First Call Up

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Jack Taschner is likely to be the first recall made by the Phillies as the eligible playing roster expands to fourty today.  Taschner, after struggling in his first few outings has pitched well in Lehigh Valley, going 0-2 with a 2.08 ERA in 20 appearances.  Opponents hit just .213 against him, his WHIP was right around 1.20 and he recorded two saves.  With Scott Eyre the only lefty in the bullpen, Taschner should give some relief to Eyre.

I would expect more news as the week progresses and the minor league season reaches their conclusion.

88 thoughts on “First Call Up”

  2. “With Scott Eyre the only lefty in the bullpen, Taschner should give some relief to Eyre.”

    That’s good, what with the 1.2 innings Eyre’s pitched in the past 2 weeks.

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  3. I think it’ll be pretty ho-hum all around, Taschner, Kendrick, Lopez, Mayberry, etc…the only exciting part is who the mystery guest could be that will use the spot made in the Harmon/Ennis transaction. Mathieson (I hope so)? Zagurski (doubt it)? An open spot for Hoover just in case something happens to Ruiz or Bako (probably)?

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  10. Nowheels,

    Sample size. As in, 43 plate appearances this year don’t mean much. His career numbers suggest that he is just fine against LH hitters.

    Now, I’ll grant you, even considering that, he isn’t much – but then, with few exceptions, September call ups usually aren’t.

    Honestly my pet peeve on this site are the significant number of commenters – nowheels is their standard bearer, but by no means the only one – who just don’t seem to understand the concept of sample size. (Slightly different topic, but related issue in terms of sample size. Haven’t heard much criticism of Ruiz lately, have we?)

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  11. Ruiz is .235/.318/.336 in 613 career PA away from Citizens Bank Park. Is that a large enough sample size for you?

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  12. I understand both sides of the coin. Sample size is important to consider for assessing success rates; but cold and hot streaks are important too.

    Seems like Taschner, in his sample at AAA, is looking good. We’ll see if they decide to use Eyre more whether Taschner can make sure he spells Eyre and provides recovery.

    There is a large question mark at present who is going to be the second lefty out the pen in post season, especially with Romero not recovering well. We’ll see with Bastardo, but Taschner may be that guy.

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  13. you would have to think that they will bring up a middle infield type from AAA right? I know we have a few vets down there that might do the job, and we’re gonna need it. They can’t be worse than bruntlett, maybe they take his spot on the roster.

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  14. They already have Cairo on the ML roster, so I don’t see them finding another MI type from any of the minor league guys.

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  15. pat,

    Ruiz is what he is. Which is to say, an average or maybe slightly below average ML regular catcher. Let’s add some context here – there were people, who shall remain nameless, who, six weeks ago, were claiming that Ruiz didn’t belong on a ML roster. That’s absurd.

    The numbers you cite, while not stellar to say the least, are, for a catcher on the road, not horrible. Certainly above replacement value. And guess what – his home batting performance counts too. Really, it does. Yes, Citezen’s Bank Park is a hitters park – but the divergence between his home and road numbers is greater than you would expect even taking that into account. If you are going to knock him for relatively poor road hitting, you got to give him credit for relatively good home hitting.

    Given the competative realities of modern baseball, you can’t field teams with 8 all-star regulars (well, you never really could), and generally not even 8 above average regulars. Sure, I’d like an upgrade at catcher. But the abuse that Ruiz was getting a few weeks ago was (a) absurdly disproportionate, and (b) driven by panic over a very small sample size.

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  16. ****Ruiz is .235/.318/.336 in 613 career PA away from Citizens Bank Park. Is that a large enough sample size for you?****

    And he’s a career .242 hitter overall. Not really a huge split there, jefe. Granted he probably gets some cheap HRs from CBP but Chooch is what he is…a defense first catcher who is reputedly very good at that part of his game.

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  18. I must have missed it. What happened with Harmon/Ennis? Are they now off the 40 man?

    Mathieson- Is he a free agent after this season? I thought we signed him to FA Minor League deal, if it was a one year deal then they probably bring him up. If it was more than a year they probably leave him down and protect that arm. IMO he’s the best call up we could make.

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  19. I see Taschner as a =mop up= type releiver who will pitch in situations where he will save wear and tear and fatigue of the regular, and will be de=activated for the playoffs.

    Ruiz is a big part of the winning program of the last few years and those who do not understand that have nothing to add. The batting is not that bad, and he is a top defensive catcher. Those who bemoan the loss of Jaramillo and like catchers, note last night;s Pirate Double Header. Jaramillo let an easily stopped low pitch by to cost the Pirates the first game , and his stablemate Ryan Doumit whiffed on a simple high fastball causing the Umpire to be hit on the head. Those are the catchers with the kind of batting stats that Those who know little ooh and ahh over.

    Cairo is not a defensively adept Short Stop at this point so hardly qualifies as a Middle Infielder at all. He would be mostly a DH and sometime 1B who could only be an emergency fill in at the other non-battery positions. They need a Middle Infield back-up capable of good defense at SS, so the best choice would be Furmaniak, with the 2nd Choice Leon. So, there is no need to replace Bruntlett, because he currently is the only defensively adequate replacement at SS. Having a good defensive replacement at SS, is far more important, than the increased likelihood of some player getting a pinch hit. Some day some people might catch on to that.

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  20. Marfis–
    paragraph one..agree completely

    paragraph two…agree completely.

    paragraph three—have you see Furmaniak or Leon play on a regular basis? I can assure you they have no more rhen Cairo is range is your issue.

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  21. I seen Carlos Leon play for Reading at Harrisburg a couple of years back, and he mostly played 3B and 2B. I know he plays all the non-battery positions and is a switch-hitter. And I seem to vaguely recall Furmaniak filling in on TV against The Phillies. Anyway I can’t see all these guys in person, so I go by the Range Factor/ Ground numbers on Baseball Reference. Furmaniak had a surprisingly good score in comparison to all the SS’s in the Phillies system so I began to advocate for his recall. Cairo is likely to be used as an early pinch hitter, and having another SS back-up will enable the freer use of Bruntlett in the field coming down the stretch to rest the regulars.

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  22. Furmaniak has hardly played SS at all for Lehigh Valley this year. He has been primarily playing seocnd base and during the entire first half of the year was on the bench in AAA in favor of Cairo/Ozuna/Newhan. If you combine Leon and Furmaniak they have played 63 games at SS all year, more than half of those in AA.

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  25. Carrasco making his debut with the Indians and he is off to quite the start

    1 IP 6 Hits 4 ER 2HRs allowed and 1BB and 1K

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  28. Yeah, any player on the DL is playoff eligible.

    I really don’t see the Phils making a Furmaniak/Leon type call-up. Rollins and Utley are the type of players you never sub for in a game. So why worry about having another middle infielder? Cairo and Bruntlett can spell them occasionally and keep them fresh.

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  31. I enjoy this site although I haven’t posted before. Saw the posting about Carrasco’s start tonight, and wanted to point out that the 4 players in the Lee trade have not yet been moved to the graduated\traded portion of the site.

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  32. Dphrey,

    Harmon was removed from the 40-man roster in order to add John Ennis. John Ennis was then put on the DL which allows the Phillies a super wild card position for the playoffs. Because Ennis is on the DL and his position is then eligible for the playoffs, He can be replaced on the active roster for any round of the playoffs by any pitcher who is in the Phillies system on August 31. Thus, the Phillies can make any pitcher who is pitching good eligible for any round of the playoffs.

    Mathieson because he is a minor league free agent needs to be added to the 40-man roster in order to protect him from the rule 5 draft. I believe that the Phillies need to call him up in Sept in order to evaluate him. Since he already has 2 years and 71 days of major league service time, he will be eligible for arbitration when he adds 103 days of additional service time. He does still have two option years available, which means he could be sent to the minors in 2010 and 2011 if added to the 40-man.

    The Phillies are developing quite a stable of relief pitchers. With Mathieson, Rosenberg, Schwimer, Escalona, Zagurski, ect.

    The closer twins Rosenberg and Schwimer have put up almost identical fantastic numbers in their two seasons in the Phillies organization. Here are the numbers:

    2009 W-L S ERA G IP H ER BB K AVE WHIP GO/AO K/9 K/BB
    Rosenberg 7-3 22 1.18 47 61.0 47 8 14 73 .211 1.00 1.06 10.8 5.2
    Schwimer 4-1 20 2.76 50 62.0 44 19 20 85 .198 1.03 1.18 12.3 4.3

    2008 W-L S ERA G IP H ER BB K AVE WHIP GO/AO K/9 K/BB
    Rosenberg 3-1 10 1.00 21 36.0 26 4 15 52 .205 1.14 2.12 13.0 3.5
    Schwimer 0-2 8 1.98 22 41.1 33 9 15 62 .217 1.16 2.71 13.5 4.1

    Total W-L S ERA G IP H ER BB K AVE WHIP GO/AO K/9 K/BB
    Rosenberg10-4 32 1.11 68 97.0 73 12 29 125 .209 1.04 1.35 11.6 4.3
    Schwimer 4-3 28 2.44 72 103.1 77 28 35 147 .206 1.08 2.47 12.8 4.2

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  33. If I remember correctly did not Cervenak get called up last year. I think with his 297 ave and being a RH bat he sould get a call up. I know he was up last year. Is he on the 40 man roster

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  36. So far I am doing terrible on my predicted 40man roster. Harman I thought might stay just as young org filler since he’s still controlled next year. I was certain Taschner would be cut to free a spot for a catcher. Bisenius is the other obvious guy to drop.
    Cairo needed to be recalled (and I guess taking Harman’s spot as middle infielder type). Since Donald was hurt/traded and Ozuna suspended/cut, wasn’t Cairo pretty much the everyday shortstop? Though his defense may be below average at least he has been playing it and should be serviceable in an emergency.
    The only two additions I could see needed on 40man at this point were mentioned in the comments (Berry for speed and Mathieson to protect/evaluate for next year).
    Not sure who gets dropped as Myers and Bastardo may also need permanent spots.

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  37. rosenberg seems to be a little ahead of the schwimm, not much though. went to the game, great to see hamels. btw i hope taylor is ready for left next year.

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  39. Yeah, Philly.com speculates that Berry or Gose might be called up. I don’t see anything that definitively states that Berry will be called up on Todd Zolecki’s blog or off of MLBTradeRumors. If they are going to call up young players and start ’em’ off early than that changes the equation. They call ’em up now, than their service time for arbitration and free agency starts now. I don’t think Berry will ever break the bank in either, but why open that can of worms if they don’t have to. Perhaps they come to that conclusion and my Thompson (who is mentioned in the current International League notebook under “who’s hot” , by the way) prediction will come in.

    In other possible call-up developments, I see Tim Gradoville has once again been activated and placed on the Lehigh Valley roster. Good defense , knows the pitchers. May be a long shot, but he was really the 1st I speculated on in this guess the call-ups campaign. I backed off on that a bit to claim for Gosewisch, maybe one of those will be called up.

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  40. I think calling Gose up would be pretty foolish on the Phillies behalf (although hopefully they bring him to ST next year and let Davey Lopes work with him). Berry makes sense though – I imagine that he is pretty much a finished product at this point. Let him serve the “Michael Bourn” role for this year and next year

    – Jeff

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  41. Gose is too young and has too much potential to start giving him service time now. If they think Berry can help with pinch-running or defense, they’ll bring him up. Berry is a marginal talent, nobody should care about the meter starting to run on him. I think that’s not a relevant consideration. The only question is whether he would truly be helpful. In my view, he probably would be.

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  42. I love how the Phils have played their hand with the John Wayne Ennis roster spot that can be used by any pitcher in the organization in connection with post-season rosters. Now, they can just let Myers, Bastardo and others compete for that spot. You have to know that they will favor Myers and there’s no reason not to favor Myers. He’s worth having on the roster if only as Brad Lidge insurance. Myers may not be a shut-down closer, but there’s every reason to believe that he can pitch competently, which will be very comforting come October.

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  43. Berry has accomplished speed against better pitching and catching and needs to be placed on the 40-man before the Rule 5 draft this winter to protect him. He has earned the promotion with consistent speed results.

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  44. I’d like to see Berry up. He’s quietly had a decent year and with his plus speed and glove could profile as a decent 5th OF somewhere.

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  45. Getting back to Taschner, he might surprise, as he has apparently gone to a three-quarters delivery that is working well for him and might make him more effective against lefties (source: articles on Philly.com). He appears to have turned it around and we may need him because who knows if we will see Romero again this year!

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  46. I’d be OK with Berry as a call-up, though the devil’s advocate in me says that if the team continues to have a large lead (now 7.5 games), why waste money on pinch runners and service time for potentially useful players. While Berry never projects to be a starter, I would be perfectly happy with him as a low cost 5th OF for a couple of years. Pinch hitting in the late innings when baserunners are needed and being the defense-first CF sub. If the lead is still around 8 games by the time Reading’s season is over, I probably would not waste the call-up. Berry is probably a guy that should find 100+ quality AB down in Latin America this winter if he wants to raise his stock.

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  47. There is no way Tim Gradoville will be called up. He was with Lakewood all season literally learning how to pitch batting practice, prior to an emergency arising in Reading when they needed a backup catcher. Gradoville has played two innings of MINOR LEAGUE ball this year. ’nuff said. Very nice guy, but not going to the Phils.

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  48. Thanks nepa!

    I think Q Berry deserves a shot. He’s a single’s only hitter, but he’s been making contact this year, and he’s FAST.

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  49. Berry will be called up. They always call up a pinch runner – Bourn, Golson in previous years. Anyone know what Golson has done since going to the Texas Rangers’ system?

    Mayberry will be called up. We already have Taschner in the fold again with a new and improved delivery. Myers will be called up again by this weekend and added to the bullpen – hey, wouldnt it be nice if he was re-signed as a reliever? Thatd be cool – as his personality has always been great for this team and the clubhouse – despite his flaws.

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  50. Gradoville is the minor league catching instructor and spent most of the season as coach at Reading. If he went to those other minor league cities it was within the minor league catching instructor duties. Since the 3rd catcher will hardly play, if all goes right they might go with a player still capable of good defense who knows the pitching staff. Gradoville did not play much in the minors last year either, but was recalled in September and did not get into a game.

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  51. I think Myers is more into being a reliever and would probably actually relish the chance. Plus, it never hurts to keep around guys with postseason major league pitchign expereince. I would LEGITIMATLY attempt to bring Myers back as a reliever next season – which he seems to like better anyways.

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  52. Golson’s done what you might have predicted he would do – nothing. He’s a great athlete and apparently a very nice guy, he’s just not a particularly good baseball player. It makes me concerned about Hewitt and Collier, but, hey, we’ve been through this with the Phillies many times before (can you hear me Jeff Jackson and Reggie Taylor), so it’s nothing new, but, man oh man, it gets old. And the worst thing about it is that you can see the result coming so far in advance. You keep hoping that things will change the prospect will prove that they’re right and you’re wrong, but it seems it is they who are always wrong on these types of picks.

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  53. That may be far-fetched to actually happen. But its clear that he likes it here and he wants to stay, and a reliever would be his best chance of staying. Because Blanton will be brought back and maybe even given an extension for like 3 years/$24-30M. Hamels and Happ are locked in. Lee is locked in next year and I suspect they will attempt to give him an extension as well at some point – which would be wise if he continues to perform well.

    The only open slot is Pedro’s. I doubt Pedro or Moyer will be back. So that leaves and open slot for Myers to go into the pen and an open rotation slot. Likely won by Drabek or Savery. I doubt they will bring anyone significant in during the offseason for the rotation. The 5th spot will be open competition like it usually is.

    definitely though, some of our better future bullpen candidates will ahve a real shot at making the team next year. Schwimer could get a chance in the second half or next September, Brummett, Naylor, etc all seem liek they could contribute to a major league bullpen.

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  54. Im not surprised that Golson is fading. Thats the problem with the toolsy guys, for every one that comes up and succeeds through the upper levels of the system (Taylor, Brown), there are more Golson’s, and potentially Hewitt’s and Collier’s. Im VERY oncerned about Hewitt. Up until a month or so ago (when he started hitting a bit) he was doing absoltely nothing and not hitting at all.

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  55. Hewitt basically hasn’t even really advanced his development AT ALL in the past year! Same really with Collier. Whats the deal with that?

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  56. I have to look inward to see why I am spending so much time on TIm Gradoville. That being said, I can say as a FACT that Tim Gradoville was not called up last year by the Phillies. He was called up in 2007. Gradoville was traded to the Rangers at the end of last season, and announced his retirement at the end of 2008. At the beginning of this year Gradoville was hired as a “bullpen coach” by the Philadelphia Phillies. As part of those responsibilities, he was had to throw batting practice (which is not as easy as it looks). After an initial lack of success throwing b.p., he went down to Lakewood to learn the craft, and spent most of this season in Lakewood, both learning and helping their catchers. When Gosewisch was injured in Reading, Gradoville was activated because there were no other available catchers in the organization, and played two innings.

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  57. I wouldn’t compare Taylor and Brown to Golson and other ‘toolsy’ guys. Toolsy has become codeword for fast, strong guys that can’t hit. Taylor and Brown could hit, well Taylor could before he got to Stanford, but we’ve been through that.

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  58. for all of their speed Gose and Berry only have a successful steal rate of 78% this year.

    BTW, Gose will never be a player. Book it.

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  59. ***BTW, Gose will never be a player. Book it.***

    i am absolutely amazed that anyone can make a statement like this at this point. i mean seriously, who the hell knows?

    all i know is, gose was one of the youngest players in a full season league the first year after being drafted out of high school and he has more than held his own (making the post season league all star team). he has plus, plus speed and clearly an ability to adapt his hitting as his july and august numbers are about the same as his full season stats. he has 131 hits in 126 games. his k/walk rate has improved significantly the second half of the season (cut in half). 27% of his hits are xbh, which is respectable for an 18 year old speedster.

    at this age/level, all you look for is demonstrated ability to produce tools at a projectable and consistent basis. and gose has more than shown that. now, someone might have a bias against projectable athletes and might (wrongly) assume that the hit tool can’t develop. but that is neither here nor there. the kid is a top prospect and every GM in the league would like him on their team. he has the ability to completely change the game with one of this tools that is absolutely elite.

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  61. I’m a fan of Brett Myers and I’d like to see him return to the rotation next year. But the Phillies are in a tough spot with him. If they were to offer him arbitration, it is likely that he would accept and that he would be awarded something in the $10MM range. If they were to non-tender him, I think he’d command a decent amount as a starting pitcher else where. If they want him as a reliever, they are best served to negotiate a deal with him as soon as possible. They Moyer contract has become a bit of an albatrose with regard to the rotation for next year.

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  63. BTW, Gose will never be a player. Book it.

    I heard similar stuff about Michael Bourn a few years ago and now he is batting .296 and leading the league in stolen bases and he is still only 26. Gose is much younger, and perhaps faster than Bourn was at a similar stage so he has even more upside.

    Moyer wont be on this team next year…you can book THAT. Neither will Pedro.

    I don’t agree with this either. Moyer is pitching pretty well lately and is under contract for next year at a substantial salary. I think that a trade is unlikely and I don’t see them throwing away salary, so I think that they will bring him back. I also don’t see a lot of quality starting pitching prospects in our system who are major league ready next year. For that reason, Pedro might still be with this team next year if he can’t get big money elsewhere.

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  64. Probably not. But I find unlikely that he retires or that we can move him. Thus we will be paying his guaranted $6.5MM salary. As I said, Moyer’s contract (and not necessarily Jamie Moyer) is going to be a problem.

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  65. I agree on Moyer. If we have to pay him close to $10 million next year and he finishes the year strongly, why wouldn’t we want him as a 5th starter. That will give Drabek more time in the minors and allow us to pick from Savery, Carpenter, Stutes, and Worley as emergency starters. I do not think I would want any of those 4 in the rotation next year by default, though odds are we might want a couple of them by 2011.

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  66. Moyer will probably start the year as the number 5 guy unless they sign Myers (unlikely) and find someone to take Jamie (with the Phils eating some salary). Most likely scenario is Jamie is the number 5 guy.

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  67. Myers is making 12MM this year so I doubt arbitration would award him less, but I still have something to learn about the process. Therefore it’s doubtful he is offered arbitration and likely we will lament the loss of a compensation pick or two.

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  68. That Dude has been “down” (to say the least) on Gose for awhile. Not sure if it’s just personal or what. All signs point to Gose having a great shot at making it.

    Myers-IMHO-he won’t be back next year. He’ll be in the ‘pen the rest of the season, pitching for a contract next year, from anyone. I think the Phils will happy to move on from him. Maybe being a part of the WFC changed things, but everything I’ve heard is that he’s not very well liked in the clubhouse (pre 2008 season)

    Moyer-Will be paid by the Phillies no matter what, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they work out a deal with him to buy him out. Worst case is he’s our #5 until someone else is ready. Not a bad problem, with the way he’s been pitching lately.

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  69. It is always wise to call up arms for the bullpen in September. Don’t forget we already have 2 double-headers this month and I believe only 1 or 2 off days. Even if it is just for filler, we don’t want to overuse our better relievers (whover they might be…). I would call up Mathieson, Kendrick, Lopez, and Carpenter and hope that Condrey, Myers and possibly even Romero make their way back soon. That would give us a huge bullpen to stay healthy and rested through the remainder of the regular season.

    I have seen Berry play 5 times over the last 3 years and agree, he is a solid fielder with plus speed but nothing special as a hitter -overmatched by decent pitching. It is not a big deal if we start his service clock. He is not going to be a ML regular. Interesting that he was named an EL end-of-season All-Star. What does that say about the outfielders in that league?

    I love the idea of bringing Myers back next year in relief.

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  71. reading this i get the impression we have catchers, infielders, pitchers, outfielders just ready for cooperstown. if 5 guys we all talk about in the entire system make starting mlb,ers were doing good.

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  75. “reading this i get the impression we have catchers, infielders, pitchers, outfielders just ready for cooperstown. if 5 guys we all talk about in the entire system make starting mlb,ers were doing good.”

    I don’t get that impression, from this thread, at all.

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  76. “for all of their speed Gose and Berry only have a successful steal rate of 78% this year.”

    This is silly. The NL average success rate is 70.5% this season. In the FSL and Sally Leagues it was less than 70%. Criticizing Berry and Gose for a 78% success rate is like criticizing a player for hitting .300.

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  77. Next year’s starting rotation has 4 locks in Hamels, Lee, Blanton and Happ. I would re-sign Myers for one year only at a reasonable salary (8 or 9 mil) and have him compete for- and probably win- the 5th starter job. Think about that staff for a minute. Myers was your opening day starter 2 years in a row and now he’s #5! Solid. Moyer, if we keep him, is an insurance policy although I would prefer to “trade” him to a team wanting a veteran presence to help a younger staff.
    For the rest of this year’s roster I would bring up Berry for his speed, Mayberry for being a decent stopgap until B.F. was acquired, Kendrick for his experience and improvement this year in AAA, and Carpenter so he can sit on the bench.
    ( OK that last comment was a little rude.)
    The Phillies are still the best team in the NL.

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  78. myers isnt going to command anything near 8 or 9 mil because of his inconsistency the past two years. that would be a solid rotation with him as the #5 but i think what really is going to happen is to have him start in the rotation until drabek is ready to fill in

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  80. to that dude, you have to change your name to mc garritt. obviously humor is not one of this sites strong points.

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  81. Heitor Correa, according to what I read this morning , has been placed on the DL.

    Brett Myers is now currently projected as a non-compensation Free Agent, and is highly likely to remain so.
    See MLBTR current Elias Projections feature. Only potential Compensable Free Agents are; Park (B) and Eyre(B). I’d be OK with offering those 2 arbitration..

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  82. And another thing, they are not soon likely to carry 20 pitchers. Taylor is in Clearwater rehabilitating from injury and they are not bringing him up in the regular season to make him eligible for the rule 5 draft and thereby bouncing another young player, starting him on the road to quicker arbitration and quicker Free Agency, just for some secondary playing time.

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  83. Okay, going back to the compensation thing, I see the updated rankings have Eyre as a type A. Also I did not mention the 2 players with team options : Cliff Lee (A) and Pedro Feliz (B).

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  84. Brett Myers is a better pitcher than Happ. Happ has never started a meaningful game and we don’t have a large enough sample size to really judge him yet. The fascination with Happ, at least in my estimation, is similar to everyone’s praise for Amaro following Ibanez’s performance in the first half. Clearly as we sit here now, with the benefit of a larger sample size, it is debateable whether or not Ibanez will be worth his $33MM and the loss of a first round pick OVER THE LIFE OF HIS DEAL. Keith Law had a good piece this morning on Happ that is worth reading (although I don’t completely agree with everything that he wrote).

    But you do need to take finances in to account. Any when you factor in salaries, I’d much rather have Happ than Myers in my rotation at this point. If there is a way to find room in the rotation and the budget for both, I’d be in favor of it. I also think that Myers will be a bit of a late bloomer a la Schilling although I know that I’m in the minority in that regard.

    Read the Keith Law

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  85. Why does no one here even consider the possibility that Pedro will be the 5th starter next year? Yeah, I see the downside risks, but that’s true of all the other options.

    With the mediocre crop of FA pitchers out there, I think Myers will get a surprisingly good deal from someone. The fact that he is a non-compensation FA obviously increases the chance he will get a good deal.

    Law is too tough on Happ. I still think he has a good shot at being a decent #3. But if I had to pick the over/under on a 3.70 era for next year, I’d pick the over.

    Now, very OT but this thread was dying anyway. What obscure season record does Utley have a decent shot of breaking?

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  86. Thompson’s success rate in stealing bases over the last two AAA seasons is almost 90%……………plus he’s hot and also leads the team in triples. He’s always been a speed guy and plays superb defense anywhere in the outfield.

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  87. Let me offer my thoughts on Happ and Myers

    On Happ. I think everyone has always undervalued Happ and expect that to continue. What people are missing is that Happ will, to my mind, continue to develop his secondary offerings and, to his credit, he appears to be a very intelligent and mature pitcher. I fully expect Happ to be a solid #3 for quite a while.

    On Myers. No, Monty, he is not Curt Schilling. When Schilling was Myers’ age, he was throwing 96-99 MPH (I know this for a fact, I saw him to do it on many occasions) with impeccable control. Myers has lost a lot of velocity over the last 3 years – from 94-97 to the low 90s. Is he an okay pitcher? Yeah, he’s okay and can even be good. But he’s a perpetual tease. Sometimes looking like a no. 2 and other times looking like he barely belongs on the major league roster. I expect him to settle in either as a relief pitcher or a back of the rotation starter. But he’ll be relatively expensive. They could probably use him next year, but after that, he’s wasting money.

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  88. Pigs Phan–Personally, I am a huge Thompson fan. Alot of fun to watch always hustling, very hard worker. That being said, I would be shocked if he was called up

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