Larry Andersen Discusses Opening Day Struggles And Phillies Rebuild
By Ray Boyd
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Phillies broadcaster Larry Andersen joined Josh Innes and Tony Bruno on 94 WIP on Wednesday afternoon. Andersen discussed the Phillies' rough first outing on Opening Day as the team was getting set to face the Red Sox on Wednesday night.
One of the surprises of Opening Day was the performance of Cole Hamels who surrendered four home runs in the Phillies loss to the Red Sox.
Andersen explained that it was not merely the wind that aided the Red Sox. "Just location," Andersen said of why Hamels appeared to struggle.
"His stuff was good. Really it was just a matter of location. He left some balls up when he was trying to come in. He was trying to come up and in, left them belt high over the plate."
LISTEN: Larry Andersen discusses Phillies Opening Day on 94WIP's Innes and Bruno Show
One of the most apparent things on Opening Day was that the Red Sox were clearly a much stronger ball club than the season before. Additions like Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval put the Red Sox right back into contention in the AL East.
That strategy of retooling by spending may look appealing to Phillies fans who understand that the team might not have the talent in place to rebuild from the farm.
"The situation that the [Phillies] are in right now, you can go and sign two big free agents, but are they going to make a big difference," Andersen said. "Is it going to get you a division title, or get you in the playoffs? I can't say that. I would say probably not right now."
Andersen went on to explain that the Phillies might be better served devoting themselves to playing their young talent now and trying to establish a foundation on which they could add on to with some free agent pieces down the road.
When asked about what the negative would be to the Phillies calling up pitching prospect Aaron Nola, despite minimal exposure to major league hitters, Andersen replied, "Zero."
Andersen used the example of three legendary pitchers, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz, to illustrate that struggling early is not always a bad thing.
"If you look at those guys' first year, they were horrendous," Andersen said of the trio. "I think you have to look at the person, the personality, is this a guy that can handle adversity," he added.
"I think if you got a guy that's strong and has a good baseball mindset, I think he can handle adversity." Andersen added that it might be beneficial to see prospects like Nola come up sooner rather than later.
