Tag Archives: Laynce Nix

Phillies shows strengths and weaknesses in win against Mets

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Losing to the Mets is no fun.  Luckily for the Phillies, the past few years have been

Photo Courtesy of Rich Schultz/Getty Images

relatively easy as far as beating the Mets has been concerned, however, with an injured lineup and some timely Mets hitting, this year’s task was not as easy and the Phillies dropped their first two games of the season against the Mets.   Of course, not all of the pain was inflicted by the Mets in the Phillies first two games,  going 0-8 with runners in scoring position in game one and managing only six total hits in the second.  Both efforts were further diminished by an atypical five runs allowed by the Phillies on both nights.

The Phillies took the field on Jackie Robinson day looking to erase their Mets-related troubles with a start from Cole Hamels, against Mike Pelfrey, someone who, historically, has had all sorts of trouble against the Phillies. Continue reading →

So Long, Benny Fresh

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With the signing of Laynce Nix, it seemed that there was no place for a guy like Ben Francisco. Well, there wasn’t. Today the Phillies announced that they had traded Ben Francisco to the Blue Jays for minor league pitcher Frank Gailey.

Gailey, a Philadelphia native, split time last year between Class A+ and AA in the Blue Jays system. He was great in A+ Dunedin, keeping a 1.84 ERA in 44 innings (all in relief), but struggled in the transition to AA, amassing a 5.70 ERA in 30 innings of relief. He’s probably going to pitch at AA Reading in 2012, and is more of an “organizational depth” guy than a prospect.

For Francisco, a 2012 season with the Phillies was not in the cards. He was arbitration eligible and would have probably been non-tendered (basically cut). It’s nice to see the Phillies got something for him instead of just letting him go.

In three seasons with Philadelphia, Benny played in 225 games and had an average of .259. But his biggest moment was when he hit the game-winning homerun in last year’s NLDS game 3. Thank you Ben Francisco, good luck in Toronto.

 

What the Nix Signing Means

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UPDATE: the deal is 2 years, $2.5 Mil according to multiple sources

According to Jim Salisbury of CSN Phillly, the Phils have signed outfielder Laynce Nix to a 2 year contract, pending a physical. The outfielder, 31, hit .250 in 2011 with the Washington Nationals. His signing isn’t huge news, but it does mean someting to the

Nix crashes into former Phillie David Dellucci

Phillies.

In short, it means that the Phillies will most likely not go after Raul Ibanez, or any other left fielder. Nix is about the same as Ibanez when it comes to hitting against right-handed pitchers, with better contact but worse power numbers than Raul. Nix hit .263 with 43 RBI and 16 homeruns against RHP, while Raul hit .256 with 60 RBI and 16 homeruns. The only role left for Ibanez since Mayberry took over as the everyday is to come in and hit against righties, and if Nix can perform at the same level, Raul is unnecessary. (it is also worth noting that their RBI totals, when adjusted for number of games played, are almost identical, and Nix’s adjusted homerun total higher than Raul’s).

Fielding wise, they are also about even. Raul had (technically) only one error last year, Laynce had two. Nix had seven outfield assists, Ibanez had five. Now, one can dig further into the fielding SABRmetrically, but for a fourth-outfielder I really don’t find it appropriate. If you’re looking for a more SABR-oriented blog, I suggest you check outCrashburnAlley.com.  The one SABR stat I think works here is the WAR (wins above replacement): Ibanez’s 2011 WAR was -0.4, Nix’s was +0.8. That’s a big positive for the new sign.

Perhaps the biggest factor in Nix over Ibanez, though, is the cost. Ibanez made $12 million last year, and while of course he would get nearly as much, the payday would be more than Nix’s 2011 sum of $700,000. If Laynce’s salary is close to this, let’s say an even $1 million, leaving the Phillies about $20 million under luxury tax. With that kind of money they could easily resign Rollins and go get a reasonably priced third baseman/ reliever.

There were much better options out in free agency than Laynce Nix, like Johnny Damon, Jason Kubel or Kosuke Fukudome, but his price relative to Ibanez similarity (now THAT should be a SABR stat) was good enough to settle on.