Skip to main content

Halladay Puts Stamp of Approval on Phils Managerial Switch

Roy Halladay, image- Jay Floyd
Roy Halladay completed a moderately fair rehab effort with the Phillies' Class A club on Tuesday night and did so with no ill effects.  However, the biggest story out of Lakewood, NJ may have been that the ace right-hander seemed to declare that the recent switch at the managerial position for the big league team was long overdue.

Immediately following an assertion of adoration for fired Phils skipper Charlie Manuel, the 36-year-old hurler told a crowd of reporters that there were issues that had been neglected and he knows that the man who replaced Manuel after nine seasons, Ryne Sandberg, has already begun repairing the problems.

"I've exchanged texts with (Charlie).  Obviously, I loved him.  He was great," Halladay stated.  "But, from what I've seen, you know, Ryne came in and made some changes and addressed some issues that I think were being overlooked, so from that standpoint, as much as I miss Charlie, I think that Ryne's going to do a good job.  I think he's gonna bring more of the Phillie baseball style that we've had the last couple years.  You know, we haven't really had that whole team effort and the whole team hustle that we had in prior years."

The implication is clearly that Manuel had grown complacent in his position of supervision over the roster. Aside from a lack of hustle, which has long been a concern with certain players on the Phillies, what specifically were the other matters at hand?

"Just different things.  Guys being at places on time, being on the field on time.   You know, taking ground balls, taking extra BP, all those little things that nobody thinks makes a difference, so I think (Sandberg's) been very good so far, but again I don't want to take anything away from Charlie.  He's- we all respected him tremendously and I think he's gonna have the choice of what he wants to do at this point in his life, so I'm happy for him," Halladay said.

In the game, Halladay, who is recovering from shoulder surgery, went six innings against the Nationals affiliate Hagerstown Suns, allowing two runs (one earned) while giving up seven hits, striking out four and issuing three free passes.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner sports a 2-4 record with an 8.65 ERA in seven major league starts this season.

Halladay was asked if he felt like he could make his next start in the big leagues, but he was clear in identifying that it would be up to the organization to assign his next outing.

"That's out of my control.  I want to pitch in five days, but (where I pitch is) not my call," Halladay stated.

The veteran of 16 big league seasons was pleased with his effort, despite his ratio of throwing just 52 of his 90 pitches for strikes and mainly clocking at 87 MPH with his fastball throughout the evening.  Halladay took a lot of positives out of the performance of his cutter.

"It really did get better from about the fourth/fifth inning on, to where...I was letting the grip do it, instead of trying to create it with my body....I was just working on the grip and getting it moving and it seemed to come around, so I was happy about that."

The plan seems to be for Halladay to pitch again on Sunday.  With some struggles to control his offerings in the BlueClaws' 3-2 win over Hagerstown on Tuesday night, it's likely that another minor league rehab outing will be in store for the eight-time All-Star.  Double-A Reading and Lakewood play at home that day, while Triple-A Lehigh Valley will be on the road. 


More quotes from Halladay-

On if he's given thought to the amount of outings he might need to make in order to put his improved health on display for teams interested in his services in the future:

"I'm fortunate that I've played a long time.  I'm not playing for money.  I'm not playing for anything else.  If I have a situation where I have a chance to win, then I might pay them.  I don't know.  Fortunately, I don't have to play.  I'm playing because I want to play.  So, that's a decision that's made after the season."

On his velocity decline:

"I think the older you get, you're not going to gain, so you know, mentally, you have to be smarter and execute better and think a little more.  I've had plenty of time to learn and it's, you know, I mean it's slowly decreased over my career.  So, it's not a huge deal for me.  I know that once you go under 92 to 90-ish, or under 90, it sets off a lot of bells with people, but I feel like I'm comfortable where I'm at, but I also feel like, you know, there's three or four miles an hour that are going to come back."

On his physical comfort level:

"I feel great.  I have no soreness.  I feel loose going out in between innings.  I feel good."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

2021 Phillies Top Prospects Countdown: #22 SS Casey Martin

Please visit Patreon.com/PhoulBallz in order to support my work, get access to material like this before anyone else and get access to interviews as well as other exclusive content you can't get anywhere else.   A third round draft pick last year, Arkansas junior Casey Martin was quickly signed by the Phillies and consideration as one of the organization's top infield prospects quickly began.  The team's confidence in his ceiling is likely evident in the signing bonus he got, which was reportedly $1.3 million, which was considerably more than slot money dictated by his 87th overall draft position ($685K). The right-handed batting Martin tallied a .311/.393/.545 slash line with 30 homers, 24 steals and 112 RBI in 143 games through his college career at Arkansas.  Reports had him falling in the draft as a result of an injury to the hamate bone in his left hand prior to his 2020 season.  Prior to the procedure, Baseball America projected Martin as a top ten draft pick.

Bubby Rossman's long awaited MLB debut

Eight years after he initially signed a professional contract with the Dodgers and a five-year stretch playing away from affiliated ball, Bubby Rossman became a major leaguer on Wednesday. Added as a substitute for pitcher Kyle Gibson, who is restricted from travel to Canada for the Phillies' series in Toronto, due to his medical inability to be vaccinated from COVID-19, Rossman took the mound for the first time in the majors. Rossman, who was a 22nd round draft selection in 2014 had pitched in 200 professional games before his one-inning outing in the Phillies' 8-2 loss to the Blue Jays. In 27 appearances with Double-A Reading this year, the 30-year-old right-hander has performed well, tallying a 2-2 record with a save, a 3.32 ERA and a .200 batting average against.   The embedded video below features a media session with Rossman from prior to opening day this year, in which the California native discusses his journey through independent baseball and back to affiliated ball wi

Slick fielding Sam is the Champion of the (PhoulBallz) world!

Phillies Ball(z)girl Sam Arnone was kind enough to answer some questions for the PhoulBallz site and all of you. Sam will be entering her 3rd season as a Phillies ballgirl and is a junior at Drexel University. Sam hails from the great town of Mt. Ephram, NJ. 1- Since the Phillies are the World Champions of baseball teams, are the Phillies ballgirls the world champions of ballgirl teams? - Of Course!!! There are not that many teams that have Ballgirls, so the competition is a little scarce. I would definitely put my team up against any other Ballgirl team with full confidence! 2- What is your routine to prepare for a day of on-field duties? - Before a game, I am always a little nervous. Once I am ready to leave my house and head to the ballpark I triple check my bag to make sure I have my glove and then I check again. I always have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on wheat because it keeps me full and gives me energy for the entire game. I guess I might have to find a new favorite sa