Zagurski Optioned

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Left Handed Relief Pitcher Mike Zagurski was optioned to Minor League camp today, leaving Antonio Bastardo as the last man standing in the competition for the LOOGY poisition in the Phils bullpen.  Zagurski came on strong at the end of last season pitching in Reading after missing a good deal of time recovering from surgery.  Bastardo, 24, pitched very well in the Minors last year before coming up and making several spot starts for the Phils before being shut down with shoulder problems.  Bastardo seems to have recovered from his shoulder issues and spent the Winter pitching in the DOminican League.

27 thoughts on “Zagurski Optioned”

  1. Good for Tony, but I think the organization could have tried a little harder to bring in one of veterans with a little bit of experience in this role.

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  2. Teams have a great deal of success eschewing proven arms in the majors for inexperienced live arms. Look at what the Dodgers got out of Ron Belisario last season. I’d rather have a rotation of Bastardo, Escalona and Zagurski out there than throw out a Joe Beimel.

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  3. I also strongly believe that in a freshman season for a pitcher, the opposing batters do not have enough tape or experience with them to know what to expect.

    I mean, the good pitchers can get around that, but in general, a good looking young guy can make a strong impact in his first season.

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  5. This is what I expected to happen. Bastardo has that extra life on his fastball that makes him a nice option out of the pen to get an out or two or even get through an inning.

    Like Mathieson, I think the team wants Zagurski to build arm strength and log some more innings. He and Mathieson are going to be a phone call away. By the end of the year, the team is going to have a ton of minor league relief options – I can’t remember the team having this many good nearly-ready relief prospects at the same time.

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  6. JL636, teams at this stage of Spring Training sometimes need warm bodies at the end of the game, so minor leaguers come over to play a bit.

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  7. Interesting game today. Herndon threw two more shutout innings amazingly, Bastardo bounced back with a nice effort with no walks and a few ks, and they threw a bone to Stutes and let him pitch the 9th. That must have been a real unexpected treat for him. The Phils have been inviting minor league guys over all spring to let them sit in the bullpen for a game as a little bonus for working hard. I’m sure they expected Hamels to pitch longer today and ran out of pitchers and Stutes was there. It doesn’t happen often. Wilson Valdez and Ransom are certainly winning themselves jobs in the system somewhere. Maybe Bocock will get sent to AA because I think they want to keep him but there’s not enough jobs at AAA. The way they’ve used Ransom this spring, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him at some point this season if someone gets hurt in Philly.

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  8. Catch22, your right with a bunch of good nearly ready relief prospects. The problem this last offseason is that most of them probably need that extra few weeks/months this year so the team went out and signed Baez and Contreras. It would be great if they all do well this year and the team doesn’t need to resign those expensive relief options or even trade some away to keep others on the team or sign extensions. (Werth)

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  9. Has anyone heard anything about Neil Sellers this spring? I had expected him to be the starting 3B at AAA this year. Sounds like he might be going back to AA with these utility IF’s having nice springs.

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  10. Relax with the Cody Ransom fever. The first part of the spring pitchers are throwing nothing but fastballs. He is not as good as he has shown. Cutting Dobbs for Ransom would be a terrible mistake.
    Two years ago there was an IF (I believe was named Casey) who did the same thing in early spring. Then he went to Lehigh and couldnt bat .200.

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  11. It is nice to have options within your system but they are more likely to be used as trade bait than they are to be used in Philly. RAJ has stated in interviews that his preference would be to have younger starters complemented by a veteran relief staff.
    When games are on the line in the late innings there’s more trust in experience.
    That said, a dominant performance by one of our farm hands could help change RAJ’s mind.

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  12. Thanks, guys — makes sense. I have been at quite a few games this spring (such as Zagurski’s outting yesterday) and that was the only thing that made me scratch my head/ponytail.

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  13. There’s no doubt that, with the glut of relievers, there will be more trade bait and that’s fine. Unless Ben Francisco turns himself into something a bit different (by that, I mean better) At some time around August, this team is going to need a right-handed power hitter to come off the bench and be available as a DH – extra relievers could help with that kind of trade. In the meantime, enjoy Bastardo, I think he’s going to turn some heads.

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  15. in last nights game against the yankees a.j. burnett gave up 7 hits 4 of which were home runs. cole hames was ruffed up for 7 runs 6 earned over 4ip david herndon came in relief and threw 2 scoreless innings then antonio bastardo threw 2 innings of scoreless ball striking out 3 finally mike stutes came in and pitched an inning of scoreless ball with a k to pick up the win

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  16. Yeah, I think this is the time of the year to get some of the “org filler” type guys some innings with the big club, while the real prospects go down to the AAA-A levels to get more at bats/innings.

    We’ll probably see a whole bunch of these types of guys at CBP for the exhibition games in early April.

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  17. I doubt we’ll see many of them at CBP. It’s easy to bring them over now because the minor league field is next door.

    A quick note on yesterday’s game. Jayson Werth’s defense was atrocious in center field. It contributed to Hamels’ trouble, and it really should put to rest any notion that the Phils can move Werth to center when Domonic Brown is ready.

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  19. Agreed – no chance Werth ends up the CF on this team, not with Vic signed for 3 years and Gillies and Gose waiting in the wings. There are many possible outcomes for Werth, I don’t think this is, realistically, one of them.

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  20. I think there’s a difference between high minors filler and random prospects brought over to eat innings. I’m talking about guys like Stutes who were never even on the ST roster. We won’t see those guys at CBP.

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  25. Mike77, so far this Spring Ransom has hit .192 with three home runs. Power tool, little contact, that’s exactly what I’ve expected of him. I haven’t heard anyone suggest he should replace Dobbs on the MLB roster. I think he could take Juan Castro’s spot, but that’s based entirely on their career statistics.

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  27. Castro or Ransom…doesn’t matter. Its whether you’d rather your 5th bench bat strikeout (Ransom) or ground out (Castro). Defensively, they’re a wash at this point.

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