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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Nothing Pensive about this deal.Cosart and Singleton are good young talents but this about now.AND Ed Wade--thanks---once a Phillie always a Phillie.— HO HUM- Great move by Amaro....good move for now, good move for the next 2 seasons. There wasn't going to be much on the OF free-agent market at the end of this season either. He played great poker with Wade. Wade tried to hold on as long as possible, drive up the bidding in a competition, act like he wasn't going to trade Pence, etc. Amaro held tough and called his bluff. Kept Brown, Worley and didn't throw in a 3rd or 4th top prospect like Biddle or May. I don't believe that Brown was ever offered. Are you telling me that they couldn't get more from a 3rd team for Brown than Reid and the other player to be named later from low A, second tier prospect? Get real. That rumor was supposedly from another team that had talked with the Astros. That never came out of Philly or Houston. Either it was just nonsense or the Astros were putting that out there to make it seem like Philly was upping its offer to drive up the bidding. Even Wade wouldn't have been dumb enough to take Reid and another second-tier prospect instead of Brown (who's only 23 years old), lol.— JimG
- "makes this team infinitely better" INFINITELY?— mrnmkr
- "makes this team infinitely better" INFINITELY?— mrnmkr
- I agree with atp2007. We still have to root for someone else to take out the Giants. This is a great move for chalking up regular season wins and finishing 8 games in front instead of 5, but it doesn't do anything to get the Phillies through San Francisco. It just adds another guy SF pitching owns to the line up.— jtj06
- So true. & This is not abt roster moves, but finding a way to make solid contact vs. Cain & Lincecum. They're good. but not so dominating as they look against us. What is it abt the match-ups? Or is it our hitting Gurus? — FiloSofer
Agree with Don w...Brown will be a fine major league player. He has a lot of Lonnie Smith in him, granted, but Smith has at least 3 World Series rings and a lot of postseason cash. Dom is looking better at the plate and will now have some time to improve defensively between now and opening day 2012.- Great trade, but if you can get something else big for Brown, now is the time. The guy does not seem to have the grit to survive a trip back to the minors with any confidence intact. He was getting blown away by a low 90's fastball tonight! Got picked off (called safe) cadillacing it back to first standing up on a pick off play. The guy has been reading his press clippings for three long years, and seems to be incapable of digesting the intensity and toil of major league baseball. If you can get a lights-out bullpen arm and a prospect for him, you'll be a lot closer to your goal of a series win. Great job getting Pence for a couple of Lakewood legends!— auntesther
- Why is everyone calling Pence great? The guy's high for single season WAR is only 4.1. He doesn't walk and his power has been going down each of the past few seasons. He's good but not exceptional. Werth had at least 5 WAR each season from 2008 to 2010. At least we didn't give up Brown.— thnar
- Don't belittle Wade, the Astros are rebuilding and he just gave up one player(and his salary)for 3 quality prospects. The Astros are in a very different situation than the Phillies. He might still have the last laugh.— Beck
- Great day for Philly. Nobody can call us bumbling idiots anymore. God bless America! God bless Philadelphia! One in the same.— BIGEGLFAN
- Xmas present in July! On top of one last Xmas!
This reminds me of Lakers getting Gasol from Memphis when West was Prez of Grizzlies. Even tho its 100% business, relationships a key factor.
Bravo-X3 Ruben.
— FiloSofer - When Polanco is back next week this lineup will be pretty good. It'll be interesting to see if everyone's bats come alive with Pence in there..— bossrjc
- Great day for Philly. Nobody can call us bumbling idiots anymore. God bless America! God bless Philadelphia! One in the same.— BIGEGLFAN
- No problem sending Brown down for the next month or so. Bring him up in September and add him to the postseason roster. A better DH candidate than anyone else on that bench.— philliesphan79
