Contreras to DL, Stutes Called Up

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The Phillies placed closer Jose Contreras on the DL with a flexor pronator strain and have called up RHP Mike Stutes, from AAA Lehigh Valley.  Stutes, 24, was an 11th round pick by the Phillies in the 2008 draft out of Oregon State and had been very impressive during Spring Training.  In his 7 appearances thus far this season for Lehigh Valley, Stutes was 2-1 with a 1.80 ERA and a save in his 10 innings of work. Stutes walked 4 and struck out an impressive 14 batters and comes up with a WHIP of 1.30.

From the Lehigh Valley perspective, this thins out the back end of the bullpen with Zagurski and Stutes in Philly to go along with the early struggles of Scott Mathieson. Look for Michael Schwimer, Jason Grilli and Juan Perez to pick up the slack in the short term.

42 thoughts on “Contreras to DL, Stutes Called Up”

  1. does this make Schwimmer next in line if they need another reliever?…i like early production from Bastardo and Mayberry…hopefully Zagurski and stutes can produce…and hold the spot and force Herndon down to straighten things out…id also keep orr right now over martinez when utley comes back! Mathieson if he is sulking is blowing his shot with 3 relievers on DL now. Good Luck Stutes!

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    1. can we send down orr? what type of contract did he sign? We either have to keep Martinez on the ML team or offer him back to the nationals… so let’s send down Orr instead right?

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    2. Grilli probably has a shot given his career, if he has proven he is back to 100% healthy. Carpenter has been stingy with the walks, has been called up before, and seems to be comfortable in his new relief role.

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  2. Great for Stutes too bad for Contreras. He was looking really good but you could tell something was wrong everytime they had the camera on him in the bullpen on Sat/Sun. Do they think about DeFratus or Rosenberg to Lehigh Valley or will they go with Brummett or Chapman like last time.

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  3. Let’s hope Stutes takes advantage of this opportunity and helps the big club! The one strength the system had at the upper levels was the pen and it is being dipped into early.

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  4. Congrats to Stutes. I got to see him pitch for four different minor league teams in person coming up. Glad he’s getting his chance with the big club.

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  5. Mathieson stinks. Been saying it since last year. AAAA pitcher at best. You aint pitching in the majors with one pitch. He’s 27 with no upside. And now he’s showinjg his true colors….sulking and pitching bad because he didnt make the big squad.

    Booo-hoo

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    2. Congrats to Mike Stutes. He’s earned this chance. He’ll throw strikes and be an asset. However, does anyone know if there is any truth to the “Mathieson sulking” theories flying around on this board? Just doesn’t seem logical knowing his nature and character. Really think his issues lie in not pitching consistently while trying to get adapted to the splitter and throw more off-speed stuff. Would be interested in knowing more, as long as it’s truthful anecdotal stuff and not blogspeak with no direct knowledge.

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      1. I have spoken with him a couple of times, and he has not been sulking at all. He has continued his always professional attitude.

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  7. God, this “sulking” and “boo hoo” crap is the sort of idiocy I expect on WIP, not this site. I’ve argued for Mathieson before, and can’t argue that his stats (early on) are discouraging. (Though I think he struck out the side in his last appearance.) That said, absent hard evidence, I don’t think anyone should equate performance failures with personality defects.

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    1. I agree. He is not in Philly because he can’t find a second good pitch and his good fastball is too straight. Not only do i not buy into his “sulking”, i think anyone perpetuating this nonsense is a complete idiot.

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    2. Wait, double negative screwup there. Meant to say that I certainly acknowledge that Mathieson’s 2011 stats are not so good thus far.

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  8. Heard Mathieson was told to throw his splitter in counts he normaly would not. I am sure he could dominate AAA with his high 90s fastball. Stats do not concern me with him, he still needs to refine the splitter and should be with the Phillies by summer if he gets it down. All his walks seem to be with the splitter. Still striking out tons of batters. Have some faith in him. Not many can throw 100

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    1. TJ surgery doesnt really effect velocity. In some cases, guys actual add a tick or two to their fastball.

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      1. the correct spelling is affect his velocity not effect his velocity. That said, it is a known fact that TJ surgery does add a tick or two to a TJS survivor

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    2. He normally sits more like 95 mph than 98 mph and its a very flat hittable pitch for most MLB hitters. What works in the minors, even AAA, often doesn’t work in the Majors.

      That’s why he’s still in AAA and that’s why they dont call him up despite the cries of the fans.

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  9. Where does Stutes fit in ? I trust Cholly to do the wrong thing. One game to get his feet on the ground and one game to see if he can close that is what I would go but I believe in baptism by fire. A player has nerve or he doesn’t .

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    1. i see stutes pitching 0 innings so Cholly can run our 4 aces for 150 pitches a game and put them all on the DL by July. Then he makes Stutes a starter and runs him out for around 125 a game for no good reason…. maybe i am too pessimistic about how he handles the staff from starters to young relievers.

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      1. Not sure Chilly deserves that much criticism for his use of the bullpen. He goes with what he has. He’s criticized when he uses Baez, Herndon or Kendrick. He’s criticized when he uses Madson, Contreras and Bastardo too many days in a row. He’s criticized when he let’s Hamels and Halladay throw over 125 pitches. Basically means someone is always complaining about whatever decision he makes regarding the bullpen.

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          1. Pitchers over 25 are a whole different level than younger because their circulation has about maxed out. Still it is a long season and needless wear is not smart in runaway games .

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  10. Madson will close and I suspect Bastardo will be the 8th inning guy regardless of who is batting. Stutes will be given an opportunity to be the 7th inning guy and Zagurski will be used as a situational lefty.

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  11. Looking forward to the younger guys getting thrown into the fire and showing they can be pretty good also. Stutes, Bastardo, Zagurski, maybe Mathieson later, if he straightens himself out, they’s get a shot at injecting some energy. youth, and excitement into a season dominated by the veterans on the team. I like that. We’ll need to give them a game or two being so-so, get their legs under them. Hopefully they can skate through and get over the nerves, just do what they did to get there.

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  12. any thoughts on a possible 2013 bullpen?

    Herndon – he’s cheap – like the bullpen budgie for 2013
    Schwimer
    Mathieson
    De Fratus
    Bastardo
    Stutes
    Madson

    Zagurski probably more likely than a few names on that list
    ?

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    2. Thoughts on that bullpen?
      Mathieson and Zagurski are no good. Schwimer and Herndon aren’t any better than any other team’s AAA relievers.

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        1. Yes, and you have no idea if they are any good either. That is why it is ludicrous to assume that a major league team would construct a bullpen with that many unknowns and average prospects at one time.

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  13. FWIW, the Phillies are currently 2nd in the NL in bullpen ERA. Only the Marlins are better.

    Predictably, the Phillies also have used the bullpen less this season than any team in the league.

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  14. Bastardo will probably reach his previous high of 25 games by the All Star . Probably some need of caution there even tho he has hit the pitching age of maturity. He is needed for the post season reasonable fresh.
    Btw Its a good thing the fish don’t have 1 or 2 more JJs

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  15. With Stutes called up, does anyone know yet who was moved to AAA/AA..?? Guessing there was a ladder effect.

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  16. Keep believing that Matheson will be in the Phillies bullpen!!!!!!!!!!

    HahahahahahahaHahahahahahahaHahahahahahahaHahahahahahahaHahahahahahahaHahahahahahahaHahahahahahahaHahahahahahahaHahahahahahahaHahahahahahahaHahahahahahahaHahahahahahahaHahahahahahahaHahahahahahahaHahahahahahahaHahahahahahaha

    Lets see…..he is 27, multiple TJs, a flat fastball, no secondary pitches to speak of, and struggled in his ML chances so far.

    Yes its completely reasonable to project him to be in next years Phillies bullpen and to complain that Stutes got called up before him.

    Anyone that thinks Mathieson is getting a raw deal at this point probably also thinks that Derrick Mitchell and Matt Rizzotti will be in the Phillies starting lineup in a year or two.

    There are prospects and there are AAAA/Roster filler type players. Mathieson is the latter. Truth hurts sometimes.

    Who knows though, maybe he’ll finally develop a 2nd pitch when he turns 31….

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