All Phillies team, 1965-2016 position players

Image Courtesy of Bing

In looking at the Phillies over the years, their strength has been their infield, though, some pretty decent outfielders have made their way through Philadelphia. Generally speaking, some of these choices were cut and dried, but a few choices were debatable. And we're off!

Catching: Darren Daulton Darren had a number of decent seasons with the Phils, but had a couple where he just killed it. In 1992 he crushed 27 home runs and drove in 109 runs. He followed that up in 1993 with a 24 home, 109 RBI season. Those two seasons accounted for 11.9 of his 22.4 WAR in his 14 seasons with the Phillies. Mike Lieberthal also had nice seasons behind the plate in Philadelphia. His best season was 1999 when he hit.300 with 31 homers and 96 RBIs. Mike had some other nice seasons, but not enough to get the nod over Dutch Daulton. Bob Boone gets a mention as a good receiver who had some okay seasons at the plate.

First base: Ryan Howard If you focus on how Ryan Howard's time with the Phillies ended, it's easy to forget how good he was in his prime. Three times Ryan led the NL in RBIs. Twice he led the league in home runs. The three seasons her led the league in RBIs, his totals were 149-146-141. He hit a career high 58 home runs in 2006. His defense, to some degree, game some of that run production back. Jim Thome had a couple of huge seasons with the Phillies but had a relatively short stay with the Phillies. Pete Rose? Controversies aside, his WAR for five seasons with the Phillies was 1.1. He's not a factor here.

Second base: Chase Utley Chase Utley put up some amazing numbers for the Phillies. From 2005-09 he hit 146 home runs. He had 4 seasons of 100 runs scored and 4 seasons of 100 RBIs. Plus, his defensive metrics are outstanding. In 2006, his defensive WAR alone was 3.5. From 2005-09 his WAR ranged from 7.2-9.0. The dude was really good for the Phillies. For his 13 years in Philadelphia, his WAR was 61.5. Nobody else is close to him. Juan Samuel does get a mention as a guy who was a good offensive player for the Phils, but not a good glove.

Shortstop: Jimmy Rollins Jimmy had a nice, long run as the Phillies shortstop. Jimmy was an exciting player who had speed and decent power. Jimmy even hit 30 home runs 2007. He also had 38 doubles and 20 triples that season. Jimmy was a threat on the bases, stealing 453 in his 15 years with the Phillies. That includes four seasons with 40 or more stolen bases. He also had some nice defensive numbers. Larry Bowa spent 12 years as the Phillies shortstop and was excellent defensively. He was just really light with the stick.

Third base: Mike Schmidt Mike Schmidt is possibly the greatest Phillie of all time. He finished his 18 years with the Phillies with 545 home runs and 1595 RBIs. He also accumulated 10 gold gloves. Mike led the NL in home runs 8 times. He had an OPS of .908 over the course of his hall of fame career. Scott Rolen also had some nice years at the Phillies hot corner, as did Dick Allen. Still, neither one was close to Mike Schmidt.

Left field: Dick Allen I'll take left fielders who can really swing it but can't catch it for $1000, Alex. The Phils have had a bunch of guys who could put runs on the board and then let runs on the board when they were in the filed. Dick Allen played left, third and first in his Phillies career. I wanted to put the bat somewhere, and it wasn't going to be third. Greg “The Bull” Luzinski and Pat “The Bat” Burrell both had nicknames that sound like they could be in the Mafia, but were also big run producers. Greg Luzinski spent 11 years with the Phillies and put up an OPS of .852. In those11 seasons, he had three years with 30 home runs and 100 RBIs. Pat “The Bat” spent 9 seasons in Philadelphia and also put up an OPS of .852. He also had three seasons of 30 homers and 100 RBIs. Defensively, they were pretty much a wash. Not in a good way. Dick Allen also spent 9 years with the Phillies. He put up an OPS of .902 and a WAR of 35.4. Twice he led the NL in OPS. That WAR is much higher than that of Luzinski and Burrell. Plus, Dick was one of the most exciting players I've ever seen. I'd probably put him in the top 5 of players I liked to watch hit.

Center field: Lenny Dykstra While Dykstra isn't somebody I'd want to have dinner with, he was an effective member of the Phillies. From 1989-96, Dykstra had an OBP of .388. Twice he led the NL in hits. His defensive numbers are pretty good also. He finished his years with the Phillies with a WAR of 25.7. Gary Maddox was a glove first guy that spent 12 seasons with the Phillies. His defensive WAR was good for about 1 win above replacement level by itself. His bat wasn't bad either. He still gets surpassed by Dykstra.

Right field: Vonn Hayes Right field has not been a position of strength for the Phillies over the years. Vonn Hayes was a nice player who played various positions over the years, right field being one of them. Vonn wasn't a great glove guy, but was a pretty good offensive player. Vonn had an OBP of .363 and an OPS of .789. He was basically a good OBP guy with fair power. He hit 124 home runs in his 9 years with the Phillies. Hayes wasn't a great player, but he was pretty good.

Those are my choices, what are yours? Let me know, in a respectful manner.