So, Opening Day is two weeks from today, and the Phillies still have six starting pitchers and a woeful bullpen. Adam Eaton (left) has a solution."I don't care what anybody says, we'll go with a six-man rotation," Eaton told me today. "We'll have the freshest arms in baseball."
He was joking, of course. The Phillies either will trade Jon Lieber for bullpen help or they'll put a starter (Lieber or Eaton) in the 'pen. They'd prefer the former, and if you've seen the Phillies' relievers pitch this spring, you know why. One of those relievers, soft-tossing right-hander Justin Germano, was lost today to a waiver claim by the Padres. Germano didn't have options left, so he had to clear waivers before the Phils could send him to the minors.
"At least at this stage, we figured he wasn't going to figure in for us at the outset," assistant GM Ruben Amaro Jr. told me. "We tried to sneak him through waivers. We felt like he had a shot to get through. We would've liked to have him as inventory, but it's kind of a no-harm, no-foul thing for us."
I'm still betting on a trade before the season starts, especially if the Phillies decide they're willing to pay part of Lieber's $7.5 million salary. Like Eaton said, too many teams need pitching for there to not be a market for someone like Lieber.
Night game tomorrow against the Yankees in Tampa. Talk to you then.
5 comments:
I've been enjoying your blog - thanks for the updates. Here's a question for you: why is a six-man rotation shot down whenever I hear about it? Is it one of those baseball rules? Is is a concern about the pitchers getting out of rhythm? Thanks.
Great question, TC.
A six-man rotation isn't against any baseball rules. In fact, it's been used before. But it's very rare because pitchers prefer to throw every fifth day. Having six starters would mean only 20-25 starts for each. And when you have Brett Myers, Cole Hamels and Freddy Garcia in your rotation, you want them making 30-35 starts in a season. So, a six-man rotation isn't really an option for the Phils.
Hey Scott, correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that the Phillies won't even need a 5th starter until mid-April because of off days. If that's the case, wouldn't they go with 4-starters through the first two rotations anyway? That means Eaton and Lieber will either both be in the bullpen or maybe one will stay behind to get a start in Florida in extended spring training.
Set us straight, Scott. By the way, have another grouper sandwich and key lime pie for me.
Hey, Martin: The Phillies won't NEED a fifth starter during the season's first two weeks because of the two off-days (April 3 & April 10). But they'll most likely use five anyway. The thinking is that they have five (six, if you count Lieber) good starters, so why not use them all, especially considering the mileage on Freddy Garcia's arm and the issues Cole Hamels has been facing with his delivery (don't worry: he'll get that straightened out). If they were the Mets, with John Maine, Oliver Perez and unproven Mike Pelfrey at the back of their rotation, they may think of going with four starters and maximizing Tom Glavine's outings. But, right now, the Phillies don't see the need to go that route.
BTW, the grouper was great the other night at Frenchy's.
Hey Scott: Good point, although I would think the Phils would want to maximize Myers' and Hamels' starts at least, especially when they're starting the season with so many games against the NL East and the point has been made about getting off to a good start. Over the long haul, it probably makes sense to save Freddy Garcia. But Freddy could be gone after the season anyway, so you might as well get everything you can out of him.
Thanks for the reply. Don't forget the sunscreen.
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