Nightcap report: Phils will pick up Erye's salary

Lefty Scott Eyre is owed about $1.2 million for the rest of the season.

Just a few notes to pass along. According to one Chicago newspaper blog, the Phils are on the hook for Eyre’s deal, as mentioned. Brian Schlitter, who was sent to Chicago, is a local product. To clear space for newly acquired reliever Scott Eyre, the Phils will probably option left-hander J.A. Happ back to Triple-A. That's a guess, and it seems to be everyone's guess. The Phillies value Happ as a starter, and he’s ready for the Majors, but there’s no room for him with the current setup. He’s back on standby in case he’s needed in the rotation. If he can finish strong the last few weeks at Triple-A, it’s gravy. Les Walrond, the other candidate for demotion, would maintain the slop up role as they ease Eyre into the mix.

Today, Ruben Amaro briefed the media on the Phillies injury situation. On Tom Gordon, who was taken out of Wednesday’s rehab start in Clearwater with elbow discomfort, Amaro said “We’re not optimistic.” Coming from Amaro, it says a lot. Considering the elbow and preexisting labrum tear, the 40-year-old’s career could be over, at least in Philadelphia. Meanwhile, Pedro Feliz (back) has reportedly shown improvement, but is still on the mend.

Comments

[NEPhilliesPhan]

What about Walrond? Why the hell would we keep him on the roster?

[NEPP]

Have I mentioned how disgusted I am that the Phillies didn't make a claim on Giles? A good (albeit lefthanded) bat who is hitting both lefties and righties really well this year and batting .318 away from Petco and .297 overall...He's also killing lefties this year with a .834 OPS against them in around 140 ABs. I am so completely disgusted by them right now on that front.

On Eyre, why not. Other than money, he's basically a free upgrade to a bullpen that's starting to show strain. Hopefully he's remembers he's a decent LOOGY and helps them out.

[NEPP]

Eyre ERA+:

05: 162
06: 137
07: 113
08: 63

Clearly the belief is that if he's healthy now, he can be more of the 2007 or 2006 version of himself as opposed to his horrible start to the year. I don't understand why anyone would be against this trade. We didn't give up a legit prospect (Schlitter was an organizational filler guy, nothing more) and we finally spent some money.

[philsphan]

I agree that Happ should be a starter, but I would rather have him in the bullpen than Walrond. Seanez should be coming back soon as well, although I don't know what to expect from him. He will probably be more helpful than Gordon at this point. Despite Eyre's bad ERA, he could end up really helping this team. Or he could hurt an already weakened bullpen. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

[bay_area_phan]

NEPP: Eyre reminds me a little too much of Jose Mesa -- an old pitcher at the very end of his career. There's certainly nothing about his performance this year that inspires confidence.

That said, I don't find the trade terribly objectionable. Odds are about 75% that he'll be terrible, but they didn't give anything up and it's not like he'll be taking the roster spot of someone significant. My real objection is not to Scott Eyre, but to the fact that Gillick didn't go after a bat.

[clout]

My guess is that Walrond goes, not Happ. That would be the smart move, anyway.

To give Schlitter his due, he has been a surprise, showing excellent K/BB and K/IP ratios both last season and this. But he is a college pitcher and thus more advanced (and older) than his competition in the Sally and Fla. State leagues. Plus he's got a 95 mph fastball and nothing else. Fine for Class A, less fine for AA and suicide in The Show. He'll need to develop some secondary pitches to ever taste the big leagues and forecasting that is impossible.

[clout]

BAP: Key stats on Eyre: .259 BA and .286 OB vs. LH hitters. You don't want him even looking at a righty hitter, however.

[bay_area_phan]

clout: That was pretty much my thought too, and that's why I'm not really too keen on the pick-up. The notion of a guy who will only face left-handers is a notion that exists only in the fantasy-world of Beerleaguers. In the real world, there's no such thing as a guy who can be completely shielded form right-handed batters.

Lou Piniella knows how to handle his bullpen a lot better than Cholly does, yet even with Piniella calling the shots, Eyre has seen plenty of action against right-handers over the last couple of seasons. And he has been horrendous against them.

[bay_area_phan]

I can't remember who it was (RSB maybe?), who said that the Phillies' bullpen has gotten along pretty well without a LOOGY this year. That's pretty much how I feel on the subject. I'm far less concerned about having only one left-hander in the pen than I am with the fact that Durbin, Madson & Romero are being over-worked because our 5th, 6th & 7th relievers are terrible. Adding a pure LOOGY like Eyre will do virtually nothing to ease the burden on our 3 setup guys.

[Dave X]

His career numbers are nice, but he hasn't exactly been murder on lefties the past 3 years, and given his age, that's important. My guess is that they are just doing this so that Happ can go down and get starts. Eyre can be used as a 6th inning situational guy or something.

[MG]

Eyre is here because it is the right $ price. Just as Blanton is. The Phils weren't willing to trade for a guy like Bradford because that meant adding nearly $5M this year and next. Same goes for Giles and his $6M price tag.

[Steve Jeltz]

BAP: "There's certainly nothing about his performance this year that inspires confidence."

Well, there is this:

"Eyre was let go by the Cubs less than two months after setting the franchise record with 33 consecutive scoreless innings."

If that happens again, this will be a pretty shrewd pickup.

But, yeah, I doubt that happens again. Considering we didn't give up much, as long as he takes major league innings away from Walrond this move is probably a net plus. The pen needed some reinforcement (especially if Gordon is done). This isn't a major move but probably a helpful one.

[MG]

That is where I distinguish between my frustration - a team/manager that have had their ups/downs but are largely about where you would expect.

What is tough to stomach is the strong support this team is getting from the fan base (this team is on pace to set AN ALL-TIME FRANCHISE RECORD FOR ATTENDANCE at over 3.4M) and the sheer unwillingness of this team to spend an extra few million to acquire a player who would provided some help down the stretch.

BTY - That 3.4M attendance figure would be over 300k over last year. Being even very conservative at $50 dollars in revenue per fan (and when you factor in food/parking/merchanise) it is likely much higher this means this teams is earning at least another $15M from the gate.

Gets tough to watching the same scenario play out over the past several years at this time.

[MG]

BAP is right on the money too about why a guy like Taguchi is even on this roster yet too. I find it impossible to believe that there isn't a single veteran OF available who would represent an upgrade for the final 2 months. If the Phils had a viable candidate to bring up, I would favor that approach but there isn't a single one in this organization (yes this includes Golson).

[Inside/Outside the Parker]

Phillies have scored 3 or fewer runs in 45 games this season according to the Brett Favre Sports Network. They have won 9 of these games. I wonder how that stacks up against the rest of the league?

[Steve Jeltz]

MG: The thing is you can DFA Taguchi and you really don't need to bring up another OF. Besides Vic/Burrell/Werth/Jenkins, Dobbs and Bruntlett could man the corner spots as well. That's 6 potential OFs and if you really got into a pinch in an extra inning game, I'm sure Coste has seen sometine in the OF in the minors at some point.

If I were the Phils, I'd DFA Taguchi tomorrow and bring up Jamarillo. I know he's only hitting like .260 but at this point I wouldn't mind seeing him get a few of Ruiz's starts to see what he can do. More importantly, it would at least free up Coste to PH more often because you wouldn't have to worry so much about using the 2nd catcher.

[CoachJMB23]

Hey guys going to my first phillies game on August 22nd with my GF, and we are staying for 2 night, Is there anything we have to do in the park or outside?? We are seating in Harry the K's any comments on that part??

[timr]

Yeah, they obviously need more help with the offense. A LOOGY is nice and all, but games like yesterday happen all too frequently. DFA Taguchi, hell, DFA Jenkins, just get someone who can swing the bat a little.

[king0fprussia]

Who else other than Giles (who of course is now claimed) might be available? Yes, I'm sure there must be some OF guys better than SoBad Taguchi, but are there any quality guys not on a team in a race? Case in point: I don't think David Delucci would be the answer to the prayers...

[GM-Carson]

Although Happ has proven himself in the minors in my opinion, I'd rather keep him starting than this irregular relief gig he's currently got with the Phils. I still think Gillick will try to get another reliever and then bye-bye Walrond.

[GM-Carson]

As you can see, negatives are abound with this team. As an obsessive over-the-top fan that writes a blog I feel I've become hypercritical of the Phillies. I love the Phillies, even when I "hate" them, I still love them. As a kid, the Phils were typically pretty bad, aside from '93 of course, and I just enjoyed them because they were my team and I loved watching baseball. They had losing season after losing season and were never really in contention. As I got older I still loved watching them and just hoped for the day they would break the .500 barrier. That year happened in 2001 and I was ecstatic. Then I wanted more, I wanted playoffs, and for the next handful of seasons they flirted with the NL East division lead and/or Wild Card, but came up empty handed. 2007 was the season it finally happened, and I was thrilled to be a playoff team, I honestly didn't care that they were swept by the Rockies. Now here we are in 2008, the Phils are in 1st place, and I have the audacity to say they "suck" and rant and rave about everything that is wrong with them. It's time I appreciate what I have, which is a team playing winning baseball that is competitive and actually has a damn good chance at making the playoffs this season. I'm not saying being a detractor is wrong, because that's a way of venting frustration and can often be humorous, but I needed to say this today...they're still in 1st place.

[thethird]

I predict Schlitter will have a long major league career and Eyre doesnt pitch past this year. Philadelphia is where shot pitchers go to die.

[donc]

Well said Carson.

[donc]

BTW: Why is Peter Frampton's high school graduation picture included above?

[Andy]

Carson - Nice reality check.

I reserve the right to bitch later.

[Andy]

donc - Exactly. That's why Happ needs to stick around - his inimitable good looks. Imagine the batter's terror when he looks up and sees a grinning maniac beaming down at him from the big screen. He'll want to swing at the first pitch and dive back into the dugout.

Genius; sheer genius!

[mike cunningham]

@donc -- I thought it was the next Doctor Who.

[mike cunningham]

@MG -- The Rays claimed Bradford. The preference for waiver wire claims go through the player's league first. Then to the other league.

Even if the Phillies made a claim on him, we had no shot. That said, I'm sure there are other guys of Bradford's caliber going through waivers as we speak or will in the next day or to. Let's save the FO bashing for when it actually makes sense.

Like Brian Giles. The fact that they did not claim him is curious. Even with both on the books for next year, there's no reason that either wouldn't have some trade value in a package that they could get rid of him. My guess is that Jenkins and the Brewers would welcome him back as a good will, I want to finish my career with the Brewers.

But as it has been stated many times, a guy like Brian Giles would help the bottom order of this lineup. We kill the big guys for not coming through, but last year we had a fairly stable OPS+ 1 through 8 last year. That allowed us to turn the lineup over and over. Right now the black hole we have is worse than Bell and Lieberthal... at least it feels like it.

[Inside/Outside the Parker]

Carson: Good points. OTOH, if the Phils get 1 hit by Paul Maholm again tonight, I will not be so pleased with simply being in first place, or at the very least, it will not be that comforting.

[Brian]

The funny thing about Giles is next year is a club option... he can be bought out for 3 mil... its ashame this FO won't spring any money for this club.... Mr. Schnieder please buy the Phillies...

[Mick O]

Just a note on Giles from my own So. Cal experience: He's never had a meaningful at-bat in his life and that's the way he likes it. He blocked the trade to the Red Sox because he doesn't want to leave the beach lifestyle in San Diego, even for a few-month run to win it all. He's the antithesis of a competitor. He's the opposite of clutch. All my Padre fan pals can't stand him and are dying for him to leave.