Some Phillies Links for You, August 23, 2010: Myers Returns, Biddle Back in PA, Gillies Issues
by WholeCamels on Aug 23, 2010 7:58 AM EDT
Email
PrintA position shift in future for Phillies' Utley?
I loathe the AutoPlay ad, but this piece has generated a fair amount of discussion. I'd be more inclined to buy into the central premise if Utley's injuries were suffered as a result of playing second base, or if he were just an average fielding second baseman. Neither is the case.
Phillies' top draft pick Biddle looks sharp in Class-A debut
Biddle's performance was respectable enough. He went four innings, giving up one run on three hits, striking out four batters and walking two.
Not bad at all. This pick is looking pretty good so far.
Bill Conlin: Phils' Noles on the case with Tyson Gillies
Conlin hits a lot of the key points that we discussed last week on this site, including the work visa issue.
Philies notes: Happ and Myers back with Astros
The Houston Formers.
Deitch: Delco ump Crawford gets good send-off
Nice tribute to retiring umpire Jerry Crawford.
Everything works for Oswalt
The man has been as advertised so far.
Myers returning as ace of Astros
Kenny Powers is officially a front-of-the-rotation starter again.
IronPigs: Win streak stops at three
Wait, I thought Joe Savery was going to be a hitter now...
Mets: Barajas dealt to Dodgers
Barajas will also apparently teach new Dodgers teammates how to do that "OLE!" move at home to avoid a collision.
Strasburg gets MRI on forearm
No word on the extent of the injury yet.
Braves Demolish Cubs 16-5, Mike Minor Strikes Out 12 - Talking Chop
Way to go, Cubbies, sending Lou Piniella out on a high note like that.
Final: Cards 9, Giants 0
Now of interest: Wild Card implication games!
114 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Savery
I’d like to see if he can become a Brooks Kieschnick kind of pinch-hitter/relief pitcher hybrid.
He might be able to get a little more life on his fastball in short outings and even though he’s probably never going to be a good enough hitter to stick at his only real position (first base) if he could become a better hitter than the Wilson Valdez’s of the world he could be a very useful player.
Which is really the only reason his value is what it is— good defensive middle infielders don’t grow on trees.
by dannijd on Aug 23, 2010 9:49 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
So? Neither would Savery in my scenario, except possibly in an emergency.
The point is that if Savery can hit as well as a Valdez, then instead of using Exxon to pinch-hit, you use Savery and then have him pitch the next inning, avoiding burning two players. Or you avoid having to double-switch. Or other permutations.
This is all highly unlikely, because it depends on Savery being able to hit at major league replacement level or so, and being a lot better pitcher as a reliever than he has been as a starter.
We have a word for that. It’s “PHLOOGY”.
Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.
by FuquaManuel on Aug 23, 2010 12:22 PM EDT up reply actions
Is Figueroa no longer slated to start a game this series?
In all fairness…I’m petrified of this series. A bad astros team that has sold off its key pieces, but contains ex-Phils
Bourn (speedy guy), Myers (discarded decent SP), Happ (upcoming SP with potential).
Oh…and they’re the Astros.
I hate to say this, but I fear a 1-3 record this series.
It’s irrational either to fear or to be overly confident at any series. Any three- or four-game series is basically a crapshoot.
I feel since the Phils are home they’ll at worst split. Call me optimistic….
by Sept.28.Oct.27.Dec.28.2008 on Aug 23, 2010 10:09 AM EDT up reply actions
Figueroa started yesterday and will not be available during the Phillies series.
I echo your concerns about this series. The Phillies have played up and down to their competition this season (particularly thinking of disastrous performance v. the Cubs and Pirates), and while I tend to believe they will split the series, I doubt we will be pulling out the brooms at the end of it.
by dannijd on Aug 23, 2010 9:53 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
A Position Change for Utley?
I totally agree with you WC- so long as he is playing the position well and not suffering repeated injuries as a result of being there, why mess with a good thing?
by dannijd on Aug 23, 2010 9:48 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
Most figured a move to 1B was going to come had the Phillies didn’t resign Howard earlier in the year. It would have been a good move for Utley to help prolong his career. But from what I remember, none of his injuries have come while playing in the field. So no need to speculate this at all.
I am not sure about the hip injury, but both hand injuries were as a hitter/ baserunner.
by dannijd on Aug 23, 2010 12:30 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I heard someone on talk radio mention this article over the weekend. It’s kind of stupid.
http://timcowlishawblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/08/who-needs-this-cliff-lee-guy-a.html
That is pretty damned bad, though the quality of the comments in Dallas doesn’t reach the level of idiocy that they do on Philly.com, I wouldn’t exactly call them enlightened either.
While the comments were atrocious (as expected), the article had a glimmer of truth in it. Lee is having problems in Texas in part because of the one thing that a pitcher can not control: his defense. Cowlishaw’s words echo something that Fangraphs was writing about just after Lee’s start against the Rays. Lee did not become a worse pitcher when he moved to Texas. But some of his insanely good luck started to swing the other way, and his defense is not as strong as it was in Seattle, causing his ERA to go up and him to look less sharp. While it is understandable that some (and possibly many) Rangers fans are disappointed by the results on the field of the Lee trade (and you really can not blame them, as their record with him on the mound has not been driven so much by offensive ineptitude as things that have went on on defense, it is not all his fault. For Lee to look good, the defense has to sharpen around him.
more like this
http://www.thegoodphight.com
by WholeCamels on Aug 23, 2010 11:07 AM EDT up reply actions
I saw Lee pitch in Baltimore this weekend. The gratification of seeing him get socked for 4 dingers, including two by rookie Josh Gibson Bell, was well worth the experience. Luke Scott you can expect, and Ty Wiggington to a lesser extent. Bell’s third hit, a single off the wall, missed being out by about two vertical feet.
Ty Wiggington, when his MLB days are over, has a future as a character actor to fill the role of a porcine, redneck sheriff in a southern town.
Remember the Phitans
by RememberthePhitans on Aug 23, 2010 12:09 PM EDT up reply actions
Brett Myers and Pat Burrell can ride around in the General Lee. If the Hawaii Five-0 remake works, why not this?
by Wet Luzinski on Aug 23, 2010 12:29 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah, nice start. It’s also good to get some stats for how he does in the NYPL, as the competition will be a little better than GCL. The NYPL is a pitcher’s league, but it will bode well if Biddle puts up good numbers, both for his confidence and for his assessing actual development.
No doubt.
Although on second thought, maybe if they do want to start him in Lakewood, they’ll keep him in extended spring first like they did with Trevor May last year, so as to keep his innings down.
They need to handle him carefully as he’s never really pitched against tough competition before. But still, I really like what I see here, and it helps that his makeup is, apparently, off-the-charts good.
http://www.thegoodphight.com
by WholeCamels on Aug 23, 2010 10:07 AM EDT up reply actions
It’s not aggression. It’s that you can’t encourage the batter to perform at his best unless you give him really tough stuff to hit.
Or something like that ;)
Honor is no substitute for victory.
Quaker Meetings for Worship are basically mass gatherings for silent meditation, broken only when people stand up to share some profound thought. If someone gets up to talk and starts rambling, one method of saying STFU is to stand up and say: “Friend, would thee please draw thy remarks to a close so that we may conclude with a moment of silence?” I think Jesse should say this to hitters who yell at him.
by ThinMountainAir on Aug 23, 2010 11:34 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions 1 recs
For the sake of precision, it should be noted that that is for non-programmatic Quakers. There are gatherings of Friends that have a programmed service in a similar fashion to Protestant denominations, although I believe they are much rarer than the non-programmatic style you described.
Honor is no substitute for victory.
“Follow the Light back to the dugout!”
by Wet Luzinski on Aug 23, 2010 12:30 PM EDT up reply actions
matchups vs astros
Mon: Blanton (5.54/4.49/4.36/4.26) vs. Myers (3.11/3.53/3.83/3.88)
Tue: Hamels (3.51/3.98/3.55/3.27) vs. Norris (5.23/4.01/3.84/3.60)
Wed: Halladay (2.16/2.66/2.89/2.89) vs. Happ (4.62/3.73/5.21/4.70)
Thu: Kendrick (4.58/4.98/4.75/4.86) vs. Rodriguez (4.00/3.57/3.79/3.77)
There was a debate on talk radio earlier this morning about whether, if the Phillies go to a four-man rotation later this season, Blanton or Kendrick should be one who’s dropped. Talk radio hosts are dumb.
What do you think about this? We do have four off days in September, every Thursday after September 2nd. So we can, in theory, switch Kendrick and Oswalt after the September 16 off day, keep everybody on normal rest, and in doing so line up the rotation to have Halladay, Hamels, and Oswalt start all six games against Atlanta. It wouldn’t be a true four-man rotation, because Kendrick would only actually be skipped once. We would have to come up with a spot starter for the double header game against the Marlins, but it could work, and is definitely worth consideration because of the six starts against the Braves. The other thing with this idea is that, if we do make the playoffs, there are two days off before the first playoff game. So, Halladay, Hamels, and Oswalt would also be lined up to start the first three playoff games as well.
by Baseball Nerd on Aug 23, 2010 10:47 AM EDT up reply actions
I’d be okay with shortening the rotation for a short period of time if it’s truly necessary, although I think it’s highly premature to be discussing it on August 23. I think that anyone who believes it’s questionable whether Blanton or Kendrick should be dropped in such a circumstance is dumb. Blanton is clearly the better pitcher, by a country mile.
Lately yes, but for the season, it’s much closer, and nowhere near a country mile, even as the crow flies.
The season stats are right above you in the thread. 0.4-0.6 runs/game = country mile. You’re right, however, that the difference has been even greater of late.
that’s 0.5 run/game EXPECTED per yer fancy stats. I still fall back on the reality of Kendrick letting fewer guys on and around the bases per WHIP and ERA being grossly better than Cookies stats (at least when last we had this discussion they were grossly better).
You can say better, and I’ll give you “possible/debatable” based on black magic luck claims. I’m not ceding “by a country mile” as you start to make me believe you’re related to Cookies.
Country Joe and the Swedish Fish!
Remember the Phitans
by RememberthePhitans on Aug 23, 2010 12:11 PM EDT up reply actions
braves @ rockies matchups
Mon: Hudson (2.15/3.88/4.04/3.86) vs. Hammel (4.36/3.48/3.80/3.83)
Tue: Lowe (4.32/4.10/3.90/4.00) vs. De La Rosa (4.74/4.44/3.84/3.72)
Wed: Jurrjens (3.91/3.91/4.50/4.41) vs. Rogers (4.53/3.28/3.67/3.73)
I’m curious as hell about tonight. The Phillies lineup is really built to maul a guy like Myers, though to give him credit, he’s dipped me in a big vat of Confederate-style fluff all this year.
by Wet Luzinski on Aug 23, 2010 12:32 PM EDT up reply actions
Anyone see this article on the Pirates finances? Basically, someone leaked their audited statements and they howlin’ in the burbs that the team is making good $$ at the expense of the product. The team is in full spin mode.
I guess I’m not that surprised. Then again, I don’t know that their approach is necessarily wrong. Would they win if they had a $49 million payroll instead of a $34 million payroll? The Berri quote suggests that the only difference between the Pirates and Yankees is strength of will, which is silly.
Just to play devil’s advocate a little: What if the Pirates, legendary skinflints they are, applied more of that profit to their draft over the years? The Pirates had high picks for most of the last 20 years and traditionally avoided high bonus guys for cheaper players who never sniffed the majors. The problem is their franchise plan seems similar to the Rays and Marlins: develop young players who will play for 5 or 6 years with the big club, then trade them or let them walk for draft picks. However, both the Rays and Marlins draft better than the Pirates and generally haven’t shied away from paying out for young talent. The only way to win with a 40 or 50M budget is to develop talent prodigiously, so that you constantly have new stars coming in and playing for cheap.
Right. I think the confusion here comes from the fact that there was a recent shift in administrations. The old Pirates used to consistently blow all kinds of money on mid-level free agents like Derek Bell . Neal Huntington took over in 2007 and has been shifting the team’s focus to player development. If you just look at financial data from 2007 and 2008 in conjunction with pre-Huntington draft data, then it’s going to look like the Pirates spend money on neither payroll nor the draft. But that isn’t exactly what’s been going on there.
That is, he took over in December 2007, so his first draft was 2008, which is when they got Pedro Alvarez. They also had a very nice draft in 2009.
It may just be spin, but I was reading the mlb.com article from yesterday, and one of the big things that the team talked about was the amount of money they spent on the purchase of their Bradenton affiliate recently, expansion and renovation to their Spring Training facility, and improvements to their Latin American development center. It sounds as if the Pirates may be doing the right things to improve over the long haul, although I can understand the lack of patience from a fan base who has been waiting for that long run to turn out for a very long time.
Additionally, I don’t think the Pirates give their players 5-6 years in the majors. Generally…once they’re out of the race (ie June) and somebody is willing to trade them $ for a player, they take it.
They seem to be a “farm” system in the truest sense of the word. Grow talent, distribute it to people willing to pay us for it.
Which was the correct approach for them. The earlier you trade a player before his six years are up, the greater his trade value is. Would the organization be better off today if they had held onto Nate McLouth and Freddy Sanchez for an extra year? If anything, they’d be worse off.
How come no one cares when the clippers do it?
by SportingFanaticism on Aug 23, 2010 12:42 PM EDT up reply actions
Biddle
anyone know what his best pitches are, what his fastball clocks in at, etc…?
thanks in advance!
It’s typical of the city—they don’t know how to fix their financial crisis by going after those who don’t pay what they owe (or by telling residents to screw off we’re shutting down that library that no one goes to b/c it’s a money pit and no amount of complaining is going to change that), so they try to impose new taxes on things they don’t understand.
BS.
Lex clavatoris designati rescindenda est.
I’ve been saying this a lot. If Government officials were good at handling money, they’d be getting paid a lot more to handle money for big companies…
by Sept.28.Oct.27.Dec.28.2008 on Aug 23, 2010 2:36 PM EDT up reply actions
hehe…
have to find ways to redistibrute the wealth, and obviously if you ‘blog’ you have access to a computer, which means you’re in a better financial situation than those who cannot write blogs, therefore, you get to pay subsidize all those underpriveleged folk who don’t have the ability to waste time while writing blogs.
This is in fact a “luxury” item.
If you think municipal tax departments are motivated primarily by political ideology, you are sadly deluded.
no, I don’t think that. But at the same time, the reason they need more taxes is because they’re spending more money than they’re taking in.
There are two ways to deal with the discrepancy.
If you found yourself short at the end of every month, would you just go work another job, or would you decide that maybe you didn’t need the $5 venti from starbucks every morning?
Don’t move the goalposts in the middle of a debate. Your original claim was that the Philadelphia taxation system’s primary goal and effect is to redistribute wealth. Your new comment is irrelevant to that original claim, which was also incorrect on its merits.
This is frankly more puzzling than upsetting. What does it even mean? You know that “changing horses midstream” – i.e. switching to a different argument whenever you’ve been cornered – is a bad thing that shows you don’t really know what you’re talking about, don’t you? You honestly don’t care about that?
I consented to your statement in the first part of my response.
no, I don’t think that.
From this point on, you can be puzzled, annoyed, whatever. If I agreed with you on something (local govts have not being motivated by political ideology), I don’t think I’m cornered, but go ahead and keep pushing me up the tree that I’ve jumped out of and in fact never really climbed, rather just pulled a sammy squirrel act and went around the back side of the tree and came back down as I expected you to chase me up it.
I’ll be grabbing the pecans off the other tree.
And they’re delicious.
I’m not sure I can get behind the let’s close libraries portion of that, but obviously the tax is moronic and the statement that they don’t know what the hell they’re doing is spot on.
The city wanted to close a library that was costing them a lot of money and wasn’t being used at all by locals other than a place where the homeless occasionally slept. They met with the neighborhood, explained to them how the money could be redistributed to fix other things within the neighborhood and people all agreed to it, but then complained anyway about “not taking their stuff,” and the city backed off. Choices have to be made. If my choice is better schools at the expense of a crappy rundown out of date library, I choose schools. It would be nice to have both, of course, but this city still runs itself like it’s in the olden days. It forces the hand.
Reminds me of the companies that want to grow themselves and they make lots of money before the structure can really handle it…still run it like a Mom and Pop shop.
Lex clavatoris designati rescindenda est.
History doesn’t indicate that money will help Philadelphia have better schools.
by SportingFanaticism on Aug 23, 2010 3:11 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah, having more money doesn’t hurt, but it’s the system that’s flawed and throwing money at it doesn’t necessarily change/improve that.
Lex clavatoris designati rescindenda est.
The thing is, there’s a heck of a disparity in the schools. For the last year I have numbers on, Masterman was the best school in Pennsylvania according to the standardized tests (which have problems of their own, but it’s the only cross-school ranking I’m aware of), and Central was #5 in the state. Then you’ve got Douglas (688 out of 693 high schools) or E.S. Miller (679 of 693), which do very poorly.
The problem I’ve observed in Florida is that the system creates a vicious cycle – schools that do poorly lose funding, which means they can’t afford to modernize, which means they do poorly, which means they lose funding, ad infinitum. I haven’t figured out a better way that doesn’t accidentally incentivize poor performance, but the current system is broken.
Honor is no substitute for victory.
Agreed, and the whole “no child left behind” ensured just that—that children were either left behind or jettisoned from schools in order to bring scores up and qualify for funding. Also, the standardized testing they cram for all year doesn’t leave a lot of time for, you know, “actual learning,” but whatever.
Lex clavatoris designati rescindenda est.
Hey I live outside Philadelphia.
Without going into too many details, I am the titular head of this blog (my signature is on all the relevant agreements with SBN, etc.), so it’ll be interesting to see what happens here. For the record, I’ve heard nothing yet.
http://www.thegoodphight.com
Well the only people who were asked to pay the $300 were those that reported the blog on their taxes. If you didn’t report TGP, you’re fine. The folks who reported made something like $50 from small ads and such last year.
by Sept.28.Oct.27.Dec.28.2008 on Aug 23, 2010 2:37 PM EDT up reply actions
Also I assume you don’t ‘own’ TGP. SBNation would have to deal with the city I assume. Do you pay them to run this?
by Sept.28.Oct.27.Dec.28.2008 on Aug 23, 2010 2:39 PM EDT up reply actions
This $300 "business privilege license" is for all local bloggers – even the ones that make no money off their words.
by SportingFanaticism on Aug 23, 2010 2:41 PM EDT up reply actions
However, the only ones sent this notice were those who reported their blog on their tax return. Well if shit happens I’m sure each TGP member could donate a buck
by Sept.28.Oct.27.Dec.28.2008 on Aug 23, 2010 2:55 PM EDT up reply actions
btw I just noticed that “Uber Alles” anagrams to “Sell Abreu”
(minus the umlaut, of course. But Bobby Abreu would be so much more metal if he had an umlaut over the “u” in his last name)
http://www.thegoodphight.com
For the record, I am advocating we re-incorporate TGP as a non-profit and plow all of our earnings into Pat Burrell’s Foundation for Wayward Floozies.
by Wet Luzinski on Aug 23, 2010 3:38 PM EDT up reply actions
them gals need therapy, so give generously.
by Wet Luzinski on Aug 23, 2010 4:53 PM EDT up reply actions
My understanding (just from reading the article) is that the city is only hitting those that blog from within the city – sort of like the wage tax only applies to those who live or work in Philly, and the sales tax only applies to those who buy products from there.
Wait until they want to tax people that read blogs from Philly, or blogs about Philly, etc etc
by Sept.28.Oct.27.Dec.28.2008 on Aug 23, 2010 4:31 PM EDT up reply actions
No Regular Lineup until at least Tomorrow....
Tonight’s lineup per Matt Gelb:
Rollins- SS
Victorino- CF
Utley- 2b
Howard- 1b
Werth- RF
Ibanez- LF
Ruiz- C
Valdez- 3b
Blanton- P
By my estimation it will be at least Friday before the entire regular lineup gets trotted out, as Rollins, Ibanez, and Victorino still need days off, and Ruiz is likely to be out on Thursday due to the day game after a night game— Hopefully the injury troll will stay under second base long enough to see the opening day starters play together for the first time since May!
I was hoping Brown would get to face Myers tonight, as Meathead likely has less knowledge of his strengths/weaknesses than the other OFers.
Is Polanco still sore from the HBP on Fri? I didn’t get to watch any games on Sat/Sun.
I don’t think an HBP is the issue here, as the last time Polanco was hit was a week ago Sunday, and Polanco started and played all nine innings in all six games since being hit. That being said, I do not know for sure that today is only a rest day for him, as the problems with his elbow are chronic and prone to re-aggravation/ stiffness. I really hope that he is not injured.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
Next Game
Philadelphia Phillies
@
St. Louis Cardinals
Thursday, May 24, 2012, 8:15 PM EDT
Busch Stadium
Clear. Winds blowing out to left field at 15-20 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 85.
In Association With
Big League Stew - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
- Local radio host honors Cubs’ Tony Campana with parody song
- Roy Halladay bobblehead with glove on wrong hand selling on MLB.com
- Will Smith shows why making your big-league debut at Yankee Stadium is less than ideal
- Steinbrenners selling the Yankees? Family denies New York Daily News report
- The Juice: Brandon Phillips flip sets up Todd Frazier walkoff for Reds
