification via Conlin.)

To fill the gap between the Phillies' NLCS championship and the start of the World Series, Bill Conlin spent some time compiling an All-Star team of sorts made up of Phillies World Series teams. He's only counting from 1980 onward, including the 2008 team.

Everything is rolling along fine in the infield, as he selects Ryan Howard over John Kruk and Pete Rose at first base, Jimmy Rollins over Larry Bowa and Kevin Stocker at short, and Mike Schmidt over Dave Hollins and Scott Rolen at third.

But then there's second base. Here his what he has to say:

1. Mariano Duncan. I'm a little surprised myself. But the numbers are the numbers. The Dodgers' first-base coach who was yammering at much-older Davey Lopes during the Game 3 Victorino Ribfest led the Phils in '93 with 10 hits against the Blue Jays and batted .345.

2. Manny Trillo. The best defensive second baseman in club history was MVP in the fibrillation-causing NLCS against the Astros, but tailed off in the Series. You'd want him in there for his pivots and bolo throws even if he was swinging a rolled-up Saturday Daily News.

3. Mickeeeeeeeeeee Morannnnnnnndeeeeeeneeeeeee! Even though he platooned with Duncan.

Notice anybody missing?

Hmm... Wait... Yes ... I think I've got it.

This guy.

So, we have two possibilities:

1. Conlin doesn't remember that Chase Utley plays for the Phillies.

2. Conlin believes a platoon of Mariano Duncan and (Indiana University's own) Mickey Morandini - not to mention Manny Trillo - is better than Chase Utley (at least in the postseason).

Let's look at the season statistics in question:

Manny Trillo, 1980: .292/.334/.412, 7 HR, 43 RBI, 68 R, 8 SB

Mickey Morandini, 1993: .247/.309/.355, 3 HR, 33 RBI, 57 R, 13 SB

Mariano Duncan, 1993: .282/.304/.417, 11 HR, 73 RBI, 68 R, 6 SB

Chase Utley, 2008: .292/.380/.535, 33 HR, 104 RBI, 113 R, 14 SB

Yes, I see where Bill would want those three guys over Chase Utley. I stand corrected.

Update: I contacted Conlin to make sure he hadn't just forgotten Utley. He confirmed that he hadn't, basically saying: We're missing the point, because this is based on postseason performance only.

OK, given that, let's just look at just postseason numbers using the parameters he set: That is, the All-Stars of World Series teams, using the full postseason numbers from their World Series years.

Manny Trillo, 1980: .295/.295/.432, 0 HR, 6 RBI, 5 R, 0 SB

Mickey Morandini, 1993: .238/.273/.333, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, 1 SB

Mariano Duncan, 1993: .318/.348/.455, 0 HR, 5 RBI, 2 R, 3 SB

Chase Utley, 2008: .250/.369/.438, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 5 R, 0 SB

Not to mention Utley's .353/.522/.647 in the NLCS this year.

I concede a decent argument can be made to place Mariano Duncan at No. 1, but Trillo and Morandini? Hm.

Now let's move on to first base, where (again) he ranks Ryan Howard ahead of John Kruk (2) and Pete Rose (3).

Ryan Howard, 2008: .258/.410/.323, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 5 R, 0 SB

John Kruk, 1993: .298/.431/468, 1 HR, 9 RBI, 8 R, 0 SB

Pete Rose, 1980: .304/.396/.326, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 5 R, 0 SB

So, John Kruk is unquestionably the bigger "Legend of the Fall Classic" for the Phillies, based on their World Series year - and Pete Rose's numbers are almost identical to Howard's.

Given that, I don't think Bill Conlin is being exactly consistent in his logic, position by position and player by player.

(Note: Mariano Duncan is the only one of Conlin's three "All-Star" second basemen who didn't go on to suck for the Cubs.)

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