It Can Only Get Better In the Land of Cheese Steaks

You're going to see a lot of prognosticators assume the renovating Phillies will hold up the division in the 2016 standings after their MLB-worst 99 losses in 2015. But low expectations being the key to happiness, the scarred Philadelphia sports fan may be in for some joy.

Consider what the team paraded out for a starting rotation last year absent the now-departed Cole Hamels :

Three quarters of the team's starts made in 2015 (number of starts in parentheses):
*Aaron Harang (29) 4.86 ERA
*Jerome Williams (21) — 6.13 ERA as a starter
David Buchanan (15) — 6.99 ERA
Adam Morgan (15) 4.48 ERA
*Sean O’Sullivan (13) — 6.08 ERA
*Chad Billingsley (7) — 5.84 ERA
Severino Gonzalez (7) — 7.92 ERA
Alec Asher (7) — 9.31 ERA
*Kevin Correia (5) — 6.56 ERA
*Phillipe Aumont (1) — 13.50 ERA
*Dustin McGowan (1) — 10.80 ERA as starter

*Justin De Fratus (5.51) led the team in relief innings pitched.

Can they possibly soil themselves so badly in 2016? Sure. The steadying influence of Hamels is gone and Aaron Nola (6-2, 3.59) could stumble in his sophomore campaign. But everyone with a star before his name is gone; in their slots are replacement-level veteran Charlie Morton, middling rotation piece Jeremy Helickson, and many more innings for promising second-year hurlers Nola, Alec Asher and Jerad Eickhoff (3-3, 2.65 in eight starts).

NL foes may not quake in their cleats, but the results can hardly get worse. One positive surprise and Philadelphia is challenging Miami for third place in the East.

Likewise the lineup. The leading run scorer in 2015 was shortstop Feddy Galvis, who crossed the plate 63 times. Four of the Phillies' eight most frequent starters produced OBP below .300.

Besides flipping field managers, the added seasoning for Galvis, good-looking keystoner Maikel Franco, promising outfielders Odubel Herrera and Aaron Altherr, and the signing of defensive outfielder Peter Bourjos could pump life into the moribund franchise. It's not Murderers Row but it figures to provide some support for the pitchers.

On defense, moving out human statue Ryan Howard permanently from first will help, as will Bourjos and more innings for Herrera. The bench is actually a strength, as the Phils refuse to part with semi-failed former prospects like Cody Asche and Dom Brown.

In a place where the hockey team clings tenaciously to the formula that won the Stanley Cup just 37 years ago and the basketball team's tanking now enters its graduate studies, a 75-win baseball team or emergence from the cellar would be cause for celebration.

Go ahead and buy the noisemakers.