As the Bullpen Turns: Rosenberg is next
The latest Phillies and baseball news from Philly.com.
As the Bullpen Turns: Rosenberg is next
Matt Gelb
UPDATE (9:41 a.m.): Indeed, it's B.J. Rosenberg who gets the call. He'll wear No. 53 and is available beginning Saturday.
EARLIER:
BALTIMORE — Raul Valdes has the unfortunate distinction of being lefthanded. Typically, that will prolong a pitcher's career, but in this case, it earned Valdes a ticket to Allentown despite a 2.13 ERA in 12 2/3 innings for the Phillies.
"We want to bring up a righty and see if we can get some balance in our bullpen," Charlie Manuel said after a 9-6 victory over the Orioles. "That was hard because Valdes, I felt like he did a super job for us. He could be back. He pitched good enough. It wasn't because we didn't like the way he pitched."
It's just Chad Qualls and Michael Schwimer have been so bad that another righthanded arm is required.
The Phillies are looking outside the organization for bullpen help, but they will dip into the minors again Saturday for a new face. One possibility is B.J. Rosenberg, a 26-year-old righty who is throwing quite well for the IronPigs.
He began the season at double-A Reading. In 11 games and 20 2/3 innings at triple A, he has a 1.74 ERA with 26 strikeouts and six walks.
The Phillies have two righties on the 40-man roster — Phillippe Aumont and J.C. Ramirez. They, too, are possibilities. So is Brian Sanches, who spent some time with the Phillies earlier this season. But both Aumont and Sanches pitched Friday for Lehigh Valley. Ramirez was just recently promoted to triple A and isn't on the radar.
Plus, the Phillies outrighted Pete Orr off the 40-man roster after Friday's game to leave 39 active players. That suggests the righthanded reliever will come from outside the 40-man roster.
In addition to Rosenberg, Tyson Brummett has decent numbers at triple A after starting in Reading. But Phillies officials have long viewed Rosenberg as a potential arm because he throws strikes.
With a dearth of options at the major-league level, he may finally have his chance.
Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.
Buy Phillies tickets 
And where are the clowns that blame Amaro for every baseball move, including the writers? Like I have said before, Charlie has a lot of input. And most of the time, he's wrong.— EL Zorro- Really, Charlie is in charge of contracts, drafting and free agency? When did that happen? You should be editor in chief for breaking the news.
- Qualls and Schwimer both really, really stink so send down Valdes. Makes perfect sense to me.— dasher
- Don't you read? Too many lefties. And Savery can always be a pinch hitter — mike l
- Somebody please explain to me what they see in Schwimer? I don't and have never seen "it".— dtm_247
- Probably b/c he was lights out his whole Minor League career...let's not rush our young guns...chill out
- Bring up Aumont already.... now or never for this dude— BuddyBall92
- Schwimer and Qualls do NOT deserve to be on any major league team— shawnmac
- Aumont is getting lit up in AAA and just came back from the DL so it wont be him. Aumont has BIG time stuff mid 90's FB and a hammer curve but he dosent throw strikes and some believe he dosent have it between the ears. Some believe he is our next closer but you cant have a 1 run lead and bring in your closer and he starts walking everyone. Its gotta be Rosenberg. A few years ago he was considered a closer in the making but then he was hurt on and off the feild for 2 years. he has the stuff to stick in the bullpen. Lets hope he isn t another Schwimer who dominates the minors but cant get any MLB players out.— Joey0210
- Amaro has messed up. He constantly gave an extra year to contracts such as Blanton, Polanco, Ibanez, Contreras, ..., decided not to get Michael Cuddyer or Josh Willingham in the off season, and could have gone after Michael Young in a trade the previous off-season. We've been left with aging veterans. The Rollins signing was a mistake - the guy is just a 250 hitter. They seeme to never want to draft position players for the farm any more and the farm system is void of position player talent that you need during a season like this. I wish we would have traded Dom Brown instead of Jonathon Singleton, ANthony Gose, or the catcher Travis D'Arnoud. His quick trade of Cliff Lee looks aweful - we got nothing in return when he should have gotten at least 2 future MLBers. Remember, the first trade that Gillick had him make was the Bobby Abreu trade to the Yankees - and we took 4 stiff porspects who were just as bad as the stiffs from the Cliff Lee trade. RAJ should be on the hot sheet - he loves spending money without thinking more than my ex-wife. And for all the prospects we gave the astros, we should have gotten a better talent than Pence. He's great as far as a hustler, but he's a role player (20-25 HRs) not a stud.— Dish
- dish, arent cuddyer, willingham and michael young aging veterans? as for the great gillick, we'd be in alot better shape if he hadnt trade gio/floyd for freddy no physical garcia. yes, i hated the lee trade, and even a guy they released, quinton berry (now playing in det) is better than gillies, and aumont cant get up here despite all the slop in the pen. but you could argue signing Lee, if it means losing Hamels, will inthe end be worse than having traded Lee. I still wonder if we win in 2010 if Lee is here and then left to walk after the season. by the way, singleton, gose and d'arnoud could all still end up being worse ml players than dom. and nobody was giving you anything for abreu. it was addition by subtraction dumping him.— jim715
- by the way, every reliever they have brought up in the last 2 years had AAA stats that looked like they were dominating. it just means they can get out guys who arent quite good enough or arent good enough to be in the big leagues now. so take rosenbergers stats with a grain of salt.— jim715
Wow. This is what the bullpen has come to. We are calling up Sid Rosenberg? Seriously. Sid Rosenberg? I think he is the same guy that sold me a car last month.
