Eyre Acquisition Makes Sense
Posted by Tim Malcolm, Fri, August 08, 2008 06:58 AM | Comments: 131
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The Phillies yesterday traded for left-handed pitcher Scott Eyre, who was designated for assignment by the Cubs. Eyre was 2-0 with a 7.15 ERA for the Cubs this season, obviously bad numbers on the surface, but really, Eyre isn’t that bad.
The 7.15 ERA comes from four of his last five appearances with the Cubs. He gave up a run to Toronto, then four days later gave up four to Tampa Bay. A week later the Cubs shuttled him out against Baltimore and he let up two runs, then they popped him on the disabled list with a left groin strain. In his first appearance back he surrendered three runs on three hits to Milwaukee in 0.1 innings. That was the end of him in Chicago.
But before those poor starts Eyre had a long scoreless streak. Pitching mostly to one, two or three batters, Eyre continuously got outs, barely walking hitters and letting up base hits. From May 10 to June 13 he walked just two and allowed five hits. Not bad.
In 2007 Eyre was maybe Chicago’s most valuable reliever down the stretch. From July 4 to the end of the season, Eyre let up just two runs, and it was in the same game. In 2006 Eyre had a few long strings of scoreless baseball. In 2005, after August 7, he surrendered just four runs. For his career, Eyre has a 3.24 ERA in September and October. While there’s reason to feel concern because of his recent slide (and possible injury problems), he could provide a long stretch of good play down the stretch.
And he can beat lefties. They’re hitting .244 against him for his career (.259 this season). Meanwhile, righties this year are hitting a horrible .421 against him. Yowza. But like it was predicted, Eyre is here to face lefties.
Of course, JC Romero is in the same mold. Lefties are hitting just .083 against Romero, while righties are at a .289 clip. Obviously Romero is being used in a setup role (110 PA against RHB, just 81 PA against LHB), but he gets guys out much more reliably than Eyre this year.
This means Eyre won’t be thrust into the back end. Instead, he could see time in the sixth and seventh innings, with one lefty coming up. Eyre shouldn’t see right-handed hitting. Let him build his confidence and health back while facing what he can defeat out of the gate. Hopefully he’ll start showing nice results, and the Phils can then slow him into the back end as the fall approaches. The goal, obviously, is to have him as the situational lefty in crunch time, with Romero as a glorified LOOGY in the latest innings. It’s a good situation, though the Phils could still use an experienced righty who can pull some weight off Chad Durbin and possibly Ryan Madson.
Most of all, the move will help solve the puzzle lingering in the front end of the bullpen. Either Les Walrond or JA Happ will be brought back to AAA Lehigh Valley once Eyre debuts. Walrond probably deserves another chance in the bullpen; Happ, however, should either get extended innings or go back down to the minors. Hopefully the Phils know this too, and will make the adjustments accordingly.
Eyre cost the Phils pitcher Brian Schlitter (and the $1.15 M left of Eyre’s salary), who was 4-3 with a 2.22 ERA in the Clearwater bullpen. These stats are sure to make you swallow the loss hard: 58 K, 21 BB, 1.83 GB/FB ratio. But you have to give up something. Eyre is here for the rest of the season; hopefully by the end of August he’ll be an integral part of the bullpen. If not, at least they took this gamble.
Posts: 0 river327
i liked him 3 years ago.
Posted: 07:25 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Fred
Everyone’s always complaining we have no minor league depth, well he we go trading a good bullpen prospect for a 1 hitter relief pitcher.
Instead of a broke down 36 year old relief pitcher how about another stick for our anemic lineup?
This year he’s given up 15 hits in 11 innings. Lifetime 4.42 ERA out of the pen is way too high. We keep going to the scrape heap. Sooner or later we going to realize you can’t make chicken salad out of chicken sh*t.
Posted: 07:57 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Fred
Please correct me if I’m wrong but this guy had to pass through the waiver wire. That means that 20 other teams passed on this guy. That includes the Mets with their horrendous bullpen. Something about this deal doesn’t pass the smell test.
Posted: 08:16 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 NJ
We have to start building a pen for next year, look around the league at the successful teams and you will see guys that team has drafted and found a place for on the major league staff. Maybe Eyre can come on and get a couple of outs most nights without giving up too many hits but it’s a weak attempt by the FO.
All year we’ve been searching for a lefty reliever and when it comes down to it this is the culmination of that search. We have to look within past trying to convert Outman which was the wrong move with him and get hard throwing guys into the system who can progress to a role in the major league bullpen. We have plenty of guys in our system capable of starting like Happ but whats their role going to be with the big club? We don’t have anyone in the system right now that projects as an impact pitcher because we draft too many projects on both sides of the coin with little return and respect given for our farm. Happ for example needs to found a role in that bullpen if we want the guy to pitch for the Phils, lets be real there is no space in the rotation for him and he’s not likely to be more than a solid back end starter. If we can’t get anything out of him in the pen then why are we sitting him in the minors as a starter unlikely to be a feature in the rotation?
I’m not saying the Eyre move is the worst thing in the world but it doesn’t address a dire problem.
Posted: 08:24 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 NJ
Nicely said Fred, the Mets bullpen situation is far worse than ours.
Posted: 08:25 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Mike T.
“The Phillies are MLB’s homeless, sifting through the garbage to find unwanted trash.” – Howard Eskin
he’s right – TRASH. i don’t care about scott eyre – i don’t want him on this team – he is garbage. GARBAGE. will he make this team better? no, he won’t. what a lifeless move by the phillies.
Posted: 08:27 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Tim Malcolm
Would you rather want Scott Eyre or Les Walrond in the 7th inning of a game down the stretch?
Moreover, would you rather want Scott Eyre or see Jason Donald and/or Lou Marson outta here because the Phils want 38-year-old Ron Mahay for 1.5 years?
Posted: 08:33 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Tim Malcolm
Just to continue my thought: Obviously this team needs a shake offensively. They need a stick, preferably right-handed, who can knock singles and doubles. But this move helps shore up some necessary depth.
Posted: 08:35 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Fred
I rather see our offense addressed. The pen is adequate but the offense is in need. When was the last time the bullpen blew a lead? It’s been a while. When was the last time the offense failed to provide adequate run support? Yesterday, day before yesterday, this past weekend, on and on.
Marson and Donald haven’t played a day out of AA ball. Everyone’s projecting these guys as superstars but I say the jury’s still out.
If Eyre is so great why did 20 other teams pass on him? He’s cheap enough.
Posted: 08:41 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Mike T.
you’re basically asking me if i’d rather eat a banana peel or an apple core
look, the phillies are doing patch work here. that’s not what has to be done. they didn’t get it done at the deadline, so just leave it alone. don’t give me this junk filler, it’s not going to help. let the team be, THERE IS NOTHING OUT THERE TO HELP.
also, there are no bats out there that the phillies organization are willing to get. this team decided to “go with what they have” a long time ago – so they might as well stick to that. stop feeding the fans this trash, and telling us it’s going to help the team.
Posted: 08:41 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 NJ
Your right Tim that Mahay would have been a headscratching move but the FO should be critisized for their inability to find a reliver given the time and energy they put into it, they made a desperation move trying to convert Outman and with Mathieson’s return uncertain our farm looks pretty empty of pitchers capable of coming up and joining the big league pen in the future? Can you think of any?
Being realistic this team isn’t ready to challenge and has to address its problems internally because with we reach the end of the year and Durbin, Gordon, Eyre, Seanez are all free-agents and are we going to go through the next batch of Alfonseca’s and Mesa’s trying to fill spots? What are we going to do when Madson and Condrey reach their FA years? Where’s our Carlos Marmol and Jeff Samardzija’s? or Bronxton and Kuo’s?
Posted: 08:44 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Mike T.
don’t worry, NJ, the phils will find some garbage filler.
Posted: 08:46 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Mike T.
this organization is so flawed, it’s ridiculous. they’re not even trying.
Posted: 08:48 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Fred
Eyre’s WHIP is 1.676 this year. His career WHIP is 1.549. The last two years his WHIP is 1.484 and 1.796. Not good. No wonder no other team claimed him.
Posted: 08:49 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Tim Malcolm
There’s a much larger problem with all this. The Phils have a history of poorly drafting for depth, and when they have those kinds of pieces, they rush them through the system, killing their development. Look at Mathieson.
Because of these problems, they have had to trade and sign free agents to fill holes. That kills the farm system.
Now that there’s a glimmer of a system being constructed, you can’t demolish it now. Which makes the Phils a very tough case. They’re rebuilding down below but trying to contend up above. It’s close to impossible without the right people. They don’t have the right people (front office, management).
I’m OK with Eyre because while he patches up a hole, he does it cheap and doesn’t risk the system. I am very much troubled by the offense, and that remains the Phils’ biggest concern. But they need to patch up holes before the floods. So for me, this is in a vacuum. This one deal, for what it does, was a good move.
Posted: 08:52 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 NJ
and yet they wonder why they have to make these kinds of moves, they know better than us they need to develop prospects who can find a role in the pen before starting that the team has control over but they keep treading over the same ground in the draft, in trades and in free agency.
Doesn’t matter how many Happ’s, Carpenters, Naylor’s, Savery’s and Bastardos you have in the system. If you can’t find spots for them on the big team staff then their worthless and their trade value diminishes a la Outman who some writers are calling Billy Beane’s best move of the year. I wouldn’t even see a problem trading a guy like Werth, Victorino or Kendrick for the kind of package Oakland received for Blanton and I’m a fan of all of those guys. We know the drill, we’ll be active in free agency to find the next batch of under-performing free-agents, the only ones who’ve performed in the last few years are afterthoughts like Dobbs, Durbin and Feliz outside of Tom Gordon who’s had his issues right the way through his time here.
Posted: 08:56 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Mike T.
i guess it’s a sensible move. but it’s not even close to significant.
Posted: 08:58 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Tim Malcolm
NJ: Problem is the Carrascos, etc., aren’t quite ready to contribute now to a pennant contending team. It’s very tough slotting them in at this juncture. Yes, some teams would do it, but it’s a huge risk.
Mike: It is sensible and insignificant, absolutely. But I remind you last year the Phils made the same kind of move grabbing JC Romero. That turned out very well. We’ll see what happens here.
Posted: 09:01 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 NJ
Tim I agree with you wholly on how this team should address it’s problems but who are these guys in A/AA?
Everyone has high K rate guys in the minors but it’s rarely transferable which is why Happ doesn’t look anything more than a back-end guy, most guys strike out like crazy in A/AA.
Why is it we have the Tampa Bay VP who found their previous batch of players which only has Crawford to show for it and not someone like their current guy? Not drafting high enough in the first round to get a David Price or a Joba Chamberlin is not an excuse.
Posted: 09:02 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Fred
As I remember the Marlins pitcher yesterday was only 21 (same age as Carrasco). He’s ready for a pennant contending team. Again it’s a case of the Phils over-valuing the worth and ability of their big league players.
Posted: 09:04 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 NJ
I agree, wouldn’t touch Carrasco before giving him a shot for the rotation in ’09 but their not going to bring him up to hang it out in the pen this or next year if he doesn’t make the rotation. I’m not advocating we bring up guys like Savery right now but we have to address the issue for the coming years and that isn’t being done enough to inspire confidence.
Posted: 09:05 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Mike T.
romero’s era was hovering around 3.00 when we got him, he was 30 years old and the guy has amazing swagger/confidence. he’s a perfect loogy. plus, he was on a championship team that was overloaded with bullpen talent, especially LH’s (okajima, lopez).
yesterdays move is not even in the same class.
Posted: 09:08 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 NJ
Fred we can’t compare our guys to what the Marlins are doing, they have no time to develop guys in their system with their payroll situation so they bring guys up very young in bulk and let them fight it out for spots.
We doll money out for guys like Eaton but aren’t prepared to invest heavily in recruiting and drafting players and wonder why we end up with a guy like Eaton instead of a genuine prospect with upside.
Posted: 09:09 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 NJ
We got lucky with Romero, it’s not often you find a previously upper class reliever on waivers. We had to make yesterdays move out of desperation and it wreaks of desperation. You don’t look at this move and think this is a guy who can contribute effectively in 90% of his outings, you see a guy who could go either way who teams with more pressing bullpen needs passed and he’s probably not walking into a thumbs up go let it hang out environment.
Posted: 09:17 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
maybe he can put together a good strech. but they gave up someone who actually is going to be good. figures. id be ok with this move if they gave up a shitty prospect, but its just like them to piss away a good prospect on a total gamble. they need a SET.UP.MAN. not this trash.
the only reason this is mildly acceptable is because you do need more than one left handed reliever. so, ok fine. whats wrong with fabio castro? is he not ready yet? castro is a younger version of romero. perfect.
now they still need to go out and rent/get a setupman off the trash heap. OK: brian giles would have helped this team a lot, but guess what? they PASSED on a near .300 hitter!!!!!! how can you tell they passed? the red sox got him from san diego, menaing that every nl team passed. HAHAHAHA, losers.
btw phil, every place i went was sold out of the watchmen.
Posted: 09:32 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
i dont get that the phils cant have 21-22 year olds ready to pitch. other teams can just run out 22 year old starters and keep plugging along. david price is ready, now you have voltron. josh johnsons still young.
Posted: 09:35 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
to answer the question who were going to replace madson/condrey with when they leave? brian schlitter, oh no wait, they traded him fora 2 month (and it WILL only be 2 months if the phillies keep playing like this) scrap heap rental.
Posted: 09:37 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 OZ
Great.
Posted: 09:41 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
i just looked up castro:
8-2 4.40 ERA, 1.40 WHIP. 27 appearances, 16 starts. 95K, 46BB
unless hes injured. why the heck is that not worth taking a look at and bringing him up????? is his ERA really that bad compared to gambling on scott eyre?
if youre only going to use him against lefties then you look at the K/BB ratio.
Posted: 09:45 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Don M
bitch, bitch, bitch, complain, cry, bitch some more…
If nobody wanted to give up prospects for a more established reliver…and nobody wants to get the Lefty who has been good against Left-handed-hitter over his career..
then who were the Phillies supposed to get that would make everyone happy?
They gave up nothing to take to chance to an experienced Lefty.. who may or may not help out in the bullpen.. another non-issue, that if anything, is a good move, not a bad one… but we cry about it cause he’s not a Cy Young candidate.
Posted: 10:04 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Satan
Aaaah yes, Bill Giles’ soul? Check Pat Gillick’s soul? Check Dave Montgomery? Check
Posted: 10:04 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
theres no one left out there because all the good players either got traded in the offseason, leading up to and at the deadline, OR are too good to be waiver-traded now.
but, the phillies dont have the prospects to get good players in trades, so we never had anychance at all of getting anyone good. AHAHAHAHA. were stuck with this until our strong, young prospects mature and are able to come up to MLB or are respected enough to trade for good players.
Posted: 10:09 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Mike T.
here’s my lineup against all LH pitchers
victorino/utley/burrell/howard/rollins/bruntlett/coste/p/werth
it’s the larussa factor. putting werth at the 9 spot allows howard to bat clean up for the first go around, and then burrell from there on out. plus, adding j roll towards the bottom to give it some pop since it’s so dead down there.
Posted: 10:10 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Don M
REMEMBER that the Indians didn’t trade with the Phillies because the Indians wanted LaPorta, a power hitting outfielder.. and we didn’t have that… they have players to get deals done, but because teams charge so much to trade their veterans, its often not worth it.
THe chances of the Brewers drafting two guys that make it big in the Majors are slim..and..none. They took a chance with Sabathia, who is probably leaving there in the offseason… If they dont make the playoffs, that trade looks terrible
Posted: 10:13 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Joe
I dont understand all the hostility towards this move. The prospect was fringe at best. In no publications was he in our top 30. If you are in the bullpen when your 21 in A ball, our prob not going to make it to the majors, or at best be a Clay Condrey mop up guy.
The best part of this deal is JA Happ going back to the iron pigs. He has been rotting on the bullpen bench, a role he has never had. Now we can stretch him back out in case one of our starters gets hurt or is inefficient down the stretch. I’m not sure if you guys where watching, but Happ was god awful out of the pen. Now at least we have a guy who can get out lefties at the major league level out of the pen.
This has nothing to do with out farm system being week. Would you want to waste a first round pick on a college reliever that we could rush through the system, or draft a starter who has much more of an impact on the game? If you look at our bullpen, the phils have done a great job piecing it together. Lidge has been unhitable and was acquired for next to nothing. Durbin has been arguably the best free agent signing this year for the phils. Remero has some control issues but constantly gets people out. Madson is at least servicable while condrey has been league average all year. We arnt going to have all all stars in the pen. Erey is not going to do anything but get out one lefty hitter then turn to ball back over to manuel. Its exactly what we needed and we gave up nothing for it. All in all it was a great move.
Posted: 10:14 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
Right. we cant get good people in trades right now because the prospects arent respected enough. I get it. thats even MORE disgraceul. i will give gillick/arbuckle credit if these “strong” lower-half of the system prospects become mlb-ready or good enough to use in trades.
Posted: 10:15 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Don M
I understand that lineup, and if anyone was going to bat leadoff the 2nd time around… great pick with Werth.
I just don’t buy into the fact that the 8 hitter should be worse than the 9 hitter.. so the pitcher can sacrifice the 7th guy or whatever reasons LaRussa gives (granted he’s smarter than I am..) But I still think you give your regulars as many at bats as you can..
Against lefties, they should definitely have Burrell in the 4th spot though to break up the L, L in the 3-4 …
Posted: 10:18 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
HAHAHAHA.
your first round pick is used on the guy with the highest upside and most star potential even though he might be 18 and farther away. HOWEVER, your sandwich picks, for free agent compensation are to be used on college relievers if you need bullpen help, and everyone does.
Posted: 10:18 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
some teams claimed huston street. interested. ill bet the phillies passed on him too if he got to us.
now, i WILL applaud the phillies if they claim and trade for huston street to be our setup man…THATS what im talking about.
Posted: 10:20 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
im all about that lineup. brilliant.
Posted: 10:20 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Don M
Geoff.. what are you talking about?
Teams wanted Marson and Carrasco in trades from the Phillies and they said know because they think both guys can contribute soon..
Not having the power-hitting outfielder that the Indians wanted, does not mean that we “can’t get anyone”… When I said “they have players to get deals done” I was talking about the Phillies.. but I’d rather see them keep their top prospects at this point, not trade them for rental pitchers
Posted: 10:21 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Theo1980
It’s nice to see you wasted 9 paragraphs on this garbage from Chicago. While the Yankees do what it takes and go out and fill holes with guys like Nady and Pudge we are stuck with Eyre. Get serious.
Posted: 10:24 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
it means the rest of the prospects arent good enough to ALLOW us to get away with trading off marson and carrasco. if we had a deep farm system we could just ship them off and welcome cc sabathia back with open arms.
we dont have a deep farm systme = we have to keep them = no deal. simple….
Posted: 10:26 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Don M
I thought Jason Doanld was going to the Hall-of-Fame… and if you’re all worked up about whoever we traded for Eyre, but that guy wasn’t anywhere near one of our “top prospects” …then clearly we have tons of depth in the farm.
Would you have wanted to trade Golson, Marson and Carrasco for CC Sabathia for two months?
Posted: 10:32 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
Yeah if you have enough DEPTH in the farm system to absorb the loss and bounce back right away. the two draft picks you got for sabathia should be college players (a reliever and a starter) who would then be fasttracked to be up in 2 years. they cant absorb anything. so, because of that, jason donald is alreayd in the hall of fame the phillies just dont know it yet.
Posted: 10:39 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 pb
Chad Bradford got traded yesterday also, he would have been nice to have. He has a 2.45ERA with 40.1 innings (in the AL East no less!!) and to quote MLBTR’s “he’s not walking anyone or allowing home runs. He also has a very strong groundball rate.”
With Durbin now more of a setup guy we could use another middle inning righty to go with Madson and Codrey
a bullpen of Codrey-R, Eyre-L, Bradford-R, Madson-R, Romero-L, Durbin-R, Lidge-R would’ve been pretty nice
Posted: 10:49 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Fred
If Eyre is so great then why did 20 other teams pass on him?
Posted: 10:56 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
no, we could use….HUSTON STREET. the A’s put him on waivers. i think he was claimed by like 5 teams, i just hope that somehow he gets past them and the phillies want him.
ill gladly accept another encounter with billy beane to get my hands on street. perfect setup man for us.
Posted: 10:57 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Don M
Alright.. so you wanted them to keep Brian Schlitter.. who none of us had ever heard of before he got traded.. because you think HE is the guy that replaces Madson/Condrey when they leave…
You are OK with them trading all of their prospects for another rental player.. because even if you lose the rental player, you can get other guys that will fill in in 2 years..
BUT.. you demand a championship right now..
But you are willing to trade your top prospects for a rental player, and then have to wait a few seasons for your compensation to be ready… instead of keeping your top prospects and using them in the coming season.
Did I get that right?
Posted: 10:58 AM on August 8, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
if youre going for it all right now, then going for cc makes sense. were talking about THIS year throwing the near future out the window.
if they had the balls to do that id respect them for it. i really would. because it takes balls to say: F it were unloading our farm system to win a championship this year. thats committment to winning now. the brewers made that commitment.
Posted: 11:00 AM on August 8, 2008