On Happ’s Limited Role
Stephen Miller of the Morning Call released his notebook through his blog, and a little bit about JA Happ came up. He was used late in the game last night and gave up four runs.
Asst. GM Ruben Amaro Jr.:
“If we had our druthers, we’d have him stretched out and pitching every fifth day. Right now, we feel like we’d rather have him pitching in the big leagues than not. At some point, we might change our tune.”
More on Happ from Michael Radano. Same quote, more meat:
“But he’s part of our bullpen. He’s not necessarily a bullpen guy. We view him as a starter. But that’s what we need, and Charlie and (pitching coach Rich Dubee) will use him accordingly.”
Why don’t they just stretch him out and start him? Why does he have to be in the bullpen? Can’t the Phils go with a six-man rotation for a little while? Why not move Brett Myers back to the pen?
Things we’ve all tackled already, but really, Happ is being absolutely wasted in the bullpen as a mop-up guy. He has better composure and stuff than Les Walrond, Clay Condrey and probably Ryan Madson. He might be a better pure pitcher than Kyle Kendrick, Joe Blanton and Jamie Moyer. And here he is, getting work every eight days.
That’s useless.
