In true Phillies spring fashion, Hamels has setback

Cole Hamels' scheduled throwing session Thursday was canceled because of arm fatigue. Hamels was scheduled to throw batting practice, but instead needs to "step back and start over," according to CSNPhilly.com.

Hamels wasn't going to be ready for Opening Day, but now it looks doubtful that he'll pitch in April. 

"April is the last thing I want to think about right now," Hamels told reporters. "I would say, right now, we’re just taking it day by day. Ultimately I just want to get back out and get on the mound and see how I’m going to fare there."

If Hamels is out for an extended period of time -- and right now, it's hard to see any way he returns quickly -- the signing of A.J. Burnett morphs from an added bonus for the Phillies to a 1-for-1 swap at the top of the rotation. 

Hamels has said he's lost weight and strength and that his arm is tired, not in pain. 

“I felt good when I threw my last bullpen [Saturday], everything was great,” Hamels said. “But later that day and the next day, my arm felt fatigued. After 35 pitches, my body felt like I had thrown 1,000.

“I’ve been pushing everything I can to get ready and get back, and I pushed a little too hard. I wasn’t able to recover the way I have to.”

Hamels added that neither an MRI nor a cortisone shot has been deemed necessary.

The Phillies won't need a fifth starter until mid-April, but this now means that they likely must turn to either Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez, David Buchanan, Sean O'Sullivan or Jeff Manship for some late-April starts. That is, unless Jonathan Pettibone or Ethan Martin are recovered from their own arm issues in time.

Hamels joins Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Roy Halladay and Brad Lidge as Phillies in the last few years who've suffered spring training setbacks.

Comments

[Dickie Thong]

> "He lost I think maybe 10 or 15 pounds"

Maybe he contracted Dengue Fever from Halladay.

[Cyclic]

If I'm a Yankees fan, I'm waiting to form my opinion of Tanaka until I see him face a real live MLB team.

[Phillibuster]

Freddy mashes a Tanaka fat pitch. He's tossed out a few of those, but he's gotten mostly called strikes on first pitches with them.

[Phillibuster]

First batter took a lot of pitches, but Papelbon looked acceptable. Gave up a steal but he missed barrels and his fastball rose up and over the bat of the 3rd out.

[LorecorE]

Byrd having a good start to spring is a little encouraging just because of how up/down his last few seasons have been.

[Cyclic]

Anybody clock Papelbon on radar? Or did Obama take away that gun too?

[Phillibuster]

No radar guns on the broadcasts thus far. AtBat might have one, but I don't know how accurate the ST ones are anyway.

[Phillibuster]

Utley pressing a bit. 2 Ks in as many ABs.

[Phillibuster]

Could just be due to pitchers not having a lot of break on their pitches yet, but Howard has been looking more patient with the off-speed stuff this Spring (not in every PA, but generally so).

He's also been taking more balls to left or center.

[Phillibuster]

Byrd showing an OK eye too. Or guessing on the low stuff and getting lucky.

[Phillibuster]

Brown looking - surprisingly - a little better on his routes in left too. Had a nice sliding catch he had to come in for earlier, and I haven't seen him over-correct too much yet.

Spring's young, though.

[Cyclic]

This is the guy Seidman thinks could be a dark horse to take Hamels' rotation spot.

"A dark horse candidate for the job is spring training invitee Mario Hollands, a 6-foot-5 lefty who's thrown two scoreless innings in Florida. He has a 3.93 ERA in 405 1/3 minor-league innings since being drafted in the 10th round by the Phillies in 2010 out of UC Santa Barbara."

[bay_area_phan]

"Who does the Beerleaguer consensus like for Hamels' replacement?

A) Buchanan
B) Manship
C) O'Sullivan
D) Other (please specify)"

Buchanan and Hollands have barely pitched above AAA, and Manship stunk at AAA last year. O'Sullivan's the front-runner by default.

[Phillibuster]

He's nibbling a lot. His stuff looks good against lefties, but I can see him issuing lots of walks vs. RHB.

And of course, as I say that he gives up a double to Jeter.

[Phillibuster]

Brown makes very ill-advised steal attempt. Out by a foot at least.

[Phillibuster]

Chooch catches a fastball high in the zone and gets under it just enough.

[Phillibuster]

JMJ trying to strike himself out on fewer than 3 pitches.

[Cyclic]

Nice to see Dom at least trying to swipe bags.

[Phillibuster]

Then sends a souvenir out to the tiki lounge. Crushed one about thigh-high and a little inside.

[Phillibuster]

Vs. RHP, no less.

[Phillibuster]

Pitcher lost the zone. Can't tell if he's shaken by back-to-back homers vs. same-handed bats, or he's just wild-ish in general.

[Cyclic]

We can all agree RFD homers in ST are bad, right?

[Phillibuster]

Brignac the first guy this inning to get the low strike called. Backwards K.

[bay_area_phan]

Mayberry's strong spring training is starting to piss me off.

[Phillibuster]

Galvis must've been admonished to take some more pitches. He saw a fat one on strike one, then swung at one dipping out of the zone.

Next two deep inside, hard not to take. Ends up punched out on a changeup or slider (poor resolution and choppiness here) that slipped back into the zone from inside.

[Phillibuster]

Hollands serves up a fat one high in the zone, lucks out. Both on the first and 3rd pitch of the AB.

[kells]

in a shocking turn of events TMAC has actually learned to shut up today. Comcast execs must be reading Beerleaguer. In the 5th-there was 2 pitches without commentary. I'm assuming this was a mic malfunction.

[Phillibuster]

Soriano fooled pretty well on low and outside stuff. Hard to blame it on Hollands, but I'll give him credit for putting the pitches there.

[Phillibuster]

I'd say he looks like a LOOGY, but he's got more stamina than that, apparently. Hollands looks like an ok 5th reliever. His fastballs aren't particularly fast, his breaking balls don't drop much, but he used lateral movement effectively.

[Phillibuster]

Leroux gets favorable call on first pitch (outside). Frandsen slow.

[Phillibuster]

In other news, cows large; gnats not.

[Phillibuster]

I never root for anyone to get injured, but a Frandsen DL trip to start the season could be a blessing.

[Cyclic]

Asche continues to impress

[Phillibuster]

Asche fooled on inside stuff. One of his worst ABs this Spring.

[Phillibuster]

Howard standing a little far off the plate, but his bat's able to reach everything in the zone apparently.

Pretty fair AB, turns into a single.

[Phillibuster]

Both Howard and Byrd showing pretty good eyes this game. Lotta 2-0 counts.

[Phillibuster]

Correction. Byrd showing a good eye on things not high and inside. 2 in a row had him hacking at something he'd only break his bat on.

[Phillibuster]

Awkward route #1 for Brown.

[Dickie Thong]

T-Mac is in mid season form.

[Cyclic]

'buster-- Why are we watching this?

[Phillibuster]

Because bad baseball is better than no baseball.

Also, I'm at work, but already finished 95% of the productive stuff I can do today.

[Phillibuster]

PADDR alert.

Also, Byrd's got a pretty fair cannon in that right arm. Probably would have gotten him at home if it had been about 3 feet lower.

[Cyclic]

Good answer.

[Phillibuster]

Make that 1 foot lower.

[Cyclic]

It was Castro in RF

[bittel]

Can't decide on Mayberry. If he has a big spring, maybe the Pirates or Yanks might take him off our hands?

[Phillibuster]

Horst started out looking meh, has progressed down from there.

[Phillibuster]

Thanks Cyclic. Have to watch with sound off here, so I don't get all the changes.

[Phillibuster]

Sandberg's seen enough.

[Cyclic]

Classic Horst sh!t

[Phillibuster]

Maybe not?

On an unrelated note, Mayberry doesn't look like a terrible CF when he doesn't have to move laterally.

[Phillibuster]

Marson rolled over on a gift pitch, should have turned it into 2 bags - instead grounds out weakly.

[bay_area_phan]

For no particular rational reason, I actually thought Aumont might show up and pitch well in spring training, thereby forcing his way onto the opening day roster. So much for that . . .

[Phillibuster]

Sandberg calling defense in. Bowa throwing up the stop sign right next to him.

This should be fun.

[Cyclic]

It's all Dubee's fault

[Phillibuster]

I feel like you should just use Aumont whenever you want to intentionally walk a batter. He'll take longer, thereby giving whomever is next more time to warm up, and if you're lucky the guy will swing at the stuff and strike himself out.

[bay_area_phan]

Philli: But you probably wouldn't want to intentionally walk anyone with the bases empty. And if someone's on base, Aumont is going to throw a WP.

[Phillibuster]

BAP: So you only do it when Miguel Cabrera leads off an inning.

[bay_area_phan]

Philli: Or Chris Davis.

[Phillibuster]

Wow. It's impressive to ground out 4 times in a single ST game. Frandsen gets a tip of the cap, and hopefully a trade to an NLW team in exchange for a 30-year-old AA reliever.

[MG]

So Aumont is in a spot where he needs to make a couple of pitches and he fails 3 times.

Dubee basically thought Aumont was a loser and it is hard not to think otherwise.

[Phillibuster]

Why do I get the feeling those "group value dates" will turn into Groupons pretty quick?

[Phillibuster]

Dubee may not have been the best pitching coach in baseball, but he definitely seemed to get a lot more scorn and ire than he deserved.

I can hope McClure has a different pitch to teach as well as he did with the changeup.

[MG]

Horst has looked like crap this spring and nowhere near the guy who was so good at times in '12.

Nothing fastball at 88-89 and a so-so slider. He'll open the year at T-AAA and just a question of whether or not he makes the first roster cuts in 2 weeks.

[MG]

Papelbon's velocity has been a bit up from where it in Sept (supposedly 92-93 today) which is a good sign.

Bastardo has also supposedly looked good too but the Phils middle relief to me so far this spring looks like the same underwhelming arms they have had the past few years. Don't have enough guys who can throw strikes consistently or have a MLB-caliber offspeed pitch.

[Phillibuster]

JDF not looking terrible, but he's up against the scrubs for the most part.

Also, he's having trouble getting his curveball to curve. Right now it's just a ball.

[Phillibuster]

Ack! Blue Mac Group!

[Phillibuster]

Asche lines hard out but right to 3rd.

[Phillibuster]

Ugh. Ruf showing signs of late last year. Pulling ahead in the count, waiting his way back to even again, then swinging at off-speed slop out of the zone.

[Phillibuster]

Castro breaking his knees every time he watches the ball sink out of the zone, but holding up the bat.

Then chases something a foot above the zone, popped out shallow.

[RichD]

We won't see Hamels at all this year. I think they'll keep Lee but trade Burnett at the break for essentially junk. This feels like 1996-2000 all over again. Lots of empty blue seats at the Bank this summer. FIRE AMARO NOW!!!!!

[Dickie Thong]

FREE AMARO!*

* from his duties as GM.

[Meyer]

Bowa's looking cranky lately.

[clout]

DPat's sources tell me the secret MRI shows the inside of Hamels should looks like a plate of fettucini Alfredo.

[clout]

Shoulder. Autocorrect apparently doesn't recognize that as a word.

[clout]

Philli: Not to worry. Castro has more tools than Sears Craftsman.

[Phillibuster]

Clout: Ah, but do they come with the 100% lifetime warranty (unless it's a tape measure, in which case the blade and hook aren't covered) like them?

[Phillibuster]

Also, if Hamels ate pasta for dinner last night, I agree that the inside of him should look like a plate of fettuccine alfredo.

[clout]

Phili: you seem to be suggesting that Ruf's 250 ABs last season might be too small a sample size to suggest what he'll do going forward. As you know, NEPP, BAP and numerous other posters here have said that's not possible. Ruf will be better than Burrell and Ibanez.

[clout]

Asche's glove will never be beet than mediocre. To be a viable everyday 3Bman he'll need to hit 15-20 HRs a year. He's among the the more interesting stories this spring.

[clout]

How can I turn off autocorrect? Be more than was corrected to beet.

[Cyclic]

clout-- Of the Phillies current bench options, who has a better chance of improving the offense than Ruf?

[Delaware Avenue]

Asche doesn't really stand out to me at all. Might end up being a nice player. But that's about it.

But Franco just has that "look" about him. And the Phillies will probably end up d1cking around with him for the next couple of years and then end up trading him...and then he'll be a stud somewhere else and it will come back to haunt us.

[clout]

I want Ruf on the team I just don't think he's the star you and numerous others think he is.

[Cyclic]

I don't think more than 2 Phillies will hit 20+ HRs in 2014.

[clout]

If one of them is Asche then that's a big positive. If not, they need to move on.

[Cyclic]

He's probably not a "star", but it's utterly ridiculous to me that on a team starved of offense, we won't get the chance to find out.

[clout]

DelAve: Franco someday will hit .300 with 25-30 HR. He may also be the slowest runner in baseball.

[clout]

Frandsen is the guy who needs to get cut. You need Ruf as a legit power threat off the bench.

[Delaware Avenue]

clout, I just hope that the .300/25-30 is in red pinstripes. But why do I have this feeling that it won't?...

[bay_area_phan]

Can Frandsen be optioned?

[PLM]

I dont follow all the ins and outs of the Phillies. However, I knew something was afoot from day one. This has been typical Phillies tomfoolery for the past few years. How can a so called athlete who just turned 30 be fatigued after 30 some odd pitches. This is just a shot in the dark could Hamels come to camp "not in shape".

[MG]

Cyclic - Not a stretch at all. Brown was the only one last year and the various projections have Brown, Ruf, and Howard (discounting Oliver) as being the ones who hit 20+ HRs.

Oliver has Byrd as hitting 24 HRs if he plays a full season but I would take their numbers with a grain of salt.

Don't see the Phils even equaling their HR total from last year (140) especially if Revere plays all year in CF and they don't have Ruf's power.

Here is a breakdown by position and Phils rank last year (NL):

C: 16 (10th)
1B: 30 (t-3rd)
2B: 29 (t-1st)
SS: 7 (t-11th)
3B: 20 (t-7th)
LF: 27 (8th)
CF: 13 (t-10th)
RF: 37 (4th)

Everyone talks about Howard's return being key to more power but the Phils got 30 HRs out of various people at 1B last year.

Hard to see the Phils getting much more power out of Brown in LF and Byrd isn't going to get close to 37 HRs last year. As underwhelming as their overall offensive numbers were in RF last year, power wasn't an issue with 14 HRs from Ruf, 11 from Mayberry, and 8 from D. Young.

Hard to see them getting 16 HRs again at C since Chooch will have below double digit and Nieves has no power.

When you look at that list the only position you might expect a bit of a power boost is at SS if JRoll gets back into double-digit territory but it still will likely be very modest.

[Phillibuster]

Frandsen cannot be optioned. However, I agree he probably needs to go. JMJ at least has some positional value in addition to a one-side-of-the-plate bat (I don't think he's as good as 2011, or as bad as 2013), and they both serve the same bench bat capacity (capable of power against LHP).

Frandsen just wins the iron glove award at all positions but 2nd... And he's not good enough there either.

[MG]

Whole Hamels thing stinks regal as details leaked out today.

Hamels is utterly fatigued after what is basically a very limited off day side session (~30 pitches) and has lost 10-15 pounds this offseason?

More and more it looks like this team is going to endure the kind of painful rebuilding process the Mets had to endure after Minaya left in '10. 3-5 rebuilding process filled with a bunch of ~75 win max teams and a team that maybe truly competitive again towards the end of the decade.

[Meyer]

Freddy should be able to hit 16 if he gets 650 AB's.

[Meyer]

Hamels is no fool or a modern day Warren Spahn. He's saving his arm for 2018.

[Meyer]

Six hits and a loss again today plus a rainout. Phillies split a doubleheader.

[MG]

Frandsen has hit LHP well the last 2 years but he doesn't bring another MLB-level skill really.

Frandsen was a guy the Phils should have given a minor league contract/major league contract and had to win a roster spot in ST. If he got a guaranteed MLB deal from another team, the Phils should have let him walk.

[BobbyD]

Hamles' upside this season is 20 starts with a 4.50 ERA.