Down on the Farm

If in fact our staff endures a few injuries, which seems likely, we do have a few options down on the farm.  With Hamels,Myers, and Moyer having a major potential to be out for time this year and Kendrick possibly going into a sophomore slump we do have some options.  

According to Baseball America Josh Outman figures to make his big league debut by September this year.  He is a lefty with a plus fastball at 90-94 mph.  He also has a late-biting slider and a solid change up.  However, when he falls behind hitters he tends to overthrow a bit.  With some practice he seems like he will be fine.    He went 2-3 with a 4.50 ERA in Reading.  He seems most likely to make it to the bigs first and projects as a #3 starter.

Next in line seems to be Drew Carpenter.  A second round pick out of The Beach and performed pretty well in Clearwater last year posting a 3.2 ERA while going 17-6.  He throws 89-92 and can hit any quadrant in the strike zone.  He has a plus slider and an average curveball.  Since going pro he has added a splitter and a change up.  His splitter has quickly become his outpitch.  He still has some mechanic issues and if his change up does not improve, they will have to take it away from him.  They feel that if the need arises for a pitcher he could make it to the bigs this year.  

After that we are pretty much out of options.  We can either pick someone up or bring up someone along the lines of Matthew Maloney.  Or to really push the deal we can bring up 18 year old Carlos Carrasco.  He is projected as a #2 starter in 2009.  He has been rushed up before but has responded well.  My guess is that he will not come up this year but maybe if he shoves in Reading and it is totally necessary he might see a start or two, but I wouldn't bet on it.