Skip to main content

Still Sizzlin' Stove in NL East

The offseason Stove continues to stay Hot. The competition made some moves this weekend. The Metropolitans signed Tim Redding this weekend to a one year $2.25 million deal. This signing by the Metropolitans bothered me more than the Mets getting JJ Putz and Francisco Rodriguez. Redding, the former DC Nats pitcher, really owned the Phillies early last season. The Phillies did really get to Redding in one of his 4 starts against them last year, but in April and May Redding made two starts and in those starts, Redding threw 13 1/2 scoreless innings. Tim Redding is one of those pitchers that baffles the Phillies offense. Take away the 5th inning against the Phillies on July 30th, and Redding has a 1.14 ERA against Philadelphia last season.

Our Phillies should expect to see Redding four times in 2009 and, at 6-7 innings per outting, that's likely more innings than they'd face Franny and the putz.


Also cookin' on the stove this weekend were the Braves, who were craving Asian food. Atlanta signed a big addition for their pitching staff this weekend, inking former Chunichi Dragon big gun, Kenshin Kawakami to a contract. No details on the terms of the contract yet, and the deal is pending a physical examination. "KK" was the Central League's rookie of the year in 1998.


In home land news, our Phillies are reported to be interested in adding a right handed bat for the bench. The bench is normally reserved to 5 spots, and the Phillies, with the recent addition of former Brave Marcus Giles, will have plenty more than 5 players, battling for those 5 spots. Keep in mind that Chase Utley may not be ready for opening day and that perhaps Eric Bruntlett or Giles would be starting in his spot. Considering that point, the following men would be competing for 5 rosters spots: Ronny Paulino, Geoff Jenkins, Chris Coste, Matt Stairs, Greg Dobbs, Bruntlett or Giles. Then there are minor leaguers Brad Harman, Lou Marson and Jason Donald who will definitely be hungry in spring training.

According to the Inquirer, the two righty bats that the Phils are interested in are Nomar Garciaparra and Gabe Kapler. With the already full bench, the Phils would need to get rid of an existing contract, if they did sign another righty hitter. Stairs and his $1 million contract might be the easiest to unload, as Dobbs is rather appealing to the Phils due to his low salary and position versatility, and Geoff Jenkins is owed $8 million minimally ($6.75 for 2009 and at least a $1.25 million buyout in 2010), so it would be tough to get another team to take Jenkins' contract on.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

PhoulBallz Interview: Reading second baseman Jesmuel Valentin

Jesmuel Valentin, image- Jay Floyd Switch-hitting infielder Jesmuel Valentin has been a bit of an underrated contributor with the Double-A Reading Fightins. Heading into action on Friday, Valentin was batting .339 over his last 14 games. Overall this season, the 22-year-old is batting .282 with four home runs and 35 RBI in 64 games. Valentin, who plays mostly second base, but dabbles at shortstop a bit also, is the son of former big leaguer Jose Valentin . The Puerto Rico native was a supplementary round pick (51st overall) of the Dodgers in 2012. He was acquired by the Phils as part of the Roberto Hernandez trade in 2014. Recently, I spoke with Jesmuel about his team's success, growing up around the game and more. Read ahead for that full interview. -The Reading team has been great and you've contributed very nicely to the club's success. What are your thoughts on competition in the Eastern League this year? I just came here with the mindset that...

Catching prospect O'Hoppe tabbed to join Phillies

Logan O'Hoppe, image- Jay Floyd Please consider supporting my work and via my Patreon page .  For a small monthly fee, your patronage will get you exclusive interviews and other prospect related material as well as early access to all of my other content such as this feature.  Thank you.   On Friday, the Phillies added a pair of catchers to their 2020 player pool.  Minor leaguers Logan O'Hoppe (pronounced Oh-HOP-ee) and Henri Lartigue arrived in Philadelphia to help catch bullpen sessions for the team's collection of approximately 30 pitchers. The call to O'Hoppe was extremely welcome as the 20-year-old had been staying as active as he possibly could, working out with other players that have been been waiting out quarantine due to the current pandemic at his home on Long Island.  However, he had been very eager to step back onto an actual baseball field. "I just hope I can play soon.  Where ever that is or whatever form that is, that'd be aw...

Weekend Preview: Phillies at Yankees

The Phillies (22-17) head up to New York to take on the Yankees (24-17) in their new digs this weekend. It should be a fun Memorial Day weekend at the new Yankee Stadium. A record 75 homeruns have been hit at Yankee Stadium in the first 20 games there. The Phils haven't visited the Bronx since 2000. Read on for pitching match ups, game times, and plenty more notes. Friday, 7:05pm. Brett Myers (3-2, 4.50 ERA) vs. AJ Burnett (2-1, 5.02 ERA). Myers has had one career start against the Yankees. He won that game, in June 2006, by throwing 6 2/3 innings, striking out 11 and giving up just 2 earned runs. Myers is 3-0 on the road this season. Burnett has a 5-7 record in 16 career games against the Phils with a 4.57 ERA and 2 complete games. Burnett at home this season has no record in 4 starts, with a 4.15 ERA. Greg Dobbs is 4-for-6 in his career against Burnett with a double and 2 RBI. Matt Stairs is 2-for-8 off Burnett...both hits are homeruns . Saturday, 4:10pm. "Jay" Hap...