Tonights scheduled starter Andrew Carpenter has been scratched from his start, leading to immediate speculation that he will be called up to Philadelphia because of the possibility of an imminent DL stint for JA Happ. Taking Carpenter’s start in Allentown this evening will be Brandon Duckworth who has spent the first two weeks of the season on the DL with turf toe. With his activation, reliever Alex Concepcion (who was hit around for 4 runs in 2/3 of an inning on Wednesday) seems to have developed a similar malady and was placed on the DL with right turf toe.
38 thoughts on “Carpenter Scratched From Start; Duckworth Activated”
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Phuture Phillies 
Good luck, Carpenter! Just keep the team in the game, the bats will back you up.
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Man…they really need to work at that turf in Allentown!
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I’m wondering if there’s a possibility that Figueroa still gets the nod if he doesn’t need to be used tonight or tomorrow. Of course, Carpenter could still come up to pitch a few innings if necessary. Just food for thought, anyhow.
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I’m glad Duckworth is activated, which means he’ll be in Scranton this weekend. I’m hoping for a Red Baron revival.
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Per my comments elsewhere. If Carpenter gets the call he starts. If the Phillies intended to start Figueroa then they could just call up a bullpen arm like Mathieson instead.
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Not necessarily. They could call up Carp as a long man/bullpen insurance in case of an extra innings game and/or short outing by Figgy.
Mathieson is no help to you there as he’s a 1 inning guy.
I’d say there’s a 50/50 shot of it being Fig.
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Does anyone know where the Aussie, Scott Mitchinson went? He was with the A’s in A Ball last year, but can’t find him in MiLB.
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I wouldn’t be surprised if Figgy and Carp each took about 3-4 innings based on Figgy not being stretched out and Carp not being trusted. Carp will probably start though as he has a better chance of going long in the game based solely on him being stretched out.
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Carpenter probably gets the start simply because Figueroa already has been working out of the BP and he’s settled into the long relief role.
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Barry- Mitchinson was a 6-yr minor league free agent this winter and may not have been picked up.
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Figueroa is “found money” for the team – they’ll pitch him as long as he can possibly go and be effective – they don’t care about his long-term role or hurting his arm (sorry to say it, but it’s true).
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Mitchinson ended up pitching well for the A’s and seems back on track. However, additional arm injuries have derailed his comeback. Last I heard, he was headed back to the operating room.
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Carpenter has in essence been their #7 starter since the beginning of spring training and I’m sure he’ll get the start for Happ if he can’t go. Fig might be busy tonight anyway with Moyer pitching.
If Colvin continues to struggle, I could definitely see them swap him for Shreve who I hear is ready to go and chomping at the bit.
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I will be pretty disappointed if they go with figgs. Carpenter has had a good minorleague career and before his poor 08 season was considered a pretty good prospect. He’s 24 now and its time to truly see what he has. On a mediocre to bad team carpenter would be in the rotation. I think he could be a Joe Blanton type pitcher. Just a solid workhorse. Not expecting to be as good as Blanton but he could pull a 4.5 era in the majors. Very suitable for especially since he’s basically just insurance. If he does prove to be the guy I think he is the Phils are in great shape bc then they have 7 capable starters. Assuming you have faith in Jamie and KK
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Agreed that Carpenter’s ceiling is Blanton. His likely floor is a AAAA pitcher. Based on what I’ve seen, the floor is a more likely outcome for him, but we’ll see. In any event, there are too many injured players to experiment with Carpenter now – I’d prefer to see Figgy in there.
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Carpenter’s ceiling is Figueroa not Blanton. If one of them starts more than a few games, it should definitely be Figueroa (and it probably would be).
But if it’s just a spot start or two, it most likely will be Carpenter, and I don’t really have a problem with that.
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let it be known that I called this happening when we were talking about who would get more MLB time between Carp and Matheison. He was my pick for rookie with the biggest impact this year
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I don’t like Carpenter that much, but his ceiling is not Figueroa – he’s practically Figueroa now. Ceiling is if everything goes perfectly and he develops in ways not entirely expected – I’m comfortable concluding that his ceiling is Blanton. Blaton’s a solid #3/4 – if everything clicked for Carpenter (and he regained a little velocity), that’s where he’d be. But I don’t think he’ll end up there, I think he’ll end up in the minors or end up being like Figueroa.
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Duckworth is taking Duckworth’s start in Allentown?
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Not sure if this has an impact on carp but jc romero was activated off the dl and Happ was officially placed on it. Wonder if they plan on sending bastardo back down now
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no way Carpenter’s ceiling is Blanton…u really think he is a durable 200ip 3.7-4 era guy? I dont see it
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Yup, they announced that Fig would get the Saturday start. I guess Bastardo over Carpenter for now. That’s surprising to me but I guess its also a way to push Contreras further out to the long role.
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Bastardo is probably safe until Happ’s next start. Figueroa announced for Saturday, and Carpenter will actually start tomorrow for Lehigh Valley.
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carpenter isnt a blanton, comeon ,flande 84 miles a hour ? looks like we are baseballs mash unit. wish some kids were ready to help
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Carpenter is no Joe Blanton. Carpenter is a 5th starter for a KC type team, a AAAA starter for real teams. Blanton is a legitimate #3 starter for a good team. He pitched well and homered in game 4 of the World Series. Some of you really overrate a “prospect”.
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section 205 totally agree. how can people think flande at 84 miles a hour is a prospect,
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I would highly doubt that Carpenter starts tomorrow in Scranton
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I have seen Catch22’s comment about Carpenter’s ceiling being Blanton before. Each time I see it, it seems more shocking than the last. Saying that is so disrespectful to Blanton. If Carpenter’s ceiling was Joe Blanton, he would have already made the majors. If the Phillies thought he had that kind of ceiling, they would have cut Kyle Kendrick. Carpenter’s ceiling is probably Brandon Duckworth. A guy who stuck around long enough to get a pension and nothing else.
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Fig it is. JC is in.
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Gads I hope Happy doesn’t need Tommie John. This game picks certain people to …. on.
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Happ not Happy cause he sure isn’t.
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Nowheels Please, why’d you even bring that idea into my mind? Damn we’d be screwed.
I’ve never gotten to see Carpenter. If he’s like any other minor league pitcher, being an unknown and having little scouting on him will work in his favour for the first few games, if they use him at all.
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This is exactly the same way Josh Johnson started out and he was one of my favorites. The teams especially the phils like to play down injuries
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Carpenter might look like Blanton or be as effective every once in a while. But he is way too inconsistent to be compared to Joe, IMO. You could say “so and so would be a lot like so and so if everything would fall into place” for a lot of AA/AAA pitchers. But you have to be a little realistic. Blanton had K/9 over 9 for 4 different teams in minors and WHIPs under 1. Carpenter had a few nice stretches, but also struggled a lot in minors. If Carpenter had Moyer-like or even Blanton-like consistent command I might agree with this. But there is little realistic chance that he will suddenly become consistent, given his track record. Would love to see the light go on, though.
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That last anonymous was me.
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I’ve seen Carpenter pitch twice. First time in Reading when he was out of shape (but pitched well, it was near the end of the season) and then again in Lehigh Valley last year. Carpenter’s stuff is marginal. It seems to me that he can be a fill-in/fifth starter, but little else. I’ve seen better AAA pitchers lit up in the majors.
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Carpenter is like Kendrick, is like Duckworth, is like Figueroa, etc.
They are all good enough to throw a nice game in the Majors on their best days but are just as likely to not make it out of the 1st inning on days when they are not a sharp.
The difference between Carpenter and Blanton is that guys like Blanton are good enough that they can battle through 5-6 innings without their best stuff.
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The Blanton comps for Carpenter are kind of silly… they reflect not only a serious overvalueing of Carpenter but also a complete undervalueing of Blanton.
Off topic, but I’m actually glad to see the Google ads.
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