Phillies manager Charlie Manuel spoke with the MLB Home Plate channel, on SIRIUS XM Radio, hosts Seth Everett and Jim Duquette, about newly signed pitcher Pedro Martinez, on Wednesday. Here is a look at some of what they spoke about.Host, Jim Duquette: “What are your feelings on where [Martinez] fits in the rotation and what are your expectations of him?”
Charlie Manuel: “Basically, the things I was told were that he’s throwing the ball much better than he did last year, he’s in tremendous shape and that our people definitely think that he can help us. And what we’ll do: he’ll work out, have a couple of throwing sessions with [pitching coach] Rich Dubee and probably even throw to some hitters, and then we’ll send him out and let him pitch in a game a couple of times and then bring him back and we’ll plug him in our rotation.”
Host, Seth Everett: “Do you guys have the sense of any real expectations from him? What was the report that you got from the people that went down to the D.R. and saw him?”
Manuel: “They were very encouraged with him. They like him. They said he’s throwing the ball better, his velocity’s better and he was in tremendous shape, and that he had been working out ever since the World Baseball Classic. And they felt like that with his experience and the fact that he is throwing the ball better, that he could help us and that he can pitch anywhere from five to seven innings for us.”
Everett: “So the earliest he can probably return is August 1, right?”
Manuel: “Yeah, I’d say that’s close to the timeline for him, yes, because if you think about it, somewhere along in there, yeah.”
“Power Alley,” with Seth Everett and Jim Duquette, airs weekdays from 10 am – 1 pm ET on MLB Home Plate (XM channel 175 and SIRIUS channel 210 with the “Best of XM” programming package).
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