Welcome Back Adrian Cardenas!
The Threshers had a pretty good week this week despite going just 3-3 in the process with Sunday as an off-day for Mother’s Day. The week began with the Threshers picking up two wins to extend their streak to four wins-in-a-row for the first time this year; they then lost two tightly contested games on Friday & Saturday.
The team was shut out by their cross-county rivals the Dunedin Bluejays on Monday with Tuffy Gosewisch picking up the team’s only hit in the game, and then they ended the week with a come-from-behind win over the Bluejays thanks to a seventh inning home run from Adrian Cardenas in his first game back since April the 17th.
Noteworthy News for the Week:
The team picked up eight home runs in the six games by six different players after having gotten just eight home runs in the first 33 games of the season. The week’s highlight was the team’s four home run effort in a 12-3 win this past Thursday night with four players each getting their season’s first long ball in that game.
John Urick was named the FSL playeer of the week going 8-19 (.421) and accounted for the game winning run in each of the Threshers’ wins.
Edgar Garcia picked up his fifth consecutive win in that same game to lead all pitchers with five wins on the year.
Joe Savery suffered a loss in his only outing of the week lasting just three innings. He gave up five runs on seven hits in the game with three walks and just one strikeout. The team would rally from down 7-1 in the game, but lost 7-6 in the end.
Gus Milner extended his hitting streak to 18 games before it was ended on Monday in the team’s 4-0 loss to the Bluejays. He picked up a 2-run HR the following night to tie the game before Adrian Cardenas got his game-winning HR to get the team back in the wins column.
Zack Segovia was sent down to Clearwater and looked pretty good in his only start despite taking the loss. He went 5.2 innings in the game though he had only gone 5.0 innings total in four games at Reading this year. He gave up three runs on seven hits with four Ks and no walks.
Darren Byrd was either placed on the DL or sent to extended spring training (depending on which source you hear it from) after going 0-4 in six starts with a 9.25 ERA and 15Ks v 22BB
Nate Johnson was realeased by the team after posting a 6.08 ERA for the team.
Sorry for the shorter than usual report this week, but I started a new job on Monday, and my time has been tight this week. Hopefully I can back to normal for next week’s report – Jeff
Get Daily Threshers recaps at http://clearwaterthreshers.jeffcrupper.com
Phuture Phillies 
Thx for the report and good luck with your new job.
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Thanks Jeff. Good to see Cardenas back in the lineup, and hopefully he stays there for a while.
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OT but I had a chance to see Reading play Harrisburg last night. I was really excited to see Bastardo and his supposedly killer change. However, it seemed like everything was coming in at the same speed. I’m not a seasoned scout or anything like that, but I never really saw him pull the string on anybody with his change-up. Maybe he was working on locating his fastball, I would also say that he needs to work on a breaking pitch if he’s going to have success as a starter.
My favorite player Greg Golson looked to have a quick bat and hit 2 shots that were caught by Harrisburg players. Which brings me to the most impressive player I saw, Roger Bernadina Harrisburg’s CF, he made several spectacular catches and saved at least two runs, including a sure triple off Golson’s bat.
Marson had a quality AB every time up, if he can develop any kind of power, he will be quite the player.
Slayden was the offensive star and was just pounding fastballs. Harrisburg’s right handed SP made him look silly on some breaking pitches and then bailed him out by throwing a fastball over the plate on an 0-2 count. Slayden hit it off the wall for a double. I really don’t know, hopefully he could turn into a David Dellucci type player.
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Hey, Jeff: terrific work. Thanks. You apparently (with aqpologies to Alec Guinnes) are “Our Man In Clearwater.”
[His b/w movie was “Our Man In HAVANA”]
With today’s poor job market, do well in yr new one!
Luck!
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What happened to Segovia? Wasn’t he a 2nd round pick?
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it is clear that the phillies need starting pitching, when is this team going to take a chance and bring up carrasco and outman. please just take a chance. remember marty bystrom. and i dont want to hear about psychological damage if they get hit, they arent babies. and dont give me the service time baloney, for a team with the 13th highest payroll in the 4th largest market it doesnt wash. just maybe carrasco or outman will turn out to be gems. but this present staff will not get it done. and has anyone realized how bad toguchi has been. i know golson is lefthanded but he couldnt do a better job? how about happ. just take a chance what do we have to lose. you cannot leave this team to hit their way to the pennent.
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Oh John from philly, I think you are soo right and we need to throw Golson whether he’s ready or not, and have him play in the bigs, getting ABs once every other game because that would have such a huge impact on this team. And obviously Happ will become our ace once he steps in. And I bet we actually have the 30th best payroll, and CBS and ESPN are just lying for the Phillies and covering up how cheap they are. My god dude you are so right.
Maybe we can take a chance on some more prospects who aren’t ready yet and let them burn out here in Philly like FLoyd and then trade them for a broken down pitcher like Garcia.
Also, is it me or do the 3 lowest payrolls in baseball (Marlins, Rays, and As) ALL have winning records better than ours?
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On Taguchi, yeah I think pretty much everyone’s noticed how bad he’s been. Golson should stay at AA right now and continue to develop…with Jenkins, Werth, Vic, and Burrell he would get almost no playing time on the big club.
On Happ, I think we’ll see him shortly, especially if Meatball continues to serve up batting practice every 5th day. I can see him on the DL with some phantom injury in the very near future. Last night was a joke.
Oh Gillick was interviewed on XM Radio this morning and made some interesting comments…he talked about pitching help from the minors and mentioned Carrasco, Outman, and Savery as being “Top Arms” in the system and that we should do well in the upcoming draft with 6 picks in the early rounds etc etc…I’m trying to remember the rest of it.
He also didn’t sound too pleased about Myers and his lack of performance.
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to section 113 what in the world was your post about ? i think a righty carrasco, and a lefty outman, happ would certainly stand a chance of improving the likes of eaton, and if outman or happ went to the pen it would be nice to have more than one lefty. and if youve watched durban pitch and think he belongs on this roster, look again. check the stats of carrasco and outman and tell me they dont deserve a shot. remember what the minors are if 1 in 5 pitchers improves your roster tour ahead of the game. if you think this starting staff cannot be improved i have a bridge to sell you. as far as payroll we are not blessed with beinfest, b. bean. by july this staff will be in disaray. you keep it, ill take hamels, myers, kendrick, carrasco, outman, and happ or savory. like i said baseball is about taking chances, like florida or oakland.
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john form Philly-
Why would Happ go to the pen if he’s succeeding as a starter?
You mean the Durbin who has a 1.5 era and has given up 19 hits and NO HRs in 24inns? So we can bring up our BEST pitching prospect and let him pitch in mop up roles or blow outs…which is what Durbin does alot.
You brought up the payroll not me. I thought I would just pint out that the 3 lowest payrolls have better records than the 3 highest. So I guess if we spent more money we would have more losses??? Its the quality of players we sign, our market has nothing to do with it because if it did how are the Marlins competing and the Mets not? People love to throw out payroll #s and they are meaningless when the 3 highest cannot out-perform the 3 lowest.
Also, we simply cannot replace half the staff with rookies who have never been above AA or in some cases A ball.
You leave Moyer’s veteran leadership off your ALL Star roster for the phills but leave Myers and his 5.91 era on there?
Florida and the As are taking chances? They have no one else to play. Its not like Florida has all these old guys and they are attempting to go with young blood. To them 26 is old because its probably costly. And do you really think their ace Hendrickson will have a better yr in the end than Hamels? And Scott Olsen is a nut waiting to crack.
We are not releasing any of these pitchers right now. Maybe one or 2 gets brought up, but there isn’t going to be a complete overhaul of our roster with youth.
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Re: Harrisburg Husker…
I went to today’s game on City Island specifically to see Carrasco pitch. Sat right behind home plate with two scouts from the Royals and Angels. They liked CC, but said he seems averse to throwing inside. The Angels scout said he needs to learn to trust his stuff and shouldn’t be in the majors this year.
The Royals scout said he’s been scouting Clearwater and the Phils have “a lot of good young arms down there.” He also mentioned Quinton Berry as a possible “fourth OF” in the pros and also liked Milner. He said Cardenas is by far our best position player and hitter in the organization.
Not much new, but it was interesting talking to these guys. They let us check out the radar guns and CC was between 91-94, while Outman hit 91.
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113, the reason the a,s and the marlins have no else to play is because of payroll. you know as well as i do that teams with high payrolls make the playoffs far more than low payroll teams. and the low payroll teams that make the playoffs have the 2 best g.m.s in baseball, namely larry beinfest and billy bean. are you going to tell me gillick is in their class?moyer was an oversight on my part but he is not going to pitch til hes 50. as far as durbin i learned along time ago that what makes a great scout as opposed to an average one is what you see with your eyes. durbin has 12 walks and 13 k,s. he has very little movement , the same with condrey. you have 3 pitchers taking up roster spots that could be filled by carrasco, outman, and happ. whoever goes to the pen goes. as i said their not babies. and as far as jumping to the bigs is concerned, im sure you know of chamberlain, linsicum by the way xaxier nady jumped right from h.s. there are to many other pitchers who have jumped from a or aa ball to the majors and if you dont believe me check todays players book. thats not exactly what i call a complete overhaul. howard 1st, utley 2nd, rollins ss, donald 3rd, catcher who knows, lf burrell cf victorino and golson rf wirth utility harmon and dobbs. almost forgot jenkins. thats 13 players. 11 pitchers hamels, myers, moyer, kendrick , carrasco, outman, happ, romero, gordon, madson and lidge. do you agree oh yeah this year we have feliz,.
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Actually Durbin’s breaking ball has a ton of movement on it and he induces alot of outs that way. His GB/FB ratio is 1.68. His FB is average but his breaking stuff has been really good so far. Its not always about a guy’s K/BB ratio. Why get rid of the guy with the 2nd best ERA on the team?
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ne philly phan,we must be watching two different pitchers as far as durbin goes. he does have a decent curve but its usually down the middle of the plate.88 mph fastball? one question do we need another lefty in the pen? i think so, thats why they sighed the guy in lehigh. its also not always about an era. i know plenty of relievers with low era,s who allow insane numbers of inherited runners to score and the schmoe who put them on winds up with a ridiculous era. starters era is much more important then relievers. k to bb ratio is much more important. ill take a reliever with a whip of 1.20 than a reliever with a low era. but as i said this team needs a lefty reliever so romero,s arm doesnt fall off and manuel,s not put in the position hes in now. good stuff ne pp
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The few times I’ve seen Durbin pitched I’ve been surprised at how much his curve breaks down and in on batters. His changeup is pretty solid as well when he throws it. I agree his FB isn’t the greatest (I have seen it hit 90 a couple times
He’s leads the Bullpen in IPs and he has the second lowest ERA out of the Pen behind Lidge…what more do you want from the guy? His BAA is .226. The guys you mention to bring up to the Pen (Outman, Carrasco or Castro) have a higher WHIP in AA than Durban has in the Majors. I don’t think Durbin would be a sucessful starter but he has been great as a middle/long reliever when called on.
On a Second Lefty: YES, a most definite yes. Romero is gonna be smoked by the All-star break if we don’t get another lefty. So far Randolph (the new guy) hasn’t let up a run in 4 appearances, Outman has been fairly good and Swindle has been nasty in AAA despite his 80 MPH FB. Condrey needs to go for a 2nd Lefty ASAP and I’m pretty sure Gillick & Co are well aware of it as they keep stockpiling journeyman leftys in the hope that someone steps up.
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NEPhilliesPhan-
I actually think Madson needs to go for a 2nd lefty. I like the guy but I am convinced he has leveled off. he is scary after the 7th inn. he might actually bring somthing back in a trade.
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If we can trade Madson definitely for something of worth (perhaps a package of Phillie franks)…I was thinking more of just waiving Condrey to bring up a lefty.
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all you guys and girls go to lakewood site and see if we can all hook up for a game. you know instead of all of this ,who,s better than who, and when they should come up why dont we just trade for blanton. im sure montgomery wants more payroll,but maybe im wrong and thell spring.
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I doubt we have the prospects that Billy Beane would want for Joe Blanton…if the Haren trade is any indication. You would have to think that the price would be at least 3 of the following: Carrasco, Outman, Cardenas, Donald, Marson, Naylor…or maybe Marson/Carrasco and one mediocre prospect.
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ne, i was semi joking since oakland is in the thick of things. but if beane would trade blanton for say outman, cardenas, and naylor, i would do it in a second
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made a mistake, i would nt trade naylor without knowing more. i meant marson. the 3 guys i wouldnt deal are carrasco, donald, and naylor.
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Blanton is not Haren. He is a guy who is durable, keep you in games and post a 3.80 ERA (maybe 3.50 in the NL). The Phils can get him if they want him. The question is if. Oakland would seem to have a middle infield need, although I do not know their system. Cardenas, Donald and a pitcher should get it done — IF Beane likes those guys. And the way Beane sniffs out gems, I’d be wary of trading with him to start with. Benson might do just as well. Blanton is not a No. 1 starter. Or even a true No. 2 starter.
It’s a dicey trade at best and probably not one that will give the Phils a major boost. Of course, Cardenas and Donald are blocked anyway, so it might happen.
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I’d be somewhat horrified if we traded those players for Blanton. Blanton is a creation of his home park and the great defense behind him. Marson is the Phillies starting catcher in 2 years, while Blanton will probably be toiling at the back of someone’s rotation making far more than he’s worth.
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As would I…My response was basically a point that it would be too expensive of a trade on our end. Haren netted 5 prospects (a couple very good ones) so I figured Beane would want around 3 for Blanton based off his comments on the two over the winter when it came to their relative values.
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since i brought up blanton the mob seems to have come out. the minors are used for 2 things bring someone up to make your team better and trading to make your team better. where did you get blanton is the beneficiary of the colesium. that place is average in size. as for their team despite their record they are one of the worst hitting teams in the al. they need players at every position, with the exception of jack cust. blanton averages 14 wins a year with a 3.90 era and a 2 to 1 k to bb ratio. hes never been on the dl only 28 years old. marson is too far away, so lets give them jaramillo, cardenas since he has no place to play according to the experts i read here and outman, another pitcher who we dont need. as far as donald goes i watched him during spring training and he is the phils future 3rd baseman. if you can make the throw from the hole at ss. you have the arm to play 3rd. that is unless we consider him a no position player like sandberg. yeah we can throw in golson, since we have taguchi. so we can send outman, cardenas, jaramillo,and golson to the a,s for a real number 2 blanton.
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Blanton to the Phils certainly makes a lot of sense. If he projects to even a 3.75 ERA in the NL, then that’s better then we get from Jaime Eaton Kendrick. Since he’s not an A level player, the Phils can send Cardenas, Donald and a pitcher and it seems like a fair deal that leaves the Phils farm system solid. Or course you’re bidding against the league so who knows.
No, they’re not giving up Marson.
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jake thank goodness someone understands how good blanton is. the one guy we cannot trade is donald, it would be a mistake of horrible proportion. he is our future 3rd baseman, who will be a star., same with bastardo. hamels myers, blanton, moyer and kendrick. nice staff. and if we can only get a lefty up here for the pen so romero lives to pitch another day. swindell, happ and yes i know hes been starting, but what a revolutionary idea, to put a starter in the pen. thats never been done before.
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Donald’s not playing third base. He doesn’t have the arm for SS. Probably a utility IF type.
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eaton is no longer acceptable if we want to win. but the phillies will probably wait for benson. TRADE FOR BLANTON.
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JohnPhillyNE: where did you get blanton is the beneficiary of the colesium
Hmmm…well here are his home/road splits for one:
(2005-2007)
Home: 3.48 ERA
Away: 4.70 ERA
So I think we’re basing it on the fact that he gives up 1.22 runs when he doesn’t pitch at home. But other than that, yeah the Coliseum doesn’t really help him.
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i didnt say blanton was the benificiary of the coliseum, pp did. blanton has had no run support at all this year. would you rather have blanton or eaton/ kendrick.
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Id rather not trade 3 of our best prospects for someone who is only marginally better than Eaton/Kendrick.
Blanton is a product of his home park.
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I’d love to have Blanton…just not at the price the A’s would ask for. They got 5 good prospects for Haren and Beane stated that he would want somewhat less for Blanton (think 3 good prospects) We don’t have 3 good prospects to give up for a 4/5th starter.
And yes you did, you said: “where did you get blanton is the beneficiary of the colesium. that place is average in size. as for their team despite their record they are one of the worst hitting teams in the al. ”
I was making the point that he does pitch much much better at home than on the road for whatever reason.
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Someone made an interesting comment on Beerleaguer (I post there as well) of trading Ruiz and Vic plus a prospect for pitching…and moving an unready Marson to the Majors based off 6 weeks of good hitting at AA.
My first thought was: who is really available pitching-wise? I have no idea personally other than Blanton (4/5 guy). Maybe one of the Padres like Wolfie (4/5 guy) but no real #3 guys I would think.
Second thought: How many teams traded their Opening Day starting catcher and succeeded the same year? Besides Marson is doing great but I doubt he’d handle that jump without major growing pains.
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Anyone notice that Golson has been killing the ball in May (.349 avg)? He’s be on fire and he’s cutting his K-rate down so far this month. He’s starting to look more and more like a real prospect.
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by the way certain people seem to rely on sabermetrics. personally i dont need to know what someones stats from the 8th inning on are. i follow the hugh alexander, stick micheal theory of useing my eyes and gut. do i need sb to tell me donald is playing out of position, or golson is going to be a star, or blanton is a very high quality pitcher. or that eaton should be replaced by carrasco, or we need a lefty in the pen. i simply watch these players like they did with schmidt and ripkin and sandberg. their were some pretty good scouts who wount even look at sheets. if you cant watch a player and know his value we differ greatly. take castro i dont care what his stats are, he has 2 pitches, a fastball with no movement and a slider that is eminently hitable. hes had 2 or 3 chances in the bigs and has looked like nada. no chance. so go with sabermetrics ill go with my eyes and guts.
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Then this site probably isn’t for you John. I welcome other opinions than my own, but I prefer to argue with people who can back up their opinions with something other than “well, I saw this, so this is what I think”
I trust my eyes too, but only when what my eyes see is backed up by things that actually happened.
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So have you gone to Scouting School John, or actually been trained as a professional scout or even played professional or high collegiate ball…most actual scouts have done at least 1 of those things.
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pp ok looking at blanton do you honestly believe he is a 4 or 5 starter. hes 28 never been on the dl averages 14 wins a year with a 3.70 era. you know he hasnt gotten any run support this year and hes a ground ball pitcher. by the way if i make a mistake about who said what ill apoligize, i appriciate you saying it was you who said blanton is a product of his park,not me.
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Yes I do. He’s a product of his home park. He has a 4.70 ERA on the road. That’s replacement level pitching. Considering that the A’s would want at least 3 legit prospects for him (guys that could help us in the 2nd half or next year, that’s way too high a price to pay for another mediocre 4/5 guy. We already have 4 4th/4th starters. Why pay through the nose for another one?
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Blanton’s groundball rates are about average
2005: 1.15
2006: 1.16
2007: 1.58
2008: 1.23
I don’t have it in front of me, but I think the MLB average is around 1.25-1.35.
Also, Blanton’s home/road splits are the key
2005 Home: 3.35
2005 Road: 3.73
2006 Home: 4.52
2006 Road: 5.12
2007 Home: 2.69
2007 Road: 5.11
Career Home: 3.57
Career Road: 4.60
Now, a 4.60 ERA on the road. If you give him a little credit for switching to the “easier” leauge in the NL, figure him around 4.45 maybe. But then you factor in that CBP is one of the best hitting parks in baseball, and I think he’d be lucky to break a 4.50 ERA. He’s not a dominant groundball pitcher, he doesn’t strike out a ton of guys. That means he relies on the ample foul ground at McAfee Colesium and the A’s excellent defense. Throw him in our bandbox, with our supsect (at times) defense, and the results wouldn’t be good. Pardon me for not wanting to part with 3-4 of our best prospects, from a weak system, to get a guy like that.
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by the way blanton is on the mlb package tonite. if your not thrilled about blanton, than can you give me 5 other pitchers who right now bebefit the phils. the local kid from pittsburg, the right hander from cinncy?. or just let happ start. personally ive seen happ and like him the last he was up he only had 2 pitches, apparently hes developed a 3rd since he seems to be doing great. the 2 points i think we agree on is that eaton SHOULD be history and that we need another lefty in the pen. what is the deal with swindell. by the way is he related to greg swindell. i can accept that scenario but based on the number of teams after blanton and from what ive seen ill stick with my evaluation of him. but thats what makes bb the number 1 sport, hotstove talk 12 months a year.
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There aren’t any legit starters available right now. Maybe Wolfie but he’s another 4/5 guy. Most teams are still in it (or they at least think they are) so we’d have to dig through the scrap heap, pray that Benson progresses, or hope that Myers figures out how to pitch again or we’re basically screwed.
Selling the farm for Blanton won’t help us win.
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John wrote: what is the deal with swindell
He’s has a 80 mph fastball and a 56 mph curve and gets by on his unorthodox off-speed stuff. Its a huge questionmark on whether it would work in the majors. the uber-slow curve worked for Zach Greinke his first season in the majors but he complimented it with a low-to-mid 90s fastball, not a high 70’s to 80 one.
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by the way ne the answer is 2 yes,s as if that matters. anyone who is going to reading or lakewood this sunday it would be nice to meet up, hopefully naylor or carrasco, or outman will see action. any yes,s let me know, especially if it doesnt rain.
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ive had it with this pitching. eaton has to go, myers is a reliever not a starter. bring up happ, carrasco, and outman. it would be very hard for them to do worse. have a starting staff of hamels, moyer, kendrick, carrasco, and happ. with outman as our 2nd lefty inthe pen. people seem to forget that 99% of all players come from the minors. these guys need a shot now. myers head is a 1 inning head, no stalking around the mound confused. if youve ever noticed the great pitchers they throw the ball without the grimeces, and blaming the ump. thats myers was so good in the pen. he didnt have time to think. can you imagine lidge closing, myers 8th, gordon if hes healthy 7th and romero 7th. the other team had better be ahead by the 6th. but no thell continue to throw eaton until they feel benson is ready. thats what salary means . and only a fool would not have donald at 3rd right now. statistically you can quote me anything you want, carrasco and happ and outman should be here. if we went by stats alone kendrick never would have been brought up last year, and the lidge deal would not have been made. take a chance for gosh sakes.
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