With no obvious solution, Phillies make safe move
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With no obvious solution, Phillies make safe move
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
We probably need to listen to the Phillies' reasoning behind the demotion of John Mayberry Jr. before we render our final judgment. Regardless of what you think of the move, there is a good chance Mayberry's jettisoning does not sink their playoff hopes.
Really, this was a situation where there was no clear right move, and there was no clear wrong move. And so it looks like the Phillies went with the move that allows them the most flexibility. They get to hold onto Martinez, they can always recall Mayberry from the minor leagues, and they don't have to go without a left-handed pinch-hitter.
The notion that the roster move is completely irrelevant is slightly flawed. Five times in the Phillies' last six games has the ninth spot in the order come up in the sixth inning or later with the Phillies tied, trailing by a run, or leading by a run.
With Mayberry gone, Manuel's options in those high leverage situations will be a left-handed hitter who has a hip injury and no extra base hits, two utility infielders who have on base percentages below .280, and Ben Francisco.
Of the Phillies' four pinch-hitting options (not including back-up catcher Dane Sardinha, who will rarely be used in that situation), only Ben Francisco has a slugging percentage of over .300. In 213 at-bats this season, Valdez, Martinez and Gload have combined for eight extra base hits and one home run.
At the same time, the situation is not markedly different from the one the Phillies have played through all season. For most of the first month-and-a-half, the Phillies bench consisted of a left-handed hitter (Gload), a right-handed hitter (Mayberry) and two utility men (Pete Orr and Martinez) to go with the back-up catcher. That's the same situation they have right now. So it isn't as if the bench is dramatically weaker than it has been all season. In fact, with the return of Victorino and the emergence of Domonic Brown, it is probably stronger.
Mayberry wasn't exactly hitting the cover off the ball. At the same time, he did bring three tools to the table that have the ability to impact tight ballgames off the bench: speed, power and defensive ability. Keep in mind Mayberry is third on the team with five stolen bases and would probably win a foot race against Martinez. He's the team's second-best defensive outfielder behind Victorino. And when he makes contact, he has impressive power.
I'm guessing the Phillies will say something to the effect of, we felt like we needed infield depth given Utley's situation and Polanco's occasional soreness and Rollins' advancing age, and with Ben Francisco as the primary right handed outfielder/pinch-hitter, Mayberry would not have been in a position to get regular at-bats, and John is going to help as at some point later this season and we need him to be sharp to do so.
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first place— shawnmac- I would have preferred Gload to DL and surgery, he would be most likely back in Sept and could help in playoffs. If his injury prevents him from hitting it certainly keeps him from playing in the field. In other words Gload can't help the club in any way right now— sdcaphil
- I understand the reasoning given the current roster. But my question all along has been - why is Martinez on the roster in the first place? At season's outset, I think Charlie mentioned something about him bringing energy. But at some point, performance has to matter. We really can't come up with a guy anywhere who can improve upon his skillset?— Robbo
- Why Mayberry over Francisco? Oh well. I'm sad to see him go down actually. He had a lot of good at bats and played good D.— corporatehuman
- I don't see Martinez or Gload bringing anything to the table or Francisco for that matter. In 3 years with tons of opportunities, Francisco has shown himself to be a light hitting defensive liability who has stepped up in the post season to hit exactly .059. It's difficult to understand how the Phillies' brass assesses talent.— jtj06
- Should have either been Gload to DL, or Martinez back to the Nats. If I saw any potential in Martinez for the future, I would say keep him, but he has not shown he will ever be a major league hitter.— PortCity
- Seems odd that the only viable LH bench guy should be on the DL, when the focus during the spring was on the surfeit of LH hitters. And using Gload requires two moves if he gets on base, because he can't run. I don't disagree with optioning Mayberry, but they'll have to address the LH bench situation.— jdmfarm
- I don't like Francisco over Mayberry or Kendrick over Worley, but the Phils baseball are a lot smarter than I am, I hope.— ericg610
- I said it before: Gload to the DL made the most sense to me. Eskin said Charlie wanted to go with 11 pitchers. But it is Eskin ... This also makes you wonder about the back-up catcher situation. Neither Sardinha or Schneider has hit well. Kratz is hitting well in AAA but I don't know much about his defense and maybe they feel he needs to be an everyday catcher? He's a righty.— s
- I think Mayberry has done all he can do in AAA. Unless he worked out more at 1st base, there isn't anything he needs to show. I would have liked to see Brown in right with Mayberry and Fransisco filling in against lefties. Odd man out...Gload or Martinez. In my mind, Gload doesn't offer enough and Martinez doesn't show any indications he might become a major league starter someday.— hawk18
Comment removed.- Apparently Martinez has pictures of of RAJ with Congressman Frank Weiner.— NewMick314
- Manuel needs a one legged LH hitter who has trouble runnng to lst base!!!.— tulsaphil
- I think it is a stupid move! Francisco and Gload are both liabilities in the field and at bat. I put Mayberry's speed, power and defense above the other two.— sixtyplus
- Are the Phillies over the quota of Black-Americans on their roster?
This demotion of John Mayberry makes no sense at all.— Romus - Easy to understand the decision, but hard to agree with. I would have either put Gload on the DL or offered Martinez to the Nationals. Martinez really has not shown a lot offensively or defensively, so what is the big loss in letting him go? Mayberry appears to have speed, defensive skill, and power. The Phils have very little defensive prowess in the outfield besides Victorino, have shown limited speed (Mayberry is 3rd behind Victorino and Rollins in stolen bases) and very little power (Mayberry's 3 HRs ties him for 5th on the team). Martinez is batting .184 and we are concerned about him getting away? Not the end of the world but I don't agree with the decision...— JohnFC
- Martinez is Gload's legs. He's also middle infield depth. You could replace that with Orr or Barfield but they're more limited in the positions they can play. His defense is what keeps him around and his Rule 5 status gives him an extra edge -- they're probably afraid to let him go because they have little depth at most infield positions. Mayberry has hit under .200 the past month. Had he batted better he might have stayed. If you give Brown the majority of the playing time in RF Ben goes back to where he was okay last year: a RH outfielder off the bench. Note that he's hit very well the past week or so since Brown has been there to take his spot. I'm thinking Ben is a bench player and that's it. Nothing wrong with that if he does well off the bench.— s
- Comment removed.
- A nothing move basically. We get Victorino back and that is the only move of impact. The fact remains that Gload is extremely limited and doubtful to last the entire season. At some point that situation will have to be addressed.— slowerlower
- Bad move but not one that will have a big impact.
#1 should have been Gload to DL
#2 Francisco to minors
#3 waive Martinez.
Hopefully Mayberry's five tools won't be ignored. He certainly didn't get the chance Francisco has.— VicM - Should'a, could'a, would'a - time will tell. Just beat the Bucs...— M60tanker
- The number of minor league options players have doesn't appear to be tracked anywhere the public can access. And there are obscure rules with options. This makes the Francisco case one of the confusing ones. If I understand options correctly, he may still have one option left but because he first appeared on a 25 man roster more than 3 years ago he would have to first clear waivers. Or I think so anyway. Mayberry, on the other hand, has options left where they can just move him back and forth.
Maybe Murphy can clarify. I've looked before for sources of player options and never found any. There are some good explanations out there though. From those you can make some educated guesses.— s - Forget the logic of the move Murphy. This is dumb move as Mayberry represents a lot of upward potential. Not smart for the long term.— Northcountry
- The chirping over Mayberry reminds me a lot of the A.J. Feeley situation for the Eagles awhile back. People getting all worked up about a player who will be out of the league soon. He's a fringe major leaguer, and his demotion is a non story.— Thon1990
- he ll be back when someone gets hurt— hardball
- he ll be back when someone gets hurt— hardball
- JMHO...but, i think mayberry brings more to the table than francisco...oh well. not surprised that this was the move, though. i wish gload would have gone on the DL.— john dorian
- Bad move, boo....— IvanDejesus
- Gload and Francisco are both offensive and defensive liabilities......it was a no brainer to move one of them. But......I'm sure "Wheels" will approve of the move.— dave13
- If Francisco has no options or has them but would have to be waived, they would risk losing Francisco. So Mayberry is the logical choice since he can be moved back and forth all year (with the guidelines of having to be there 10 days, etc.). Even if you think Francisco stinks, having him leave for nothing would be a dumber move than moving the other marginal outfielder to the minors. It's not like Mayberry was carrying this team or anything.— s
- Francisco has options. — jtj06
- Looking at his playing history it seemed to me he would have one or two options left. But it's hard to verify that. I suppose part of the decision was that Mayberry's option this year was already used -- If I understand correctly, once you use an option you can move the guy between the 40 man and 25 man roster as often as you want during that season as long as he spends the required number of days each time in the minors.
I might have optioned Ben anyway. But it's not like either one of them is setting the world on fire. Ben actually had a decent throw to the plate last night compared to some of his efforts. Not that it mattered. Tonight is why we kept 12 pitchers though. They used 4 bullpen pitchers last night with the extra innings and now you have Kendrick starting for the first time in a while. We'll be lucky to get 5 innings out of him.— s - Demoting Mayberry makes no sense when you have an injured Gload on the active roster. It really doesn't even make sense if Gload was healthy. The Phils, like most clubs, get too hung up on the lefty, righty match-ups.— pogiepop
- Also, to beat the dead horse to death: I think you look at the current line-up thinking of Brown as the starter and not Francisco. Unless Francisco keeps hitting well he's not going to get the majority of the starts in right. I could see him going back to being almost strictly a bench player, although he would probably also take over for Ibanez when he inevitably slumps again. Francisco was not bad off the bench last year.— s
- Francisco is an average defensive outfielder at all the positions and also has shown himself over several years to be about an average Major league hitter (versus RHP and LHP). Mayberry is clearly better defensively and has more speed but he is only slightly better than mini-mart vs RHPs. Oh and he is not young at all, he is 27! He is a 5th OF on a good team like this and a 4th one at best. Ben is only 2 years older and many teams would love to have him as a 4th OFer.— jbourne53
- John Mayberry Jr, with his .235 lifetime mlb batting average, would be a good guy for the WASHINGTON NATIONALS. They are in last place because they have a rookie, ESPINOSA, who is hitting .214 in his mlb three year career. MAYBERRY's batting average is better so I would think the NATIONALS would be interested in MAYBERRY.— sevillano
- The should bring Orr back up.
— bobcitydoc - Our OF defense is pathetic! No arm/no speed Ibanez and tool-less Francisco? Even a blind man can see the advantage of playing Mayberry and Brown everyday!— Seegs
- With an outfield starting Victorino, Mayberry and Brown the Phils would be playing 3 guys with speed and power.— catdog53
- Very bad move. If something happens to Howard, who is going to play 1B? Gload or Zagurski should have been the two first options, not necessarrily in that order. They screwed up the Blanton/Worley move. And now this.— EL Zorro
- Please, Orr sucks. He's a LH hitting Bruntlet with only one position to play.— EL Zorro
