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JD Durbin Placed On Waivers; Phils Carrying 10 Pitchers

All the talk about JD Durbin being part of the Phillies early bullpen has quickly gone awry â€” the right-hander was placed on waivers today.

Durbin was passable for the Phillies in 2007, going 6-5 with a 5.15 ERA in 64.2 innings. This spring, however, was horrible for Durbin, as he gave up runs almost every time out.

Concerns for Durbin have focused on his mentality â€” he’s a 15-year-old boy in a 26-year-old body. That mentality might be OK for a guy like Brett Myers, who has fantastic stuff, but not for an AAA-quality arm like Durbin.

Durbin’s exit means the Phillies only have 10 pitchers on the Opening Day roster: Brett Myers, Cole Hamels, Jamie Moyer, Kyle Kendrick, Adam Eaton, Chad Durbin, Clay Condrey, JC Romero, Ryan Madson and Tom Gordon. With the Phillies shopping Wes Helms for a possible reliever (Steve Kline was the main target, but supposedly a deal fell apart), the Durbin move could be signaling a transaction is near.

Of course, the Phillies may not be that close. It’s possible they could place Helms and OF Chris Snelling on the Opening Day roster, giving the club 15 hitters. Brad Lidge is set to return April 5, and Francisco Rosario would be back around then too. Adding those two would make Snelling and Helms expendable again, balancing the roster out to 13 and 12.

Either way, the pitching situation is a problem. No pitcher was good enough to break camp, and no transaction made during the offseason fixed the bullpen woes. Now the Phillies have a sticky situation on their hands â€” go outside for an uncertainty or wait out the injured. Both options are potentially rotten.

Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.