Ever wonder how we got from the 2011 Phillies — one of the best teams in franchise history — to where we are now? How closely linked are the 2020 and 2011 teams, just based on the Kevin Bacon/Six Degrees method?
I was at least curious, so I took a few minutes to map the journey of every 2011 Phils player from 2012 to today, linking them to players they may have been traded for to see just how long some of their threads go. The end results are, like you probably guessed, pretty disappointing!
Now, this is a super-high-level map. Terms like “Released” and “Left as Free Agent” become somewhat interchangeable for guys who were outrighted after the season. There is no background info to include, no motivation to explain some of these moves or salary info to show the cost in real dollars of some of these players. Those things are their own stories.
You’ll also see basic stats for the years (2012+) some of these guys actually contributed to the Phillies, then the transaction that ultimately ended their time with the team.
You can take a look at the map below (676 kb). You can click to enlarge, but may need to open it in a new tab to fully zoom in.
It’s interesting that J.T. Realmuto ended up being the last active link to any player from the 2011 team through transactions. Obviously, this doesn’t include free agent pickups made from 2012 or, nor the players they might have been traded for.
By and large, these links fizzle out real quick and without great results. Some (Realmuto, Howie Kendrick) were actually great, others (Jerad Eickhoff, Zach Eflin) have had mixed results or have incomplete bodies of work, and most of the rest either flamed out or never made the Majors at all.
The Phrontiersman 