Categories: News

Luis Garcia optioned; Morgan and Rodriguez likely win bullpen jobs

The Phillies optioned Luis Garcia to the minor leagues Thursday, which means Adam Morgan and Joely Rodriguez will likely join the club when it travels north to Cincinnati for opening day Monday.

Garcia put up a 5.91 ERA in eight spring games, striking out 11 and walking one. The K/BB numbers are good, and coaches gushed about his high-octane fastball and developing splitter, but the Phils may be opting instead for the two lefties, one who can pitch a couple innings at a time (Morgan), and one who will be asked to get big outs against lefty bats (Rodriguez).

The Phils pitching staff seems set for Cincinnati, barring any last-minute moves. It’s Jeremy Hellickson, Jerad Eickhoff, Clay Buchholz, Vince Velasquez and Aaron Nola in the rotation, then Morgan, Rodriguez, Edubray Ramos, Pat Neshek, Joaquin Benoit, Hector Neris and Jeanmar Gomez in the ‘pen.

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.