As another Phillies season approaches that won't be judged by wins and losses, let's go player by player and take a look at what would represent a successful individual 2016 season. We played this game last Monday night on Phillies Focus looking at GM Matt Klentak and middle infielders Freddy Galvis and Cesar Hernandez.
We're going to split this series up into five parts: infielders, outfielders, starting pitchers, relievers and top prospects, in that order.
Keep in mind these are realistic best-case scenarios, so you won't see "Win a second NL MVP" next to Ryan Howard's name or "Hit 40 homers" next to Darin Ruf's.
It would be a successful season if …
C Carlos Ruiz
Ruiz rebounds from a career-worst 2015 season, both offensively and defensively, to finish his Phillies career on a decent note. The player who hit .325 with a .935 OPS in 2012 is not coming back, but when Ruiz is going well he's able to take pitches and pull the ball to the gap in left-center.
Ruiz's struggles carried over into the field last season. He made various mental mistakes and had trouble blocking balls, which had always been a strength.
His value is also in mentorship of young pitchers and catchers, which is why Ruiz will stick around this season even though many fans would have liked to have seen catching prospects Jorge Alfaro and/or Andrew Knapp make the team out of camp.
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Knapp spoke a few weeks ago in Clearwater about the specific things he's worked with Ruiz on in spring training. Among them: calling pitches with less than two outs and a runner on third, and managing a pitcher through an inning when he doesn't have his best stuff. There are few catchers in baseball who have more knowledge and experience in high-pressure situations than Ruiz, so he's a great resource for the Phils' potential future star catchers.
C Cameron Rupp
Rupp played pretty well last season, supplanting Ruiz as the Phils' starting catcher and providing the two things most teams seek in a backup catcher: power and the ability to throw out base stealers.
Rupp nabbed 38 percent of would-be base stealers last season, 11 percent above the league average. And over his final 40 starts, Rupp had a .449 slugging percentage with eight homers and four doubles in 155 plate appearances.
He didn't necessarily cement himself as a starting major-league catcher, but Rupp set himself up to take another step forward in 2016. If Rupp can hit as he did those final 40 games — .246/.323/.449 — that would be a solid season for a catcher who projects long-term as the backup to whichever young Phillies catcher graduates to the majors first.
1B Ryan Howard
It will be a successful season for the Phils and for Howard if he can hit well against righties in the season's first two or three months and be traded to an AL team that has more use for him. This is Howard's last season under contract and it's my opinion that in this final year he deserves more praise for the glory days than blame for the last four seasons. But it's just an awkward situation at this point and it's best for both parties if he can be moved.
Howard last season had 20 homers, a .499 slugging percentage and .802 OPS against right-handed pitchers. If he can produce like that against righties this season, why wouldn't an AL team finally come calling? Howard is a liability defensively and on the basepaths, but if an AL team used him as a DH against righties it would mitigate one of those two weaknesses.
And with Phillies manager Pete Mackanin seemingly content to use Howard as platoon player at first base, his numbers shouldn't be as ugly as they've been the last few seasons when he did nothing against lefties.
1B Darin Ruf
Ruf is similar to Rupp in that he's most likely a bench player, but he has pop and could have some value as an inexpensive bench piece.
You all know how well Ruf did against lefties last season — .371 batting average, 1.107 OPS in 97 plate appearances — and for 2016 to be a successful year for him, he'll have to continue to hit lefties but also hit righties at a more respectable clip. Last season, Ruf went 27 for 171 (.158) with 51 strikeouts against same-handed pitching.
He struggled especially to identify and lay off of right-handed sliders on the outside corner.
That's the next step for Ruf, the way it once was for Jayson Werth. The two don't have comparable skill sets, but Werth was also a part-time player until he learned how to avoid pulling off of right-handed breaking balls.
2B Cesar Hernandez
Hernandez's best skills are plate discipline and speed. He had 10 more walks than any other Phillie last season despite ranking fifth on the team in plate appearances. Hernandez finished the season batting .272 with a .339 on-base percentage.
It will be a successful season for the Phils' starting second baseman if he can piece together an OBP of .340 or higher and steal 20 or more bases. He was 19 of 24 stealing bases a season ago.
The Phils will need that speed and ability to get on base if Hernandez is going to lead off or bat second.
3B Maikel Franco
The list of people who think Maikel Franco can someday be an MVP candidate is growing, and based on how he hit last season and has absolutely demolished Grapefruit League pitching, that time could be coming sooner rather than later.
Franco last season put up numbers that when extrapolated over 162 games would have equaled 44 doubles, 28 HR and 101 RBIs. And that was his rookie year.
This season will be a different challenge for Franco because the league knows about him and knows that he's the man to avoid in the Phillies' weak lineup. If you're an opposing manager or pitching coach, why would you instruct your guys to do anything but avoid Franco when possible?
Thus, it will be up to Franco to be disciplined at the plate this season and take his walks. But plate discipline doesn't mean only taking walks. It also means going after first-pitch fastballs if you're under the impression it's going to be the best pitch you see in that at-bat. It's something Chipper Jones made a career out of. Last season, Franco was 14 for 40 (.350) with three doubles and five homers when putting the ball in play on the first pitch.
It will be a successful season for Franco if he can post a batting line somewhere around .285/.350/.520. I think 35 home runs in a lineup devoid of protection is a bit of a stretch, but expect Franco to reach 28 to 33 HR if he plays the whole season.
SS Freddy Galvis
It's going to be an interesting year for Galvis. J.P. Crawford is breathing down his neck and if Crawford improves defensively the way the Phils want him to, he could be in the majors by the middle of the season.
But until that happens, Galvis is the everyday shortstop. He was the Phillies' best hitter the first two months last season, hitting .355 in his first 35 games and spraying the ball all over the field. You knew that wasn't going to last, but Galvis at that time looked capable of hitting .290 or so over a full big-league season because of how he was recognizing and spoiling pitches and prolonging at-bats.
Galvis hit .237 with a .270 OBP the rest of the way and finished hitting .263/.302/.343, a classic slash-line from an all-glove shortstop. The problem was, Galvis' defense was flashy but inconsistent in 2015. He can make the extremely difficult plays, but Galvis too many times made silly throwing errors. He had 17 errors in total last season.
For it to be a successful year for the Phils' shortstop, he'll need to give them at least a .275 batting average, .315 OBP and cut down on the errors. For what it's worth, Jimmy Rollins never had more than 14 errors in a season and had five full years in single-digits.
Util Andres Blanco
Must have been nice for Blanco to finally enter spring training with guaranteed money and a guaranteed roster spot on a major-league team. The 31-year-old journeyman certainly earned it based on last year's production.
Blanco hit .292/.360/.502 for the Phillies last season with 22 doubles, three triples and seven homers in just 261 plate appearances. That offense really came out of nowhere for a player who was merely organizational depth at each previous stop with the Royals, Rangers and Cubs.
Even the biggest Blanco optimist would be hesitant to expect similar offensive production from him in 2016, but it would be a successful year for Blanco if he could again be a plus off the bench capable of spelling starters at first, second, third and shortstop. If he hits .280/.340/.420 in part-time work, that'll suffice.
On Tuesday, the series continues with the outfielders.