ESPN is reporting that the Phils have signed 35 year old RHP Nelson Figueroa. Figueroa spent last between the Buffalo Bison in AAA and the Mets, going 3-8 with a 4.09 ERA in 16 games (10 starts) for the Mets. He worked 70.1 innings, walking 24 and striking out 59. (WHIP 1.48). In Buffalo, Figueroa pitched very well for a horrible teeam, going 7-5 with a 2.25 ERA in 17 starts. In 112 innings he walked 24 and struck out 94, and his WHIP stood at 1.02. Figueroa joins a long list of starters circulating around Lehigh Valley and Extended Spring Training who have some major league experience.
Figueroa joins Brandon Duckworth back in the organization from the 2001 Phillies rotation. Where is David Coggin when you need him.
Phuture Phillies 
Since we claimed him off waivers do the Phills have to put him on the 40 man?
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So we got something out of the Schilling trade after all …
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Where’s Omar Daal?
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Here’s hoping we don’t have a Travis Lee sighting.
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He’ll be on the 25 man and in the bullpen if he was claimed off of waivers – confirmed by D. Murphy.
Carpenter back down – poor guy – I thought he had ‘it’ in him.
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Hopefully this does not impact Herndon in a few weeks, as he has shown enough that he should be given an extended look IMO. Figueroa strikes me as a nice AAA insurance policy, though we might lose him if we try to send him there.
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Figueroa is more than a nice AAA insurance policy. He had a 4.02 ERA in the Major Leagues last year. He should be the 5th starter on a team somewhere. Rodrigo Lopez is like the 4th starter on the Diamond Backs. Figueroa is as good or better than him or Carpenter
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The Mets amaze me. They have cut a few moderately useful pitchers this Spring and rushed their best pitching prospect into a setup role. What terrible management.
Figueroa’s better suited to help the club in the bullpen now and with this club expected to win, that’s what matters. Carpenter at least gets a chance to start every day again, and he’ll get far more consistent work in this role.
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Does anyone know the proposed Reading Phils rotation? I am going to the game on Sunday and was curious to see who will be pitching. Thx.
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There’s nothing but upside to this move. I like it a lot. If nothing else, it gives you somebody competent to back-stop any mess created by Bastardo or Herndon. Right now, Figueroa is at least twice as useful as Carpenter for the role he will be placed in.
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Are the Mets really as stupid as they appear to be (hint – I think the answer is yes)?
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Agree with Catch 22. Also, it will allow Carpenter to get regular starters work since he’s the likely next inline starter until Blanton is ready.
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Yeah, Brandeis baby!!
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Does anyone know who will be dropped from the AAA team for this?
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I would strongly suspect Carpenter. The Phils want him starting.
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Does it really matter who gets dropped from the AAA team once Carpenter is sent down? There are only 2 prospects on the whole team.
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It seems like Carpenter can’t catch a break… something happens whenever he gets his chance. I do like the signing though, now we just need to bring back David Coggin
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Alex Concepcion would seem likely to drop down to AA.
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I have not seen an announcement of the REading rotation yet, but Worley is starting Thursday, with Cisco, Aumont, Naylor, and Flande following in some order.
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Aha! the Portalnd Web site has the pitching “probables”:
The probable pitching match ups for the four game series in Reading:
April 8th: LHP Felix Doubront (POR) vs. RHP Vance Worley (RDG)
April 9th: RHP Ryne Miller (POR) vs. RHP Phillippe Aumont (RDG)
April 10th: RHP Kyle Weiland (POR) vs. RHP Michael Cisco (RDG)
April 11th: RHP Stephen Fife (POR) vs. LHP Yohan Flande (RDG)
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I’m going to tonight’s Reading game, and probably 1 or two others this weekend. Does anyone know of any guys to watch on Portland?
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OF Ryan Kalish, SS Jose Inglesias, P Casey Kelly and 1B Lars Anderson. Inglesias is a Cuban import whose glove is considering among the best in professional baseball, he’s essentially making his pro debut.
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Carpenter is going to have to make his own breaks. Sometimes I think good hitters get stuck in AAA due to no fault of their own and simply can’t get out of that loop (there are tons of examples of this – most recently, Jack Cust and Jake Fox – it took them a long time to get a shot). I think that rarely happens with pitchers. Pitching is at such a premium that, if you pitch well, they will find you and you will be given a chance. So, my point is that if Carpenter pitches well in AAA, sooner or later, he is going to get his chance. What he does with that chance or chances is up to him.
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Let’s not go overboard into thinking Figueroa is that great. While he might be a 4th or 5th starter on bad teams, he is AAA insurance on a good team like the Phillies. I think Carpenter may even be a little better at this stage, but should be starting at AAA rather than learning a new reliever role.
Cherry-picking Figueroa’s stats from last year make him look better than he is. His 4.09 ERA was in 70.1 IP where he gave up 80 hits. He has a 4.54 career ERA in the majors and at age 35 is not getting any younger. He fits now because he has relieved before and is versatile. I still would want to keep Herndon when Romero and Lidge are healthy, however. Bastardo probably goes down first to get more experience relieving. After that the choices would be Herndon, Kendrick, and Figueroa when Lidge is ready. And a second out of that group when Blanton is ready.
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A 4.54 career ERA is more than acceptable for a Major League 5th starter. His 4.09 ERA last year makes him a 3 starter. I am not stupid enough to believe that Figueroa could maintain a 4.09 over 175 innings, but Figueroa is a better option for 5th starter than Drew Carpenter, Duckworth or Vogelsong.
If Carpenter was better than Figueroa right now, and capable of a 4.09 Major League ERA, the Phillies would be jumping at the chance to get the 25 year old Carpenter some early season innings in the Majors.
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I doubt we can stash him in AAA after Blanton comes back…we’d have to keep him on the 25 man to avoid losing him to another waiver claim.
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sorry guys i see a really bad minor league talent level. brown, gilles, mathieson, colvin, valle barnes. not much else of course i havent seen most of these guys so thats why i think it’ll take a year to know what we have. galvis imo is bobby wine, gose is not much and i get a bad feeling aumont will never see phillies pinstripes. as for figueroa thats a joke. we better have a great draft , all college infielders.
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Nice post, John. Apology not accepted.
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jfp.ne, Tell us again how you argued with Paul Owens in a bar about the ability of Franco and Sanberg. I need a good laugh.
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Then again, you also said the acquisition of Cliff Lee was a joke. Also you have busted on some of the players you list as promising now, and considering you say you haven’t seen most of ’em, I’ll be a skeptic of all that. They don’t necessarily need any College Infielders because they have Players at IF for Williamsport already, they need High School Infielders to start at GCL. Listing Barnes as a top guy , I see they moved him to 2B, so Villar could play SS. I say that will remain for the future, and Barnes and Buschini could be future utility guys in MLB as would most College Infielders they might wrongly draft.
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Matt, Doubront, Weiland and Fife are all solid-looking pitching prospects. I think Weiland and Fife both profile as relievers in the pros, but apparently Fife can really bring it.
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john, your opinion is greatly appreciated. This time last year, the Phillies made the ghastly sin of not giving Jason Donald the starting 3B job. Then you were pissed that he was included in the Cliff Lee trade.
It is also interesting that you include Gillies as good talent now. When they traded Lee to Seattle, you were one of the guys who said Gillies was nothing.
LOL.
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Hey, a lot of us may disagree with John (as do I), but there’s no need to pile on. He’s entitled to his opinion. I just can’t believe that so many of you have kept mental notes about what John previously said. Y’all must have a lot more free time than I do or you do a pretty good job of holding a grudge. This is our hobby folks, let it go.
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He’s entitled to his opinion and we are entitled to call him out as dolt.
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Signing Figeroa is that inner Eddie Wade in Amaro. He just can’t help himself.
Saw Eddie the other day on ESPN standing behind the batting cage. Looked fatter than ever and his high pants seemed to be getting higher.
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Surprising relief pitching sequence for LHV today as they lost a game they had come back to take the lead in twice. Zagurski started the 8th with a 2 run lead and he and Jason Anderson gave it up and after taking the lead in the top of the 9th, Wasserman came in to close, not Matheson, and he totally imploded giving up a tieing homer followed be a couple of walks and a couple of singles to lose the game. Its odd that Matheson didn’t pitch in the 8th or the 9th with a lead. I assume everyone saw that Carpenter was already sent down.
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I think they are going to take it easy with Mathieson in the beginning of the season. Keep him fresh for the stretch run with the Phillies. Imagine what he’ll be like if they bring him up in August with a fresh arm. He’ll be a complete unknown to teams. It will be like Price and the Rays in 2008. Genius!
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Figueroa gets the first Phils loss of the season
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nameless one the mattiott marquis chicago 1982 present were deron johnson, mike ryan, paul owens and myself. i hope im wrong about gilles as i have been wrong about many things, but my point was they should have recieved noriega or liddy in the deal. i’m off to cover myself in sackcloth for my transgressions.
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Wow, the 1b coach, bullpen coach and General Manager. You must have coached 3b or managed the team to be in that quartet.
mattiott?
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David Herndon isn’t going anywhere. He put on a quite show in his second inning in Houston – 94-96 MPH sinking, nasty fastballs, including hard fastballs that break in on the hands of right-handed hitters. Honestly, the stuff I saw tonight was that of a top prospect. Again, fabulous scouting to pick this guy out of a crowd – nothing in his minor league statistics suggested he had this upside. What a revelation.
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Herndon will be held on to…you can’t give up a guy with that pitch…his sinker is just nasty.
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Speaking about nasty . . . how about that Trevor May. 6 innings, one hit, one walk, 10 Ks. And Cosart was not as good but he struck out 7 in a few innnings. Aumont was only okay tonight, but he’s adjusting to a new level and a new arm slot, as well as a new role. I’m not going to take Aumont’s starts too seriously for at least a month or two.
On the hitters, Gose go 3 hits, and the Lakewood guys put on a show (get used to it – they are going to hit). Home run and triple for James (I guess the reports were accurate). Two hits, including a homer, for Hewitt and two hits for Santana, including a double. And that’s just the beginning of it – a lot of hitting in Lakewood tonight.
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Cosart pitched way better than his line indicated. He had allowed one baserunner through 5, he just tired out and had a rough 6th.
Lakewood is going to be absolutely unbelieveable this year.
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Whatever else you can say about Figueroa, the Phills would be better off starting him than either Moyer or Kendrick. And it would not at all shock me to see him ending up getting more starts than either of them.
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In all candor, at this very moment, there probably isn’t that much difference between Figueroa, Kendrick and Moyer, but Kendrick clearly has more long-term upside and Moyer has a longer and better track record, even if he is old than Methusala. Figueroa is right where he should be. Long reliever and back-up starting pitcher.
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LarryM – You obviously haven’t been following the Phils over the past couple of years. Unless Moyer is absolutely dreadful, he’s going to be the 5th starter on this team.
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Moyer had an okay night tonight other than once major hiccup. He came back and was very solid after it. He’s gonna have a very very long rope this year. With Herndon pitching quite well, I dont see us sacrificing him to keep Figueroa. Bastardo has done quite well also so I doubt they drop him to AAA before Romero comes back.
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uh,
LarryM looks pretty good right now. Andyb’s boy Kendrick has AAA written all over him. It is about time that guys luck ran out
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