The Philadelphia Phillies Sure Aren’t Missing Shane Victorino or Hunter Pence

By Cody Swartz
Howard Smith – US PRESSWIRE

When the Philadelphia Phillies shipped off All-Star outfielders Shane Victorino and Hunter Pence, it seemed as if the Phillies were raising the white flag on the season, officially giving up any hope of qualifying for the 2012 playoffs.

The team did after all, spend most of the summer in last place and at one point, they were 37-51 – a full 14 games under .500. But since Victorino was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Pence was traded to the San Francisco Giants, both have severely underachieved.

Victorino is batting just .245 with one home run in 166 plate appearances for the Dodgers, and they’re stuck behind the Giants in a distant second place in the NL West. Victorino is still great defensively and he’s a terrific baserunner, but he certainly hasn’t been the offensive upgrade the team was looking for when they acquired him.

Meanwhile, Pence has been a huge disappointment as well. He is batting only .225 with three home runs in 170 plate appearances for the division-leading Giants, and his bat hasn’t been nearly the upgrade the Giants thought they were getting.

It’s not as if Domonic Brown and John Mayberry, Jr. have been tearing it up for the Phillies in place of Victorino and Pence – Brown is at .254 with two home runs and a .700 OPS, and Mayberry is at .254 with 14 home runs and a .731 OPS. But that’s better than what Victorino and Pence are doing right now, and it really says a lot about the heart of this Phillies team that they’ve managed to play better despite trading away two of their biggest stars.

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