After a very strong performance against the Marlins (7 shutout innings), the Phils optioned Vance Worley to AAA Lehigh Valley. The move was made to keep Worley pitching on a regular five day schedule. He likely will start for Lehigh Valley on Saturday and come back after the all star break to pitch for the Phillies against the Mets.
John Mayberry Jr., is likely to be called up to take Worley’s roster spot according to Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
There they go playin with his head again.. When will the guy ever get the respect he deserves..
Its not head games. The Phillies only need three starters to get them to the break. After that, Worley will be back. This is a pretty common thing to do right before the all star game.
I was actually being sarcastic. Just beating some to the punch.
lol woops. Right over my head.
Maybe mayberry, maybe someone else, since they outrighted Bocock last week. They also have an opening on the 40 man (Juan Rivera or Mike Cameron)
Very smart move – Mayberry makes sense.
When will Worley prove he belongs in this rotation? Who, exactly, is pitching in his place?
Hamels is pitching on Sunday on regular rest and then after that is the break.
Is this also sarcasm? If not, I think Dr Steve is going to have to develop his reading tool to prevent his commenting tool from making him look like such a, well, tool.
With the Phillies not needing him until after the break this makes perfect sense, much better for him to get an extra start of work in during that time than have him just throwing bullpen sessions to keep the rust off.
Why not Option Bastardo, Stutes and Brown. Yeah,Yeah I understand it but they may have optioned the ROY. You can start singing now Ms. Franklin.
I understand but have never seen anything close to this.
If they would try Steve Susdorf that would be a ballsy move. Could he be worse than the statue of Raul they have in LF. Benn Franklin back to the printing press and the poor man’s Jr. up too.
Granted nowheels you have the best screen name on here, but I have to disagree with you on this one. Best to keep him throwing on Saturday or Sunday.
More of an emotional reaction by me, I guess. Their history with rookie pitcher is questionable.
Is Eric Pettis trying to say something?
Lost in all the hitting at Williamsport, a potential ‘player of interest”. Gregory Nappo
ten Ks in 4 inning against a team who took no prisoners after he left. 18 round ! Ya gotta luv baseball all kinds of weird stuff.
Some of you people scare me…they are doing this so he doesn’t go 10+ plus days w/out a start. They already said he will be recalled that Thursday after the break. The Yanks did the same thing with Nova who has 8 wins this year. No reason to have him sit around and do nothing when he can pitch on Sunday for Lehigh Valley and be ready the following weekend for the Phils.
Cheese the Phils don’t play until Friday after the ASG that does make a little sense but only if Lee and Halladay don’t go over two inning in the game.
Starting Worley on that friday would of been a better opt in my eyes to let Hamels etc get a bit of rest.
I’d rather have the big three pitch against the Braves. Plus, this keeps Hamels out of the All Star Game.
It’s best to keep Worley on his schedule… we saw last time what happened when he had a long layoff and was shifted to the bullpen, and his mechanics got out of whack.
nowheels, are you okay?
They can have him pitch on Saturday and Thursday, then drop into the fifth game back after the break – Tuesday against the Cubs.
Based on what they did last year with Hamels and Halladay… They’ll push Lee and Halladay back as far as they can.
I’d assume Worley starts Sunday and opens the Series against the Mets. I assume it would be Worley, Hamels, Kendrick, Lee, and Halladay to open the second half.
… especially if Halladay starts the All Star Game.
Halladay will throw only 2 innings and that will be considered his bullpen sesion they all throw between starts. Likely will be Worley then Halladay or some sort of simular rotation
There’s no way Halladay pitches in the series against the Mets. Dubee and Charlie want him to get some kind of rest.
never mind… Phillies.com says he starts saturday.
Do you folks think Worley may be pitching his way on to 2012′s rotation that might just go Halladay, Lee, Hamels, Blanton, Worley?
never-mind the inexplicable or unforeseeable variables -
Lets see how the year plays out for Vanimal—I am interested in seeing how opposing batters do against him second time around. Remember Kyle K. in ’07.
And Cy Happ this year.
If Worley proves himself this year, and there is a long way to go, he will become our #4 next year if Blanton can be traded. If the Phils can get Blanton right and then move him in the offseason, they could likely bring in some low risk, high reward types cheap to fill out the 5th spot.
Blanton isn’t going to get traded. He’s going to play his contract out and will likely leave via free agency when Cosart, Colvin, and May are knocking at the door.
Who’s going to trade for a pitcher who has has missed serious time the last 2 years and is making $8M?
Ed Wade?
Even he is not that stupid. And the Astros are trying to shed salary. Best case, Blanton gets put on waivers and the Angels or White Sox pick him up.
A shame that there’s no other real candidate for the rotation at AAA or AA. That increases the chance that Worley is auditioning for next year’s rotation as well as filling in for Blanton now.
So far he should be given credit for the job he’s done this season. Please avoid the “necessity” of trading him for a righty bat. With Oswalt likely to retire after this season, Worley becomes that much more of a necessity to retain rather than trade away.
At the coming trade deadline there are likely to be some decent people available; even an old -timer with decent remaining skills would do. They should not be rarities. Not need to trade away a young, pretty good starting MLB pitcher who will be needed for some years ahead…since the new staff, likely now laboring at Clwtr and Lakewood (Biddle) won’t be ready for at least 2 more years.
I can’t see them trading him… especially since they’re (baring the unforseen) going to decline Oswalt’s option… leaving them with 4 starters under contract besides Worley.
There is a more subtle consideration. If the Phils sweep Atlanta and win at least one of the two games against Florida then with that lead they should start Worley after the break and go for the rest for the older guys. One has to believe Lee tired his last start.
If Lidge and Madsen come back strong WOW.
Bastardo as an Allstar fillin??
As it schedules out now, I know Hamels and Cain aren’t going to pitch in the All Star Game. I imagine Ian Kennedy gets one of those spots, maybe Bastardo gets the other?
Bastardo would be nice but it would be somebody more high profile like Kimbril or mike adam…….
This time of year is hard because I am scared of a dumb trade. There is a lot of talk about a right-handed bat. I’m not so sure that this is legit. First of all, the vast majority of starters in MLB are right-handed. How often does Fransisco get to play? To me, the infield is not changing. Utley, Rollins, Howard, Ruiz, and Polly are untouchable. I know Polly has been struggling, but this is to be expected because of his white-hot start. It seems like age is not much of a concern with him because his game doesn’t require a lot of youthful zest. He just keeps poking singles. He doesn’t run or hit for power. His defense has been gold-glove caliber. In the outfield, Vic is a fixture. Ibanez is interesting. His production has not been very good. But he has always been a streaky hitter. I bet that in a matter of time ibanez is going to go on a tear and we will all be saying that he cannot be removed from the lineup. As for Brown, I wouldn’t touch him either. He clearly has a ton of potential and is getting valuable major league experience. The minor leagues have taught him all they can. He is now being forced to adapt to the major league level and it is making him an even better player. I don’t want to mess with his confidence by sending him down or take away the golden development opportunity he now has. Do you bring in a right-handed bat then to sub for Ibanez or Brown when a lefty starts? What about Fransisco? Fransisco is actually a pretty good hitter. He has some pop. He showed this year that he probably cannot succeed as an everyday player. But I like him as a fourth outfielder and I think as he settles back into this role, he will get better results. We also have Mayberry. Why burn prospects for the sake of a right-handed bat, then?
The only way I do anything is if our bullpen does not look like its going to get healthy. We need at least Madson back. As good as they’ve been, it scares me to have Stutes and Bastardo anchoring the bullpen.
Polly is batting something like .200 since the start of May, probably lower actually. His average has dropped about 130 points in that time period.
Through the end of the Red Sox series (I haven’t bothered to look since), Polanco is 232/284/281 since the end of April. Hasn’t been much better since.
He’s 0 for 15 to start off July and down to .216 AVG/.276 OBP/.537 OPS since May 1st.
I’ve been as big an Ibanez supporter as anyone but it’s definately time to bring in a RH bat to replace him in LF. He has always been bad defensively and his offense has been horrible for all but a brief streak in May. They don’t produce enough offense in the rest of their line-up to carry sub-par offensive OF’ers in both corners.
Let Brown/Fransicso platoon in RF with Brown getting the bulk of the at-bats.
I think they’ll sign Juan Rivera to a minor league deal.. the guy’s hitting close to .350 against lefties with a .900+ ops.
I think with Juan Rivera recently getting DFA… they’ll bring him in to platoon with Ibanez.
The deadline deal I see happening is either A) Chad Qualls. or B) If Lidge doesn’t come back healthy, the Phillies will rent Heath Bell and take the two draft picks at the end of the year.
Rivera isn’t an upgrade. He might actually be worse defensively and isn’t particularly better offensively. I’m not a Mayberry fan but he is a better platoon option.
No he isn’t. He’s hitting under .200. Juan Rivera against left handed pitchers is hitting close to .350.
John Mayberry Jr’s slashline against lefthanded pitchers:
.244/.320/.400
Juan Rivera’s slashline against lefthanded pitchers (including the game against Lee, before that his average was .346 or something like that)
.327/.400/.509
Defensively, Ibanez is the worst outfielder, statistically, in baseball. Juan Rivera isn’t much better, and it’s probably a wash… but I like those numbers against left handed pitching better than Mayberry’s.
Please ignore my other post.
Taking into account other things like defense, speed, position flexibility then Mayberry is a better option. If they are going to trade for a RH bat, it needs to be someone who can play everyday and be a noticable upgrade.
Thank you for your optimism. So why are you worried about Stutes and Bastardo? Polanco is suffering through many of the physical miseries that plague older players. He is wearing down just as Ibanez is wearing down. The little bothersome injuries are the sign that this is happening. They will show flashes, but over the long season they have trouble keeping at the high level they have maintained in the past. Enjoy the flashes like Raul showed last night. They are a treat to behold.
sign rivera. ibanez and mayberry both suck
Rotoworld reports that Mayberry has been called up………..Victorino is out until at least Friday.
The Friday bit is not true.
Good move by the Phillies. Worley stays on starters schedule which he proved he needed earlier in the season. Mayberry should be starting in CF again while Vic is out. I still think Francisco is a better player but it seems like Charlie has less confidence in him. Francisco still has an option so it might be time to use it if Mayberry gets hot.
For all the hype Mayberry gets, his only real chance is as RH platoon. He can play enough defense to be a replacement for a DL stint but he does not have enough speed to be a true base stealer. He has never proven to be a replacement level hitter over an entire season (minor either), while Francisco did that in Cleveland. However, I am guessing he beats out Francisco (due to cost) for the 4th/5th OF role next season.
Mayberry would make a nice 25th man on a playoff roster over a guy like Mini Mart. He’s a good defender and fast enough on the bases…but yeah, his skillset is pretty limited.
I’ve noticed that except for number of AB Susdorf would be leading the league in BA at .343. Wonder how a platoon of Susdorf and Mayberry in left field would look in 2012. Could be very interesting.
Yeah, that would be interesting. But if Rube really wants to get fired he could just drag World Series trophy through the parking lot dragging it from his car.
A platoon for Mattair and Martinez at third would be very interesting as well.
It would look great in Lehigh Valley.
Thanks for noticing Lenny. Susdorf’s numbers are extraordinary.
Nice game from JMJ last night.