Phillies claim Shane Youman off waivers

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Let me see if I can contain my excitement. Youman isn’t really a prospect anymore, he’ll be 28 this year, and he’s not particularly good, but I’m assuming they’ll try and pass him through waivers in the spring and try to sneak him onto the Allentown roster. His numbers are not very promising, though he was a decent prospect until he hit 3A in 2006.

10 thoughts on “Phillies claim Shane Youman off waivers”

  1. Those stats do suggest he is more of a 4A pitcher. While his early K rates are good, he was a little old for his league each step of the way. I suppose he is depth, but I’m not sure I’d devote a 40-man spot to him if we see better prospects in the next few weeks.

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  2. I think you’re right about sending him to the rotation in Allentown. I was wondering if they might have thought of him as a candidate to convert to relief, but his major league splits (lefties OPSing .807 and righties OPSing .723 off him) and even his minor league splits (lefties OPSing .778 and righties OPSing .771 off him) don’t exactly scream LOOGY.

    I agree with you, andyb… I’m not sure if I’d waste a 40-man spot on him.

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  4. i count 5 players on the 40 man roster that could be dropped without hesitation in john ennis, anderson garcia, julio mateo, pete laforest, and tj bohn, so conserving roster spots isn’t an issue.

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  5. i should say that while i like youman, i don’t necessarily think he has an advantage over any of those 5 players with regards to his maintaining his roster spot.

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  6. I’ll admit to my last post being baseless speculation, but Beerleaguer has an interesting take on the pickup. Youman was a closer in college, and in 10 career major league relief appearances he’s got a 3.54 ERA, a .237 BAA, 11 K’s and 4 BB’s in 20.1 innings.

    Per Beerleaguer: “Browsing the Web, they say he’s a soft-tossing control pitcher who gets by on guile more than stuff. He’s actually a converted college closer from LSU who was made into a starter at Double-A. At 6-4, he’s a downward plane, groundball pitcher with no velocity and no out pitch. On the plus side, he’s surrendered just 27 homers over his entire six-year minor league career to go with a 389/192 K/BB ratio over 482.2 innings.”

    Maybe he can pitch in relief at AAA and be available for call up should he really perform. It’s a low risk proposition at least.

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  7. I think PG has done a pretty good job picking up gambles if anything he is stock pilling AAA arms with the hopes JUST 1 of them wakes up adn does something spectacular AKA Dobbs and Werth!!

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  9. San Diego made a heck of a bullpen by taking failed minor league starters who threw strikes and making them relievers.

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  10. Shane Youman is happy because the Phillies tagged him for 10 runs on 13 hits in just 6 innings over his two years with Pittsburgh.

    Hopefully he’ll learn something from Moyer and Dubee in the Spring and put it all together for a mid-season call up. Good move.

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