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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Wade is a double agent....how long before a federal grand jury investigates him?— philly thug- Genuis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!— shawnmac
- Hunter Pence is a Chase Utley type player...he plays real hard every minute, plus he hit 25 home runs for the last 3 seasons, and is hitting .307 now.
Plus he will hit 30 home runs and 100 rbi's in this lineup and small ballpark for many years to come.
Great job Amaro for getting Pence!
— frank105 - At 28 Pence has plenty of good season's ahead of him and the OF should be set for some time. Keeping Worley was key and now RAJ can turn his attention to the left side of the IF over the off-season. When you become what the Phils have become - it's a whole lot easier to continually upgrade; also nice that your main competitor's are in the junior circuit in the same division.......— Northcountry
- One thing about Reuben..........we all know he is from Oxford circle and Dad was a mainstay around here. He is one of us and knows this town and it's culture. He also has an owner in the background from here and with exceptionally deep pockets. Neither are transplants from Boston or New York.— Northcountry
- Some people are saying that the Phillies got a replacement, that is close, but not as good as Jason Werth.
I respectfully disagree.
Jason Werth was overly selective as a hitter. He has a good idea of the strike zone and got a lot of walks. He also had a ton of called strike three looking. He is still doing it with the Nationals.
While it is a good thing that a hitter is disciplined and there are times a walk is a good thing,Werth's and now Pence's role, is essentially to drive in runs from the position they are in the lineup.
Pence is not a wild swinger out of the strike zone. He is agressive around the strike zone with good plate coverage.
I think that is what the Phillies like about him. I liked Jason Werth but I think Hunter Pence is an even better fit for this team.— candidly 
Comment removed.- Who penciled in Brown in left-field for next year? Manuel? Or some sportswriter? Don't hold your breath waiting for Brown to deliver on the big league level.— Boru
- First of all--Ruben continues to do an amazing job as GM. They had the best record in MLB last year and again this year and now add another part to the machine. If he would have given in to those of you calling for Werth (0.215 avg), did his waiting till now to fill RF with a right handed bat hurt their chances for success this season?
Finally, to all of those of you who want to bash Ed Wade look at his full history. As Phillies GM he drafted Rollins, Utley, Howard, Hamels, Burrell, Madson, signed Ruiz as an undrafted free agent, picked up Victorino as a rule 5. He didn't trade for Schilling when he was with Arizona (they wanted Utley and Madson). He also acquired Billy Wagner for Brandon Duckworth and Buchholz from Houston. Did he make some mistakes as GM for the Phillies? Absolutely. David Bell was a disappointment. He signed Jim Thome which was the start of the Phillies rise in recent years.
Every GM seems to go after guys that they knew from their prior club. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Dallas Green became the GM of the Cubs. He traded Ivan Dejesus for Larry Bowa and a rookie named Ryne Sandberg (AKA HOF). Guess he was a Phillies stooge. Saint Gillick picked up Jamie Moyer who he had in Seattle where he was no longer effective but gave the Phillies 4+ very good years. He picked up Greg Dobbs who he also had in Seattle and Jayson Werth who he drafted when he was with Baltimore. Dobbs was a terrific pinch hitter and Werth recovered to have some great years with the Phillies. Gillick also signed the following busts: Adam Eaton (3 years, $24M), Geoff Jenkins (2 years $9M), traded Gavin Floyd and Gio Gonzalez for Freddy Garcia. He also picked up Lidge from Houston for Michael Bourn who leads he NL in steals and is hitting over .300. Yea, Wade got fleeced by trading a guy in Lidge who was as popular in Houston as Mitch Williams was in Philly after he gave up Joe Carter's WS walk off.— Philliesguy - Giants are not a far better team than the Phils. Lousier record in a lousier division. Our top three pitchers are as good or better than theirs and bullpens are about the same. Yes, Utley and Howard have to be patient and stay off Linsecum's change, but Pence will add a dimension the Giants don't have. All they got is Beltran, if he can stay healthy.— mike l
- It's getting a little bothersome to have the Phils put down the Giants at every turn. First, Charlie says their pitching is only good and now Ruben is condemning the renting of a player. Just prove your better than them and stop talking about it. This should prove to be the right move, but stop throwing the Giants under the bus like they don't know how to win.— kmon
- Can't wait to see the line up when Polanco comes back, and hopefully he can get back to his early season form.— Danno
- Comment removed.
- Now we can put the Jason Werth controversy away forever. Amaro just saved the club at least $100 mil and gave up only questionable prospects. As long as Howard is here, Singleton would never have played. The other two? I'll take my chances on that and be satisfied that Ruben has put us in a position to win it all this year and, with a little tweak here and there in the offseason, for 2012 and 2013.— 1republican
- Here's one poster who's perfectly fine with Brown getting sent to LV today. But I don't know that it's a certainty or even that RAJ is done. Still got better than 24 hrs of trade deadline left...— PhillySubsMac
