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The One That Got Away and the One That's Coming Back

There seems to be a lot of hand-wringing as of late over Pat Gillick including Gavin Floyd in the trade with the Chicago White Sox that sent Freddy Garcia to the Phillies.

In case you've missed it, Floyd has flirted on two occasions with no-hitters in the first six weeks or so of this season and the 25-year old has a 173 ERA+.  Given the struggles of Adam Eaton, fans are wishing Floyd was still in the fold.

The thing is, Gavin Floyd would not be putting up those kind of numbers here in Philadelphia.  His problems were strictly mental and somehow, someway, pitching here got in his head.  Was it the demanding fans?  Was it the small ballpark?  Who knows, but anyone who saw him pitch in red pinstripes should know he wasn't going to have success here.

No, the issue shouldn't be that Gillick traded Gavin Floyd, if anything, fans should still be upset over the fact that Gillick did not demand a physical of Freddy Garcia before the deal was finalized.

Tell me Mr. Gillick, with all do respect, when you bought your houses in Seattle and Toronto, did you get an inspection done first or did you just take them "as is"?

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It appears as if sometime during this weekend's series with the Giants in San Francisco, the Phils will activate Jimmy Rollins from the disabled list.  He hasn't started a game for the team since April 8th, over a month ago, and the Phillies sure could use him.

At 20-16, the Fightin's have done just fine without Rollins, but it's been on the backs of Chase Utley, Pat Burrell, Jayson Werth and their hot bats.  All three have begun to cool off a bit -- as expected, no one could keep up that torrid pace forever -- and having Jimmy back will be a shot in the arm.

Up the Creek

As the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion approaches, there will be a lot of focus on the history of golf in Philadelphia.  To that end, a group of local men who met on a golf architecture message board are leading an effort to restore Cobbs Creek G.C.

Among the interesting little known facts I learned from the article:  the driving range on City Ave, adjacent to Cobbs Creek, was once an anti-aircraft battery that was meant to protect Philadelphia from Soviet attacks.

Howard Misses Pitches and the Point

I guess Adam Eaton being unable to find the world's largest strikezone last night still has me in a bad mood, because I'm about to take things out on Ryan Howard.

From Ryan Howard, via Scott Lauber at The News Journal:

"To me, it's all about seeing the ball and having good at-bats," Howard said. "To everyone else, it's about results. That's how it is in the media and everywhere else. So that's that. People see what they want to see. There's a lot of stuff that you don't see, other stuff that's going on. I try to do what I can to help the team win in whatever ways I can."

 

OK, I believe Ryan is probably being a good teammate and helping out in some small way behnd the scenes.  And I do believe that Ryan is trying the proverbial 110% at the plate, but for him to say we should only judge him on the quality of his at bats... well... that isn't going to make him happy either.

According to Fangraphs.com, Howard swings at 20% of the pitches he sees outside of the strikezone, and when he swings at one within the strikezone, he misses 25% of the time.  In comparison, Pat Burrell only swings at 13% of pitches out of the zone and Chase Utley misses on swings at pitches within the strikezone only 8% of the time.

Now, that is comparing Howard to two of the hottest hitters in all of baseball, but you can't tell me that after watching Howard flail away all spring that he is "seeing the ball" the way he wants us to believe.

Fine Ryan, we'll judge you on quality of at-bats, not results, just be careful, you might get what you asked for.

Eaaaaaton!

As I write this, the Phillies are down 6-2 in the fourth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

In an inexplicable fashion, Adam Eaton just walked Randy Johnson with the bases loaded to force in a run.  He'd already given up a walk, a double, and another walk in the inning, but hadn't yet surrendered a run.  With one out, had he struck out Randy Johnson or gotten him to hit into a double play -- two likely possibilities -- he would have been very close to out of the inning.

The final of four total pitches to Johnson was thrown with as much conviction as a groom at a shotgun wedding.

Deplorable.

Phillies Lead Baseball in LHP Prospects with Unique Names

A few days ago the Phillies converted Josh Outman and Fabio Castro, two left-handed starters, to relievers.  Those moves drew some attention away from the fact that they also promoted 22-year old left-handed starting pitcher Antonio Bastardo to AA Reading.

Bastardo earned the promotion after striking out 47 batters in just 30 1/3 innings pitched at A+ Clearwater.  Impressive to say the least and consistent with his efforts in 2007 when he struck out 110 batters in 96 2/3 innings pitched.

Razor Shines, his manager at Clearwater [while they're at it, is there room for World B. Free in the organization somewhere?], had this to say about Bastardo:

"He's got the gamut. Fastball, slider, change that he can throw for strikes on any count he wants. His changeup has really come along this spring and he's causing a lot of problems for opposing batters."

He also thought that Bastardo would pitch for the big league Phillies this year [link].

At 5'11'' and 168 lbs., the Dominican will undoubtedly face questions about his durability as a starter, and he still struggles with his control a bit, but the fact is, he misses bats.

Outman and Castro are good young pitchers, but it might just be Bastardo that becomes a lefty out of the pen for the Phils this year.

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At 18-14 and atop the NL East, the Phillies head west for a 7-game road trip against the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Francisco Giants.  If they return 22-17, I'll be happy.

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Began watching the DVD Richie Ashburn: A Baseball Life and after one disc down and one to go, I can, without any reservations whatsoever, highly recommend it.  The footage of Whitey playing is just plain cool to see.  Oh, and one other thing:  Harry Kalas slings a pie in Whitey's face.  Priceless.

Good Times Call for Desperate Measures?

Without a doubt, the most pleasant surprise about the Phillies this season has been how utterly dependable and clutch the bullpen has been.  No doubt, the Phillies brass has been pleased with the results as well, but that isn't stopping them from looking to improve the pen, nor should it.

Their particular focus now is to acquire a left-handed arm for the pen, and since they haven't been able to find one to suit them externally, they are now turning internally.  According to Mike Drago of the Reading Eagle, word has come down from the big club's front office that they want LHP's Fabio Castro and Josh Outman converted from starters to relievers so that they can possibly help the Phillies this season.

To convert two promising AA starters (Outman more so than Castro) to relievers so that they can help the big club this year as situational relievers/LOOGY's smacks of desperation.  And it's hard to see where the desperation is coming from.  After all, the Phillies are 16-13 and are atop the NL East, and have gotten there in large part, as I mentioned earlier, to a very good bullpen.  Here's the team's relievers so far this year versus left-handed batters:

Not too shabby.  The strikeout rate could be higher, and Castro and Outman can help with that  The walk rate is a smidgen high, but on the other hand, Castro and Outman aren't necessarily going to help with that.

Hey, I'm happy Pat Gillick and Ruben Amaro think they need to continue to improve all areas of the team, not just the obvious ones.  But it does make you wonder, what do they know about the current Phillies relievers that we don't?

It must be something because again, converting two AA starters to relievers certainly seems desperate, particularly for a team that traditionally has had a hard time developing starters from its farm system.

Doctor... Doctor... Doctor... Doctor...

Just finished tonight's episode of LOST and while plenty of sites will give excellent reviews tomorrow (Kulturblog, What's Alan Watching), I'd like to point out that the appendectomy scene was a little bit too much like the appendectomy scene in "Spies Like Us".

As for the previews for next week... It was only a matter of time before this guy showed up on LOST wasn't it?

A Cathedral of Green

Somewhere, I heard some talking head say that today was designated as a National Day of Prayer.  According to Wikipedia, the National Day of Prayer is "a day designated by the United States Congress as a day when all Americans regardless of faith are asked to come together and pray in their own way."

Getting the gist, I decided that "in their own way" was the most important part.  Below is where I spent my day, meditating, if you will.

Catching Up

Notes regarding news and minutia...

...The Phillies announced that on June 1, Mike Lieberthal will be signed to a one-day contract so that he can retire as a Phillie.  Similar to when the Phillies signed Doug Glanville to a one-day-er, it's a nice gesture to a player who showed loyalty to the organization over the years but is in no danger of having his number retired.

...Philly sports fans have a bad reputation that exceeds what they deserve given their track record.  Yes, Santa and Jimmy Johnson were pelted with boos and snowballs, and yes, fans cheered when Michael Irvin laid motionless on the turf.  But similar incidents have happened in every town that has a professional sports team.  What I would like to point out is the aspect of Philly fans that goes unnoticed -- an appreciation for historical excellence.  The standing ovation Greg Maddux received when he left the field last night after holding the Phillies to two runs in 6 1/3 innings was very classy.  The Phillies have suffered a lot of losses at the hands of Maddux over the years, it would have been easy for them to ignore his efforts.

...After looking in some of the dark corners of my feed reader, I noticed an article One Chair wrote early this month.  Should I be at all worried that he knows the name of the hospital on "Grey's Anatomy"?  You don't think he secretly thinks of himself as "McBeardy" do you?

...Lastly, over at the Baseboogle blog, I posed a question to the Pitch f/x crowd.  Until someone tells me otherwise, I'm treating the data with skepticism.

...A few days ago I received my copy of the DVD, Richie Ashburn: A Baseball Life.  Can't wait to watch it, look for a review here sometime soon.

Advancing the... San Diego Padres

Beginning tonight, the Phillies return to town after a 5-2 road trip and host the Padres for a three-game series.  In the first game of the series, Greg Maddux is scheduled to face off against Cole Hamels and coincidentally, both of these pitchers came up in the Q/A's that Geoff Young and I did with each other in previewing the series for our readers.  Young writes Ducksnorts, one of the original baseball blogs, as well as Knuckle Curve, Baseball Digest Daily, and The Hardball Times.  Look for my answers to his questions at Ducksnorts and below are his answers to mine, another installment in our "Advancing the..." series.

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Greg Maddux seems to be up to his old tricks again this year, and they really are old tricks.  How amazing is he to watch?  Think he would be drafted if he were coming out today?

Maddux is a treat to watch. His fastball runs about 83-85 mph these days but it still has that great movement in toward right-handed hitters. Maddux pitches like a guy who throws 10 mph faster and works both sides of the plate. It's amazing how many bats he breaks. I also love watching him field his position. With all the Gold Gloves on his mantel, I thought that maybe some of that was reputation, but he really gives the Padres an extra infielder when he's out on the mound. As for whether he'd be drafted with his current skills today, I doubt it. He lacks size and velocity. If he worked in the high-80s, then maybe.

From our perspective, it looks as if Randy Wolf, a former Phillie, used the Phillies this offseason as a way to leverage more money from the Padres.  How's Randy doing for you guys?

Something tells me this guy
wouldn't be drafted either.

Considering that Wolf took a pretty hefty cut from what the Dodgers gave him last year, I can't complain. On the field, he dominated in his first three starts (including a no-hitter into the seventh against Colorado), but has been knocked around a bit the last two times out. Both of those came against the Diamondbacks, who are knocking everyone around right now. It's early, but I've been pleasantly surprised by Wolf so far. I remain skeptical of his ability to make it through an entire season healthy.    

Last season, it looked like Justin Germano might be the one the Phillies let get away.  This season doesn't look as good, how short of a leash is he on?

Germano is 2-12 with a 5.57 ERA since June 15 of last year, so I'm thinking the leash is pretty short. Mark Prior's timetable isn't clear, but Clay Hensley is rehabbing at Triple-A Portland. Hensley finished 10th in the NL in ERA in 2006. If he's healthy, he's a better option than Germano, who right now is benefiting from a profound lack of viable alternatives.     

The Padres are off to a poor start that there a lot of expensive players, particularly in the outfield, on the team.  Doing so now would be very premature, but at what point does management try to unload them?

I would think we'll have a pretty good idea after 60 games or so. Brian Giles might have some use to a contending team (hopefully the Padres), but I don't see Jim Edmonds being movable.     

Petco Park is so spacious and Citizens Bank Park is the exact opposite.  Do you think it can get inside the head of Padres hitters when they come here, getting too aggressive and trying to do too much?

This seemed to be more of a problem when the park first opened. Last season the Padres really took advantage of Petco, outscoring their opponents by a healthy margin. They also accounted for 61.5% of all home runs hit at Petco, which was the highest percentage of homers hit by a home team in MLB in 2007. That said, I expect that it does wear on guys at times. What's really killing the Padres on offense right now, though, is the inability to do anything while leading off an inning. As a team, they're hitting .150/.214/.210 in those situations, which is unacceptable at the big-league level.

Thanks Geoff!