The Morning After
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
The Morning After
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
SOMEWHERE BETWEEN PHILADELPHIA AND WASHINGTON -- The Phillies trained down to meet their new ace late Thursday night. I'm doing the same right now, trying to catch my breath after a crazy week of rumors and roster moves.
Needless to say, this is a dizzying time for these Phillies.
Incredible what a week can do. When we left St. Louis, the Phillies had escaped with one victory -- but needed 11 innings despite one-hitting the Cardinals. A rumored deal for Roy Oswalt had hit the skids and the Phils were still teetering on the edge of contention in the National League East.
Incredible what a week can do. Now, we're headed to Washington to watch a pitcher named Roy make his anticipated Phillies debut. Sound familiar?
So much happened Thursday and it was hard squeezing all of it into the paper. But we had substantial coverage of the deal.
A few tidbits that were buried or didn't make it:
-- Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. said he is likely done making moves. "We've added enough payroll, I think," he said. That said, Amaro will keep some discussions open in case anything favorable falls his way, like a lefthanded reliever for example. But I highly doubt another move is made before Saturday's 4 p.m. deadline.
-- When asked about what adding Oswalt's contract means for free-agent-to-be Jayson Werth, Amaro avoided the question. "This is a situation where we'll have to take that matter when it's time," he said. "Right now we're focused on trying to win this year."
-- Details about that 2012 Oswalt club option that turned into a mutual option: If Oswalt opts out of the $16 million option, he receives a $2 million buyout. If the Phillies terminate the option, Oswalt receives a $3 million buyout.
-- We won't be able to speak with Oswalt until after he makes his start Friday night. It'll be interesting to see how much he interacts with his new teammates before the game. Typically, pitchers don't like to be bothered before games they start. But there will be so much going on.
-- Oswalt's career ERA is 3.42. In August, that drops to 2.80. In September and October, it's 2.78.
-- What is Roy Halladay's favorite thing about Oswalt while watching him from afar? "The competitiveness," Halladay said. "He goes after guys. He challenges guys. He competes every time he goes out there."
-- Brad Lidge redefined the role of closer. He spent a good deal of time reassuring Oswalt, his friend and former teammate in Houston, that Philadelphia was a place to be. But Lidge downplayed his role. As he said, "Philly kind of sells itself right now."
"I think he was going to come here regardless," Lidge said. "For the most part, he's pitched in the National League his whole career and he wanted to do that. He's a guy who wants to win. He wants to win a ring. This is his opportunity. This made a lot of sense for him."
-- Jamie Moyer (who has seen his share of midseason trades), probably best sums up the team's attitude at this point:
"I think this club – we’re in an envelope of time where, we have a great chance to win, and I think this organization respects how hard it is to win, the players understand how hard it is to win, the coaching staff understands how hard it is to win, and we’re making a nice little push right now.”
-- And lastly, the Phillies lost a genuinely good guy in J.A. Happ. He has always handled himself professionally -- especially with the writers -- but was obviously overcome with emotion Thursday. Happ is a smart guy (three years at Northwestern will do that, I suppose). He understands the situation, but it didn't make it any easier for him. All he's known is this organization. Wish him the best with Houston, where he starts Friday night.
I heard Scott Eyre isn't doing anything these days. Actually, the addition of Oswalt helps the bullpen in that he goes deep into games the way Halladay does and the way Hamels has been lately. That means not having to use guys like Baez and Herndon as often.— stefek23- "They will get a reliever after the non-waiver deadline." ^exactly, no reason to spend prospects for a rent-a-reliever who won't even factor into the postseason equation.
- Lidge just needs work. IF you look at 2008 when he was successful it was because he was pitching in 2-3-4 games a week. The past two years he's been very inconsistent because the amount of work he's had has been inconsistent. Example - he's thrown in three games over the past 6 days. Granted the first two were shaky but as other have argued here - last night he was great.— flyermac
- I know it's the cool thing to do now that "fans" can't complain about Cliff Lee ... oops, some are still stuck in that rut … but this bullpen is pretty good with all the components in place. Now that Durbin and Madsen are back, you can run them out there in the 7th and 8th where they have proven they are effective. Romero is a stud left-hander and the rest of the guys will only see action in mop-op or individual match-ups anyway. If you want to replace Herndon or Baez, when are you going to pitch this new "bullpen stud". Don't talk about closer, because they cannot swallow the remaining years/dollars of Lidge's contract (this ain't fantasy baseball fellas). Do I have full confidence in Lidge, of course not, but we did win the World Series with him and I love our chances again this year. How about we actually enjoy what we do have, which is an absolutely phenomenal, easy-to-root-for team and not bemoan what we don't? There are at least 27 other teams that give ANYTHING to be in our place right now.
- i bet the Phils get haap back in a year or two..— manly
- Who is closing?— karlandrew
- I feel real bad for Happ, but that's business. Gose has already been traded to Toronto for a slugger prospect playing in Las Vegas.— Richardgozinya
- GREAT point about Happ. He went through this last year, too. Best to him!— Philly Fan in Kuwait
- 2.5 out with 64 games remaining....including 6 with the Braves. Great trade.....now do something for BE Bullpen insurance. Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Lidge is NOT the answer. He's been given every opportunity to regain his status now for a season & a half.— dri_as_a_bone
- How many more Ryan Madson meltdowns will it take before the Phillies do something about the bullpen? Hamels is not going to throw a complete game that often. Blanton and Kendrick are only going to give you 6 innings. Replace Herndon with Vance Worley and replace Baez with some other low paid reliever. Do it now!— Freedom Fries
- If you don't add Vance Worley and another reliever before September 1, they won't be eligible for the postseason, and the addition of Roy Oswalt won't mean much at all, unless you expect Halladay, Hamels and Oswalt to throw complete games in the postseason versus the St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees.— Freedom Fries
- they shoudl have kept lee and happ and let blanton walk but given what they did, this was a good trade. wait, I thought the eagles were the gold standard?— dreinterests
The mention of Scott Eyre's name frustrates me because Ruben paid Baez and Contreras 4 mil total and only offered Eyre a minor league contract....even though Eyre's numbers were virtually "lights out" as a set-up lefty out of the pen and Eyre made it clear that he only wanted to play for the Phillies or else he'd retire. I'd say he's about 30-40 lbs overweight by now driving behind the wheel of his RV somewhere near Truth-or-Consequences, New Mexico.
Comment removed.
@ Over-Exposed: we're crying about not keeping a 19-year rookie league shortstop and a #4 starter instead of celebrating gaining Oswalt? Lee's gone. Move on. In his place, we got someone just as good, for less money and a better contract (Halladay) in terms of years. Lee wanted to test the free agent market and get CC-type money and years. No way was he getting that here, so instead we got a stud pitcher on terms more friendly to the team. We now get another ace through at least 2011, and Houston's footing $11M of the bill. But you're right, that 19-year old really could've helped this team win the 2010 pennant...— Doctor D
