Just a Talking Point

Other Stuff

For some reason, I feel I must comment on the first Phillies boxscore of the year as it relates to the potential Iron Pig roster.  Both Joe Bisenius and Scott Nestor were lit up, Bisenius giving up 4 runs on 2 hits in his inning of work and Nestor allowing 3 runs on 3 hits in his inning, in which he struggled with his control giving up 2 walks as well.  Dave Borkowski, Jake Woods, and Mike Koplove all pitched scoreless innings today with Koplove looking the best, stiking out 2 hitters. 

Quickly going through the hitters who may end up on the Pig roster…Jeremy Slayden was 2-2 with a run and a double, John Mayberry was 1-2 with an RBI, Andy Tracy was 0-2, Jason Donald 0-1, Marcus Giles 0-2, Lou Marson 0-1, Ronny Paulino 0-1, and JJ Furmaniak 0-2.

Just giving everyone something to talk about on this opening day of boxscores….

50 thoughts on “Just a Talking Point”

  2. If Slayden has a good spring, could he be trade bait? I’d be interested what a young package of Kendrick, Slayden, and Paulino could return.

    Like

  3. Slayden has hit at every level he has played at but is a weak fielder, combining below average speed with a below average arm (he had surgery on his arm in college). ALso going against him, in the Phils organization at least is that he hits left handed and the Phils have plenty of left handed OF. I think he is/will be a major league level hitter, but will be best used in the American League as an extra OF/DH.

    Like

  4. I believe the 25th spot on the roster should be thought of as
    a rotating spot. To move pitchers,get prospects feet wet
    and bring in Slayden or someone to dh. God knows they got less than nothing last year from SO-SO.

    Like

  5. And Greg Golson went 2 for 2 with a double for the Rangers. Hey, I’m just saying… 🙂 It was interesting to see him mentioned in BA’s list of top players by position (following their top 100 from yesterday). I’m surprised there wasn’t chatter about that.

    Like

  6. B-Mac –
    Pick any team outside of the NL East, and then pick a player on their AAA roster that you have never heard of, and then you will have answered your own question. Seriously, I think Slayden and Paulino could both be useful players at the ML level when used under the correct circumstances (limited action). However, I also think that both players are much more valuable to their original team than to any team looking to trade for them. They are cheap, young players to fill out the very last roster spots, nothing of value to a rival organization in my opinion. Also, with the current free agent market absolutely collapsing the way it has, teams can sign experienced players to pennies on the dollar; players whose average season is greater than the ceiling of Slayden.

    nowheels –
    Is it your plan to start the arbitration clock ticking and dwindle the options of every useful minor league player we have? Because, that is just about all you will accomplish with your belief.

    Like

  7. Ibanez had an RBI. He is so clutch! I’m proven wrong.

    I went to high school with Koplove. Great guy, easy to root for him. I hope he makes the team!

    Like

  10. Bisenius doesn’t even belong on the 40-man roster. He got lucky once when he had that good year and it was determined he had to be protected. He hasn’t done anything since. Except steal money.

    Like

  11. I have no idea how rotating minor leaguers would impact the Phillies record this year when they already have viable veterans signed and paid for. All it would do is waste options.

    He was just disputing you, no need for the saucy backtalk.

    Like

  12. nowheels –
    “so-so” has signed a minor league deal with the Cubs, so he is definitely not available at this point. Also, it is not always all about winning. In the Phillies case, with a core group of aging veterans, then it probably should be the top priority to win within the next few years. But, I do not see how your belief of shuffling minor league players in and out of the big leagues every few weeks helps accomplish that goal of winning. In fact, I think it might even detract from the ultimate goal. Finally, in reference to my comment about how it is not always about winning, for a club like the Orioles, I think it is smart to keep Weiters down on the farm for the first month or two of the season, so that they obtain an extra year of control. Let’s face it, does it really matter if the Orioles win 70 games next year or 72?

    Like

  13. Caz Lets tell the truth there was a huge degree of luck
    with the Phils last year ; playing with a 22 man roster;
    Eaton and Myers starts (50lb overweight); Bruntlett being the defacto DH, You cant count on the opposition playing down every year. Plus you may be able to rest a frontline pitcher
    for a turn. There is a ton of possibilities
    All I am saying is keeping an open option is better than locking in.
    I really dont understand how the Orioles came into this.
    P.S I do know the procedure for not giving early time to
    a Star player.

    Like

  14. Skunky —
    That is not how options work and rotating minor leaguers would not cost us options. If a guy is on the 40-man roster and spends a non-injury day in the minors he has used an option for that year. He can come up and down half a dozen times and not use an additional option. If he stays down in the minors the whole season, he still uses the option. The only way to avoid using an option is to keep him in the bigs the whole season.
    Caz —
    If any minor leaguer spends only a few weeks with the Phillies, it will have little impact on service time. Use of minor leaguers may well help to fill in for Utley/Feliz at start
    of season and to cover the Romero suspension.

    Slayden has little value to the big Phillies with so many left handed bats in the OF/bench. Hopefully, we are more balanced in 2010 and he can be a valuable bat off the bench. He can replace Stairs.

    Like

  15. Allentown-

    Maybe I’m confused, But say if we used Donald in that spot, then rotated him out for Marson, then rotated him out for Carrasco, then rotated him out for Taylor, then rotated him out for Happ— would we not have used an option year for all five because we would have added them to the 25 man roster, then sent them back down to the minors?

    Like

  17. I think we are going to have Donald, Marson, and Carrasco start the season in the minors. I expect Donald to get called up sometime in May. I expect the fifth starter to be either Happ or Kendrick with the edge going to Kendrick due to service time. Happ will come in if Kendrick struggles and Carrasco is going to be in Philly Sept. 1st barring a serious injury on the phillies staff.

    Donald should start the season on the big club but we all know the Phillies do everything possible to delay a players clock running. He’ll be up at the latest, around the all star break.

    Marson is going to be an Iron Pig until 12:00.01 AM Sept. 1st. unless a catcher is injured. Next year is the beginning of the Lou Marson era, which will also be known as the pre-D’Arnoud era in a couple years. I love Lou and can’t wait to see what we get for him when we trade him to make room for Travis.

    In addition to having high ranking prospects, I think it is important to have a coordinated arrival date on those prospects. The situation the Phillies have at Pitcher and Catcher is oustanding in both respects. Beats the heck out of having guys like Utley and Howard playing in triple a when they were 25.

    Like

  18. Skunky…the only one that your scenario would matter for is Taylor because he isn’t currently on the 40-man roster. The rest of the names you gave are already on the 40-man, so unless they spend the entire year in Philadelphia, they will be using an option year.

    Like

  19. can’t have much better of a start to spring than Carrasco had today. 6 up, 6 down. 3 ks and 2 ground balls. not that it means anything given the extremely limited sample size, but still a nice start. good for him

    Like

  20. Unfortunately (in my opinion), Donald likely will play the whole year at AAA. He’s not coming up mid year as some suggest unless there’s an injury. It looks like Marcus Giles is making a strong push to stay in the organization and if he’s successful he’ll get a chance before Donald this year. Next year however….. As for Bisenius and Nestor, if you count AAA pitchers you’ll see there are lots of relief pitchers and they’re not keeping them all. It wouldn’t surprise me if both get cut or traded in a minor league deal. Koplove has a chance to be the first pitcher called up and there are always pitcher injuries over the course of the year. However, Neal could be right there with him. These are two terrific AAAA pitchers who could easily could be recalled at some point during the year. They’re not on the 40 man but the Phils have guys on the 40 man that could easily come off. As for Hewitt and a few others, they’ll all be reassigned to the minor leagues as soon as they open camp next week. To the person that asked about Michael Taylor, I guarantee he gets in at least one home game before the end of spring training. That’s what they’ve always done. Remember that Donald got into a game last year and hit two homers I recall.

    Like

  21. Boston Phan,
    Fellow CHA Alum here with a few more years on Earth than you. I graduated in ’90, two years before Mike Miller. Wade grabbed him a few years back to see if he could make the roster. I was rooting for him. It looks like Koplove has a slightly better chance to make the team. If not he would be the first LH reliever option from Allentown.

    Like

  23. Love that happ and carrasco pitched two scoreless. Two solid days for Mayberry so far. I like that he’s a least making some noise.

    Like

  25. Majewski put up some decent numbers today (2IP, 2K, 0BB) – he’s another dark horse candidate to make the pen, or at least be an early call up from AAA.

    Like

  29. 64 – As I was informed by AFein in the prior thread, Ellison is a minor league free agent signed this year – filler.

    I got straight to Phillies.com for box scores. As it is so early in the year the other sites aren’t updating diligently.

    Like

  30. Ellison played for the Giants a few years ago actually and is your basic AAAA player. He’s Q Berry with a little more exp and a few major leage ABs.

    Like

  31. Carpenter with an atrocious first inning. 2 walks in a row, a single, a double, another double, and a 3rd walk. 4 runs in and two men still on base. No outs. He’s out already, Bastardo is in. Horrible start for Andrew.

    Like

  37. Yeah, Carpenter stunk it up. I don’t think anyone picked him to make the team out of ST. Ozuna’s making some noise right now. He has the only Phillie homer of the spring. Ibanez is an RBI machine but you have to put guys on base for that to work. Marson gave up a stolen base yesterday but also threw one out. We don’t have a catcher with a hit yet but its interesting Marson’s getting a lot of early playing time. Donald is too. Mayberry and Slayden have made some ripples with a couple of hits a piece. Hewitt is also pushing Howard for the leader on the team in Ks. I hope the kid is learning and enjoying the atmosphere.

    Like

  38. I like Ozuna better than Bruntlett . Donald get a pass for a while playing different positions.
    Good news letting Eaton go if a little late. Lets hope Harker
    doesnt turn out to be a player since he could of been protected
    First Tv game is exciting I’ll bet work calls

    P.s Is Mayberry a good defender ?????

    Like

  39. I was posting all throughout the Top 30 voting that Carpenter is no longer a prospect. His stuff isnt good enough for great hitters, they just tee off.

    Like

  40. i was wrong about carpenter. i admit it. i thought that he could pitch in the bigs. especially after last year’s spring and the prior year’s stats. i didn’t think that he would be more than a 5th starter, but i did think that he would be a contributor. looks like i was wrong. he has really fallen off the cliff. he really didn’t belong out there yesterday. and the pitchers are supposed to be a head of the hitters right now. i don’t know what happend. i don’t know how he could let himself get out of shape. or why he just fell off of a cliff. it might be a stuff thing, but i don’t think that that is 100% of it. but it really doesn’t matter at this point.

    oh well.

    Like

  41. one other thing. i get a wide smile on my face every time i go to the inquire online and see the picture of lidge after strike 3 in the series. what an amazing season we had last year. i am still so happy about it. i know i am not alone, but just wanted to share the love.

    Like

  42. Here’s a thought that runs through my mind: When the Phillies drafted Carpenter from LBSU, Justin Masterson was pitching at San Diego State. That’s just down the road. Carpenter pitched in a pitcher’s park and Masterson a hitter’s park. They were both drafted in the 2nd round, Carpenter at 65 and Masterson at 71. Not much difference. #71 makes it to the majors for good and contributes big time in 2 years and #65 struggles in AA. I wonder what scouts missed?

    Like

  44. Is anyone seriously going to form an opinion about Carpenter or any other pitcher based on 1 ST start?

    Everyone is working on something different this early in ST.

    Like

  45. 3up, you’re right. Marson’s 0-5, Donald’s 1-10, Mayberry’s lighting it up. Early in ST, it’s all about getting in shape, trying some things early, try to get yourself noticed. Some guys show well early and others will take some time. Carpenter wasn’t going to go north with the big club this year. His stock is falling but not because of 1 horrible outing in ST. Hopefully he rights the ship and shows us something in AAA. Its all up to Carpenter to show us we’re wrong.

    Like

  46. I agree that Carpenter needs to turn the ship around to show he is still a viable prospect but he isn’t going to do that in one start, one week, or 1 month.

    Last year he had one terrific ST start against the Yankees and people were ready to move him into the starting rotation. Now 1 year later, one bad ST start and people have decided he’s no good.

    Like

  47. 3up: agree it’s too early to give up on Carpenter. It is so early, some pitchers and hitters have not even found their rhythm or mechanics yet. Second half of ST will tell more. He has lost some weight, so I am cautiously optimistic he will have a good year and has an outside chance to become an option for injury replacement if we have rash of injuries.

    Like

  48. On Slayden: he might be a factor this year. Reasoning: I don’t think they will keep Jenkins and Stairs. Figure out the bench and there aren’t many scenarios where that makes any sense at all. So one is moved, IMO. Now Slayden becomes first injury option. The depth he supplies could well be a factor this year. If he comes up and hits a little like a Dobbs, then he is an option for next year too.

    Like

  50. MacDad80, go blue! I still remember when Miller was a first-round pick out of Clemson. I couldn’t believe it! My sister went to SS and was friends with a girl that dated him for a while. Classic jock, or so I understood.

    Like

Comments are closed.