The Kendrick Conundrum; Hunsicker as GM?
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The Kendrick Conundrum; Hunsicker as GM?
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
I'm sitting in a coffee shop on M street in Washington, D.C. watching the, um, scenery walk by and pondering a question that Paul Hagen and I were bouncing back and forth in the press box last night.
If you are the Phillies, what do you do with Kyle Kendrick? In the short-term, it is looking increasingly likely that they will skip him in the rotation the next time around so that Cole Hamels can start on Sunday against the Mets. That, of course, is assuming Hamels doesn't throw 140 pitches and watch his arm fall off tonight.
Paul thinks that is what they should do. But what about the long term? He hasn't completed six innings in any of his last five starts. Since the All-Star break, he has 23 walks against 19 strikeouts. Lefty J.A. Happ, whom the team likes a lot, is on the roster.
On the other hand, Kendrick has done a lot for this club. They are still 17-11 in his 28 starts this year.
Here's Paul's take. . .
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The conventional wisdom suggests that the Phillies' soon-to-be vacated general manager position will go to one of two in-house candidates: assistant GM Ruben Amaro Jr., or assistant GM Mike Arbuckle. But Bill Conlin thinks the Phillies should keep an open mind, one that includes thoughts about current Rays advisor Gerry Hunsicker. Hunsicker was a candidate the last time around, when Gillick took the job. You can't argue with what the Rays are doing right now.
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Comments (27)
Big Red - I agree with every part of your original post except the part where you call me nice and well-meaning. You obviously don't know me.- Jeff Gross -- If you had read all my post and looked at the schedule you would realize I did have them skipping Kendrick AND we would be back to the original start of the season rotation. It has been stated that Hamels has a tired arm due to the innings BUT he is not the only one with a lot of innings. Gi— Wally 24
- I understand the popular perception of Rueben Amaro, Jr. I am not sure if I agree with it or not, but I get why he is generally not liked by the fan base. What I do not get is why the fans are so anti-Mike Arbuckle. He was hired to reconstruct a pathetic farm system, and under his watch it turned out Scott Rolen, Pat Burrell, Jimmy Rollins, Brett Myers, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Gavin Floyd and Cole Hamels. As soon as he accepted promotion and left the farm system to someone else, the cupboard is bare once again. If we have to live with ownership's infuriating budget, wouldn't you want the GM job to go to the guy who has proven to have an eye for young talent and hope he can build a cheap contender, ala the Marlins, Indians, Rays, Rockies, etc.? I know I would. If they hire in-house, I am all about Mike Arbuckle.— RollinsWasRight
- jeff gross proves his loserdome over here daily as well I see. jeff gross GET A LIFE!!— Truth
- hehehe...the spelling of "shop" got changed pretty quick after my post...just saying. Come on, this all just fun, I'm not hatin (too much.) But dude really should stay of of TV for now...same with Joe Kerrigan...dude needs someone to buy him a proper fitting suit and a tie. Seriously, what the hello is going on with Carrasco?— bigredmachinefan
- well, Jeff, whatever he's been doing apparently you are reading it and also posting about it like 5 times. If you don't like him, just read elsewhere instead of filling the blog with the usually negative Philly BS. He's not Pulitzer prize level yet, but he's new and doing fine.— morningstar
I think if Monty hires Amaro, Jr., the team is doomed. It will be another expression of the owner's desire to do everything on a budget. Think Gillick's hands are tied? They won't have to tie Amaro's because he's a company man all the way. Amaro is also an arrogant little putz who is way, way overmatched as a G.M. And when is everyone going to wake up? This team is not championship caliber. They are one-dimensional. If they do smart things like moving runners, hitting behind runners, working a count, etc., it's by accident.— lgroniko- While I do not agree with Jeff Gross's antagonistic mentality, I will agree with the frustration of having every pertinent news story pertaining to the Phillies be first reported by ESPN, FoxSports, or SI.com, while the local writers are simply telling us what is not going to happen based on the public responses of the GM's office, who, 9 times out of 10, couldn't publicly report the truth even if they wanted to.— RollinsWasRight
- I agree to keep an open mind about Hunsicker! If it was up to me I would let Amaro and Arbuckle move on, they are to programed by Phillies top brass at this point to make a diffrence.— Sagido
- Fascinating that Phillies have survived a two-month long slumber by their vaunted offense due to the shockingly over-achieving pitching staff, and yet people want to be rid of Rich Dubee. Has anyone ever considered that the problem may not be Rich Dubee, but rather Kendrick himself, who supposedly only has 2 major league pitches, a sinking fastball and a slider, neither of which is very impressive? Dubee is not the problem. In fact, Dubee may be the team's MVP. And I suppose when J.A. Happ and his not-nearly-as-impressive-as-the-hometown-hype "stuff" eventually fail, that will be Dubee's fault as well.— RollinsWasRight
- Dave, if I didn't love you I wouldn't be on your A*S so much. I just would like you to do a bit better that's all. Think of it as me pushing you to be the number 3 starter instead of the number 5 guy. Or, if you prefer chalanges, make me eat my words by coming up with the biggest Phillies story of the year before I read it on ESPN, in Zo's blog, or anywhere else— jeff gross
- Ray - Girls aren't very impressed, but it doesn't matter. As long as Jeff Gross loves me, what more can I ask for?
- I wonder what "Scoop" you have had this year? What in depth article or post you have had? Anything that I can't get in 100 other places that makes me want to read your work? I didn't think so. This makes you a minor league writer. nothing wrong with that, I wish I could be even a independent league writer, but don't get offended by the truth--try harder and we'll respect you. Remember, as long as you give your all Phila loves her players and (do I say it) sportswriters— jeff gross
- I am offended by the comment Dave. Just because we expect decent reporting on our team, and not copycal posts from The Inquirer 10 minutes after he uploads, and because we feel that Kendrick should be sat for a start doesn't make us "Front-runners" unless you mean it as someone who is expected to finish up front, ie: perceived to be better then teh rest of the field.— jeff gross
- Boy, some of you guys are tough! It sure is easy to criticize someone anonymously than to look him in the eye and tell him that he is "minor league". Face it, Murphy has been good enough to make his living at it and has battled competition to do so. That nonsense aside, I don't think that the club can live with Kendrick blowing up the way he has in 4 of his last 6 starts. When goes up in flames, it is usually before the 6th, causing the club to get into a tired bullpen. I don't know about you, but watching Ryan Madson come into a game doesn't do much for my nerves. What Kendrick is missing is an "out" pitch. At the risk of sounding too much like Chris Wheeler, he can not put a guy away once he gets two strikes on him and that causes him to make a lot of pitches. I know, from pitching, that it is not very easy to learn a new pitch and master it to the point that you have confidence to use it any time. Doing so at the major league level is worlds harder. As for Dubee, what, in his background of work for the Marlins, qualifies him as a top notch pitching coach? He hasn't impressed me here.— Original #11
Comment removed.- BigRedMachine and Jeff Gross are frontrunners.
- Gathering my thoughts: All journalists go through "dry" periods. If the Phillies do NOT make the playoffs, Rich Dubee and Milt Thompson should be employed elsewhere in 2009. All the Phillies pitchers are "babied," throw out the pitch count and go by what the opposition tells you to do. None of the pitchers should be tired in September, and offense has been offensive ...very!— DonEck
- Why skip Cole?? He's not tired. The debate is whether to skip Kendrick and pitch Cole on his regular day, or keep the order as is and give an extra day. Given hopw Kendrick has(n't) been pitching lately, I would skip him and pitch Cole against the Mutts— jeff gross
- They need to skip Hamels this turn and pitch him Sat. following Myers. They could spot start Happ today or Eaton today. The move would give Hamels the rest he needs. It would also give moyer an extra day of rest. Moyer would then start Sunday.Kendrick is suffering from Dubeeitus too many instructions on what to do during a game. Dubee's visits more often than not turn out non productive with the youngsters. You'll notice Moyer does what he knows is the right thing for him and that is exactly what Kendrick needs to do. Contact pitchers and ERA's don't have a lot of meaning but wildness and hi pitch counts tells you he doesn't have it so what was Charlie thinking yesterday. Kendrick is only 24 yrs old this is his 2nd season in the bigs with an 11-8 record. I think he will be a very good pitcher in the near future when someone can communicate with him in a positive way.— Wally 24
- Bring Joe Maddon with you, Gerry! Charlie's a good manager but, without Joe, Gerry's just a top-notch exec. There's not many smarter game-time decision makers in baseball.— hibble
- Reds fan: We're not movign Cole up, he'd be pitching on his regular day. We're not giving him an extra day rest since we have an off day in the meantime. Of course you pitch Cole, even Dave the minor league journalist understood that— jeff gross
- Kendrick pitches to way too much contact, meaning he has to be nearly flawless from a control standpoint to be successful. If he's walking batters, forget about it. He's also been very very lucky in his short ML career -- don't let his record fool you. He's really just not very good. They should put Happ in his place and move him to long relief. Move over and make some room on the bench, Adam...— HappyPete
- David, you seem like a nice, well meaning kid, but have to agree with the other post....at the end of the season, time to send you back to the minor leagues to hone your journalism game. You are embarrassing to watch the one time I saw you on Daily News live, and it's coffee "shop" not "show." On a baseball note, why is Carrassco being brought up? Is he really on his way back to Venezuela for the off season? I don't like the idea of moving Hamels up given his injury history. I know people get excited about the head to head match-ups, but they mean just as much and as little as all the remaining games. I would prefer giving Happ a start, and consider Kendrick for long relief if he does well.— bigredmachinefan
- David, you seem like a nice, well meaning kid, but have to agree with the other post....at the end of the season, time to send you back to the minor leagues to hone your journalism game. You are embarrassing to watch the one time I saw you on Daily News live, and it's coffee "shop" not "show." On a baseball note, why is Carrassco being brought up? Is he really on his way back to Venezuela for the off season? I don't like the idea of moving Hamels up given his injury history. I know people get excited about the head to head match-ups, but they mean just as much and as little as all the remaining games. I would prefer giving Happ a start, and consider Kendrick for long relief if he does well.— bigredmachinefan
- Though the team is 17-11 in his starts, Kendrick has no effect on how many runs the Phils offense scores during his starts. The fact is, LH hitters are batting 336/409/553 (145 OPS+) against him. He needs to be skipped. The Phillies need to win 2 of 3 against the Mets (at least), and the Sunday game will be crucial. They won't need a 5th starter until the 10th. Stick Kendrick or Happ in there, and this way the Phils can pitch Hamels, Blanton, Myers, and Moyer for the Brewers series as well. As for Dubee saying they need to monitor how much effort Hamels exerts in tonight's start before deciding to start him Sunday, does he know if will STILL be regular rest even if they skip Kendrick? My dislike for him grows every time I read one of his quotes.— CyHamels
- glad you're living it up in DC. Why not try to post an orginal thought on your blog instead of the same ol' same ol' we can read in the paper??— jeff gross
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High Cheese is your place for the best Phillies coverage from the Daily News.
David Murphy
Daily News Staff Writer
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