UFH: Pedro Feliz
Yesterday, the Phillies signed 3B Pedro Feliz. But they got far more than just a gold glove fielder. The Phillies got a player who dabbles in unfortunate facial hair the way Charlie Sheen dabbles in Vegas hookers. The way Amy Winehouse dabbles in coke. The way Britney dabbles in crazy.Truth be told, I haven’t spent a ton of time watching Feliz, since he played for the Giants, a team that has always been in a different time zone and lately has been far from contention. But with yesterday’s trade, I had new reason to gaze upon the visage that is Feliz. And lo, what I did see!
First, on Philadelphia Inquirer baseball writer Todd Zolecki’s blog, I got a glipse of Feliz rocking the chin strap.
Then, I Googled a nice pic of Feliz with what looks to be a still-in-progress chin strap. I’ve seen 13-year-olds with fuller beards.
Then, I took to Flickr, where I discovered a photo of Feliz with a soul strip, a look he no doubt borrowed from one Doug Davis.
Finally, here he is with a couple of female fans, rocking a combination of barely-there mustache and chin fuzz. The chin fuzz says, “got a tin can I can munch on?” while the almost-stache says, “Hi, my name is McLovin and I’d like to buy some beer.”
The reaction to Feliz’s signing in Philly was a collective “meh.” But I suspect he’ll grow on the city of brotherly shove. And even if he doesn’t grow on them, I know something will grow on him.Welcome to the team, Pedro. The UFH team.
January 14th, 2008 at 8:23 am
Good call saying the Diamondbacks only discernable hole is in the OF and singling out Upton. Well, good except that their starting SS put up a line of .238/.313/.370 and a fielding % below league average and that was at 24 with 59 big league games under his belt. All of a sudden Upton’s line of .221/.283/.364 doesn’t look so bad, especially considering he didn’t turn 20 till the end of the season, with no big league games under his belt. Take a look at A-Rod’s 19 year old stint in the majors and how he followed it up. Not saying, I’m just saying. Also, Upton’s postseason line of .357/.526/.571 bodes well for him going forward. I think both Drew and Upton will have much better numbers in 2008, so I think Arizona will be just fine at SS and RF. Only discernable hole?
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January 14th, 2008 at 8:45 am
Brett, I agree with you that both Upton and Drew will be fine next year. You point out that Upton is young, but Drew is also only 24, and can reasonably be expected to do much better next year, given his pre-2007 numbers.
The reason I picked on Upton more than I picked on Drew is that a team generally expects more offense from its corner outfielders than it does from its shortstop. But even then, you will notice that I identified their need as “fourth outfielder” rather than “right fielder”.
In other words, I’m not that concerned about Upton, but the team still needs a better option of the bench to play in the outfield if someone gets hurt.
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January 14th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
I can’t figure out what the Giants are doing. The Aaron Rowand signing suggests they plan on being competative sooner, rather than later. But a lack of talent, prospects, trade chips, etc., suggest otherwise.
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January 14th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Coley, I think the Rowand signing was the customary “desperation move by a GM who is about to be fired”. Sabean knows his team is bad. He knows he’s been given more time than his track record warrants. Maybe he’s hoping for a third-place finish or something similar that won’t make their team look abysmal. Of course, even in this scenario, the future doesn’t look any better. But when your job is on the line and you’re trying to milk whatever time is left, this is what happens.
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