Phillies Nation

Jayson Stark had this little nugget to share in his blog. Hat tip to Phuture Phillies:

“Teams that have spoken with the Phillies say they’re frantically searching for two relievers to add to their middle-innings mix. But they have so little to trade — aside from Wes Helms, who has attracted just about zero interest — they’re likely to just see what’s out there on the waiver wire or the out-of-options bargain bin. Nevertheless, they’ll almost certainly do something. One baseball man reports that when he asked a member of the Phillies’ organization this week whom the 11th and 12th pitchers figured to be, he was told: ‘They’re not here yet.’ “

Really? Well, we know Pat Gillick was in search of a left-handed reliever, and I offered some options in that realm, but two spots are open? That’s a shock. What it means:

• Travis Blackley would be cut and offered back to the Giants.
• Clay Condrey, Francisco Rosario and JD Durbin would be cut and taken to waivers.
• The offseason goals weren’t really a success.
• The Phillies would have to start all over again with middle relief.

This doesn’t make sense. What made sense was to grab relief during the offseason. (Wasn’t that the goal all along?) Instead, the Phils dug a hole for themselves, and have to possibly spend more money on damaged goods and cut players who could be beneficial for the team this season.

At this point, the front office should just swallow its past mistakes and go with two of the final five. Here are their select stats:

Condrey: 10.1 IP / 12 H / 4 ER / 1 BB / 6 K
Blackley: 8.2 IP / 7 H / 7 ER / 8 BB / 9 K
Darensbourg: 6 IP / 6 H / 2 ER / 3 BB / 3 K
Rosario: 10.2 IP / 8 H / 7 ER / 5 BB / 8 K
Durbin: 14.1 IP / 22 H / 15 ER / 7 BB / 8 K

Obviously Condrey and Darensbourg are having the best springs of the five, but Rosario carries the old Vicente Padilla quotable (“he’s got great stuff!”) and Blackley probably has the most promising future. Durbin, admittedly, is trash. Condrey has practically topped off at this point, and is no better than the 12th man in a bullpen. Darensbourg can still be stashed in AAA. If I’m Pat Gillick, I swallow my past mistakes, go with Rosario and Blackley and if they do stink up the joint, I pick someone up as the season progresses.

But the bottom line remains: The Phillies didn’t even try to reach their offseason goal.