Phillies WAR Report April 2016 and 2016 Phungo #20 Odubel Herrera

The Phillies had a pretty nice April picking up an unexpected 14 wins largely due to great starting pitching. However, my biggest surprise for the first month of the Season was Odubel Herrera.

2016 Phungo #20 Odubel Herrera 

I had felt Herrera's .297 BA 2015 Season was a bit of an anomaly and that he would have a bit of a drop off during his sophomore season. It is early but it is worth mentioning Herrera has maintained a decent average so far in 2016 - more impressive are his 23 WALKS! This from a man how walked 28 times in 537 PAs a year ago.

Inducing walks is something a player can work on, but I would never have expected it out of Herrera so early in his career. I hope that he continues to walk and/or gets more strikes and knocks them all over the park. His 4 XBHs in his 80 April ABs this year puts Odubel on pace for close to 25 Long Hits for the season which would be down 39% from his total of 41 in 2016.  There are some sample size issues there, but lets hope that Herrera doesn't lose to much of his power while watching his Bases on Ball number shoot up.

Regardless according to several metrics he is better off walking. His 138 OPS+ number is a step up from the respectable 108 he posted in 2015 and his 0.9 oWAR is a solid month for a player who posted a full season oWAR of +2.7 a year ago. 

For Future reference I captured the Phillies WAR numbers for April 2016

Pitchers	WAR ▾	Batters	WAR ▾
Vincent Velasquez	0.9	Odubel Herrera*	1.0
Hector Neris	0.8	Carlos Ruiz	0.7
Aaron Nola	0.7	David Lough*	0.2
Jeanmar Gomez	0.7	Maikel Franco	0.2
Jerad Eickhoff	0.4	Andres Blanco#	0.2
Andrew Bailey	0.3	Jerad Eickhoff	0.2
Jeremy Hellickson	0.3	Cesar Hernandez#	0.1
Charlie Morton (15-day dl)	0.3	Jeremy Hellickson	0.1
Elvis Araujo*	0.2	Jeanmar Gomez	0.0
Dalier Hinojosa (15-day dl)	0.2	David Hernandez	0.0
David Hernandez	0.1	Dalier Hinojosa (15-day dl)	0.0
Colton Murray	0.0	Hector Neris	0.0
Luis Garcia (40-man)	0.0	Elvis Araujo*	0.0
Adam Morgan*	0.0	Andrew Bailey	0.0
Brett Oberholtzer*	-0.3	Luis Garcia (40-man)	0.0
Daniel Stumpf (40-man)*	-0.3	Colton Murray	0.0
James Russell*	-0.6	James Russell*	0.0
		Daniel Stumpf (40-man)*	0.0
		Adam Morgan*	0.0
		Cameron Rupp	0.0
		Brett Oberholtzer*	0.0
		Charlie Morton (15-day dl)	-0.1
		Vincent Velasquez#	-0.1
		Freddy Galvis#	-0.1
		Aaron Nola	-0.2
		Emmanuel Burriss#	-0.3
		Tyler Goeddel	-0.3
		Ryan Howard*	-0.4
		Peter Bourjos	-0.5
		Darin Ruf	-0.5
		Cedric Hunter*	-0.8

Table Includes games through 2016 0430

2016 Phungo Cards
I never get around to posting as man Phungo cards as I want. I had brief thoughts of putting Herrera on the #1 card, but in the end it was rightfully given to Maikel Franco. Odubel gets the Hero #20.

The photo is a bit of an oddity, I think this is what is referred to as a 3/4 rear angle or something similar. Regardless I try and get my shots from somewhere up front or at worst in profile. It is real rare for me to select a photo from behind a player. This one past the interesting test because I believe you can feel the pitch coming in and we get to see Odubel Herrera's distinctive leg kick.

The picture was taken during a 5-2 loss to the Braves. Herrera went 1-4 in the game with a single. Perhaps pre-saging his 2016 BB surge he led all Phillies in pitches seen with 17. For more details and pix from that game click here.

Sources and Links 
2016 Phungo Checker
WAR stories

Baseball-ref

All-Stars aren't the only players relegated to Short Print Hi# cards in 2016 Heritage

On Tuesday night we mentioned all the All-Stars that are part of 2016 Heritage, but have their cards relegated to the harder to find Hi Number series. With 31 of the 75 Hi#s dedicated to the ASG participants there remains 44 slots for other players.

2016 Heritage #498 Odubel Herrera

I fortunately did not have to look for this Hi# long, We pulled Odubel in our first pack of Heritage. 

Decent spring training shot, nice to see the palm trees in the background. The card and picture definitely evoke the feel of the original 1967 Topps. 

Odubel Herrera resides at card #498 in Heritage and bears no connection to the player on the original card, Larry Dierker.

I didn't have to go through the checkers comparing this info, I waited long enough for the Good Folks over at the Phillies Room to do it for me...

2016 Heritage Checker

2016 Topps Heritage Phillies Team Checklist vs 1967 Topps Checklist

The above chart is a comparative of the original 1967 Topps with this years Heritage set. This will come in handy if I ever decide to fill out the team set. There are 18 cards on the team checker. Herrera is one of two Hi#s, the other is Maikel Franco at #473.

I will take another turn at reprimanding Topps here. Out of the Phillies players awarded Heritage cards the top-3 in 2015 WAR were Herrera, Aaron Nola, and Franco. Two of the three have been banished to the High set.

More SPs

2016 Heritage #448 Tyson Ross

Yeah I will never find a reason to post a pix of this SP of Tyson Ross, but figured I would give it some life here, just in case we never see the card again.

For what it's worth the #448 card was occupied by Harry "the Hat" Walker - a card that according to Cardboard Connection was DOUBLE-PRINTED.

Sources and Links
2016 Topps Heritage Index
The Phillies Room
Cardboard Connection
Baseball-ref

2016 Heritage First Pack PLUS a Hanger

Got my hands on some 2016 Heritage cards on Monday, a Single Pack and a Hanger. Thanks to the Topps/Target Coupon that was part of our 2016T Blaster we opened last month the Hanger went for $6.99.

We start off with the loosey

2016 Heritage #120 Billy Hamilton

Fittingly he exciting Billy Hamilton leads off our first pack. Card #120 in the original is Floyd Robinson who reps the Reds as well, although it is on a cap-less card as he had been acquired from the White Sox following the 1966 Season.

#217 JP Howell
#9 Wil Myers
#136 John Danks
#157 Manny Machado

Nice set of cards at the top of the pack, Howell, Myers and Machado are all great examples of 1967T. The Danks card has some sort of Cactus League backdrop that adds a bit of variety to a set that is bound to be heavy on profile shots.

Wil Myers drew his former uni number (9) with the the Rays.

 #498 Odubel Herrera

First Heritage Insert is a High Number of a Phillies Player. Thats a W.  Good shot from Clearwater. Team Phungo was there roughly a year ago, perhaps this shot was taken while we were in town.

#71 Caleb Joseph
#313 Seth Smith
#66  Eddie Rosario

We can't get a Topps card of the Orioles Starting Catcher but we do have back up Caleb Joseph. The Rosario card looks like a dugout shot, which is a bit of a departure from the style from the original 1967 set, however it does maintain the spirit of the era.

Hanger Highlights

We will start out with the Hanger All-Star Team

Battery

Mark Buehrle
Hisashi Iwakuma
Santiago Casilla
Evan Gattis

The Buehrle card is a great one of a great player. Gattis is listed as a DH here but I snuck him into the Battery section for his Catching roots, and one cannot dismiss the hipster beard. 

Brandon Belt
Giovanny Urshela
Justin Bour
Starlin Castro

The Indian Urshela is one of those cards of players in the box that I didn't know. Actually had close to 300 PAs in 2016. Hell Justin Bour  is in the Phillies Division, Hit 23 Home Runs and got a rookie cup and I don't know him. Bour was not in Topps Series 1, Assuming his flagship card is in S2 he will be 28 prior to the release of his r-Cup card. I am assuming this is Starlin Castro's first card as a Yankee - We will return to this in the Inserts portion of our show.

Hunter Pence
Starling Marte
Coco Crisp
Jackie Bradley

Crisp once again displays a unique look - Still not as cool as his 2014T Card. Saw Starlin drop a can a corn in a game against the Phillies y-day, nice shot w/ the camo didn't see those in 1967.


Inserts Mojo Chasers

Chrome Aroldis Chapman (#d /567)

Ok a year ago this would have been a fine card to draw as the Serial Numbered bonus. Unfortunately in the last 12 months we found out Chapman is a jerk and now he is on a different team.

This is is my issue with the Starling Castro card above. Topps got him in a Yankees uniform, Chapman here got traded within in a month be he remains on a Reds card. 

#479 Lorenzo Cain (Hi Number)

Cool shot, Solid SP to pull. 

Standup #14 Mike Trout

Uhm this is disturbing. So far in 2016 I have picked up A Blaster, A Hanger and a couple of looseys and have scored 3 Trout inserts.

#TAN-YD Carl Yastrzemski & Chris Davis

The 1967 Font looks goofy on inserts. 

Mets Maulers: Lagares & Granderson
Atlanta Aces: Freeman & Markakis

I like using action shots on the Multi-Players, for a look back at our recent post on the originals click here.

Angels Team Card & Checklist

The team cards are goofy. 

Sources and links
1967 Topps / 2016 Heritage Index
Cardboard Connection
Baseball-ref

Hello Grapefruit League: 2016 Topps #68 Odubel Herrera

Taking a break from the recent run of Vintage Card postings to note the beginning of spring training play.

2016 Topps #68 Odubel Herrera
2016 Topps #68 Odubel Herrera (Gold #d 1308/2016)
 
Pitchers and Catchers have been in camp for a couple of weeks and today the Phillies played their first Spring Training Game, a 5-3 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Results be damned, we are happy that ball games are being played and to acknowledge that fact we present Odubel Herrera's 2016 Topps Card.  A fine image here, Odubel is captured with his extreme leg kick. This may have thrown off is timing a bit during a mid-season slump, but the Rule-V pick made adjustments and got back on track. The perseverance paid off with a fine debut season .297 BA, 8 HR, and surprising +3.8 WAR.

Getty the Game
A Getty Image search of "Odubel Herrera" returns eight pages of pictures. I found this image on about page 5. The Photois from a Phillies 6-1 Loss to the Marlins on April 22 2015.

Typically you can count on Getty to give you date and location for a photo. For Odubel they provided the the bonus of telling us that the shot was taken during the sixth inning of the game. Odubel was facing Marlins Pitcher Jared Cosart in the AB and worked a full count before grounding out 5-3 (Martin Prado/Mike Morse). For the game Herrera was 1-4 with a single a K and one HUGE error.
In the Top of the 8th with the Phillies trailling 2-1 the Marlins Dee Gordon batted with the bases loaded. Herrera misplayed a ball hit deep to center which led to all 3 runners scoring and Gordon landing on 3rd. The 2015 Phils chances of scoring a run in the final 2 innings were bad, scoring 4 was near impossible.

The game was just another in a long line of wasted quality starts for Cole Hamels who went six innings and gave up only 1 run (unearned). The Phillies lone run was scored on a Cody Asche Homer.

According to Getty the picture was taken by Philadelphia based photographer Hunter Martin who you may remember from our Phungo Games posting on the 2014T Chase Utley card.

Notice I modified "Guess the Game" to "Getty the Game" which to me more accurately reflects the task of scrolling pages of images than making an educated guess at a box score. 
 
2016 Topps
This pair of cards came in the swag from a recent Nachos Grande grouper. The Gold cards are numbered to 2016 this year, this one is #1308. Opened a blaster of 2016T and this is still the only parallel I have seen live. I am not a fan, but I give Topps credit for trying something different with the GOld Cards this year. Perhaps the straight gold looked hideous in the smoky corners and the grid gold was the best they could do. I am curious what they are going to do for a parallel heavy set like Chrome. I will give them an "NT" for the 2016 Gold Cards, that is my short hand for "Nice Try" which is how I would abbreviate a good but failed attempt by a fielder when keeping score. Shortstop makes a diving play to his Right gets up fires the ball to first, just missing the sprinting runner. Put it down as an Infield Single NT-6 (Nice Try - Shortstop)

2016 WAR
I am seeing some regression after Herrera terrific debut +2.6 for 2016 down from +3.8 in 2015.
 
Sources and Links
2016 Topps Index
2016 Topps Phillies
2016 WAR projections
Swag from Nachos Grande Group Break
Getty Images - Hunter Martin
Baseball-ref 
Phillies

Swag from Nachos Grande

Couple of highlights from a recent Nachos Grande Box Break

2015 Topps Heritage #596 Freddy Galvis

We lead off our Swag posting with a rare Freddy Galvis card. Topps seems to snub Galvis for some reason. He is not exactly a star and really more of a reserve player, but he is right at the top of the list of Phillies that don't get Topps cards.

This card is from the Heritage High  Number set, likewise #596 was a high number in the original 1966T  but it did not correspond to a Phillies player. The original card was as Rookie Card issued to Nate Colbert with Houston. I was unaware that Colbert debuted with the Astros until I saw the RC. He eventually moved to the Padres as an expansion draft pickup. Colbert shares his dual RC with Greg Sims who had a grand total of 7 career MLB Plate Appearances.

2014 Topps Stadium Club Chase Utley Base & Black Parallel 

He's gone and may have to sign a minor league contract to hook up with a team in 2016 but that won't stop us from being fans. Nice to pick up this short print in the break. 

2011 Topps Wilson Valdez 

There are not a lot of cares of Phan Phavorite Wilson Valdez. 

2013 Topps Chrome Purple Refractor Ryan Howard Purple 

Picked up a couple Purple Refractor shorties, The more notable of the two is the above Ryan Howard...

2013 Topps Chrome Purple Refractor Jonathan Pettibone

Pettibone had Shoulder surgery during the summer of 2014 and was expected to return to the Phillies by spring of this year but never made it to the mound in an official game. He is not currently on the 40 man roster.

2015 Topps Ken Giles

One of the few bright spots for the Phillies the last few seasons has been reliever Ken Giles. With contenders looking for closers and the rebuilding Phillies not reall needing one there is a chance that Giles will be on the move this winter. 

2015 Topps Heritage Odubel Herrera 

The Phillies rule 5 pickup Odubel Herrera also provided a few highlights during the Phillies 2015 campaign.

2015 Topps Chrome Ryan Howard

Still good to see cards of one of the 2008 Phillies last remaining heroes.

Bobby Abreu 
Darren Daulton
Ricky Otero

Some other heroes from the past were part of the break

2008 Topps Home Run Derby Chase Utley

Closing with another Chase Card.

Sources and Links
Baseball Card Database
Baseball-reference
Phillies - Todd Zolecki
Philly.com - Jake Caplan