Phillies Nation Likes Halladay

So the Phillies need a big-time pitcher. Who would sell and has valuable pitching?

The Indians, Orioles and Mariners figure to be sellers in the American League. The National League is harder to gauge, but I’ll predict Ed Wade’s Astros will at least think about it. As will the Rockies, Padres, Pirates and Reds. The Nationals, obviously, will be in selling mode, but have no pitching to sell. The Marlins do have pitching to sell, but likely want to hold onto their young staff.

Add the already-known quotients of Roy Halladay and Brad Penny, and we have some names with which to work. They are:

Roy Halladay, Jake Peavy, Roy Oswalt, Erik Bedard, Cliff Lee, Aaron Harang, Jarrod Washburn, Jeremy Guthrie, Wandy Rodriguez, Chris Young, Zach Duke, Paul Maholm, Aaron Cook, Jason Marquis, Bronson Arroyo and Brad Penny.

Let’s look at this list quickly. If I’m general manager of the Phillies, I need an arm that can pitch at the expected level of Cole Hamels. As we know, Ruben Amaro Jr. even said that — he wants a top-level arm. So say goodbye to Penny, Arroyo, Marquis, Cook, Maholm, Duke and Young. The latter three were a tough elimination, but to me, Maholm is comparable to Joe Blanton, Duke’s success is of a short sample and Young hasn’t been very effective in a few years.

To be short, the Phillies need a big-time performer. Here’s who remains:

Read the rest here.

I agree with everything Tim Malcolm said. With the sudden falter of the Blue Jays (despite beating Philadelphia last night) I see them losing faith in this season and wanting to retool for a serious run in a few years. I don't see the Yankees and Red Sox keeping up their dominance with the age of their teams for more than a few more years.

Halladay is my favorite choice with Oswalt and Harang my second and third choices. Peavy just won't cut it here in Philadelphia because he's a fly ball pitcher and CBP is a hitter-friendly park.

MLB News 6/13/09

Peavy out for month:

Well this could hurt the Phillies chances at trading for Jake Peavy. He will be out for a month with a strained tendon in his right ankle he sustained on June 8th. His injury occurred while he ran the bases.

The Phillies were seriously considering trading for Peavy, who originally refused to wave his no-trade clause due to Citizen's Bank Park not being pitcher-friendly. Not only does this hinder his value for the season for the Phillies but could also hinder his confidence. If he was fully healthy, he would have considered a trade to Philadelphia but with a possible return to pitching before the trade deadline, he may not have the confidence in his ankle if he were to move to a hitter's park in Philly. Peavy is a fly ball pitcher and could get shelled here as opposed to the spacious Petco Field.

Peavy is 6-6 with a 3.97 ERA and 92 strikeouts in 13 starts.

Castillo gets sympathy:

Boo hoo. Louis Castillo dropped a pop fly that would have ended the game for the Mets. Instead, the Yankees, who were trailing by one, scored two runners to earn the walk-off win. I laughed while reading this. Players were giving him sympathy and he lost sleep over it. Grow up, man. You made a mistake, life goes on.

Kendrick sent down, Escalona up:

This is what the Phillies should have originally done as Kyle Kendrick was sent back down to AAA (via Todd Zolecki's Twitter). In return, the Phillies brought up Sergio Escalona. Kendrick gave up three runs in his season debut in the 13th inning, costing the Phillies the game versus the Red Sox.

Padilla/Glavine on Phillies Radar?

Tom Glavine and Vicente Padilla were recently released from the Braves and Rangers respectively and should not be on the free agent market for too long.

Rumor Mill on Baseball Digest.com:

One NL exec said... "The Phillies have been waiting for just this type of opportunity; take a veteran starter for a test drive for the next month or so before having to make any hard decisions about (San Diego’s Jake) Peavy or (Houston’s Roy) Oswalt.”

Glavine, who spurned the Phillies for the Mets back in 2003, is said to be “furious” with how the Braves handled the situation and “can’t wait to stick it up their a**.” Signing with the Phillies would go a long way towards fulfilling that goal.

The Phillies are said to prefer Glavine (and the NL exec said the veteran southpaw’s agent made an immediate call to Phillies’ GM Ruben Amaro, Jr. as soon as the release was requested by Glavine, who chose to get cut rather than retire a Brave), but would gladly take a flier on the former Phillie Padilla if they fail to come to terms with Glavine.

I honestly would take Glavine in a heartbeat just because he is better than Padilla, who played for the Phillies from 2000-2005. Glavine, a 305-game winner is also a future Hall of Famer and would be fun to watch on the mound. The only argument I can make for Padilla is that Glavine would give the Phillies four lefties and Padilla would atleast give them two righties.

I know this is not a permanent replacement for Brett Myers, who's season is done after hurting his right hip. The Phillies are said to make a play for a big time starter at the trade deadline on July 31. Antonio Bastardo impressed everyone in his Major League debut but will and should not be starting every five days until the trade deadline. Glavine or Padilla just be a fill in for that span and if they pitch well, could compete with Jamie Moyer or Joe Blanton to stay on as the 5th starter.

Glavine has not pitched at all this year as he couldn't make the Braves starting five. Padilla is 3-3 this year with a 5.57 ERA. He has gone 53.1 innings in nine starts (that's just under six innings per start) and has struck out 27.

I could see the Phillies rotation looking like this for the next two months and be comfortable (in current pitching order):
-Hamels
-Moyer
-Blanton
-Happ
-Glavine

Phillies Sweep Friars

Coming off of a sweep versus Washington, the Phillies started their little West Coast trip as they played three games in sunny Southern California versus the Padres. The Padres came into this series on a 10 game home winning streak. That came to a screeching halt as the Phillies starting pitching dominated all three games and Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez sparked the offense at key times.

Joe Blanton took the mound Monday in the Phillies weakest start of the series. He threw seven innings, giving up three runs on six hits with five strike outs, earning him a quality start. Chase Utley and Howard went back-to-back in the fifth to make it a 4-1 game and then Adrian Gonzalez and Scott Hairston mirrored that feat in the sixth to make it a 4-3 game. The Phillies would tack on another run and Brad Lidge made his only appearance of the series, earning his 13th save in 17 chances as the Phillies won 5-3.

Tuesday's pitching match up was very interesting as Antonio Bastardo was making his major league debut in place of Brett Myers and facing Jake Peavy, a player who the Phillies have interest in acquiring before the trade deadline. Peavy only lasted one inning as he got rocked for four runs in the first. Bastardo went six innings, giving up a solo home run and four hits total and striking out five. It was also Ibanez's birthday as he gave the rookie Bastardo a present, going 3-5 with two homers, a double, and five RBI's. The final was 10-5 as Ryan Madson earned a rare five-run save.

Last night's game was utter dominance from JA Happ, making his 3rd start of the season. He improved to 4-0 and dropped his ERA to a 2.48 after throwing seven shut out innings, giving up four hits and striking out four. Howard hit a two-run bomb in the first inning to get the scoring going. JC Romero made his season debut, going 1.3 innings, giving up the only run (which was unearned) on two hits and one walk and striking out a batter. He was having trouble locating his pitches which usually comes with a first appearance. He will be fine and I am far from worried. The Phillies won 5-1.

Series MVP: Ibanez (6-15, 2 HR's, 2 doubles, 6 RBI's)

Next Series: @ Los Angeles Dodgers

6/4 - Hamels (3-2, 5.21), Kershaw (3-3, 4.34)

6/5 - Moyer (4-5, 6.75), Milton (2-0, 3.14)

6/6 - Blanton (4-3, 5.86), Kuroda (1-1, 2.53)

6/7 - Bastardo (1-0, 1.50), Wolf (3-1, 3.21)

Howard Co-Wins Player of Week; Mayberry Sent Down

A couple weeks after Raul Ibanez wins NL Player of the Week, Ryan Howard split the honors with Adrian Gonzalez of the Padres. Howard hit 4 homers last week including his monstrous grand slam. He also totaled 10 RBI's and a slugging percentage of 1.000. This was Howard's 4th career honor and first of the season.

In other news, John Mayberry Jr's tenure ended for now in the majors as the Phillies sent him back down to AAA Lehigh. That move will make room for Antonio Bastardo, who will be making his major league debut in a start versus Jake Peavy and the Padres tonight. This was a smart move since Mayberry wasn't being used much at all in his tenure and was losing the valuable at bats he would be getting in Lehigh. We'll see him again when the Phillies travel to AL teams.

There's Good News and Then There's Bad

I'll start with the bad news. Brett Myers' season may be done. Even worse, he may never be a Philly again neither. This was his contract year and it may be going right down the tubes. He sustained a hip injury on Wednesday's loss to Florida and after x-rays revealed some jaggedness, it just didn't look good.


"It sounds like surgery is almost 100 percent from the first opinion," Myers told Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. If the Phillies were to trade for another pitcher, they would most likely go for Eric Bedard of Seattle, Colorado starter Jason Marquis, Houston star Roy Oswalt and unsigned free agent Pedro Martinez. Also Jake Peavy is a great option because the Padres owe him a ton of money.

Now to some good news. On August 7, the Phillies have one more honor in store for the late great Harry Kalas. He will be inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame that's located in Ashburn Alley behind the batter's eye in center field. This will be the first ceremony Kalas has not emceed.

Wall of Famers who are expected to participate in the ceremonies include Robin Roberts (first inductee, 1978), Jim Bunning (1984), Steve Carlton (1989), Mike Schmidt (1990), Dick Allen (1994), Greg Luzinski (1998), Garry Maddox (2001), Tony Taylor (2002), Bob Boone (2005) and Dallas Green (2006). Kalas broadcast games involving all of these players.