Comments on: Opinion: It’s Time For Happ To Enter Rotation

By: phxphilly

phxphilly — Sat, 09 May 2009 07:11:44 +0000

To put Happ into a 6 man rotation means you drop Cairo and add RP from AAA. Maybe that’s okay but then Cole is pinch hitting in the 10th inning. (Maybe he’s better than Cairo.)

Anyway, as was mentioned repeatedly who do you replace?
Hamels – No. He’s the oft-injured ace.
Myers – No. He’s already a head case. And he’s at least pitched some innings. To put him in the pen you need to leave him there.
Moyer – Maybe but you better IR him. I doubt he can pitch from the bullpen. He’s already ancient, he needs prep work for regular starts.
Blanton – He’s always be a starter. He has a variety of pitches but which one will be effective in relief. How many hitters until he figures it out?
Park – Obvious choice. He has been a reliever and was brought here as such. However, he may be ‘sulking’ for a few appearances after being demoted.
So really Park is the only choice, unless some goes IR. Moyer to IR at least saves some salary because of all his incentives.

By: mikemike

mikemike — Sat, 09 May 2009 00:46:24 +0000

Is covert a baseball scout. I thought that name was used on mets nation to tell how the mets will win the division because of there better pitching, and hitting,

By: Bruce

Bruce — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:06:13 +0000

Covert OPS says.. the phillies are just not a good team right now..(chuckles)

By: Johnny Snowden

Johnny Snowden — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:58:53 +0000

I mean realistically, we’ve sort of had a 4 man rotation for the last 3 weeks rainouts helping a lot with that.

By: Johnny Snowden

Johnny Snowden — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:57:07 +0000

I dunno, at this point we’ve all gotten used to Moyer’s style at this point meaning we know he’s going to have an occasional blow out and yeah a lot of that has to do with the umpire.

And as far as Myers goes, if you look past the long which I freely admit is one hell of a daunting statistic (giving up 10) his starts are fairly consistant, never giving up more than 4 runs and pitching no less than six innings except for his May 6th start in StL. Not ideal, but he’s keeping us in the game.

To me, despite his six innings of one hit baseball this week, the clear move is to put Park in the pen as a long reliever taking some pressure off of Condry keeping him in that later middle relief role. That way, should anything happen health-wise, u know he could at least make a need-to start.

Of course a lot of this discussion hinges on the fact the we haven’t really seen Cole Hamels yet. He’s be recovering, training, hurt or some combination. Once Hamel’s routine is back to “normal” I think it’s going to take a lot of pressure off the other four guys.

But even if Charlie just skips Park’s nest start, or even Blanton OR if you know u got a HP umpire with a small strike zone, Moyer, give him an extra day off and just let Happ start. The kids earned it as far as I’m concerned.

By: ChaseUtleyMVP

ChaseUtleyMVP — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:47:30 +0000

Hey Covert OPS…
what are you talking about?
#1 pitching has dissapeared? Well before Cole had TWO FREAK plays knock him out…and he was tearing it up those 2 starts….

our #1 pithcing is fine…
its everything else after that

and do we miss burrell? Why…he is hitting like .230 for the Rays…

and what are you talking about that Ibanez is a horror show?

DO YOU EVEN WATCH THE GAMES…
he’s made plenty of great plays, plays that burrell would never had made and he is hitting over .330 and hitting the ball to all fields…

and you say the team is flat?

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!

they’ve already had 10 comeback wins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! how is a team flat that has that many come back wins

and a handful of those are in the 7th inning or later…and some are from 5+ runs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what are you talking about!!?!?!@##?!#?!

so they lost 2 games to the Mets…ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh so what!

they faced Johan…what do you want?
and Moyer gave them no chance..

there are 162 games in the season… they lost 2 in a row

DID YOU FORGET THEY JUST SWEPT 2 GAMES FROM THE BEST TEAM IN THE NL SO FAR!!!!!!!!!

wake up and actually know what you are talking about before you post.

By: mikemike

mikemike — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:28:14 +0000

I was just reading about our system compared to the mets and the scouts think we have a lot of good young talent. where the mets have been pushing names for years like perez maine and other in there system who haven’t shown they will be anything special.

By: ryan

ryan — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:27:25 +0000

another thought, with this surplus of young pitching, it seems to be sure that somebody is definitely getting traded. and that somebody is most likely Kendrick. or possibly Happ. Carrasco is untouchable unless there is a huge piece in play from the other side.

By: ryan

ryan — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:24:07 +0000

let’s be honest, Chan Ho Hum has gotta go. He has a seven year track record of being a terrible pitcher. I don’t care how well he pitched in spring training and how good he was in his last outing, the past will predict the future with Chan Ho. He stinks, always has, and always will. JA needs to take his place. Chan Ho has some value in the Pen anyways.

By: Manny

Manny — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:24:01 +0000

As much as I want Happ in the rotation NOW, I wouldn’t pull the plug on any of our starters right now… but one bad start from Chan Ho will definitely erase his 0 ER game in my mind, and he’ll be the one with the job to lose. We can’t just give up on Blanton or Myers now… that would be wayyyyy too soon. And Moyer, as much as I’ve convinced myself that he won’t finish this season in the rotation, can’t go anywhere for now because he is definitely capable of bouncing back. So, in my opinion, the best alternative for Happ is to give him a spot start sometime next week (trying to keep him on some type of alternate rotation schedule). I think that in a week or two it will be really clear who must leave this rotation. (I still think it’ll be Chan Ho).

By: Havoc

Havoc — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:17:32 +0000

sorry meant to say aren’t going to

By: Havoc

Havoc — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:16:49 +0000

by the by Covert if your Covert Ops are coming from metsblog just to try and shake us up don’t worry. Phillies fans panic just as much as mets fans do it’s really not necessary we’ll take care of it ourselves. The bottom line though is Phils fans are going to jump ship on this team especially not in May. If you’re not trolling and just happen to have chosen that name and then come onto a phillies blog heaping praise on the mets then you can ignore this post.

By: Havoc

Havoc — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:08:41 +0000

Covert I think you might be giving the N.L. East too much credit. While the Marlins have a better starting rotation their offense and fielding have glaring holes, and their bullpen is very weak. The Braves rotation is alright but that isn’t enough to compensate for their all around average team. The Mets excluding Santana have the same problem we do. Except they don’t have suitable replacements for any of their starters. I think your making quite the leap of faith that first off Perez will find his way and that second he’s going to be unbeatable. The back end of their bullpen is much improved but the middle relief isn’t. Their starting rotation so far has been better than ours but I wouldn’t call it good. The only weakness the Phils have right now is starting pitching.

The bullpen has stabalized lately and will soon be bolstered by the return of J.C.

Defense has been solid and improved on last year as Ibanez has been better than Burrel in the field.

There is no lineup in the NL East with the 1-7 threat that the Phillies have. If Rollings continues to improve the Phils could end up with the best offense in all of Baseball. I’m not saying that it would be east to win the NL East as we are now. Like I said it would be a down to the wire thing and since the Mets have a good lineup themselves they’d be with us the whole way. However, it’s not impossible. The real problem is I don’t JUST want to win the NL East.

By: Covert OPS

Covert OPS — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:04:03 +0000

mikemike,

I don’t think freel will solve our problems. Can he pitch? LOL.

By: mikemike

mikemike — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:59:40 +0000

Just read Baltimore is trying to unload freel. He is a hard working, get down dirty player always like him. I feel he would be a upgrade for us. look up his and brunlett stats. he is a 279 lifetime hitter, who plays all the position with a 980 fielding percentage, where brunlett is a 236 lifetime hitter, with a 964 fielding percentage. freel has a little more power steals more and is a really good outfielder and decent infield. had one bad year fielding which hurt him made 12 one year other than that is really good.Don’t know contract situation.

By: Bob

Bob — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:59:11 +0000

Did we not just win a World Series less than 7 months ago? I’m not saying that will carry us through this season but COME ON! Show a little faith, we are 26 games into a 162 game season!

By: Covert OPS

Covert OPS — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:58:29 +0000

The Mets rotation has been under performing this year. Keep that in mind. Once Perez finds his way, he will be undefeatable. Maine has been rehabbing from a shoulder injury and is getting better with every start. Pelfrey is a slow starter and already he is 4-0. Then they hav either Llivan or Redding for the number 5. We all know about the best pitcher in the game.

Then look at the Marlins. great young arms. Nolasco has been underperforming. and the rest of the rotation, Johnson, Volstad and Sanchez are proving they will be the best rotation in the league.

Now compare them to us. A #1 in Hamel who never pitches and when he does he has been horrendous. Chan Ho PARK is garbage. Moyer’s fastball is embarasasing and my daughter can throw harder. He is a dinosaur. Blanton is the definition in medicore.

We are not built to win anymore. I enjoyed 2008. Have you?

We need to trade to get some decent pitching

By: Covert OPS

Covert OPS — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:51:20 +0000

Havoc,

I strongly disagree. There is no way we can win the NL East this year with our rotation the way it is. We will get smacked up. Chan Ho pitched the game of his life. It will never happen again. Blanton is on the scrap heap, Moyer is Done and Hamels ahs been disappointing us and is clearly very hurt. I bet he doesnot make 10 starts this season.

We need a make over .

By: Havoc

Havoc — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:46:06 +0000

It’s no longer a question of if Happ will be one of our starters this year, but when and for who…

Hamels looked like his old self (barring injuries) in his last two starts. The rest of the rotation has been really shaky. It hurts but I think you have to say that whoever has the next bad outing between Moyer, Blanton & Park is going to find themselves replaced.

Park & Blanton are the easiest to replace since they would both fit in well I think as long men out of the bullpen. Moyer is the problem, I think we’ve found ourselves in a similar situation to what the Mets have going on with Oliver Perez, (granted ours is a hell of a lot cheaper).

The one thing that really worries me on this team is not that Happ will be replacing someone, it’s that Happ can’t replace 4 someones… Kendrick’s numbers have looked solid in AAA, but I don’t know whether he’s fixed the issues that cost him the job in the first place. From what I hear Carrassco’s numbers haven’t been great so far…

We might be able to win the NL East with our bats alone… assuming we’re all fine with another dog fight right down to the last day of the season. If we want the team to perform in the playoffs though 3 out of 4 of these starters are gonna have to get it together, or we might have to consider a trade or two.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:45:11 +0000

If there are fewer starts for the 5th spot in rotation during the season (as the schedule dictates), how many actual starts you think will be available for the 6th spot? And how many teams actually have a six man rotation? It’s not practical and the inactivity may do more harm than good to a young pitcher like Happ. At least Happ will have opportunities as short and long relief in the bullpen. And with the early struggles (alot to do with Hamels’ absence) of the rotation, Happ will get plenty of those chances. As I said before, Manual along with Dubee are not going to make rash decisions so early in the season.