Durbin's return from DL will leave Phillies with difficult decision
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Durbin's return from DL will leave Phillies with difficult decision
Bob Brookover, Inquirer Baseball Columnist
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If all continues to go well for righthander Chad Durbin, the Phillies could soon have the full complement of relievers they anticipated being in their bullpen when they opened spring training.
With closer Brad Lidge and left-handed setup man J.C. Romero on the disabled list at the start of the season, the Phillies have not had their bullpen entirely intact all season.
Durbin, on the disabled list since June 24 with a strained right hamstring, pitched a perfect inning and struck out two for Clearwater Saturday night and is scheduled to pitch again Monday for Clearwater.
Whenever Durbin is ready to come off the disabled list, the Phillies have a difficult roster decision.
Do they designate righthander Nelson Figueroa for assignment for the second time this season or do they offer Rule 5 draft pick David Herndon back to the Angels?
Some might argue that the Phillies should release veteran reliever Danys Baez, who struggled through the first half of the season, but he signed a two-year contract worth $5.25 million before the start of the season, so that's not happening.
Herndon, a rookie, is 0-2 with a 3.86 ERA and in his last eight appearances he has a 2.35 ERA.
Figueroa is 2-1 with a 3.46 ERA. Since rejoining the team from triple-A Lehigh Valley he has allowed one hit and no runs spanning four appearances and 7 1/3 innings. If you include the three starts he made for the IronPigs, he has allowed just 11 hits, two runs and struck out 25 batters in his last 26 1/3 innings. He has a 0.68 ERA during that stretch.
Comment removed.
The Angels would probably take Herndon back in a heartbeat, considering how inconsistent their own bullpen has been. Figueroa is a good guy to have around as a long man and mop up type. Baez has been pretty useless and has obviously fallen into Charlie's doghouse. If I'm Amaro, I suck up the financial loss and release Baez. It won't be the first time the Phillies have done that with an unproductive pitcher (think Eaton, Adam).— SteveS11- Bye bye, Baez!— frankenslade
- Danny boy has to go!!!!!— Lynnwood
- If Baez isn't going anywhere, neither is Blanton....considering that they just signed him to a 3 year deal at what...$7 mil a year? What the Phillies "should" do, in my opinion, is to try to trade Blanton to some team desperate for pitching, hoping that Blanton can return to being half decent again. They don't have to make any decision on Blanton right now, but when/if Happ returns, someone will have to go. Kendrick is pitching well enough to stay in the rotation, for now anyway. Blanton would figure to be the odd man out. They'll let Moyer finish out the season (and his contract) with grace and dignity. Maybe Blanton can come up with a nagging injury which would explain his poor pitching and put him on the DL along with Baez.— SteveS11
- Ruben's assistant Proefrock must carry about fill in the blank contracts for the players' agents to fill in any numbers they want except for the poor agent for Cliff Lee.— Dull
- Even if they send Baez to the DL it'll only buy them a few weeks, he has to come back sometime. Gotta move Figueroa or Herndon in the long run, and I think they'd rather try to sneak Nelson back down (if he agrees) than give up Herndon. No way they eat his salary and cut him now.— troke
- With a guy like Herndon you can't look at the strikeout to walk ratio, he's a sinker ball pitcher and isn't going to strike out many. he's young and has shown something. In this ball park you need guys that can get ground balls. Sometimes ground balls will get through, hence the higher BAA for Herndon. The game against Florida was a bad one with a bunch of really fluky hits, I believe the AZ game was the same but I could be wrong. Figs has done us good also this season, he's been a bit of a life saver with all of the pitchers that we had injured. Baez was supposed to be a guy that could come in and throw a few innings out of the pen according to Charlie but he hasn't been very good and is now seldom used. I think they should just eat up the salary or trade Baez for a minor leaguer to open up a spot for Durbin.— cg
When Happ comes back they are going to be making the same choice again. Maybe they can trade Baez to the Angels so they can keep Herndon and send him down.- Maybe they can work out some kind of trade to keep Herdon. If the Angels left him unprotected, than who is to say they really want him back. A low draft pick or a marginal minor leaguer might do it.— Pat c
- Getting rid of Danys Baez should be a no-brainer. His K:BB ratio is 17:17, which is terrible. He's already blown 2 saves, which is pretty bad when you were supposed to be a 7th inning guy. Yes, Baez hasn't given up a run in his last six appearances. However, his K/9 is at a career low. Opponents are batting .271 against him. Herndon has better stats in almost every category. Plus, Herndon is 24, where Baez is 32. Age alone is almost enough reason to keep Herndon over Baez. When you figure in the other numbers, it should be no question.— buttermilk67
- Not only Durbin, but J.A. Happ will be retuning sometime soon. It's a numbers game and some pitchers are not going to survive as Phillies.— Dennis O.
- Baez. Gone. Please.— 1republican
- If Herndon was in the minors he'd be one of our top prospects. Keep him. Blanton's salary + Baez' salary = Cliff Lee's salary. Put Baez on DL until we don't need him or someone else gets hurt.— Ballgame
- Wise man once said "junk the junk", with that being said, nice to know you Joe Blanton.— Guy Incognito
