Posted: Sunday, February 15, 2009, 2:46 PM | 25 comments |
 

Kendrick's job to lose
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Inquirer staff writer Jim Salisbury reports:

The Phillies have completed Day 2 of workouts for pitchers and catchers. After today's workout, pitching coach Rich Dubee said that righthander Kyle Kendrick "is still the leading candidate" for the open fifth starter's job.

"I can't walk away from those 21 wins," Dubee said.

Kendrick has 21 wins in his first 50 big-league starts. He lost his spot in the rotation late last season, but hopes improvements to his changeup and slider will help him win back the job this spring.

Dubee emphasized that three others have a chance to win the job in spring training: They are lefty J.A. Happ and righthanders Chan Ho Park and Carlos Carrasco.

"We'll evaulate all of them," Dubee said. "If someone is better, we'll go with someone better."

More on Kendrick in Monday's Inquirer. We'll also have a look at the story behind Carlos Ruiz' decision to play for his native Panama in the World Baseball Classic.
 
 
 
Posted by Inquirer Online Desk @ 2:46 PM  Permalink | 25 comments
25
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:58 PM, 02/15/2009
    Maybe he could walk away from 323h 82bb 39hr and 117k over 276ip?
    — Philip L
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:49 PM, 02/15/2009
    Wins are the most overrated stat for pitchers. He fell apart after the league saw him for a second time. Give me Happ, much better numbers over a small sample size.
    — azazo26
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:58 PM, 02/15/2009
    lucky if Kendrick lasts 6-61/2 innings - and the offense has to score 6-8 runs. Those 21 wins shows how great our offense is. Time to give JA Happ a chance, and put Kendrick in the minors to work on his confidence/stuff - if Happ doesn't work out.
    — AllDawk_AllTheTime
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:41 PM, 02/15/2009
    Kendrick had his chances and blew them. Give Happ (or Carrasco) a chance to prove themselves before running Kendrick out there again.
    — MattPSU
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:50 PM, 02/15/2009
    they will all get a chance...dubee just said that. what's he gonna tell kendrick? "sorry, kid, you have not shot this year"? thats what spring training is for
    — beetle
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:52 PM, 02/15/2009
    If you're going to have a competition for the 5th spot, what do you gain by designating a front runner before camp opens? All you're doing is putting more expectations onto Kendrick's fragile mentality, along with making guys like Chan Ho Park feel like he got hoodwinked into signing with us. Just let the guys sort it out with their performances on the mound and leave the politics to the idiots in Washington.
    — YodelInTheVlly
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:59 PM, 02/15/2009
    if he really worked hard this offseason..i think it will show..and he'll be our 5th
    — EskinzWack
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:12 PM, 02/15/2009
    I have hope for Kendrick yet BUT..i do agree that the offense bailed him out a lot and the league caught up to him. Happ has the stuff to be our guy now. Maybe Kendrick will develop a good offspeed pitch and become a solid guy but as of late last season that wasnt the case. It should be Happs job to lose based on last September.
    — philsfan in the atx
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:56 PM, 02/15/2009
    By the middle of last season Kendrick was no longer a ground ball pitcher. Everything seemed to be up in the zone. He seem more concerned with hitting the low 90's with his fastball than keeping his sinker down. In 07 his ground out to fly out ratio was a starting pitcher leading 1.47. In 08 it dropped to 1.29 as Kendrick was unable to keep his pitches down in the zone to get the ground ball with runners on base as he was able to do in 07 to pitch out of jams.
    — Dull
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 7:31 PM, 02/15/2009
    Why would Dubee say that it's Kendrick's job to lose? Think about it. Kendrick got beat around during the second half of last year. Everyone says it's partly to do with confidence. So the pitching coach says some nice things to boost his self-confidence. Does it commit him to anything? Of course not. The job is going to go to whomever they think has the best chance at winning come the first week of April. And what was said in the middle of February will mean nothing. So why not give the youngster a public build help? It might help and it can't hurt......One thing I've learned from watching baseball for over 50 years: don't give up too soon on a young pitcher. Every team has pulled the plug too soon and they regret it for years. Do you remember the Mets dealing a guy named Nolan Ryan because they thought he'd never amount to anything because of his blister problems. Closer to home, does the name Ferguson Jenkins ring a bell? Then there's this guy named Moyer you might have heard of. Give Kendrick a chance. Maybe it will pay off and maybe he'll be out of baseball in three years. He's young. Give him some time to see what he can do.
    — Al Wilson
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 7:48 PM, 02/15/2009
    Yeah, the Phils should give up on him because most pitchers throughout history have utterly dominated their opposition in their first 50 starts. Unless you're Gooden or Clemens, most starting pitchers over the last 20-30 years go through growing pains their first couple of seasons. Greg Maddux went 6-14 with a 5.61 ERA his first full season. Glavine was 9-21 with a 4.77 ERA in his first 43 starts over his first 2 seasons. Peavy was 18-18 with a 4.26 ERA in his first 49 starts over his first 2 seasons. Moyer went 19-19 with a 5.09 ERA in his first 49 starts over his first two seasons. In Halladay's second season, he went 4-7 with a 10.64 ERA. You don't just give up on young, healthy starting pitchers that have good stuff or have shown they can get major league hitters out. The league made an adjustment, now it's his turn to make the adjustment. You don't give up on him until he's shown he can't make the adjustment. It's a shocker none of you have player personnel jobs in baseball, lol.
    — JimG
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:25 PM, 02/15/2009
    I have complete faith in Kyle Kendrick. I have watched him pitch over the past 1.5 seasons and I know he can pitch. He pitches to contact, much like Jamie Moyer. He is a control pitcher and if he's getting pinched by the umpire, he's going to be in for a long night. He needs the close pitches to be called strikes, because he's not going to strike out many hitters. He also needs his fielder's to field the ball, turn double plays, etc. It's really frustrating to see how quickly the fans in this town give up on someone. Kendrick has heart and he uses his head, more than his arm to get people out. You need to have faith!
    — foreclosure11
  • Comment removed.


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Bob Brookover and Matt Gelb team up for their third straight season covering the Phillies for the Inquirer and philly.com.

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