Phils add three veteran arms
The Phillies may be a little slim on the corner outfield spots as spring training nears, but they should have plenty of pitching depth.
Phils add three veteran arms
Ryan Lawrence, Daily News Staff Writer
The Phillies may be a little slim on the corner outfield spots as spring training nears, but they should have plenty of pitching depth.
The front office, which has been mostly quiet since the holidays, added to the pitching staff’s inventory in the last week by reining in three veterans.
The Phils have reached deals with right-handers Juan Cruz, Aaron Cook and Rodrigo Lopez. All three will be in camp as non-roster invitees on minor league contracts.
Cruz, 34, is 38-36 with a 4.05 ERA in 447 major league games in 12 seasons. He went 1-1 with a 2.78 ERA in 43 games with Pittsburgh last season, striking out 33 while walking 19 in 35 2/3 innings.
The 33-year-old Cook, who has spent the majority of his career with Colorado, went 4-11 with a 5.65 ERA in 19 games (all starts) with Boston in 2012. According to a foxports.com report, Cook will earn $1.625 if he’s on the Phillies major league roster.
Over the weekend, the Phils also added Lopez.
The 37-year-old Lopez went 3-1 with a 3.62 ERA in five starts for the Phillies in 2009. He made just four appearances with the Cubs last season, spending the majority of the year at Triple-A Iowa (2-5 with a 5.28 ERA in 18 games, 15 starts).
This is business as usual for the Phillies. In recent years they’ve added the likes of Dontrelle Willis, Joel Pineiro, Brian Sanches, Gary Majewski, Raul Valdes, Dave Bush, Kris Benson and Scott Elarton before spring training.
Some were released before the end of camp, some stuck around to help Triple-A Lehigh Valley and some have even managed to make the big league club at some point during the year.
Of course, some have also been Ryan Vogelsong and Jason Grilli, two former Camp Clearwater attendees who didn’t get the chance to graduate to the big league with the Phillies but went on to have a great deal of success elsewhere.
smart baseball men who can evaluate talent can find a "diamond in the rough".. a cluless imbecile like Rube hasn't found a single diamond in 4 1/2 years ..and to the contrary has given away about 20 prospects --some of whom will be diamonds -- and has given away for free 3 diamonds in the rough that he had (Voglsong, Grilli and Moss) and just overpays diamonds for the "rough" (howard, papelbum, blanton, ibanez, polanco, pence, etc)— warbiscuit- Airbiscuit is drawing on his extensive experience as an MLB GM. Hey biscuit, what team were you GM of again?— maurysline
And in other breaking news ... Japan's SoftBank Hawks have signed Vicente Padilla ... argggghhhhhhhhhh! Damn you Ruben !
— zubzub- @maurysline --guess you've missed my numerous prior rants about the most overrated pitcher in baseball, so here they are, once again -
Papelbum's Greatest Hits 2012 (plus many more in which he gave up runs):
5/7 vs. Mets 3 ER, Loss;
6/4 vs. LA 1 ER, Loss;
6/23 vs TB 2 ER, Blown save;
7/5 vs. Mets 2 ER, BLown save, Loss;
7/18 vs. LA 2 ER, Papelbon Blown save leading to loss;
7/21 vs SF 1 ER, Papelbon Loss;
8/21 vs Cinc. 1 er, Papelbon Loss;
9/2 vs. Atl, up 7-3 with 2 outs to go; 2 inherited runs score, 3 more earned runs, Blown save, Loss..season over
Papelbon was the worst signing of last winter (per Stark of espn Feb '12 poll; fangraphs feb '12, many others), despite padding his stats with non-pressure saves against weak hitting teams -- he had 6 devastating losses and 4 blown saves that were as bone-crushing and season-detroying as anything else that wrecked the Phils season -- he has a mediocre to terrible WAR for past several years and hitters last year batted far over .300 against him when his pitch count gets to 15 -- no worse reliever to see on the mound in an important spot past few years than this one-dimensional loser-- good hitters foul off his straight fastball, work out a walk or wait for him to tire and then usualy shellack him in any big spot - he's not "elite" he's an annoying unreliable loser who would prevent the Phils from ever winning anything meaningful --even if the Phils were to ever improve -- until his contract expires in 2016— warbiscuit - fangraphs 6/7/10: "You may be surprised to learn that Jonathan Papelbon, he of 2.6 Wins Above Replacement per season as a full-time reliever from 2006-2009, is among the most egregious offenders. ..
In 24 innings pitched, the famed river dancer is walking a tight rope — his 3.00 ERA doesn’t look so bad, but his xFIP sits at 5.02. With -0.3 WAR, Papelbon has arguably been the least effective of Boston’s bullpen options..."— warbiscuit - Stark of espn 2/17/12: "with the help of 20 brilliant baseball men who took part in our annual spring-preview survey...Worst Free-Agent Signing: 1. Jonathan Papelbon, Phillies (4 years, $50 million)...— warbiscuit
- per fangraphs 2/8/12 "10 worst transactions of the winter..
#1 – Phillies Sign Papelbon for 4/50M... The Phillies overpaid and got a reliever, then had salt rubbed in the wound ... he’s not without his own set of risks. For a team that had other holes to fill, this just wasn’t a good use of resources, especially with the glut of relievers on the market. By exercising a little more patience, the Phillies could have walked away with a good closer, a real answer in left field, upgraded their bench, and had enough left over ...Instead, they decided to go all-in on a ninth inning upgrade that might not even turn out to be a big upgrade"— warbiscuit - Chris "Wheels" Wheeler texted from a bar in Florida that "all three guys have really nasty stuff, are innings eaters, and great guys to have in the clubhouse." He didn't say if he was out in the sun for too long or already 3 sheets to the wind.— Wilhelm Von Humboldt
- They just have to stay away from that middle-in stuff, because good hitters will sit on that.
— 1980 - Correction, I think, Mr. Lawrence. Lopez went 3-1 with a 5.70 ERA in five starts for the Phillies in 2009. You wrote that he had a 3.62 ERA. See... http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lopezro02.shtml (HTML deleted)— Squonk64
- Waiting for 24sDad to compliment warbiscuit on his brilliant analysis, as usual.— 1980
- @1980 -- not that i really care, but you're the strangest looony here yet, as I'm pretty certain that i never recall 24sdad agree with anything I ever said -- and don't even recall his basic thoughts re my major issue (getting a new g.m. to replace the current inept one) but honestly I'm not shy nor looony like many of you and take full responsibility for what I post as "warbiscuit" and often copy and re-post it (since some have taken to mis-quoting me) but for that very reason there woud be no rhyme or reason for me to post as someone else...now go back to your loooneyness— warbiscuit
- for Pete's sake, warbiscuit - get a dictionary and use it.— dwp66
- Furthermore, wb.......try not to break your arm patting yourself on the back.— dwp66
