Phillies Nation

My questions is what would it take to Jenkins back did he sign with anyone, and would he come back

The problem isn’t a a lack-of-depth.. its a lack-of-playing time..and no the role-players not being able to stay game-sharp

When Bruntlett was playing everyday in Spring training, he was hitting the ball.. now that he never gets to face live pitching, he can’t be expected to perform well when he gets that very rare chance

People wanted to rip Geoff Jenkins head off last year.. eventhough he hit .246, 9 HR, 29 RBI in 293 at-bats

Nobody is ever going to be happy with what we have on the bench.. and like I said before.. there is a reason that these guys are on the bench, not on the field.. your team is made up of 25 players, each with a role.. and Bruntlett is on this team for his defense and versatility.. not his bat.

Mayberry wouldn’t fare any better in the same role, i’d imagine he would actually be worse, as he would grow extremely frustrated with his lack of playing time

…
Remember 3 weeks ago when everyone bitched about Miguel Cairo being the worst player of all-time??

well in AAA, he’s hitting .375 in 14 games (56 ABs).. 2 HR, 9 RBI, 11 Runs scored, 2 Stolen Bases (.536 SLG%) … its funny how that happens when guys get regular at-bats

Jenkins hasn’t signed with anyone because he stinks, He’s stickly a corner outfield and not even a very good one. Plus we have enough LH bats on the bench…. I’d love Sarge Jr. on this team but the Angels would have to eat 85-90% of his contract. He’s a great fielder can run and is switch hitter. He’d be a great 4th OF on this team. I thought Charlie should’ve of rested Vic in one of those Nationals games on the last home stand. It was just a case of bad timing, they would’ve sent Taschner down and kept Mayberry if Vic went down a day earlier.

Who knows maybe there is somebody who could get DFA’ed. Dellucci did last week but he’s alot like Jenkins.. can’t run, corner OF, that bats LH…. plus he can’t hit anymore either

we need sheffield!

i think we all need to calm down a bit.

Dobbs has been coming around lately.
Stairs is Stairs.
Brunt is a very useful player off the bench
Coste can give Chooch a rest

these guys have the 2nd best record in the majors, the best record on the road and a 4 game lead.

why are we trying to find problems?

the rotation is just about back to what we all thought it would be thanks to the young guns.

The pen is stellar again.

The defense is the best in the game

and the offense scores a shit load of runs, and as we saw last night they can do it without the long ball.

once they get going at home, these guys are gonna run away and hide by about 10 games.

lets enjoy this winning streak (on the line tonight with Jamie)

no NL team scares me.
Not the Dodgers (Manny or no Manny)
Not the Mets
Not the Brewers
Not the Cards

the Phils are the class on the NL

I’d like Marlon Byrd or how about Ryan Spilborghs? The Rockies called up Carlos Gonzalez today so their OF just got really crowed. But I think these guys will cost more then what Ruben is willing to part with for someone who is just gonna be a part time player.

the phils desperately need a 4th or 5th outfielder who is a right handed bat off the bench with some pop. for now, that guy has to be John Mayberry Jr. He certainly gives you a lot more than bruntlett does. Defensively as well as more pop in his bat.

I was on Bruntlett’s case all last year because of his bat. But I’ve opened myself up to the fact that he is a VERY SOLID HARD-NOSED player who will give you 110% ALL THE TIME. He hit like crazy in Spring Training so that proves the regular at-bat theory which he’s not going to get unless there are multiple injuries. So we all need to just accept the fact that he is there primarily for his defense…..and right now with this team……that’s ok.

C’mon… no need to get our panties in a bunch. I’ll admit that I’m not a Brunt fan… he’s a poor man’s Nick Punto… but if our RH utility guy is our worst problem, I can live with that. I would rather see Mayberry with the club… why does he need to play every day? The kid is athletic and he’s a pedigree; he’s not going to lose his ability to shag balls in the outfield and he’s a guy that seems to relish those spur of the moment opportunities (he was awesome at the beginning of ST and he was pretty good during his callup… a guy that lives for that one opportunity sounds like a pinch hitter to me). Keep him around and see what he’s got in that role.

While we’re complaining about minor issues like the 4th outfielder, I’d like to put in a complaint about the Paulino-Jaramillo (sp?) trade. :)

Don, I was joking – guess it wasn’t funny.

I took it seriously.. because right now.. Jaramillo would look like a really good backup-catcher option to Ruiz

not to complain about Coste. b/c he can’t be expected to rock the ball if he never gets any at-bats either..

Jaramillo hit his first carerr MLB HR against Jo-Who Santana the other night

Stairs or Dobbs make fine replacement outfielders against a RH starter, but the Phils could use someone a bit better than Bruntlett off the bench to face lefties. Its not like this is a new need though, Vic going down just emphasizes it.

I’d love to have Cody Ross also but I’d be afraid whatever mediocre prospect(s) we gave up for him would turn into superstars for the Marlins to destory us with year after year….the marlins can scout!!

I read the Braves almost dealt for him before they got Mclouth so he is available.

Are you guys F’ing kidding me? Why would we go after another OF in the situation were in? Were already over our heads in payroll. Right now we NEED to adress our pitching… And none the less you want JENKINS back? Thats almost as funny as wanting Eaton back. We have an outfielder who is ready and waiting to become our everyday RF…His name is John Mayberry Jr. I’m still confused to know why the hell Manuel has let Werth struggle this long, without calling Mayberry up to take his place…To be honest I was expecting to see him in the lineup since last week. I know Manuel wants to wait until the Jays series to bring him up, but right now is not the time to ”overlook” and continue to give ”second chances” to Werth…Bench his ass

Chris, I hate to burst your bubble but Werth actually had a good game last night and you are basing your assumption that Mayberry would be a better option on the fact that he had a good spring training (as Bruntlett and Park did) and that he hit a nice home run and a bloop double against the Yankees. That’s it. Meanwhile, Werth was an integral part of our WFC team and has already done many positive things this year (although almost none of them have come in the last 2-3 weeks).

We need Werth to be on this team and producing to win another Series and permanently benching him does no good. If Chollie wants to sit him for a few games then fine but you can’t just permanently take him out of the lineup.

bruntlett is more like the 6th outfielder behind Dobbs/Stairs and general overall utility guy being primary back-up at 2B/SS…so really this discussion is about the #6 OF. He fills the role nicely allowing the phils more flexibility in their bullpen by carrying an extra arm if they need it as he can back-up anywhere on the field except C. phils depth in the OF is solid, as you’ve got the offense in Stairs/dobbs and the D with Bruntlett. few teams have an all-star caliber guy as their #6 OF’er. Jenkins? Stairs/Dobbs are the LH guys off the bench, Jenkins would be lucky to gt 50 AB’s on the year on this team in ’09 with Stairs here full year hence why he was waived. If any of the OF’ers go on the DL, Mayberry will get the call and start against LH’s with Stairs/dobbs against RH’s…there is zero need for a trade or to pick up a guy off waivers…and Mayberry doesn’t need to be sitting around getting one start every two weeks, he is available in AAA if victorino/Werth/Ibanez go on the DL. there is no point for this topic or discussion.

I think what Chris.I meant was give Werth acouple days off against righties and let Mayberry play acouple of those games while he was struggling. I myself was confused about that, they didn’t send him down after the Yankees series, yet they didn’t play him once at all, and let him pinch hit once? If he was sitting on the bench and Werth couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat, why didn’t Mayberry get a couple starts?

Its very simple. Cut Bruntlett and bring up Mayberry. So simple. Bruntlett has to be the worst hitter I have ever seen in my entire 37 year old life. He is worst then Hamels at the plate. Just aweful.

Well Little Guy his words were “We have an outfielder who is ready and waiting to become our everyday RF…His name is John Mayberry”.

That seems like he was looking for more of a permanent switch.

Miles: Oh, then i disagree, no way you can bench Werth. I mean it wouldn’t of hurt to play Mayberry when Werth was basically an automatic out during his slump, but i think he’s starting to stir a little and he’s needed to be the big right-handed bat in the lineup..

Why not go out and sign Moises Alou for the league minimum. He was holding out for more money and years this off-season and never got it. He’ll give us steller offensive numbers for 40-50 games before getting hurt, but you know he’ll bat around .320 with production.

Who knows? Maybe even as a reserve, he might last the rest of the season.

I wrote this post half-jokingly, but doesn’t it kind of make sense?

Overall I agree with Bill that we shouldn’t be killing ourselves over this. It just happened to work out that Vic couldn’t play last night and the Dodgers were throwing a lefty who’s very good against other lefties. We weren’t going to make a roster move for one game so Bruntlett had to play.

He ended up making a good play in the outfield, and things could have been much worse. If Vic goes on the DL, Bruntlett will obviously not be the solution, however.

Sorry Miles but you didn’t burst my bubble one bit…No matter what any of you guys say, nothing is going to change the fact that he’s struggling. He did come through for us lastnight, and even the night before, but he still needs to sit out for a few games to clear his head and work on his swing. In the meantime…Mayberry can get a few Major leauge AB’s before we head into the Jays series.