Phillies shuffle bullpen
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Phillies shuffle bullpen
Bob Brookover, Inquirer Baseball Columnist
Update: The Phillies have called up lefthander Jeremy Horst and designated Chad Qualls for assignment. Qualls was roughed up in Wednesday's 11-7 loss to the Pirates, allowing three runs on three hits in one inning of work.
Overall, Qualls was 1-1 with a 4.60 ERA in 35 appearances this year. Over the last 29 games, he posted a 5.68 ERA, and opponents hit .333 against him.
Horst has gone 2-1 with two saves and a 2.11 ERA in 26 games with the IronPigs this season. Since April 28, Horst has posted a 1.61 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 27.1 innings for Lehigh Valley. The 26-year-old made 12 relief appearances with the Cincinnati Reds last season, posting a 2.93 ERA in 15.1 innings.
He will wear No. 47 for the Phillies.
From earlier:
The bullpen pitcher du jour is Brian Sanches.
The Phillies called up the righthander from triple-A Lehigh Valley Thursday morning in time for their afternoon series finale with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Sanches, 33, replaced Joe Savery, who was optioned to the Iron Pigs after pitching 2 2/3 innings during Wednesday night's 11-7 loss that featured six Phillies relievers.
This will be Sanches' second stint with the big-league club this season. He appeared in three games in early May and allowed five earned runs on nine hits in four innings.
Given the fact that everyone except closer Jonathan Papelpon pitched out of the bullpen Wednesday night, there's a decent chance Sanches will make an appearance against the Pirates.
Sanches was 3-1 with a 2.48 ERA in 21 appearances at Lehigh Valley and had walked only five batters in 32 2/3 innings. He was 2-1 with a 1.15 ERA in his last 10 appearances for the Iron Pigs.
Instead of bringing up Sanches who had his chance and failed, they needed to bring up Cloyd for a start. He could be the next Worley, Bystrom, Walk, or early Kendrick, from Double A no less. You won't know until he gets his chance. If he performs well, current Kendrick can go back to the bullpen for good. If Lidge is available, the Phillies could do no worse for middle relief. That slider of his when on is deadly. He just needed to add a splitter and a sinker to his arsenal. He certainly is not the fraud that Quarlls is now. Give Ruben credit. He has seen enough and a message needed to be sent--either you pitch to your capabilities or you will be sent packing. It made no sense that the offense got seven runs and the bullpen gave up 11 runs. Heck, Seattle ran their bullpen out this year for a game and that bullpen got a shut out.— dross- when Amaro acquires awful players their poor performance is not a surprise or unexpected, it's the most expected outcome... the following is a brief synopsis of some of the players who Rube acquired BEFORE he acquired or re-signed them: D.Baez 2006 5.40 era, 2007 6.44 era, 2009 4.02 era, Amaro then gives him 2-year contract...Qualls 2010 7.32 era (not a typo), 2011 lefties bat .320 against him, Petco Park era 2.09, Citizens Bank era 33.75, Amaro then gives him a contract...Kendrick 4.49 lifetime era, Amaro gives him a new 2 yr 7.6 mil contract....Schneider 2009 .218 avg, 2010 .240, 2011 .176, Amaro then gives him a new contract.... Dontrelle Willis, era between 5.0 and 9.8 for each and every year from 2007 through 2011, Amaro gives him a contract to try to make team...— warbiscuit
- Utley and Howard will have to hit 500 to make up for this horrible relief staff.— farley
- Don't worry. Horst knows how to pitch. He pitched well for the Reds last year. His arrival should mean the last we will see Savery until September.— dross
- I hope Schwimer and Kendrick were watching carefully as those two ,ahem, 'pitchers' packed their bags. Better figure it out soon boys, the Turk is coming for you next!— drbob1
- biscuit, get over it. Gillick signed Adam Eaton to 3 years, Traded Gio and Floyd for 1 win Freddy. Mistakes happen. Tampa signed Pat the Bat for two years. Washington signed Lidge (and Werth).— palmyra21
- Hey Warbiscuit, give Ruben his props too. Contreras and Romero were pretty good until they got hurt or ran out of gas. Plus he was not afraid to let arms like Bastardo, Stutes and Worley blossom.— dross
- Someone finally makes a rational decision.— s
- Did they designate Qualls as "incompetent"?— fmMD
- Major progress.
Quall's was a failure before arriving in Philly.
Not an Amaro hater but the Quall's signing was the worst of his short tenure.
Injuries have certainly been a major portion of the problems in the pen, but there is no excuse for all the bad relief optios we picked up over the winter.
This coupled with the mistakes made with Michael Martinez, have set Charlie up for failure. Seems Charlie operates like a Little League manager and just looks down the bench to see who hasn't had a chance to play yet. That Quall's and Martinez have been availabe is Rueb's fault. Utley was awesome. Very sad that he comes back in a game that has 5 relievers set to pitch. This goes back on Charlie also.— meatman2 - this post should be followed by who may be available via trade for the pen before the deadline— sore richard
- Two more guys who will be afraid to throw strikes; no improvement here.— JBinPA
- Quals should have been "dis"qualified for any assignment.— RLTC
- I was there last night, I said to my buddy that they should send every pitcher that pitched last night down, they were terrible and although Savery was awful, Qualls is the worst...makes Danys Baez look like reliever of the year. I'm for flipping relievers to/from minors til we get some that work. Should have kept Chad Durbin but got Qualls instead. Score 8 runs and lost...terrible, but seeing Chase hit the HR on his 1st AB made my night.— hoopfan11
- Glad to see the relief pitchers are being held accountable. Qualls and Savery have been mostly terrible. Jason Grilli was a relief pitcher for the Iron Pigs last year and pitched great but the Phils gave him away to the Pirates. He sure would have helped the Phils.— zeke128
