Phillies Eye Eyre, Garcia?
Could the Phillies be interested in Scott Eyre or Freddy Garcia?
Phillies Eye Eyre, Garcia?
Todd Zolecki
The Phillies came up empty before Thursday’s non-waiver trade deadline, but they continue to look for help.
Here are two intriguing names:
Lefthander Scott Eyre and righthander Freddy Garcia.
The Chicago Cubs designated Eyre for assignment today when they activated closer Kerry Wood from the 15-day disabled list. Eyre, 36, was 2-0 with a 7.15 ERA in 19 appearances for the Cubs. He started the season with 14 consecutive scoreless appearances, but had a 34.71 ERA in his last five before Cubs manager Lou Piniella buried him in the doghouse.
“We might have some interest in him,” Phillies assistant general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said.
Garcia might be one of the biggest busts in Phillies history, but he is making a comeback and the Phillies sent minor league pitching coordinator Gorman Heimueller to watch Garcia throw today at the University of Miami. Amaro hadn’t received a report on how Garcia threw. It’s uncertain if Garcia could even contribute at the big-league level this season, but the Phillies decided it didn't hurt to look.
Comments (30)
And another thing that kills me, they stink at home! Dont get wrong, I like the road record, but come on Phils, you have to play better at home!!!! Its Pathetic!! Can you sense the hate 2nite? LOL— Clinton, NJ- thought happ was a starter? charlie is just a baseball genious...its august, moyer is done, great job to date but he is starting to slow down...more pitchers off the scrap heap? givng the fans what they deserve, poor cheap overpaid talent and no chance at winning a play off game— 32pitch
- If they bring back Freddy Garcia, it will make the JD Drew battery incident seem like a friendly gesture.— maximusud
- Ithink we have to simply accept the offense for what it is because a person will go insane trying to figure it out. I know the offense had good numbers last year but the inconsistent ways were apparent even then. So in my mind, I'm not surprised by the lack of consistency, just annoyed. Clinton, I agree that this team should be crushing the ball more than they are, but I don't believe the roster as is will ever be a consistent group. We cannot count on people having "career years" every season (like Howard in '06, Rollins in '07, even Coste in '07). It is obvious a few changes have to made next year if this team is serious about winning.— MrPhillie
- Did you notice the mock cheering and booing when the "Butcher of Broad Street" fielded a foul ball cleanly after letting another one go thru his legs earlier?.....I'm telling you, he would be taking an hour of groundballs tomorrow if I was the mgr.....Darrell Evans told me a great story once about Eddie Mathews his mgr his 1st year in Atlanta when he was a rookie 3rd baseman of questionable skill....Eddie would stand on the grass cutout at home plate and move Darrell up onto the cutout at 3rd, then rip line drive after line drive off his body, til he learned to stop them, catch them, scoop them....field them cleanly, and become a decent 3rd baseman...he eventually won a gold glove.....only one and the only one not won by Ken Reitz or Schmitty during his time in the NL......Howard, as big as he is, should never have a ball go thru him.....that is pure chickensh**......time to take control of the big guy and turn him into a defensive force at 1st.....otherwise it's off to the AL to DH for a #1 and a #2 SP.........I'd gladly give up his K or HR offense and human seive impersonation at 1st base for quality pitching.....— Mark1npt
- Maybe Howard's size IS the reason he has trouble scooping up grounders. Can't bend down far enough. "Ryno....Lose a few pounds and take up Pilates!" LOL! I've said it before, but 1st base should be the easiest defensive position on the team Yet Howard leads the pack with 13 errors.— Norma
- soup— Mike H.
- i really think phils need give antoherr shot at garcia. our rotation sucks and need help badly. if hes healthy, he could really be good for phils. its worth the risk.— broad
Comment removed.- I don't think it's his size Norma...he can bend...he just can't handle anything hit ML hard at him....or he's not concentrating enough like the rest of this ADD bunch....he's already made a few comments about how hard some of these balls have been hit at him this year.....and having to stand in front of them....you big boy, you got enough padding so it ain't gonna hurt....for $10 mil bucks you should be making kick saves down at first like Parent in goal....oh wait, yeah you did that the game before.....— Mark1npt
- MrPhillie, well said on the offense and about making some changes in the off season. As I see it, the best case scenario for us is for Howard to hit well and for Myers to pitch well for the remainder of the season, for two reasons. First of all, it would obviously help us now. Second, it would raise their trade value. If we could trade Howard (because there is no way we are paying him what he wants) for a top of the rotation starter plus, and trade Myers (or Myers as part of a package) for a top tier outfielder to replace Burrell (because we're not keeping him either), it would be a good start toward changing the makeup of this team. Eating a couple contracts, like Jenkins' and Eaton's would be a good step 2, and bringing in upgrades in their place would be a welcome step 3.— bski
- As far as Garcia and Eyre are concerned, I said here a while back that if Garcia is able to pitch this year, he should be required to come back here and pitch for free. I read this quote: "I think there's a chance [he signs with the Phillies]," Greenberg said. "One of Freddy's big criteria is [playing on a] winning team that has a chance to play into October.", and I thought to myself, doesn't having him pitch for a team automatically negate their chance of playing in October?......About Eyre, after what happened last night with Walrond and Happ, assemble the reporters and prep the media room for the welcoming press conference.— bski
- I don't understand the outright negativity on Garcia. Yes, he was a bust for us last year, mainly because of injury - but he has had a very successful career up until that injury. Is it not possible for a pitcher to come back from injury and pitch well again? I think if the Phillies didn't at least look at him, they would be negligent in their duties. If he is healthy next year, and another team like the Muts sign him and he wins 15+ games, everybody on in this city would throw Phillies management under the bus for not signing him. So, it says they are watching him pitch and everyone complains.— Gary Varsho
- yes its a big loss but calm down everybody. I think they are still in first. It always comes down to whos playing the best the last month of the season. We can do it!— dry ice man
- Gary, I'm not saying that Garcia has no chance of returning from his injury to again become a successful pitcher. I just don't expect him to do it this season. I am reluctant to even consider picking him up right now. We don't have the time or the cushion necessary to allow him to work himself back into shape/deal with limited pitch counts/wait until he regains his comfort level and confidence/works through any residual soreness....basically all of the things that come with a rehab from an injury/shoulder surgery. As crazy as this sounds, if we are planning on keeping him beyond the rest of this season, it might be worth the gamble. My fear is that we will pick him up now because he is a cheap option, we will be his big league rehab clinic, then he walks at the end of the season. In the off season he will sign with someone else and next year the fully restored Garcia will resume his career as an effective pitcher. I'd rather that he work through the initial phase of his comeback with someone else. It would be prudent for us to hold off on any serious consideration of him until he demonstrates that he is indeed all the way back.— bski
About this blog
The Phillies Zone is the place for up-to-the-minute Phillies coverage from the Inquirer.
Matt Gelb
Inquirer Staff Writer
Bob Brookover
Inquirer Baseball Columnist
Search this blog:
Classifieds:
Site Services:
Partners:
Powered By:
