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Brett Myers Will Not Return to the Phillies in 2010

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Before many, including myself, have had a chance to do a post-mortem on the Phillies season and their valiant attempt to repeat as World Champions, the team has already begun to work on the roster for 2010.

Multiple sources are reporting that Brett Myers was told by general manager Ruben Amaro that the Phillies would not try to negotiate a contract with the free agent-to-be.

Really, it should come as no surprise.  Many on the Phillies team are becoming expensive in terms of salaries, and when you think about it, the Phillies essentially spent $12 million on Myers this season with nothing to show for it. Myers made a just a few starts before going down with a hip injury and though he returned to relief, he really had no impact on the outcome of the season.

In some ways, I'll miss Myers.  He was a total nutcase, but he definitely tried hard.  If anything, he may have been guilty of trying too hard.

Thanks for 2008, Brett.

Hamels, Myers Verbally Spar [Updated]

Make no mistake, the real story this morning is how Chase Utley and Cliff Lee threw the hopes of a repeat World Series title on their backs and extended the series for at least one, hopefully two, games in New York.

Chase Utley had two home runs and Lee lasted 7 innings against a relentless Yankee lineup.  No matter how the series turns out, we'll talk about how those two have performed to our grandchildren.

But what will also make headlines this morning is a story about two Phillies players who have had more of a love/hate relationship with fans.  According to a Yahoo! Sports report, Brett Myers and Cole Hamels got into a bit of a verbal altercation over Cole's "just put me out of my misery"-type comments following Game 4.

As Myers walked past Hamels near Hamels’ locker he said, mocking, “What are you doing here? I thought you quit.”

Hamels, the witness said, responded with an expletive.

Before the situation escalated, Myers was guided away by a team official.

It's an easy story to believe, after all, Brett Myers and Cole Hamels definitely operate on two entirely different plane of existence.  Brett has tattoos, Cole has delicate bangs.  Brett shoots first, asks questions later while Cole wouldn't pull a trigger without 4 days of rest.

The true personality of the team is really somewhere in the middle and while I'm glad somebody said something to Cole, I'd be more curious to see how Chase Utley or Jamie Moyer or Charlie Manuel or Jimmy Rollins would have handled it [or, for all we know, did handle it].

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Update: Multiple sources are now debunking the story above. Not sure who to believe at this point. My guess is that Myers did actually say that to Hamels, but jokingly, and Hamels took it that way.

Tired? Maybe?

Undoubtedly, tonight's loss to the Mets was the worst of any this year.  This makes 60 losses and I don't think you can find any of the other 59 that would surpass it.  Up 9-5 through 7 innings, the bullpen surrendured 5 runs, including a blown save by closer pro tem Ryan Madson.

I've never been convinced Ryan Madson is closer material [my choice for the 9th inning is Brett Myers, although he also contributed a home run to the loss], however, I will say this in his defense:  he's been used a lot lately and could be showing wear.

Saturday's appearance was his 4th in five days.  Prior to that, Madson had five days off because of discomfort in his pitching arm, possibly brought on by overuse.

Dr. Manuel Needs to Make the Move He Doesn't Want to Make

Charlie Manuel has proved over the years that he has certain patterns for dealing with struggling players, and almost all of them are geared towards rebuilding confidence or preserving and protecting it.  He might not have a Psy.D. or Ph.D. in psychology, but he certainly practices it from time to time.

The first strategy involves continually sending the struggling player out on the field.  This isn't a sadistic move with the intent to shatter the player's psyche, rather it's a move that says, "I know you're a good player, you've done it before, and since I believe in you, I'm penciling you in."  The use of Ryan Howard against left-handed pitchers is a great example of this strategy.  Another, is of course, Brad Lidge.  Lidge was perfect last year in save opportunities and this year, despite his numerous and well-scrutinized struggles, Manuel has stuck with Lidge.

The second strategy Manuel employs with struggling players is actually the opposite of the first strategy.  This strategy involves Manuel removing the player from the field for a period of time.  The reasoning here is that a few days away from the game will get the player's mind off of his struggles, allow him to relax and hit the "reset button", if you will.  A perfect example of this strategy is Manuel's handling of Jimmy Rollins.  Rollins' batting average earlier in the season was threatening to dip below .200 when Manuel elected to give Rollins four days off.  Since then, Jimmy has been more like the Jimmy we know and love, the one that fuels the offense.

Finally, there's a third strategy for dealing with struggling players that Manuel has used:  stop using them altogether.  See Adam Eaton.  Another example -- but by no means a comparison to Adam Eaton -- would be Jamie Moyer.  Moyer just wasn't getting anybody out as a starter, and has hard as it must have been for Manuel, he knew that no amount of psychological voodoo was going to make a difference, and so he removed Moyer from the rotation.

As much as it pains me to say it, I think it is time Manuel takes Brad Lidge out of the closer's role.

It's amazing to think it has come to this, and I think Manuel has been correct in sticking with Lidge to this point.  Brad Lidge was indispensible last season.  He's a World F. Champion.  I respect the hell out of him and you should too.

At the same time, as Doc Manuel would say, he's just not getting the job done this year and we've seen nothing to think Lidge can get it back for more than a few games at a time.  Look, we all knew Lidge would struggle at least a little bit this season.  There's no way a reliever can keep up the pace he had in 2008 forever.  But there's a difference between coming back to earth and what Lidge is doing.

Some would say that if Lidge remains the closer for the rest of the regular season, it won't change a thing, the NL East title is essentially wrapped up.  I would agree.  However, we aren't interested in just another NL East banner, we want the Phillies to remain World F. Champions and to do that, you can't lose a 9th inning lead every 4th or 5th game.  Can't do it, period.

And, since none of the other relievers on the Phillies staff are sure-thing closers, that's why the time has come to make the change.  Manuel needs time to figure out who Plan B is and make sure they're a serviceable closer before the heat of cool October nights set in.

He's Ba-aaaaack

Don't ask where he went, don't ask why he came back, just be glad Cole Hamels... is back.

He's rattled off 19 consecutive scoreless innings and in his last two starts has 17 innings pitched, one complete game, 16 strikeouts, only 3 walks and only 9 hits allowed.  It's been a thing of beauty to watch.  Carlos Ruiz sets up on the outside corner and a split second later, the ball that was once in King Cole's fingers is dancing right into Chooch's mitt.

Don't look know, but things are really coming together for defending World Champions.  More thoughts below.

The Case for Co-Closer has Merit

After watching Brad Lidge blow last night’s one-run lead to the Pittsburgh Pirates [sorry, but Luis Cruz, Brandon Moss and Andrew McCutchen are not exactly a modern-day Murderer’s Row] via MLB.com’s Gameday, I nearly lost the deposit on our Cape Cod rental.

Naturally, this morning, I went searching Twitter, Philly.com and the Pheeds page to see what “the chatter” had to say.  Amongst the discussion/venting was this analysis by Rich Hofmann of the Daily News on his blog, “The Idle Rich'”.  The money excerpt:

Best as I can cipher, that leaves us with 21 appearances where Lidge entered a game either tied or with a lead, 12 with at least one day of rest and nine with no days of rest.

With rest: 2.38 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, and 75 percent of the appearances without allowing an earned run.

Without rest: 9.95 ERA, 1.90 WHIP, and 56 percent of the appearances without allowing an earned run.

Other than his fairly small sample size, I think Richard is on to something.  In addition, the numbers confirm my suspicion that Lidge is not healthy.  If he was, he’d be able to pitch more than two days in a row.

By the way, my vote for co-closer – if Charlie Manuel can bring himself to take that strategy – is Brett Myers, unless of course he gets punched at a bar by his Escalade again.

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By the way, while playing golf up here [Truro’s Highland Golf Links], the fellow golfers have to things two say to me when they find out I am from the Philly suburbs:

1.  Any number of compliments on the Cliff Lee trade [as if I have something to do with that].

2. Any number of disparaging things to say about “Philly’s new quarterback” as they refer to him [again, as if I have something to do with that].

Phillies Look to Bolster Rotation

Jayson Stark, a man seemingly more connected in South Philly than any mobster, has a very Phillies-centric “Rumblings & Grumblings” running on ESPN.com.  In it, Stark touches heavily on the Phillies’ pitching dilemmas including Jamie Moyer’s struggles and their search for starting pitching.  Writes Stark:

Clubs all over baseball report that the Phillies are, as one exec put it, "looking everywhere for starters." And for once, he said, "they've got pieces to give" to get one.

The list of pitchers they've called on, from what we've heard, includes every conceivable usual suspect: Oswalt, Peavy, Brandon Webb, Roy Halladay, Doug Davis, Erik Bedard, Cliff Lee, Aaron Harang, Brad Penny, Chris Young and Jason Marquis.

And that was before Brett Myers was possibly lost for the season to hip surgery.

Who knows what will happen, but of that group, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Phillies end up with the Astros’ Roy Oswalt.  Often, trades are made by GM’s that have a good relationship, and Ruben Amaro Jr. of the Phillies has a good one with Ed Wade, former GM of the Phillies and current GM of the Astros.

Besides that, the Astros are probably just a few losses away from firing their manager and rebuilding, plus, Oswalt is signed through 2011 with a mutual option for 2012, so the Phillies wouldn’t be forced to give up prospects for a 4-month rental.

On the other hand, Oswalt has a full no-trade clause, so the possibility exists that even if Wade and Amaro are able to strike a deal, Oswalt could veto it.

There was a point in time when I would have been loathe to part with prospects for a veteran pitcher, but after last season’s World Series win, I want to see how many more the Phillies can contend for while Chase, Ryan, Jimmy and Cole are still in their primes.  Hopefully, the Phillies feel the same way.

Brett Myers Afraid of His Own Fastball [Updated]

If you watch a baseball game on MLB.com's Gameday, it gives you an interesting perspective on how pitchers approach batters.  Since there are no distractions that come with a typical broadcast, you are forced to focus in on pitch selection and location.

In that light, it's obvious that Brett Myers just insists on pitching "backwards", in other words, starting off most at-bats with offspeed pitches and then trying to put batters away -- or catch up in the count -- with fastballs.

Case in point, in the bottom of the 6th inning, Marlins pitcher Josh Johnson lead-off the inning.  Myers started off with two changeups.  Changeups to the pitcher!  Eventually Johnson walked and while the Marlins failed to capitalize and drive him in, nothing can get you in trouble more as a pitcher than failing to put away your counterpart.

For whatever reason, Myers is afraid to use his fastball, but if he is going to have consistent success, he's got to gain confidence in it and pitch off of it more.

Update:  Fortunately for Brett, his teammates picked him up.  They scored 7 runs in the 9th inning, including the game-winning grand-slam by Shane Victorino!  I have to admit, I'd given up this evening.  What about you?

Game Thread: Your 2009 Philadelphia Phillies Begin Their Title Defense

Charlie Manuel has posted tonight's starting lineup:

6:59 PM: SS Jimmy Rollins, RF Jayson Werth, 2B Chase Utley, 1B Ryan Howard, LF Raul Ibanez, CF Shane Victorino, 3B Pedro Feliz, C Carlos Ruiz, RHP Brett Myers.

That's three lefties in a row against the Atlanta Braves' RHP Derek Lowe.

Don't forget, the game situation and win probability will update in the right-hand sidebar as the game goes along [the first few entries are from a game used for beta testing].

Observations from Tuesday Baseball in Clearwater

CLEARWATER, FL -- The Phillies looked pretty darn good yesterday against the Reds while Aaron Harang, the Reds starting pitcher, certainly didn't.  The Phils won 8-1 and put up 6 runs against Harang.  More in-depth observations:

• Raul Ibanez looked good in person.  He's certainly a better runner than the player he is replacing on the Phillies and hit the ball to all fields yesterday.

• Chase F. Utley started the game, leading off and of course playing second base.  He reached base on walks several times and on one of those occasions, really motored from first to third.  If I hadn't read some newspaper headlines about a surgery or something he had, I wouldn't know anything had happened.

• John Mayberry looks pretty raw.  On his first at-bat, he waited nicely on a pitch and pulled it down the left field line.  But on subsequent at-bats, he looked impatient and it appears as if his swing has some uppercut.  Physically, he reminds me of Jayson Werth with long legs that cover a lot of ground in just a few steps.  Hopefully Charlie Manuel and Milt Thompson can work some magic and get him approaching plate appearances more consistently.

• Brett Myers appeared as if he's ready to start the season.  He pitched deep into the game and mixed his pitches well.  We're gonna need him to pitch the way he is capable.

• We capped off the evening at the Palm Pavillion Grill in Clearwater, right on the beach.  I feel very comfortable giving it two big opposable thumbs up

More today from the ballpark, stay tuned.

A Suggestion for Kerwin Danley

Phils Take Commanding Two Game Lead in NLDS

Brad Lidge must have wanted to get home and watch tonight's Vice-Presidential debate because he needed only 12 pitches to notch the save, far fewer than the 35 he needed in Game 1's nail-biter.

But as good as Lidge was, he comes in a distant third in terms of Phillies who contributed tonight.  Brett Myers was outstanding.  After a shaky first inning in which he escaped a bases loaded jam allowing only one run to score, Myers was a different pitcher.  He would allow only one more run and went seven full innings. 

The other Phillie whose effort paired with Myers was Shane Victorino.  After Brett Myers epic at-bat against C.C. Sabathia in the 2nd inning in which he drew a walk, Victorino, moved to second in the lineup, ripped a grand slam into the left field stands.  It gave the Phillies a 5-1 lead and they never looked back.

On Friday, the two teams will travel to Milwaukee and play Game 3 at 6:30 EST.  Jamie Moyer will pitch for the Phillies.  On the road this season, Moyer has a .663 OPS against and against the Brewers, Moyer has a 3.09 ERA in two starts this season.

The Brewers will counter with RHP David Bush.  Bush has done well at home this year with a .676 OPS against, but on the other hand, the Phillies have eaten him up for a 5.25 ERA in two starts.

It sure looks like the Phillies are set to erase the playoff ghosts of 2007.

Brett Myers Says "No Brew For You!"

Jamie Moyer's performance on Thursday, pitching on short rest, was fantastic and provided exactly what the Phillies needed.  Tonight, Brett Myers also took the mound on short rest and provided more than what the Phillies needed.

Earlier today, we rejoiced in the fact that the the entire Phillies relief corps would be available for tonight's game.  Apparently, Myers did not get the memorandum, pitching a complete game, allowing only two hits and one run and used less than 100 pitches.

It was a remarkable and mature performance.

If the Phillies are fortunate enough to reach the post-season, the triumvirate of Cole Hamels, Moyer, and Myers will be a tough combination to beat.

Speaking of the post-season, the Phillies now find themselves only one game behind the Mets in the NL East standings and tied for first in the Wild Card standings.

Slowly, The Missus is coming to grips that this is going to be one of those Septembers.

Big Big Game from Brett

Huge game for Brett Myers and the Phillies tonight.  Myers went the distance and shut out the Nationals while striking out nine and walking only one.

Besides getting the win, there is also the unofficial victory that comes with keeping the bullpen unused for a day.  There's a lot of miles adding up out there, so it's great to get them a night off.

Myers' temperament is as stable as a third world government, but right now his head seems to be on straight and he's getting results because of it.

Phillies Gradually Changing Their Tune On Myers

Several weeks ago, at the depth of [we hope] Brett Myers' troubles as a starting pitcher, he was sent to the minor leagues to straighten out his game.

At the time, speculation swirled that Myers would eventually end up in the bullpen, where he excelled last season after being converted in an emergency from a starter.  The Phillies though, were quick to put an end to such talk.  Assistant general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. had this to say on the subject [July 7th, 2008 via Inquirer]:

"We've always viewed Brett as a starter.  We had a situation last year where our bullpen was in shambles and Brett was willing to become the closer. But he's a starter. He's a very important piece of this ball club. He may have felt more confident in the bullpen, but we believe he's a starter."

General manager Pat Gillick backed it up Amaro with this statement:

"We're kind of stubborn on this. We think Brett is a starter. It might be that he prefers to close, but we don't see a reason he can't start."

OK, we get it, Myers is a starter.  Period.  Case closed.  Done deal.  Until...

Today.  Here's Amaro on the topic now:

"We're trying to win our division, so we're going to try to put the best starters out there we can to win. We have to keep our minds open with what we're going to do. We're not locking ourselves in with anything. We believe he'll stay in the rotation, but we have to keep our options open, and we will."

It's my guess that if Myers struggles tonight against the Washington Nationals -- an anemic offense if there ever was one, averaging 3.7 runs/game -- the Phillies will throw in the towel with him and move him to the pen while inserting J.A. Happ into the rotation.

On the other hand, if he strings some serviceable starts together, and if the Phillies can't find some relief help via trade, Happ will likely work out of the pen, something he's never done before.

Ahhh...  Remember those idyllic days when we thought the Phillies had a chance to run away with the division?

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Thanks to Rob Neyer of ESPN.com for linking to yesterday's mob analogy.  His columns were very influential on me before starting this site, so it's a kick for me to have him take notice of what goes on around here.

B.A. Myers

Anyone who lived through the 80's remembers the television show the A-Team and B.A. Barracus, played by Mr. T.  "B.A." stood for "Bad Attitude" and right now, that's what Brett Myers is displaying.

Most people are showering him with praise for accepting his demotion to AAA Lehigh Valley, and to be fair, he does deserve some credit.  But after reading statements by him [via the Inqy's Jim Salisbury and Todd Zolecki] in which he says that he misses being a "rock-star" in the bullpen and hasn't gotten his head back into starting, he deserves a fair bit of criticism too.  On top of that, Phillies general manager Pat Gillick told Mike Radano of the Courier-Post about how Myers has failed to incorporate the suggestions he has received from pitching coach Rich Dubee about how to fix his game.

Between this most recent look inside his head and the previous ones, i.e. the night in Boston two years ago, you have to wonder if Myers ever will get it.

Brett Myers Cruising Up I-476

In case you haven't heard, our phaithful beat writers are reporting that Brett Myers has been sent down to the AAA IronPigs to get his career back on track.

I think it is safe to say that of all the options many of us considered for Myers, this one was probably considered the least likely.  What's interesting to me is that by accepting the demotion, which he had the right to decline, Myers is showing us all how little confidence he has in himself right now to straighten things out.

Good luck Brett, hurry back.

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