Archive: March, 2009
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
One of the big requirements of this job is the ability to process a massive amount of information in a minimal amount of time, all while blogging, twittering, and doing phone interviews for Daily News Live (shout out to Barkann!). Some days it is manageable, even fun. Others, you feel the need for a debriefing session. So, let's debrief, and try to make some sense of everything that has happened.
1) I connected with Gary Sheffield's agent earlier this evening. The Phillies folks I talked to today seemed unsure of their chances of landing the future Hall of Famer. The situation here is not ideal for a guy like Sheffield. He wouldn't have the luxury of serving as a designated hitter, he would have to pinch-hit, which he has only done 34 times in his career, and his chance for playing time would seem to be less than with other teams that may have interest. That said, Sheffield's agent, Rufus Williams, said the Phillies are on the list of candidates to land Sheffield, and that the talk he had with Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. earlier today was "productive."
2) The Phillies would like to add a right-handed bat with more power than Miguel Cairo provides. Former Braves star Andruw Jones, whom they reached out to earlier this offseason before he signed with the Rangers, is another possibility besides Sheffield. But again, Jones would likely have options where he would have a better chance for regular at-bats, assuming he does not wind up sticking with Texas.
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
Sorry, but something got lost in translation between here and Clearwater. Chan Ho Park has been named the Phillies' fifth starter. But lefthander J.A. Happ's future is still up in the air. He will be one of four pitchers competing for two spots in the bullpen. The others are righthanders Gary Majewski and Robert Mosebach and lefthander Jack Taschner.
Park has a Grapefruit League ERA of 2.53. He’s struck out 25, while walking only two, in 21 1/3 innings.
Happ has as ERA of 3.15. He’s given up 18 hits in 20 innings, walking six and striking out 14.
Daily News staff
The Phillies have released outfielder Geoff Jenkins and are hoping to sign Gary Sheffield, who was released by the Detroit Tigers today. General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said the Phillies have contacted Sheffield's agent and are in a wait-and-see mode.
Jenkins appeared in 115 games and hit .246 with nine home runs and 29 runs batted in. The lefthanded-hitting Jenkins signed a 2-year, $13 million deal as a free agent before last season and seemed likely to platoon with Jayson Werth in rightfield. Jenkins landed on the disabled list in August with a quad injury and was largely an afterthought for the end of the season and the playoffs. He will, however, be remembered for the double in the resumption of Game 5 of the World Series that led to the go-ahead run.
Jenkins seemed to get caught in the glut of lefthanded hitters coming off the Phillies bench.
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
I want you all to take a few seconds on click on this link and read the following story, because it does a good job of accentuating the uniqueness of the situation that the Phillies find themselves in with regard to their search for a fifth starter. The article is taken from the Korea Times, and it breathlessly reports Chan Ho Park's latest spring start and his standing in the competition for the No. 5 spot. While it may seem bizarre that an entire nation of baseball fans on the other side of the world is following a position battle at Phillies spring training, it seems that is what is going on. The Korea Times is the oldest of three English-language daily newspapers in South Korea, and it is produced by the largest publishing company in the country. This recap of Park's latest start is linked, with a picture, on the front page of KoreaTimes.com with a headline that says "Start me up!"
How intensely are South Koreans following this battle? The article goes so far as to parse the words written by the Associated Press about yesterday's game against the Astros, attempting to find some indication as to the direction the Phillies are leaning.
Look at it this way: if you stopped a passerby on the streets of Seoul and asked him who J.A. Happ is, there is a good chance that passerby would answer correctly.
Paul Hagen
The modern professional athlete is well schooled in limiting his remarks to platitudes. So Chan Ho Park’s answer to a question on whether he’d be willing to accept a relief role if the Phillies decide to use him out of the bullpen and award the final spot in the rotation to lefthander J.A. Happ was the most interesting thing that happened around the Phillies yesterday.
“Uh, I don’t know,” he said somberly. “Let’s see. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Sometimes I’m crazy.”
That got a laugh and Park wouldn’t elaborate. But it’s apparent that he’s going top be unhappy if he doesn’t win the competition.
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
Figure this is a good way to kill some time at work.
The following are some Phillies-related Over/Unders courtesy of BoDogLife.com.
Log your predictions now so you can say "I told you so" at the end of the year:
- Total Home Runs for Ryan Howard: 43.5
- Total Howard RBI: 142.5
- Chase Utley home runs: 27.5
- Raul Ibanez home runs: 22.5
- Jimmy Rollins stolen bases: 39.5
- Shane Victorino stolen bases: 34.5
- Cole Hamels wins: 14.5
- Brett Myers wins: 11.5
- Brad Lidge saves: 37.5
- David Murphy typos: 25.5
Paul Hagen
Phillies ace Cole Hamels gave up 10 hits and three earned runs in four innings of work against the Yankees' Triple A team today.
Hamels struck out five and walked one.
He next pitches Saturday at Citizens Bank Park in an exhibition against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Paul Hagen
The Phillies have optioned pitcher Carlos Carrasco and outfielder John Mayberry Jr. to the minor leagues.
Carrasco's demotion crystallizes the battle for the fifth starter spot between J.A. Happ and Chan Ho Park.
Second baseman Marcus Giles was released. Giles was attempting to make a comeback after spending last season out of baseball. The pace of Chase Utley's recovery likely made Giles expendable.
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
I have a confession to make: I missed the second half of the Villanova game. I wanted to wake up early today and get some work done on my season preview stories that were due on Wednesday (yes, last Wednesday). So at halftime, I turned off the TV, rolled over and went to bed.
I woke up this morning and I checked my Blackberry and saw that I had two missed calls and two voice mails from two of my friends back in Philadelphia. Both calls came at the exact same time -- 10:23 p.m. I knew right away that I had missed something great. And I knew right away that something happened at 10:23. Sure enough, I turned on the computer, and read all about Scottie Reynolds shot. I still haven't checked the voice mails. It is going to hurt to listen to them. I grew up following two college basketball teams -- Nova and Duke. My first favorite college basketball player of all time was Bobby Hurley. My second was Kerry Kittles. I remember the day they lost to Tony Gonzalez and the Cal Bears. Jay Wright has done a tremendous job doing what Steve Lappas could not -- establishing continuity in the program and getting his players to play big in big games. Not to brag, but my Final Four is still intact: Connecticut, Nova, Louisville and Oklahoma. For the record, I have Oklahoma winning it all.
Anyway, I say all this as a prelude to a question I will ask you all this morning. One of my stories for our preview section, which runs in Friday's paper, is a look at new general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. While working on the story, I came across the Five Keys for the Phillies' offseason that I examined when he was hired on Nov. 3rd.
Daily News staff
The Phillies have acquired lefthander reliever Jack Taschner from the San Francisco Giants in exchange for catcher Ronny Paulino, multiple sources have confirmed to the Daily News.
Taschner, 30, was 3-2 with a 4.88 earned run average in 67 appearances for the Giants last season. He pitched 48 innings, allowing 57 hits with 39 strikeouts and 24 walks. For his career, he is 8-4 with a 5.01 ERA in 178 games.
He provides the Phillies with another lefthanded arm in the bullpen, something the Phillies will need especially early in the season while J.C. Romero serves his 50-game suspension.
