Brilliant Starting Pitching Makes Phillies Elite
Posted by Tim Malcolm, Fri, June 05, 2009 10:39 AM | Comments: 63
Analysis, Posts
The story of Cole Hamels’ stunningly efficient complete game shutout caps an impressive string by the Phillies pitching staff. The last turn of the Phillies rotation was one of the best in recent memory. The combined totals:
Games: 5
Innings: 35 (45 max)
H/G: 4.4
R/G: 1
K/G: 4.6
BB/G: 0.8
ERA: 1.28
Hamels, the ace, delivered in his role. Everyone else fell in line: Jamie Moyer gave a sold six, shutting down a weak opponent; Joe Blanton pitched like his more dominant self, giving confidence to the offense; Antonio Bastardo willed past a lesser-skilled offense with power; JA Happ quieted his opposition with ease. It’s no surprise the Phillies went 5-0 during this turn – when the starting pitching is on point, this team is scary good.
And now, look: With last night’s win, the Phillies are on pace for exactly 100 victories. That’s scary good.
Posts: 0 Don M
kepping COLE and extending HOWARD would take up $50M in payroll.. and wouldn’t allow us to chase TOP free agents, because we wouldn’t have the money to offer them..
The thing to think about with prospects is that they are ALL unproven.. if you can trade for Cy Young pitchers, instead of signing them to Derek Lowe money.. that is what you try to do..
That is why the farm is so important.. groom as much talent as you can, to give yourself the option of trading it to improve.. or keeping it for yourself..
There is no right or wrong answer as to which works best.. but every team besdies the Yankees and RedSox has a certain payroll limit, and its tough when 2 or 3 players take up almost half of that total
Posted: 01:05 PM on June 5, 2009
Posts: 0 Miles
I think if we all seriously consider the Halladay rumors we should come to a couple conclusions:
1) The chances of the Jays trading Halladay are incredibly unlikely
2) The chances of them trading him to us without us including Drabek in the trade is even more unlikely.
So where does that leave us? I personally think its a waste of time to even discuss the possibility because I think the Jays are going to try to contend all year and they won’t want to trade a guy who’s been a mainstay on their rotation for all these years (might be the same situation with Oswalt).
Posted: 01:16 PM on June 5, 2009
Posts: 0 Don M
The only guys that are real options AND upgrades at this point are Erik Bedard and Cliff Lee
Oswalt has a no-trade, and the Astros don’t want to trade him
Peavy has a no-trade, and doesn’t want to play on the East Coast (because he’s a little b1tch and can’t handle pressure of actual fans)
Halladay is the only reason the Blue Jays have any chance to be good.. and they don’t want to deal him
Posted: 01:19 PM on June 5, 2009
Posts: 0 Pete
How can Drabek be untouchable in a Halladay trade? Drabek is 21, has already had TJ surgery, and has had all of 1 start (a good one) at the highest level he has ever pitched, AA.
Roy Halladay is a Cy Young winner, 5-time all star, whose CAREER ERA+ is 132 and WHIP 1.20. This year, his ERA+ is 161, WHIP 1.04, and K/BB rate of 6.8(!) Drabek will be extremely fortunate to have one season with numbers as good as Halladay’s career averages.
Posted: 01:19 PM on June 5, 2009
Posts: 0 4daysrest.com
If the Phillies continue pitching like this and Bastardo turns out not to be a fluke, the Halladay talk might not even need to come up. I’m hoping for this, because we have a couple young studs in the minors who could be great Phillies in 2-3 years.
We did a little feature on the dominance of this team over at the site after last night’s win.
Posted: 01:27 PM on June 5, 2009
Posts: 0 Don M
“If the Phillies continue pitching like this”
We just beat the Nationals and then the Padres… who have a combined winning percentage of .372%
Let’s not go crazy that we’ve all of a sudden solved all our pitching problems
Posted: 01:36 PM on June 5, 2009
Posts: 0 Chuck
Here Here, Don M. Couldn’t agree with you more. I’m willing to revisit this statement AFTER the Phillies dominate the Red Sox and Mets…..just to name a few teams…..and let’s finish up the Dodger series as well before we proclaim ourselves the team with the best pitching in baseball. All available options need to be left on the table.
Posted: 01:49 PM on June 5, 2009
Posts: 0 Chuck P
I saw that comment and thought to myself, “Did I write that?” I’ll happily share the name…
If you get a chance to bring Roy Halladay to Philadelphia and you can afford it, any prospect is tradeable… he is the closest thing to a “sure thing” in baseball… even if it’s only for two years. We have a wealth of pitching prospects that should be ready within the next two to three years… Carrasco, Bastardo, Carpenter, Drabek, Worley… and the best up-and-comer might be Jason Knapp (three to four years away). If we can get two years from Halladay and keep two or three of those guys around, that’s a nice way to bridge the gap and assure ourselves the opportunity to play for some championships.
Our payroll starts out at about $95 million next year… there’s not much wiggle room for a guy like Halladay but his salary is manageable over the next couple of years ($10 million)and we need a top of the rotation ace so why not? I wouldn’t call Hamels OR Halladay a #2… that’s scary.
Posted: 01:57 PM on June 5, 2009
Posts: 0 Chuck
Thanks for sharing, ChuckP..
Posted: 02:20 PM on June 5, 2009
Posts: 0 phillies fan
You still got to pitch good to beat the worst teams too Don. Both the Nationals and Padres have some good hitters throughout their lineups. A win is a win no matter who you play.
Posted: 02:35 PM on June 5, 2009
Posts: 0 Don M
I’m not trying to sell our pitching short.. but Im guessing that If me or you was pitching for the Phillies
our numbers would look better vs. the Padres or Nationals
than they would against the Dodgers, Mets, and RedSox … right?
Posted: 02:48 PM on June 5, 2009
Posts: 0 JeffR
A cheaper alternative in terms of giving up prospects would be Brad Penny. He’s not Halliday, Peavy, Bedard , or Oswalt but he would be a comparable replacement for Myers and give us another rightie. Braves are reportedly interested in Penny and he may not even fit into their rotation. If it would only cost us Donald I would make that deal. Padilla, who just cleared waivers also I would consider.
Posted: 04:09 PM on June 5, 2009
Posts: 0 Manny
The only drawback about running away from the rest of the division this early in the season (still unlikely) is that it could make the Mets or the Braves make a huge move (getting a biggggg “name”) that would be the difference-maker.
But even that may be good thing for the Phillies in the future (if they give up their young talent from the farm).
Posted: 04:21 PM on June 5, 2009