Friday loose ends

Spring Training 2008

Yesterday’s game was shortened to 6 innings, much to the delight of Adam Eaton and Chad Durbin who both got smacked around. No real prospect action to report. This article, albeit from Phillies.com, talks about JA Happ, his rough 2007, and his desire to bounce back this year. I’m still kind of worried about him healthwise, as nothing concrete ever came about with his elbow, but I’m hoping he can put it together this year, as we’ll likely need him at some point. Scott Lauber also has a feature on Drew Carpenter, and how he could possibly be this year’s Kyle Kendrick. I disagree with that notion, only because Carpenter is much more on the radar (at least to people who follow the minors) than Kendrick was at this time last season.

10 thoughts on “Friday loose ends”

  1. I think the Kendrick comparison is actually quite valid. While Kendrick wasn’t quite as visible as Carpenter is today, he was certainly known to the minor league followers, who thought of him as the Sampson of his draft class. Like Kendrick, Carpenter would have to make it to bigs this year as pretty much of a surprise promotion out of AA by a guy who didn’t get a major league ST invite and who isn’t on the 40-man roster.

    For both, that means they only have a chance to get the call if a lot of things go wrong on the big club and at AAA. Carpenter is certainly not the first shot to come up. For him to make it into the rotation, Happ and Outman, at least, have to not be ready at a time when the major league rotation guys out of ST plus the swing guy go down.

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  2. Agree, A’town.

    The Kendrick comaprison is becoming overworked (I made the exact same statement here 6 weeks ago), but they both have the same key features. They have decent stuff, multiple pitches, can put the ball on a dime, and are mature and self-confident. That separates them from the other guys who might have more ceiling but are simply are not ready. Both of these guys are in the Paul Byrd mold, maybe a little better. Will a guy who can come in and throw good strikes aggressively and hold the other team between 2-4 runs for 6 or 7 innings be useful to Phils this year? You can bet your ass he will.

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  3. I think Carpenter is the classic overachiever. People say he can’t do this or he doesn’t have the stuff to do that. But he get’s the job done and wins games. Just keeping your team in the game is what it’s all about. With the Phillies lineup, keeping an ERA under 5 will win games. Last year Phillies pitchers with ERAs over 5.00 won 44 games. There probably aren’t too many teams in modern times who can say that. It’s not something to be proud of but pitchers just need to keep the game close. Imagine if Eaton had an ERA around 5, he might have won 15 games.. at least 11.

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  4. I haven’t seen Drew Carpenter pitch, but any guy who wins with command and does not have particularly great “stuff” (this seems to be his M.O), I am very skeptical until I see results in AA and, sometimes, even AAA.

    Okay, that having been said, there is something that I have noticed about the team this year, particularly with respect to pitching. Although there are not a lot of classic “stud” pitching prospects lingering in the major and minor league camps, more than at any other time I can remember, there are a whole lot of guys at the AA, AAA and even major league levels who seem to have the ability to break through, even if any one of them is not particularly likely to turn the trick.

    I attribute a lot of this to Pat Gillick. He has certainly screwed up his share of things as the GM, but he always wants more and more options. He’s basically the opposite of Ed Wade, who had a plan that would work if everyone played up to his potential. Well, that works . . . uh . . . never. There is always a problem and you have to have plan B, a plan C and often a plan D. Basically, last season was saved, in large part, by the Plan B represented by Kyle Lohse, the Plan C represented by Kyle Kendrick and the Plan D represnted by J.C. Romero. Hopefully, this year we won’t need as many plan Cs and Ds, but you can bet the house, there will, at the very least, be a bunch of plan Bs (hello J.A. Happ and Kris Benson!!).

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  5. There are different ways of thinking about stuff. One is pure power pitching–blazing FB, hammer curve or killer slider. Another is a very good mix of pitches. The report on Drew is 89-92 mph FB (avg or a little better) and three other pitches that work very well (slider, splitter, change). His splitter has been called his out pitch. What that means is the off-speed stuff makes his other stuff better when he is controlling everything because hitters can’t wait on anything. So I am not sure a “mediocre stuff, good command” tag is appropriate. The other thing is, is his command consistent, or does he make several mistakes a game? I would like to see him pitch in a televised game and get a better idea of his stuff and how hitters react.

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  7. Kendrick hasn’t been lights out yet. Is Eaton hurt again? He looks horrible.

    As for Carpenter, almost everyone would be surprised if he makes the team, even in June. There are a number ahead of him who would make his calling a shock to all.

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  9. Well, Kendrick was never lights out, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.

    I’m curious to see what people’s thoughts are on Costanzo – Last I heard he was clobbering the ball as a first baseman over in Baltimore. Didn’t he play first in college? Seems like a good fit for him. I just wonder if people will compare his situation to Ryne Sandberg (blocked by an All-Star) if he has a successful career.

    – Jeff

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  10. He’d better be this year’s Kyle Kendrick, since so far Kyle Kendrick is pitching like this year’s Mike Maddux.

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