125 thoughts on “Reading Phillies Weekly Report (05/11 – 05/17)”

1. I put Brad Harmon in my Top 30 (28 or 29 I believe) on the thought that his great glove and good pop for a middle infielder could conceivably turn him into the next Miguel Cairo. I’m happy to see him turning it on lately.

   Bastardo has impressed despite his FB rate. I’d love to hear a in person report on how his stuff has progressed.

   Great report as always…even if its abridged.

   LikeLike

2. I was at the game yesterday where the R-Phils went 0-10 with runners in scoring position, specifically 0-2 with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs. You know it’s bad when you have Joe Savery pinch hitting with nobody out in the 9th inning with a guy on 1st in a 3-1 game.

   As for Bastardo, he looked great. He was in the 92-95 range with his fastball (although he lost some gas and was only at 89 in the 7th inning). He dominated through the first 3 innings, and was solid for the rest of the game. As mentioned, he is a fastball heavy pitcher, but he really spots it well. I wasn’t real up close to the action, but his secondary pitches looked fine to me. He was around 84-85 with his slider and around 81 with his changeup.

   I’m not sure why everyone is relatively down on this guy, he’s had a good deal of success to this point. I’d like to see what he can do at LV as he really doesn’t have much to prove at this level.

   LikeLike

3. Re: Taylor. He seems to have had a lot of nagging injuries this year. Yet he still is having quite a year. Hopefully he can get himself healthy.

   Nice report Zac. Bastardo certainly is making a case for himself as a starter.

   – Jeff

   LikeLike

4. Good Job!

   I like the prospect update area of the reports more than the game-by-game analysis.

   Tx

   LikeLike

5. If Bastardo, a relatively small lefty, is throwing 92-95 for even a good part of his starts, he is a big time prospect. And, you know what, if he is a 6 or 7 inning pitcher, who cares? With their bullpen, the Phillies almost never carry their pitchers past the 7th inning in any event.

   Very exciting. If he makes two more solid starts, he’ll be promoted to AAA. And on’t think for a minute that, if he continues to pitch great, the Phillies will not consider another promotion later on. They don’t enjoy seeing their starters get lit up every night any more than the rest of us do – and they intend to push every button to make another WS run.

   LikeLike

6. I honestly doubt he was really hitting 95…doesn’t Reading’s stadium gun run a bit hot?

   LikeLike

7. NEPP – I was just about to reply to Catch’s message saying Reading’s gun is notoriously fast. But they might have fixed that this year, as a lot of the readings I see are pretty reasonable. And I don’t think they have any incentive to juice for certain pitchers.

   At worst, I don’t see how he’s throwing less than the 90-93 range.

   LikeLike

8. i doubt that bastardo is really throwing at 95. probably low 90’s. but even if the gun is fast, the key is the speed differential in the fastball/change. 10 mph difference is what matters the most, and that difference is exceptional. especially if the arm speed looks the same to the batter. all of these pieces add up to the great numbers he is putting up and the swing and misses.

   LikeLike

9. Thanks for the report, Can you tell me about the velocity on Zagurski and escolona. thanks

   LikeLike

10. I haven’t been paying attention to Zagurski’s, and I think Escolona’s was in the 87-89 range, but I wasn’t paying close attention to him either.

    I’ve been to about 5 games so far, and have tickets for about 20 more, so I hope to provide a lot more first hand reports.

    LikeLike

11. I think the EL is weak again this year. Moreso than last year. Harrisburg stinks and Reading has a tough time beating them. Altoona is worse than Reading.

    LikeLike

12. Oh, and Erie seems good, and Reading couldn’t come close to beating them last week.

    LikeLike

13. As a whole, I’d agree that the EL is pretty weak. Akron’s got a good club, and Erie’s got a good amount of offensive firepower.

    Reading would be a lot better if they could get any kind of clutch hitting at all. They are absolutely brutal with runners in scoring position. Gus Milner doesn’t belong in Clearwater, let alone AA.

    LikeLike

14. Can you believe Bastardo’ numbers over his last three starts: 24 k’s , 9 hits, 3 runs in 18.1 innings. Interesting to note he started on the same day as Park, Carrasco and Drabek.

    LikeLike

15. One good thing about Reading this year seems to be Steve Roadcap. Judging from his comments in the local paper, he really wants to win ballgames, which I think is good for the organization.

    I know some may disagree here, but I think winning throughout the minor leagues is important.

    LikeLike

16. Zac, thanks for the write-up. Great as always.

    So Bastardo was 92-95 and Escalona was 87-89 on the Reading gun. Does anyone remember how fast Escalona was throwing during his call-up? That could give us a point of reference to see how fast the Reading gun is. I too am in the camp that would be surprised to see Bastardo that fast. Thanks for the first-hand report, Matt. Zac, hopefully you can get a look at that third pitch soon…this is an interesting development so far this year!

    LikeLike

17. Escalona was sitting 87-89 in MLB Gameday. So I guess the Reading gun is accurate. Wow, good for Bastardo.

    LikeLike

18. Here’s the breakdown from his inning yesterday:

    Escalona threw 9 fastballs.

    90 – 1 (called ball above the zone)
    89 – 3
    88 – 5

    So, I guess the gun is pretty accurate as he basically averaged 88.5 mph on his FB for the inning.

    LikeLike

19. Sorry, somehow missed a batter, here’s the corrected breakdown:

    14 total fastballs

    90 – 1
    89 – 5
    88 – 7
    87 – 1

    average velocity – 88.43 mph

    LikeLike

20. If I recall, escalona was hitting about 88-90 in the game yesterday so it seems consistent

    LikeLike

21. Does anyone know who Reading is going to put on their roster to take Escalona’s spot?

    LikeLike

22. That also means that the readings in Reading have been accurate on Stutes as well. Which is pretty sweet.

    LikeLike

23. i don’t know about the EL being particularly weak this year. but i did notice that in savery’s start this past week, the oposing line up didn’t have a hitter with a ba over .280. i guess an entire league can have a down year, but my guess is that it is a team by team thing.

    one key question is whether bastardo is hitting his spots. next time you go, watch the catcher’s mit. see if it moves a lot from pre-pitch to catching the ball. or if the pitcher hits the set up spot. that will tell you more than a stadium gun.

    LikeLike

24. I had Harman as #31 in my top 30 list. I’ve been trying to will him to hit well. He has been hot for the last week. His Ks are down and he certainly is involved in a lot of DPs.

    Sometimes I wonder why a guy just starts hitting. He played all year at Reading last year and couldn’t hit his weight. He starts out the year even worse and then something clicks and he’s hitting like I hoped. Let’s see if he’s really clicked or he’s out of his mind right now.

    Nice report Zac, as always.

    LikeLike

25. Roadcap seems to be a good manager, he had Lakewood in it til the very end last year in the second half even though they didn’t have a ton to work with.

    LikeLike

26. PP Fan. I agree with you on the “moving catchers mit” test, but unfortunately, I don’t have a good enough view to pick up on stuff like that. I generally stand by the beer stand at the top of the 3rd base side so I can get a view of the entire ballpark.

    Regarding the .280 average, Harrisburg is really bad. They have one or two decent hitters in their lineup, but that’s about it. For whatever reason, they capitalized on every opportunity (albiet few) they had this weekend, while the R-Phils could have blown them out, but left a ton of guys in scoring position. Like I said, they have some guys in their lineup who are the definition of the word ralley killer (Milner, Goswhich, O Chavez). It’s a shame, because they have the pitching to contend this year.

    LikeLike

27. Harrisburg seems to follow the weird strategy of batting its best hitters toward the end of the lineup. The hitters in the 1 through 4 or 5 slots were dreadful.

    LikeLike

28. Allentown –

    It’s funny you mention that, because the LH CF (forget his name now) who had a number of clutch hits in the series was batting 7th I think, which seemed strange to me.

    LikeLike

29. ah, the mysteries of baseball. If you want to know why a player can do nothing and then suddenly hit or cannot throw a strike and then magically learns to paint the corners, go play a couple of rounds of golf over the period of several weeks. It’s a lot like baseball. You think you’re doing the same thing each time but, unless you’re extremely good or very gifted, you’re really not doing the same thing and the results can be dramatically different.

    Turning to Harman, I don’t know what to make of him. I think he swings and misses far too often, but I can assure you that the team likes him very much. The one good thing I can say about him is that he appears to have genuine power. When he makes contact he picks up a lot of extra-base hits.

    LikeLike

30. now that happ will replace park the next in line should be bastardo. if escalona and carpenter are not as good as bastardo which i believe well see what happens if moyer or blanton do not straighten themselves out. and since carrasco is getting hit and the phils are going to reading as in carpenter and escalona the first logical choice should be bastardo. well see how much they will eat if need be.

    LikeLike

31. btw ricky b. i believe your our reading scout how would you compare bastardo with worley and stutes.

    LikeLike

32. Catch –

    Good point on Harmon’s extra base power. He hit a nice opposite field homerun on Sunday that was into the wind. HR’s like that are why the team will give him a few extra years if needed.

    LikeLike

33. Bellman Says:
    Sometimes I wonder why a guy just starts hitting. He played all year at Reading last year and couldn’t hit his weight. He starts out the year even worse and then something clicks and he’s hitting like I hoped. Let’s see if he’s really clicked or he’s out of his mind right now.

    Is there any better example then Taylor at Clearwater last
    year. From looking like a washout the first month to .370 the rest of the year.

    LikeLike

34. nw im a bit worried about taylors staying off the dl. any word on taylors fragility. it seems knock on wood that browns more durable.

    LikeLike

35. Taylor is day to day, and about him being fragile I’m not sure where you guys get that from. He has a diabetes and sits out from time to time because of that, but I don’t think he’s sat because of many injuries the past year or two.

    LikeLike

36. john from philly .ne. Bastardo will be 24 in Sept. and has pitched much more as a pro than the college pitchers Worley and Stutes who have been pros only since last June. For the last two years he has pitched in the Dominican Winter League and was one of the top pitchers there this winter. My concern is that he has been a strike out, fly ball pitcher but last night he still got his strike outs but induced more ground balls than fly balls when they were able to put the ball into play. This must mean that his secondary pitches, the change and slider, are coming along. When I saw him pitch last year he did not seem to have the velocity and movement on his fast ball that he has this year. He had to shut it down for a couple of starts last year. I was surprised he started out as a closer for Reading this season but he has always been a starter and is quickly becoming the best starter for the R-Phils. He now gives the big team several options if he gets the call up.

    I would not worry about Taylor. He had a ankle injury earlier , came back and stole a base. He was hit by a pitch in the leg most recently and is day to day. His manager Steve Roadcap compared him to Dave Winfield over the weekend. That said it all.

    LikeLike

37. thanks rb. i just read that the phillies are expecting more consistency from brown before they move him up. whats he have to do be the babe. also drabeks 58 so,s are 2nd in all of the minors. i think this is the final week for moyer or blanton. if they get bombed again look for bastardo. happ in over park no great revelation, escalona takes happs spot and as ive said carrasco or kendrick have not proven they belong. and since the phils have been going to reading bastardo or worley would be next up. as rickey b. said bastardo is ahead of worley and i completely agree look for either moyer or blanton to get one more shot. after soul searching the phils have far too much invested to fool around. if bastardo or worley dont make it then look for a major deal,i.e. haren, buckholtz,peavy,.

    LikeLike

38. Can we get over the flyball ground ball thing. Check the stats
    not something some one thought uf but the stats . A high
    ground ball ration is hardly a sign of success in reality. Espn
    stats and check past years.
    Did you notice how many flies dropped in at Washington.
    Here they are easy outs. A guy who can keep the ball in the park here will succeed gb or fb

    LikeLike

39. nowheels,

    A good GB% can indicate the ability to keep the ball down in the zone, which is a huge consideration when pitching at CBP. Keeping the ball down keeps the ball in the park.

    LikeLike

40. John, just a few weeks ago you were saying that Stutes and Worley were next in line for big time promotions to the Phillies. Also, a few weeks before that you were preaching how Buchholz was relatively worthless, and now he would be considered a major deal (I am pretty sure you were adamant about not trading Donald straight up for Buchholz)? And now, Bastardo will surely replace Moyer or Blanton in the next week? You seem like an older gentleman who would understand the virtue of patience, and yet you continue to jump from one hot prospect to the next like a 10 year old boy jacked up on Skittles and Mountain Dew who also happens to have ADD. What is wrong with letting a player dominate at a level for more than 5-6 starts? Bastardo is far from a polished pitcher and he needs time to continue to grow and mature. If he were to be called up now, I am afraid he would be over matched.

    Nowheels, you are sort of missing the point. Pitchers with good GB/FB ratios are not guaranteed success. However, good pitchers who produce a lot of ground balls are greatly benefited by this mostly because of what you referred to in your last sentence. Allowing fewer home runs obviously means that pitchers will also allow fewer earned runs. And, what is the best way to limit home runs? By limiting fly balls, of course! If only you had put your last sentence first, you may have gotten that one.

    LikeLike

41. naduol, pt by pt 1, a few weeks ago my position on buckholtz was different ive been encouraged by his current performences. 2, i would not trade donald for him. 3 as for bastardo over worley im talking about replacing moyer or blanton. either one will do but at this point it appears bastardo is more advanced. he has dominated for more than 5-6 weeks. i dont believe he would be overmatched like a moyer or blanton has been. hold on im washing my skittles down with mountai dew what was i talking about oh yeah he who hesitates is lost. seriously caz this rotation is in a state of flux if your happy with moyer or blanton fine im not so we either adapt or lose. who do we adapt to . since imo things need to change we have to decide quickly. sometimes it means changing a mind so were not 10 games out. thats all it is a solution for something i believe will need change and as far age i have no idea what you consider older 30, 40, 50, 60, 90 but that is a rather generalized view of any group, race,sex religion. ive read your stuff for over a year enjoy it and would expect more from you.

    LikeLike

42. naz that simpley isnt true did you check the flyball pitchers in the majors(o8 120inn) ,Santana,Lillu,Peavy,Linsecum,Haren,evem ;ast years effective Moyer . It is a faulty assujption that flyball
    Pitchers are HR machines.
    Ground ball pitchers use breaking balls and a hanging curve is the easiest pitch to hit out’ I know it is (forgive the spelling)counter-intuative but i would take the forenamed pitchers in my rotation anyday
    Webb and Lowe are just as successful . The extreme seems
    to be the thing.

    LikeLike

43. BTW Of the top ten winners last year
    2 were gb pitchers
    1 was neither
    7 were fb pitchers

    LikeLike

44. Anybody who thinks they will start releasing MLB pitchers with good contracts, because some pitchers in Reading look good in a start or two, or hit a certain speed on the Radar gun, needs to re-evaluate their thinking.

    On an unrelated note, I see the highly touted (on here) prospect Damaurri Saunderson was released (BA),
    also: Pedro Carpio, P, Ferrell Gomez, C, Ruddy Rio-Nunez, OF, Angus Roeger, OF

    LikeLike

45. I would trade Donald for Bucholtz instantly.

    LikeLike

46. one thing to consider about bastardo and his seemingly increased velocity is that he did have arm issues last year and was shut down for a while. maybe he strengthened his shoulder in the off season and is healthy again and that is contributing to picking up a few mph.

    not trading Donald for Bucholtz is just stupid. it isn’t worth arguing, but it should be used as a litmus test on who can post. if you don’t think that we should trade donald for bucholtz then you shouldn’t post on this blog anymore because you have no credibility.

    LikeLike

47. Or Bastardo just got older, and his circulation just caught up to the demand(my view). Whatever the reason I hope the learning curve goes up all year. You cant discount that he simply gets people out

    LikeLike

48. Relax on all those proposed changes at the major league level. Happ gets Park’s spot (finally), they’ll hopefully find a right handed bat at some point soon and send Escolona back down, and JC will take Tashner’s spot. Moyer will get at least 3 more starts and if nothing improves, they’ll probably have to put him on the DL. Blanton’s story is different because he’s inconsistent enough that he’ll be up and down all year and they won’t make any changes with him because he can be very good at times. All of their minor league starters need more time. They are not ready to be thrown into a major league pennant race. As for Michael Taylor and Dom Brown, there’s no reason to rush them because there’s no spot for them in Philly for awhile.

    LikeLike

49. R-Phils made a few moves today –

    Put Josh Shortslef on the DL
    Added Chance Chapman from Clearwater
    Activated (C) Kevin Nelson from the DL

    LikeLike

50. Good news re: Chapman

    LikeLike

51. Nowheels, for the 88 pitchers who qualified for the ERA title in 2008, the average G/F ratio was 0.854. Of the top 10 finishers, 4 had a ratio higher than that (i.e. more groundball outs than average). Of the top 20 finishers, 11 had a ratio higher than that. What does that mean? Not much. For the best pitchers, it didn’t matter if they got more GBs than average. Interestingly, for the bottom 20 finishers in ERA, only 4 had a ratio higher than the average.

    This is hardly scientific, but looking at those numbers I would conclude that for the best pitchers it doesn’t matter if they give up more GBs or FBs than the average pitcher. It does appear, however, that last year the worst pitchers got more fly balls than ground balls compared to the average pitcher.

    The way I think about it is what I want my hitters doing – do I want them hitting ground balls or fly balls? I’d rather fly balls because then I at least have a chance of some extra base hits. Ground balls rarely turn into extra base hits, and never turn into homers (as Savior alluded to above).

    What does this mean for Bastardo? If he’s an elite pitcher, FBs don’t matter. Since most scouting reports don’t rate him as elite, I think that being concerned about a high fly ball ratio is valid. That being said, he looks awesome this year. Hopefully he’s taken it up a level and gets promoted to AAA soon.

    LikeLike

52. Here is the rub BP when considering HRs, people are looking at mostly the good pitches a guy throw. It is the mistakes that GB make should be a point of focus i.e the hanging curve ball easily elevated especially in CBP . What does it matter
    if a guys get 20 gbs and hangs 5 curves. I dont know if I am being clear. Fly ball is Florida drop in not so much at the CBP
    just no room. Strangely enough Phils starter are mostly
    FB except Myers who is average. Now Moyer and
    Park have lost their edge and now the fbs are going out.

    LikeLike

53. Still no Taylor tonight.. they’re really being overly cautious with him.

    LikeLike

54. I just can’t believe going back over the draft picks and pp comments. He is right on so many times, He said don’t know much about pettibone, would have taken ross seaton who was taken one pick later. seaton is at low a allready with a 1.59 era, How much baseball does he watch?

    LikeLike

55. well just have to wait and see.

    LikeLike

56. Brummett got pounded tonight.

    LikeLike

57. Brummett is he a prospect, or org. filler. Really don’t hear a lot about him.

    LikeLike

58. It’s early, but I think Brumett’s future in the MLB lies as a last guy in the bullpen.

    LikeLike

59. I think we should clarify the concern on Bastardo and his FB rate. Its not that he’s a FB pitcher that concerns some sccouts…its that he’s an EXTREME FB pitcher. Thus, by mere percentage, more balls will likely go out of the park in a HR friendly park (you know, like CBP). This doesn’t mean he won’t be successful but that along with his smallish size (scouts naturally distrust small pitchers as there is the stereotype that they break down easier) We went through all this last year when he got off to his great start in Clearwater.

    LikeLike

60. Taylor took a pitch to the knee. I’m not sure I’d call that overly cautious.

    LikeLike

61. Guys get his on the knee all the time in the majors, they don’t sit for 5 days like Taylor has.

    LikeLike

62. Nepp
    Bostonphan did some research to back up my point worry about FB rate is useless since it doesnt matter at all in the show. Great pitchers appear on both ends of the scale.
    check it yourself. Btw Happ a dead FB pitcher allowed only
    2 hrs in Reading in half a year compared to Myers 22 for a whole years.
    In short there are hard gbs and soft gbs hard FBs etc

    LikeLike

63. I’m just passing on what was said about him. I don’t particularly agree with it.

    LikeLike

64. I think what I showed is that for the Santanas and Lincecums of the world, FB rate doesn’t matter. For the average pitcher, it does matter (those with the worst ERAs had more FBs than average). Bastardo may be an elite pitcher in A+ and AA, so he can get away with more FBs. But if he’s not elite in the majors, being an FB pitcher is not good.

    Nowheels, I thought your point was that hanging a curve is bad. I agree that pitchers who hang curves will give up more homers and are not prospects.

    In other news, Zac, it looks like you ticked off Harman and Berry. Good work! 😉

    LikeLike

65. Matt, are you a professional trainer?? Do you know what a baseball thrown 80-90 mph can do to a joint as complicated as a knee?

    Minor league players are investments, there’s absolutely no reason to rush recovery.

    LikeLike

66. Anyone know why Knapp only lasted 3.2 IP tonight? He only gave up 2 runs and had struck out 5. Just hoping it wasn’t injury-related.

    LikeLike

67. Knapp is fine…he just labored tonight, giving up 5 or 6 walks, a lot of deep counts, etc. I think his pitch count was really getting up there and they pulled him.

    The guy who relieved him, Santo Hernandez, has actually been putting up some really good numbers this year. He’s old for Lakewood, but should see a promotion pretty soon to see if his stuff translates to high-A.

    LikeLike

68. Harman explains he is just staying back on the ball and letting his hands do the work and Michael Taylor talks about his injuries and diabetes on the R-Phils site.
    http://www.readingphillies.com/index.shtml

    LikeLike

69. Have been at the Lakewood games the last two nights. Some observations. Knapp’s mechanics and command were all over the place, lots of pitches. Not very happy about being pulled. Ran into him after the game, still a bit miffed. Hernandez and Rosenburg pitched well in relief.

    Cloyd seems to have a smooth delivery, which helps his command, and a good slider. Gose can fly, in the Michael Bourn, Sean Gamble mold. Gets good reads on steals. Hitting wise Jeremy Hamilton has had some timely hits, with a long hr last night and a clutch single tonight. Also got to chat some with him after the game last night.

    LikeLike

70. i believe outman pitched shutout ball last night for oakland, further bolstering my position about slowtracking by the phils. he would still be at lhv. if im wrong about him pitching im sure ill hear.

    LikeLike

71. John
    You can put some blame on the former management here and at Reading. J Durbin was sent down to Reading to keep him from having a double digit era at AAA. Whose idea it was to give him Outman’s starts I dont know. Another” organization
    favorite” who needed to be dumped.
    You know I had no faith in the old Reading staff evidently
    the A,s knew better. Sure Blanton helped last year but
    several replacement could of done as well. I believe Blanton
    has two starts left at most. And you are right the Phils need more courage to make changes

    LikeLike

72. nw im a little less forgiving. i think if moyer blows up tonite hell be on the dl. same with blanton. 1 start each. sayurday will be interesting with happ going against his look alike. petite. hopefully jimmy has it turned around . whats fun is the mets played great ball for a month and the phils played lousy and who,s in 1st. with pitching well walk away.

    LikeLike

73. Has anyone notices that the Phillies have cut Damarii Suanderson? Big surprise.

    LikeLike

74. outman last night 6ip 0 runs 3 hits 6k,s. for the record i was in favor of last years trade we won a title. just pointing out the phillies slowtracking. it is understandable to show moyer and blanton respect but the point of damaging the TEAM has come. the biggest fear is that if moyer or blanton is replaced they will never get them back psychologically. but 1 more bad start by either one will be enough to point to a trend not a blip. realistically 1 not 2 will be replaced and it will take guts and eating money. but i believe the phils now have that resolution. i think it will happen after saturday if happ has a quality outing. rickey b. iyo and anyone else for that matter who SEES reading who is more ready bastardo or worley? from what i read having followed bastardo for 2 years its him but i havent seen worley.

    LikeLike

75. I am of the opinion you wait to see how outman does over a season. I look at his numbers last season he gives up a lot of homeruns, and is wild if I read the stats correctly. Example Gavin Floyd record last year, made you wonder but he is right back to struggling, inconsisten pitcher one of the reason the phillies let him go. not a scout and not saying outman won’t be real good. but shouldn’t we wait. we were promoting Worley and Stutes and Knapp after three start. and they are getting hit aroung now. patient with propsect seems to be the key, unless they have that special talent and makeup like a cole did,

    LikeLike

76. mikemike imo floyd is a bad example he had the deer in the headlights look and still does for some reason teams in the a. l. did not load op on lefties against floyd. he is easily hittable. read outmans stats for this year he is not wild and not giving up the h.r. but that could change. were talking about moving bastardo,worley or maybe carrasco though i doubt it, knapp is a question of going low a to high a not the majors. and worley stutes and knapp have not been getting hit around.so i as YOU what should we do if blanton and moyer continue to blow up. stay with them and lose or promote someone. and WHO should we promote. your the g.m. mikemike the season hangs in the balance what do we do? i have faith in you buddy if outman was worth the chance is bastardo how long do we stay with moyer or blanton IF they continue to blow up,do we trade for an ace if we can get one? its tough mikemike especially with the respect we have for moyer, but the team is more important. this is the pressure these guys goe through every day,what should we do?

    LikeLike

77. The Phillies see Bastardo as a relief pitcher. He throws hard early, and then tails off a bit. They started him out in relief earlier this year to see if he could handle it. He had no issues.

    Bastardo was moved back into the rotation so that he could have more innings to work on his secondary stuff. If Happ moves into the starting rotation full time, Bastardo could take over his bullpen duties, but I don’t see Bastardo taking anyone’s spot in the starting rotation.

    I think the Phillies see Carpenter as a guy who can be a #4 or #5. He’s a big guy, and I think they like that. Before they bring up Worley, or trade for someone else, they’ll give him a few more outings.

    Blantons a young cost controlled guy who is up and down performance wise. He’ll stay too.

    Hamels
    Myers
    Blanton
    Happ
    Park/Carpenter

    Moyer goes to the minors or DL. If Park/Carpenter don’t get hot, Moyer comes back and takes the fifth spot.

    LikeLike

78. I try to trade for a ace like Peavy, harden and keep Drabek and brown as untouchables. A one or two makes this team really good. I thought last season Outman gave up something like 25 or 26 homeruns in not a lot of innings.

    LikeLike

79. John
    The whole problem with the repect/fear thing is that it is ingrained in the Phils system and expected. If you never acted that way player wouldnt expect to NOT see prospects approaching. Since some of our pitchers are on the way out
    sooner rather than later. It is a good time to break the pattern.

    LikeLike

80. Is the daily discussion broken for everybody?

    LikeLike

81. daily discussion is down so i apologize for posting this here.
    John, i like yourself, am very excited to see some of our prospects but i kind of like the way the phils aren’t trying to do to much and first moving out park, because #1 the phils are in 1st place. if we were 3 or 4 games ou i might think differently. 2nd jamie has had only 3 horrible games and maybe 1 he got squeezed and the other 2 he had trouble w/ location. For jamie it’s all about locating his pitches. I don’t think age is a factor as his kind of stuff won’t be as effected by it. is an 83 mph FB harder to hit than an 82? Also jamie wouldn’t do well in the pen as we all know. He won 16 games last year and is very imp. to our championship run this year. If we stay at or near the top of the standings i’d give blanton 5 games if he goes 1-2 with era over 5 he’s in the pen. if at top i would give jamie 10 games. If 3-4 with era over 5 minors if he’d accept or dl. As charlie said recently” we won the WS. with 4 of these starters.”

    LikeLike

82. I’m frustrated that the Phillies apparently see Bastardo as only a reliever. Why not leave the bullpen spots for the guys who physically can’t pitch more than 2 or 3 innings?

    Bastardo has shown he can dominate whether its pitching 1 inning or 7. It’s a supreme waste of talent to stuff him in the bullpen if he has the energy to keep getting guys out over 6+ innings of a game.

    LikeLike

83. Like many of you I have watched Bastardo since Lakewood where he had great success. There was some concern over his size but there have been others no bigger who have been very successful. He does seem to tire about the 5th or 6th inning but six would be enough to make him a hit in Philly. That 95 MPH on the gun might be a bit high but he does 93 consistently and for a young lefty I am happy with that. His numbers which are excellent (5 starts/27IP/31 k’s 8 BB’s/14 H/6 ER/and a whip under 1.0) are excellent but that 27 IP is encourages the stamina question. I agree we need to move some players around. I’d give Worley and Bastardo 2-3 more starts each and if they do well move them up. We need help and let’s see if these kids have the goods. They are old enough. Then Drabek and Flande to Reading and maybe Monasterious. Knapp and Cloyd to Clearwater. But that’s just me. Right now making the grade up and down, Meyers/Hamels (just)/ Worley/ Bastardo/Drabek/Flande/Monasterios. Talor and Brown are also shining lights. I have been a Taylor fan for over two years and I am still high on him. If I were the Phils, I would be looking to do a deal with SD for Pleevy. If it takes four kids, so be it. They need a solid #2.

    LikeLike

84. I like Bastardo, I always have. I hope he continues to impress us. If they think he’s a better fit as a good lefty reliever, then I will bow to their expertise in this. If he can pull a Madson and throw much much harder for short stints in relief then he can be a top reliever…that’s quite a valuable piece to have at the League Minimum Salary.

    LikeLike

85. id pretty much agree with all of you.

    LikeLike

86. the one thing i noticed and liked was an attempt to get a haren or peavy, also everybody seemed to be really high on bastardo as a starter or reliever. nw i know you remember when carlton wouldnt call it quits. one of the greatest lefties of all time , i have him 4th behind grove, koufax, spahn . it was sad and i never thought he would lose it but they all do. i just cant believe moyers going to win when he takes the mound. re bastardo,s size remember ford guidrey pedro so hopefully he generates that kind of power.

    LikeLike

87. John
    The one thing at stood out to me last night is tht guys are way way up on the plate and have no fear of Moyer hitting them.
    Nice company to be in Ford etc

    PP Fan also suggested to TRY Savery in relief some knew it
    wouldn’t work BEFORE it happened.

    LikeLike

88. Btw I think Bastardo and Cisco are the same size

    LikeLike

89. nw great point on batters having no fear asa savery he,s a much better hitter than pitcher.

    LikeLike

90. Bastardo promoted to Triple-A…

    …to start.

    http://blogs.mcall.com/ironpigs/2009/05/bastardos-back-.html

    LikeLike

91. For selfish reasons, I would have liked to see Bastardo get 2-3 more starts in AA, but he deserves the promotion.

    Worley’s line today –

    7IP, 8 H, 3 R(all earned, 3 K’s, 2 HR’s allowed.

    LikeLike

92. if you are still not sure about the savery pick yet, ask yourself, could he have been the key component to a jake peavy deal? because a guy drafted about 8 spots after him in the 2007 first round is.

    bummer

    LikeLike

93. Anderson has got to go probably Overholt too. Too much filler
    not enough pitcher

    LikeLike

94. The draft looks a hell of a lot easier in hindsight. 24 teams passed on Poreda. And I think the White Sox are in the deal not because of their prospects, but because they are able to add a big salary. Jake Peavy will make $15 million next year, and that increases to $22 million by 2013. That’s a lot of money to risk for a pitcher.

    LikeLike

95. Alan – did you read my post? i didn’t say we should add peavy or that we could pay for him. i also didn’t suggest that we could redo a draft. my point was to use the trade as a barometer of savery’s value.

    LikeLike

96. I read it but misunderstood the post. I don’t get the point of it really. Yeah, Savery wasn’t an ideal pick. We knew it was a risk at the time, and it didn’t pan out. I don’t see how another first round player getting traded is indicative of anything.

    LikeLike

97. Alan the 22 million must have a buy out clause. or I don’t believe the sox would make that trade.

    LikeLike

98. Yes it does, but with Peavy possessing a no-trade clause he would likely force the team to pick up the option as a condition of waiving the clause.

    LikeLike

99. Harman has been great of late.

    His line is up to .276/.327/.455/.782

    In May he has an OPS over .900.

    LikeLike

100. That’s what I thought if they don’t pick up the option no deal. It amaze me how they get no trades.

     LikeLike

101. Bastardo to LHV
     http://blogs.mcall.com/ironpigs/2009/05/bastardos-back-.html

     LikeLike

102. Should be an interesting Sat. night in Allentown when Bastardo make his AAA debut against David Price scheduled to start for Tampa Bay’s AAA team in that game.

     LikeLike

103. nice interview featuring michael taylor at readingphillies.com

     LikeLike

104. Game clips show a pretty interesting host of tools by Taylor

     LikeLike

105. very good interview. i loved how he talked about plate discipline. rare (but good) to hear a prospect focus on that so much.

     LikeLike

106. Just read Amaro was out to see Worley pitch in person last night.

     LikeLike

107. Alex Concepcion has been great in May maybe he didnt like cold weather . We will see

     LikeLike

108. Had an opportunity to watch Drabek and Brown last night in Tampa. Drabek had a no-no for five innings. Then lost composure in the 6th with his command and some shoddy fielding and did not react well to a rough inning. He was just overpowering those Yankee farmhands. No gun available but must have been in the mid 90’s with an off speed breaking ball. Brown on the other had had little to hit and walked three times to go with a double and single.

     Both should be at AA soon. Just think of having Brown with his speed and his .420 OBP hitting in front of Michael Taylor with his .455 .avg with runners in scoring positon . And Drabek teaming with Savery, Worley and Stutes in the rotation.

     LikeLike

109. Why does Savery thrill you? Has he done something to make people think he is going to be anything but a loogy or relief pitcher?

     LikeLike

110. This wouldn’s be the first team to bring up pitchers late in the season and win a pennant.

     LikeLike

111. Seriously, what’s gotten into Brad Harman this month? He’s hitting 359/392/587. Has he ever had a month like this? Anyone remember?

     LikeLike

112. I remember in 07, Harman went on a tear in Clearwater that put him back into the prospect map. Don’t know what his numbers were. He has a history of doing better the 2nd time he’s at a level.

     LikeLike

113. that’s true edge about harmon that’s why if he continues i hope they move him to LHV so he can get the struggling out of the way this year and do well next year. Another month or 2 like this and he might be a prospect again. If i made a new top 30 right now he would make it.

     LikeLike

114. The kid Gomez pitching against reading tonight. Really good numbers, Never heard of him 9 hits in 26 innings. Whatever happen to Will Savage? When will they release the GCL And Williamsport rosters.

     LikeLike

115. Vance Worley putting up some great numbers tonight. 6 ip on 2 hits and no runs. Taylor is once again pounding the ball.

     LikeLike

116. Worley’s final line:

     7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K

     Taylor:

     2/4, 2B, RBI, R

     LikeLike

117. Somehow after every game his RISP avg. seems to go up. After tonight’s game Michael Taylor is now hitting .472 with runners in scoring position. He would certainly be a level or two higher in just about every organization but this one. Guess the Phils AAA starting outfield, which tonight had Newhan a converted infielder with Ellison and Slayden who have been successfully battling the Mendoza line most of the season, is just too difficult for Taylor to break into.

     LikeLike

118. I think they are trying to take their time with him. He’s completely age appropriate and terrorizing. Take your time I guess. Have Brown, Taylor and Berry all in the same outfield. That might be the most Athletic Outfield in Professional baseball, let alone the Minors. haha.

     LikeLike

119. Taylor comes out a good college program. He played against good competition and is old enough to go triple a and see if he can handled it, this isn’t a high school kid moving through the system and them being afraid of his makeup. We have to know if this kid is for real. especially If they have to make a pitching move.

     LikeLike

120. Lets face it . If you want a good pitcher Werth or Victorino
     would be bait if Taylor is ready. A Mayberry/Taylor platoon
     of some sort might work. If you had nerve latter in the year but only for a top drawer pitcher

     LikeLike

121. nowwheels I believe that too, another reason they are so attractive is there salary. Vic is at 3.5 and Werth 2 million. that makes them attractive to all markets, but who will play center if we trade Victorino, and if it’s Taylor who replaces Victorino. , what kind of speed does he have? Why does Oakland move a cardenas who his ripping up double a at 20 year old, and try to see if he can handle triple a at a young age, but we don’t move a Brown or Taylor who are dominated at there level.

     LikeLike

122. nw i couldnt move vic. he,s a motor that drives a team. i can see moving brown to reading and taylor to lhv., easily. the guy i would really like to see moved is drabek. he proven all you can prove at a ball.

     LikeLike

123. Werth is sometimes a puzzle He can look so good and so bad
     so bad in the same game especially against superior right handers. Later I might platoon Taylor and Werth against righties like Late August

     LikeLike

124. Hi Let me introduce my invisible friend . He is Michael Taylor and he went 5/6 last night,hit a homer and had 4 rbi but the gods made him invisible because he struck out once.

     LikeLike

125. There is a good post game interview with Taylor and he describes the strikeout, pretty good commentary and prospect. can be found at readingphillies.com

     LikeLike

Comments are closed.