You’ve heard the same as me…that’s he’s been long tossing and not throwing in game situations. If he were completely healthy, he’d be pitching in at least XST, which he is not, thus his shoulder still isn’t 100%. I wouldn’t expect to see him in a Phillies uniform until late June at the earliest.

Wanna explain your JOEY rating system?

Is that bad information? I hope not or I may have to shoot myself. We really need a solid pitcher from somewhere.

Talking about Outman, his problem is he puts way too many people on base and even if he is a strike out pitcher ala Brett Meyers, you put a lot of guys on base in the bigs, they score runs.

I could be dead wrong but to me and in my JOEY rating system which is wonderful (ahem), WHIP is very, very, very important in young pitchers. That and keeping the ball down particularly if you are going to pitch in Philly..

The WHIP is more important than K’s, in my opinion.

That was Hamels forte. And it is Bastardo’s strength so far. And Monasterios was excellent until his last start but he’s still pretty good. We’ll have to watch his next two starts.

But over all, when you have a WHIP of 1.40 or 1.50 or 1.60, you are heading down a very bad path.

OF the top 12 winningest pitchers in the league up to last Friday, only ONE of them had a WHIP over 1.19. That was Penny of LAD and he was 1.30. His JOEY rating is 100.34 and that’s a #3. So for now, he’s just been lucky.

Six of those 12 have WHIPS 1.09 or less. Four are under 1.0. As I said, only 1 is over 1.19. That tell you how important this one stat is.

I also looked at some Hall of Fame Pitchers using their better years and excluding their start up years.

I looked at Spahn/Gibson/Clemens/ Nolen Ryan/Carlton, Koufax and Gooden. I threw in Cole Hamels (as of last Friday) and Johan Santana. The highest whip was Spahn’s 1.19. None of them even reached 1.20. Good pitchers don’t put a lot of runners on base.

And if they can’t handle the minors, they won’t be able to handle the majors. Certainly some young pitchers need to grow so you have to monitor their numbers all the time but like racehorses, there is a schedule. If a kid comes to us out of college, he needs to begin to assert himself in his second FULL year usually at Clearwater. It then has to continue as he progresses with maybe a game or two stepping back at a new level. But he should turn it around quckly if he is a top of the rotation prospect.

As to Phillip Hughes, if you know anything about minor league baseball, the man’s numbers were awe inspiring. They mirrored Cole Hamels progress. Hughes has stepped back this year as Cole has done his last four starts.

But they are both immensely talented and I expect them to be showing their stuff by year end. Were I the Yankees, I would watch how I used Phillip Hughes. Confidence is a frail thing in a young player.

Hughes rated a 104.00 in Double AA and Triple AAA a year back as Bastardo is doing now and Hamels did a few years ago. Not many players ever reach that level and few an maintain it for a full year. Phillip did.

I’ll take him if they want to trade him. (The Phillies).

JOEY

He is retiring. Not from the Phillies, he says from baseball. He would like to win sure, but I doubt it’s a passion with him.

I think the GM duties are being turned over to the team lackey, Rueben Amaro Jr.

This is a guy who knows how to nod yes in the Phillies offices. He is well aware of which side of the bread, has the butter. He didn’t go to Stamford for nothing.

I don’t know what kind of GM he could be if he was allowed to actually make decisions but I know he won’t be. This organization is controlled by David Montgomery. And David makes certain that Claire gets her money every year so she doesn’t have to consider selling the team which would put David the Incompetent out on the proverbial street.

So keep Claire Happy (that meant no 4.5 million for Lohse), and she will keep the team and the boys will keep their cushy jobs and everyone’s happy. Except maybe the fans but who cares about them as long as the stadium is filled every night. Which it is.

Do they know what they are doing? I doubt it. Wasn’t it three years ago that they told us 5-tool Chris Roberson was the system’s best player? And two years ago wasn’t it Michale Bourne? Where are they? They are gone.

Both guys spent two years at Reading. Bourne hit about .260 and then upped that to .265. Chris actually hit over .300 but he was like 26 or maybe 27 at the time. Way past an acceptable age for AA. And Victoriino was at Triple AAA at the time, where he hit over .300 and was the International Leagues MVP – and still they in their genius picked Roberson as System player of the year.

Talent shows fairly quickly. If we aren’t seeing any, we might not have any.

I don’t see an Ace in sight unless Bastardo turns out to surprise all the experts. They think his size will eventually undo him. That and his ‘command’. So far neither has, but we have some time to go yet to be certain.

The rest are a crapshoot. Not much for a system this big and this rich.

Joey