Comments on: Romero Activated; Escalona Sent Down To AAA

By: From Section 113

From Section 113 — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:57:31 +0000

Jeff-

The Giants want to rid themselves of Rowand’s contract. We no he can play here. There were no hard feelings when he left.

Yes Werth has nice value to us but he struggles so badly and we are replacing him with another righty who has some power just not speed.

I think we could work out a trade around that. The Giants need middle inf bats. They have Posey and the 1B player. I think ridding the contract of Rowand would allow them to go out in FA and get a player like Hudson in the off-season.

They have pitching in the minors. They need hitting.

I might trade Taylor for Cain (obviously not straight up). We would get 2 yrs of Cain for 6 yrs of Taylor…. But if we won again it would be worth it.

By: Jeff of NoVa.

Jeff of NoVa. — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:16:40 +0000

Section 113m

Not sure that would work, Werth is a much better player for what the Phils do.

If we trade for a frontline Starter, I do not want to give away anyone that is a starter in our 1-8 lineup. It is the best in baseball, why would you want to break that up or disturb that.

If Halladay/Cain is on the market, they could send prospects maybe Blanton, but no starting position players.

I would not really be interested in getting a fill in like Marquis or Washburn.

The prospects that I would say are off limits would be the following
Kyle Drabek
Dominic Brown
Michael Taylor

By: From Section 113

From Section 113 — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:54:10 +0000

Havoc:

How about Cain and Rowand for Werth/Carrasco/Donald/Carpenter/Flande?

Eating the Rowand money might be a way to get Cain cheaper. It does seem a tad light but thinking about the Rowand money kind of tips it more fairly.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:58:01 +0000

Some observations:

Of the two lefthanded relievers, Charlie Manual chose to keep 31 yr old Taschner over Escalona for the obvious reason of experience. Also Taschner did a commendable job in his role with 15 appearances and 20.2 innings for a 3.92 ERA (compared to league average of 4.44 for relievers).

Bastardo when way beyond my expectations with a 102 pitch count and 6 innings. Very impressive first time around. I know a few here are in love with his 94-95 MPH fastball and he used it exclusively last night. However, it remains to be seen how he handles his off speed pitches in future starts. Obviously, given a big lead (Phils scored 4 runs in 1st inning), catcher Ruiz with Dubee’s consent, continuously called for the heater to ease the pressure on Bastardo. As with all Phillies fans, looking forward to his next start and how he will handle tight spots in game situations.

The current rotation is showing consistency that it lacked earlier in the season. Hamels and the rest of the mainstays, Blanton, Moyer and Happ are fulfilling their roles. Dare we say that Bastardo could be that 5th starter the Phillies are looking for? Wouldn’t that be nice? Time will tell. The heart of this rotation that was vital to last season’s World Championship is intact and again leading the way as team goes to a 10 game high over the .500 mark (30-20).

By: Geoff

Geoff — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:29:28 +0000

Well if you got a really good starter in a trade, and you had to pull someone out of the rotation. You not going to pull JA Happ if hes pitching well, not Blanton if he keeps up the good starts, not Bastardo if he improves and pitches well, not Cole obviously. So that leaves Moyer the odd man out.

Youd be CRAZY to pull this kid from the rotation if he keeps pitching well…crazy.

By: Griffin

Griffin — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:14:50 +0000

If Cain gets traded, it’ll be for a major league bat. He’s on 24 and is not due big money so he should cost more than Peavy and Oswalt.

By: christopher

christopher — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:06:45 +0000

moyer will retire as a phillies starting pitcher. get used to it.

as for taschner, he hasn’t been great but he’s been serviceable for sure. i’d rather have escalona probably, but i haven’t been unhappy with jumpin jack at all.

By: Havoc

Havoc — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:56:29 +0000

I’d actually like to see the Phils make a move for Matt Cain on San Fran. I don’t expect them to get Peavey, I don’t think we’d get a fair price on Oswalt, and Halliday is not on the market unless the Jays end up 10 or 12 games out, not to mention he’d cost the farm. I think since San Fran is looking for some bats we might be able to get something done.

By: mikemike

mikemike — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:37:45 +0000

I can’t see Jamie Moyer in the pen. He isn’t at his age used to it, doesn’t throw hard enough to come in to get a lefthander to strike out. Maybe you are right but he isn’t what I would think of as a relief pitchers, unless it’s like park to be used in blowouts and long relief, maybe, but doubt it.

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:31:11 +0000

gabriel, I would love to have Aaron Harang. We wouldn’t have to give up near as much to get him, he’s better than I think your giving him credit for (led the NL in K’s a couple years ago, had a rough year on a terrible team last year but before that went over 230 innings for consecutive seasons and had very solid #2-like numbers), and he’s a great fit for Philadelphia because he’s one of those sinker, keep-the-ball-low guys that we are always saying would thrive at the Cit.

By: Griffin

Griffin — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:25:00 +0000

Damn, I meant “consistent”.

By: Griffin

Griffin — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:22:57 +0000

I think the reason they sent down Escalona was that they wanted to get him consistant work. Taschner doesn’t really have a future in this organization, so they’re less worried about stunting his growth.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:20:25 +0000

But I agree about Moyer..hed be better out of the pen then Jack Taschner

By: Geoff

Geoff — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:14:44 +0000

Dude, get this straight: If somehow the Phillies got Halladay, Cole would be the number 2 behind him. Cole is great, but he hasnt found the consistency that Halladay has in his career yet. Yet…

By: gabriel

gabriel — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:56:16 +0000

i will back bob myers statements all day long…
i also agree that taschner needs to go… along with park. i hate to have a 6 million/year moyer in the pen, but i think that gives us the best chance to win… he got his 2 yrs and 13 mil for being a living local legend. now put him in the pen, or permanently DL him and let him ‘back up’ dubee as a pitching coach asst. we gotta get this thing sewn up so our pitching staff can look legitimate and maybe, just maybe get the team ERA under 5.00…
1) Colebert
2) Halliday
3) Blanton
4) Happ
5) Bastardo
halliday is a longshot but FO did say they are looking for an ‘elite’ starter to replace the original piece of the Redneck Express. I think peavy stays put for the rest of this year and may get moved offseason, i think oswalt would be nice, but will command too many prospects for his actual value… i’ve also heard erik bedard (another lefty!?) or aaron haraang (why?) but here is why halliday makes the most sense for philly…
they need a guy who will compliment coley in the 2 spot, or as i’ll call it if we get roy – spot 1A, a guy who can eat innings (40 complete games since 2001), strike guys out, accumilate wins, and take the pressure off of the pen.
halliday does all of those things. very well to boot. if i’m gonna part with 2 pitching prospects, one of our plethora of corner outfielders (who i selfishly want to keep ALL OF THEM lol) then we may as well get a younger, more durable candidate than the aging oswalt or the primadonna peavy…
i hope they go this route instead of patchworking marquis or someone like that… although marquis probably is a 2 here, he’s a 3 or 4 at best in reality…
ok i’m done now

By: Bob Myers

Bob Myers — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:15:07 +0000

Every time J.C. Romero’s suspension is mentioned, I feel like justice demands that he be defended. He went to great lengths to make sure nothing illegal was in his training supplements. He is a man of great character, one of the Phillies finest just in terms of his character, and I hate it that he gets the label substance abuse. It’s not fair, and it’s not really correct factually.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:13:39 +0000

I would have kept Escalona over Taschner. So maybe there are more moves coming. They need to retool the lesser end of the bullpen a little bit. Taschner could be optioned to the minors and they could add another RH relief arm somehow, because Chan Ho Park sucks. Allowing 4 runs in an inning. They should just release that guy.

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:56:13 +0000

They should release Taschner.

By: M.P. aka Philles Phan SC #54

M.P. aka Philles Phan SC #54 — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:57:48 +0000

Ok, JC is back, fine, now do we need any more southpaws?

By: » Bastardo’s Gem Debut, Ibanez Power Phillies Past Padres | Blogging-Baseball.com

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 09:44:24 +0000

[...] other related news, the Phillies Nation blog reports that lefthanded reliever J.C. Romero, who has been working out in a minor league rehab assignment, [...]