Depth Charts: RHSP

Depth Charts

We’ll do right handed starting pitchers, then lefthanded starting pitchers, and then relief pitchers all together. Because the list of candidates is so long, I won’t list them, but it’s pretty easy to find. Let’s try and list a Top 8 or so for righties. Also don’t forget a guy like Julian Sampson who signed, but hasn’t made his debut yet.

24 thoughts on “Depth Charts: RHSP”

  2. Carrasco, Drabeck, Carpenter, Garcia, Mathison, Correa, Sampson, Overholt. I see Overholt as more of a BP guy though and I have Mathison where he is not just because of the injury history but more for the lack of control. Guys who throw that hard with a lack of control are always cause for concern for me. Not to show my age but does anyone remember Jose Dejesus?

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  3. Carrasco, Drabek, Mathieson, Carpenter, Garcia, Sampson, Naylor, Correa, Matos

    Though I think Correa isn’t that far off from Garcia.

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  4. Carrasco, Drabek, Sampson
    Mathieson, Carpenter, Naylor
    Garcia, Correa, Matos

    9 guys. It is going to take a full year, but this is actually cause for a smile.

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  5. Carrasco, Drabek, Mathieson, Carpenter, Naylor, Sampson, Garcia.

    Don’t be surprised if Mathieson ends 2008 as Lidge’s set-up man. Assuming he can stay healthy, once he gets a reliable breaking pitch, he is going to be lethal.

    I’m still anxious to see a healthy Drabek. The injury may end up being a blessing in disguise in that it teaches him how fragile and precious a career in baseball really is and that he had better be serious about it. If he comes out on a mission, he could be with the big club by the end of 2009 or 2010 and God knows, we could use him.

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  6. I’am watching for break out years from Darren Byrd, strong second half in Lakewood, Andrew Cruse, flashes of brilliance in the HWL, Carlos Monasterios, strong in the VWL with the ground balls, and Chance Chapman, a ground baller last year in the NY-Penn.

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  7. Carrasco,Drabek,Carpenter,Naylor,Correa,Matos,Chapman,Garcia
    I’m putting Mathieson at the top of my RP list so I didn’t rank him here. Hopefully Garcia bounces back this year.

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  8. Carrasco, Drabek, Carpenter, Correa, Naylor, Sampson, Diekman, then Chapman and Garcia.
    I agree that Mathieson’s future us is the bullpen. This is probably the first list that has a decent amount of prospects. You have Carrasco and Drabek with obvious huge upside and Correa,Naylor, Sampson and maybe Diekman who all could be right there as well. Carpenter to me is more guaranteed and more major leagues ready but with a lower upside (7C vs 8D). Hopefully, at least one of the Reading starters steps up for a possible mid season promotion. With Carpenter’s control, he might be the first one up although he certainly doesn’t have the ceiling of the other guys. Garcia is still young but I’m still looking to see what many others see.

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  10. Pure upside only, just for kicks:

    Mathieson, Drabek, Carrasco, Sampson, Correa, Garcia, Naylor, Carpenter.

    Don’t have much of an idea on the others yet.

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  11. I second the notion that the pitching pipeline is promising. Let’s hope it is not a mirage on the horizon.

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  12. I don’t think it’s a mirage, but many minor league pitchers fall victim to injury. Mathieson is super talented, but has already had two arm surgeries. Drabek needs to recover from TJ. It is often said that TJ usually leaves a pitcher stronger, with more fastball speed, but that certainly hasn’t been the case with Segovia. Not that long ago, he would have been fairly high on this list.

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  13. Carrasco, Mathieson, Drabek, Carpenter, Garcia, Correa, Naylor, Sampson.

    Out of curiosity, has anyone heard any rumblings about Mathieson… I mean, as far as whether he’s a starter or a reliever? The default move is to put him in the Allentown rotation, but might he be given a chance to win a job in the Phillies bullpen if he’s healthy and his velocity is up in spring training?

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  14. Carrasco, Mathieson, Drabek, Sampson, Correa, Garcia, Naylor, Carpenter.

    From everything I’ve read, the Phils want Mathieson in the ‘pen to start the season out. I’ve heard he could end up setting up for Lidge if he develops a feel for his breaking pitch (slider, if I’m not mistaken).

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  15. “From everything I’ve read, the Phils want Mathieson in the ‘pen to start the season out.’

    I think more specifically they seem to expect him to begin the year in AAA- and if he is there, I think he’ll be starting to build up his reps. If he gets back to the majors, I think you’re right, they expect him to start back in the pen.

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  16. Does Mathieson have any pitches other than a fastball and a slider? If he’s only got two pitches, obviously he’s better suited for the bullpen. Cole Hamels survived for a while with only a fastball and a change-up, but Mathieson’s fastball is straight as an arrow, so he won’t be fooling many guys until he gets control of his breaking pitch. Plus, with an electric arm like that (97 mph fastball), it might serve him best to just go out and leave it all on the hill for an inning or a little more and they could start grooming him as Lidge’s replacement at closer after the season.

    I think Mathieson breaks camp with the big boys, that way he can be around salty vets and learn from them day in and day out. I’d much rather see Mathieson in the ‘pen than Condrey or Rosario.

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  17. A’town: That’s what I meant by mirage. Injuries and trades, in addition to performance issues, can all make a full pipeline evaporate. Of Segovia, Bourgeois, Gwaltney, Naatjes, Minor all disappeared like mirages, leaving only Hamels and our #17, Mathieson. Granted that’s two extremely good ones, but it’s still several promisng #5 starters or relievers up in smoke. What we have now is much better than that, but they do have a tendency to disappear for various reason. I’m just hoping we see the cream of the crop and a few solid milk proteins make it from this promising group. But I am wary as always, because TINSTATMP.

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  18. Rob: Your Mathieson scenario may come to pass. But right, now I am guessing Phils need the confidence that he is physically sound. I think he will start in the AAA rotation until they are confident, then maybe let him close or set up there, if that’s what they need. But they could just as well plug him into the rotation in Philly if he is our best high-level performer and projects to carry over his performance to the majors.

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  20. I’ve read a couple posts that indicate Mathieson will be a lights-out reliever once he develops a breaking pitch. Well, I hate to rain on people’s parades, but at the age of 24 (what he’ll be this season), you usually don’t all of a sudden develop a nasty slider or curve. Interesting to note that in an SI article on Papelbon earlier this year, it came out that the Red Sox, as an orginization, have come to believe that good movement on a breaking pitch is something that is natural, and cannot really effectively be taught or developed. They believe that changeups and cut fastballs and the like can be taught and developed, but a nasty slider or curveball is essentially a trait that is either possessed by a pitcher or isn’t. If Mathieson doesn’t already have one, I’m not holding my breath for him to suddenly develop one.

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  21. Jack: You could be right on that. To me Mathieson today looks a bit like a Billy Wagner, great FB, mediocre breaking pitch. Or maybe like Schilling before he developed the splitter (I think that’s what he throws, am I correct?). So I take your point that he will not likely develop a natural curve or slider at this late stage, and that puts him in the pen as a setup or closer eventually–unless he can get Schill to teach him the splitter.

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  22. Jack (cont’d): That said, his slider looked passable to me when I saw him in the minors–not the sweeping Carlton variety, but a tighter one that had decent down and away late break to RH hitters. They were not hitting it all that well. If he is throwing lights out in AAA early on, we could still see him start some games out of need this year, and then see him sent to the pen next year.

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  23. The progress Mathieson had made until he was called up, pitched poorly and then DL’d was due to a slider that he used to replace a mediocre curve. That slider was pretty effective until, when he was called up, he suddenly lost that slider…and got hit around.

    Maybe the loss of that slider was attributable to his arm problems, or vice-versa, but it had been his ticket upward to the bigs suppplementing his fb.

    A question: is that slider now forbidden to him because of the strain it puts on the arm?? Or will his now-developed arm strength ( had to happen over the winter despite a minor fixup—he IS very ambitious) overcome that strain and relocate that slider?

    Many should be interested and watching, includingt the FO during ST.

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  24. Art: Good point on Scott being ambitious. I spoke to him for a good 20 min. a few years ago and he has rock-solid confidence. He didn’t brag but everything about him just breathes his expectation that he is there to dominate hitters and will do whatever it takes to continue doing that. That my be just as important as his FB in his success. He has a little of Don Drysdale, Steve Carlton, Curt Schilling in his makeup. May not be as good as those, but if he has that confidence gene, he is more likely to maximize the return in his physical talent and skills.

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