Addition of Pence is move for present and future
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Addition of Pence is move for present and future
Bob Brookover, Inquirer Baseball Columnist
Turns out the Phillies made the best trade for the present and the future.
Yes, they had to surrender the two best prospects in their minor-league system by giving up righthander Jared Cosart and first baseman Jonathan Singleton in order to pry right fielder Hunter Pence away from the Houston Astros.
Double-A Reading's Josh Zeid has the arm to be a big-league pitcher, too, and we'll have to wait to see who will be the fourth player Houston receives from the Phillies.
But while Pence was hugging his Houston teammates after coming out of his team's game in Milwaukee, Domonic Brown remained in right field for the Phillies.
The fact that Pence will be in the Phillies lineup Saturday night and for the remainder of the season makes this team infinitely better. Suddenly the Phillies have a 28-year-old two-time All-Star with a career .290 batting average who is going to end up with close to 40 doubles and 20 home runs this season.
"I think the front office knows that we're in a special time here in Philadelphia and we have a good team and if they feel like there is room for improvement, they're going to make that move," second baseman Chase Utley said.
In essence, the Phillies have found the right-handed bat they needed to replace Jayson Werth by getting a guy who has been leaps and bounds better than Werth this season. You can argue that he doesn't walk a lot and he strikes out too much, but that's the nittiest of nitpicking.
Pence has produced with a horrid Houston team and should be even better with a club that has designs of winning the World Series.
"He's a right-handed bat, a power bat, that we can insert in the middle of the lineup and I think he can do some damage," Utley said. "It will be fun to get a chance to know him and get to play with him."
The two most interesting things to watch in the coming days is how much this move impacts the Phillies' offense and what transactions follow.
You got the impression before Friday night's rout of the Pittsburgh Pirates that manager Charlie Manuel, the same man who openly campaigned for Domonic Brown to be promoted from triple-A Lehigh Valley nine weeks ago, believes that his rookie right fielder now needs more seasoning with the IronPigs.
Neither Manuel nor general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. would say what roster move they will make before Saturday's game, but Brown realizes he could be the player to go.
"I know it's a good possibility that it could happen," Brown said. "I'm not going to be bothered by it. You live and you learn and you grow. I have to play and get better."
If Pence's arrival allows Brown to hone his skills some more in Lehigh Valley, that's not the worst thing in the world either. At 23, Brown is still a kid with immense tools who should get better the more he plays the game. With Pence likely around for at least the remainder of this year and two years beyond that, Brown probably will find himself in left field if he does return to the IronPigs Saturday.
That's an adjustment he should be able to make and it's conceivable that the opening-day outfield in 2012 will be Brown in left, Pence in right and Shane Victorino in center.
"This is not a knock on Domonic Brown by any stretch of the imagination," Amaro said. "We believe and hope he is going to be a Phillie for a long time. This is one of those moves we made not just for present, but also for the future and Dom is certainly part of that."
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Good job Matt. All I gotta say is, ... again,... WOW! Phils didn't get a 'rental' as Giants did. Phils didn't get a 'cast-off.' Thank you again Ed Wade!- RAJ for President...4 for 1 prospect trade and so glad we kept DomBrown and Vanimal!
Now Pence has to change his jersey number to 441!— Souled0ut1 - and mayberry as the 4th guy who can play all the OF positions. Sweet.— palmyra21
- And first base as well! Actually JMJ continues to show all around improvement! — BEMiller
- Great move! Singleton will never play here and Cosart(like any prospect) is a maybe.— mick-of-the-moment
BEMiller is going to be so upset.
Pence is going to be a lot of fun to watch 162 games/year for the next few years, and we won't have to wonder "what if" about Brown once he polishes those rough edges with the Pigs.
Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!- Frankly, NO! Didn't really want him, true. I do think he cost more than he should have, yes.
Now he's here, and I will only hope he makes RAJ look like a genius!
I went to my first Phillies game at Shibe Park in 1947, and have been a Phillies fan ever since. They haven't always done well, but I have NEVER been one of the boo boo birdies!
I can have a differing idea BEFORE, but once the thing happens, I am staying in it for the long haul.
Welcome to Philadelphia, Mr. Pence!— BEMiller - I'm happy because I thought we were going to have to give up more than what we did...Not having to give up Vance or Domonic was key....I thought they were holding out for one of them plus the prospects.. — PhilliefaninAZ
- in ruben we trust— rysagr
- Ed Wade must still think he works got the Phillies. He has turned the Astros into a Phillies farm team. Good thing he's there.— Ssteve115
- Way to get it done Rube.... We have a lot of flexibility now--in the outfield, with bench pieces, and late inning matchups/Pinch hitters. Should be fun to watch and fun for Cholly to manage.— HAROLD Eskin
- An Astros fan here. You guys will really enjoy having Pence on your team. Great player, great enthusiasm, great guy. For his sake I hope the phillies win it all this year. BTW, do you guys want Ed Wade back?— Garyfan
- I was afraid you'd say that — Garyfan
- Gelb is right. Ruben sorted out the '12 outfield with this one move, and it's looking great for next season. But Matt, on Twitter you said this is a knock on Brown, and I have to agree with Amaro that it shouldn't be taken that way. Brown was never penciled in for RF this year and there would have been too much pressure on him come October. Yet he IS penciled into LF next year, so if this a knock on Brown it's not a big one.— sla6yer
