Phillies Notes: Phillies trade Michael Schwimer to Blue Jays

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Scott Proefrock walked through the Phillies clubhouse during the eighth inning of Saturday's Grapefruit League game with papers in his hand. The assistant general manager instructed a clubhouse attendant to find pitcher Michael Schwimer.

Schwimer was in the Phillies bullpen, exactly where one is supposed to be when scheduled to pitch. Except Schwimer was no longer a Phillie. He had been traded during the game to Toronto for Art Charles, a minor-league first baseman.

"Very surprised," Schwimer said.

But this was a move months in the making. Schwimer angered the organization twice last season by announcing roster moves on Twitter, and by disputing the team's decision to send him to triple A in August.

Both Schwimer and Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said those incidents had nothing to do with Saturday's trade. Nonetheless, the Phillies dealt a 27-year-old arm with big-league experience for a 22-year-old first baseman who has never played above single A.

"It's an arm that should pitch in the big leagues," pitching coach Rich Dubee said of Schwimer. "He's got plenty of talent to pitch in the big leagues."

The Phillies committed four errors, including miscues by outfielders Darin Ruf and Ben Revere, in an 8-3 loss to the Astros at Bright House Field on Saturday. Those errors led to unearned runs.

"Hopefully we kind of got a lot of that out of the way," manager Charlie Manuel said. "That was one of those days. That's what we talked about, that's why we've been working a lot on our defense. We still got a long way to go and today was a good example of it."

Ruf committed a fielding error in the fourth inning, when a single bounced off his glove. Revere could not cleanly field another single in the fifth.

The Phillies expect Revere to be sure-handed. Ruf, who is making the transition from first base to left field, is another story.

"Darin is going to make some mistakes," Manuel said. "Playing down here in spring training, that's going to help him. I didn't expect him to go out there and make great catches or catch every ball. He hasn't played much out there and he's going to make mistakes."