The July 31 trade deadline is just a little over a month away. Last week the talk had been about that right handed hitter. You know the one that we don’t have in our lineup. The one that Charlie says they need to win. He’s also the same guy that Ruben says may be too expensive to bring in. Dillemma? Probably not. Will the Phillies get their right handed bat? As of today, that isn’t their top priority anymore.
The top name on the Phillies right handed wish list was A’s outfielder Josh Willingham. Guess what happened there? Willingham was placed on the 15 day DL with a strained left Achilles. Now that move isn’t entirely out the window anymore, but due to his injury and what’s gone on in Phils Nation this past week this trade is put on the back burner.
Now the Phillies have to be looking at pitching. Ruben is in a tight spot here because he knows the skipper wants a rightie at the plate. With this past weeks changes in the weather the Phillies are down two key pitchers. Everyone knows that Jose Contreras was put back on the DL this week and the early reports are saying that he could be out 4 to 6 weeks. That’s not good. Not one bit.
The second shot to the heart was the Roy Oswalt debacle. Oswalt has been pitching through pain all season and this time he says he isn’t going to rush back. We all know he is hurt. What we don’t know is when he is going to be back. Some reports are saying that Lil Roy could be out until at least August. That leaves Kyle Kendrick in that starters spot.
That’s all well and good because KK fills in nicely, but he isn’t the innings eater that the big three are. So that means when he is starting you can almost expect that someone is going to be coming out of the bullpen. No problem, right?
I’m going to go with the cliche here and right off the bat say: Wrong! The bullpen is being held together by some shoe strings and some Big League Chew. We can’t rely on Mike Stutes every game. As much as we would love to see the Stutes and his flowing locks every day, he simply can’t do it.
Ryan Madson has swelling on the back of his hand. He received a cortisone shot Friday. The day off tomorrow is certainly going to help him, but we’ll wait and see. Brad Lidge, who has been out all season, will throw a bullpen session on Monday and he says he is feeling better. I would rather just have him shut down for the season. Joe Blanton is also throwing a bullpen session on Monday, and the consensus here is that no one really cares. The Vanimal has filled in nicely and we really don’t want to see him go.
So with Jimmy turning his game on today, pitching becomes priority. There isn’t much time until the deadline and knowing the Phillies they would like to add an arm and maybe jump the gun on the deadline swapping. Especially with all of these injuries, it seems that this is now the best time.
With the best record in baseball the Phillies don’t want to worry about anyone in their rearviews. The Big Three handle the brunt of the work, but one has to think that the Phillies would at least kick the tires on some starting pitchers around the league to round out the rotation.
So who could the Phillies possibly get before July 31? There are a few diamonds in the rough (and that’s being generous) that will probably be available at the deadline.
One guy that jumps off the page immediately is Orioles pitcher Jeremy Guthrie. The Orioles staff say that he is very much a part of their plans, but as the deadline looms closer the Orioles will probably be sellers. Guthrie is a right handed arm as well. His 3.93 ERA isn’t too shabby either and he would benefit from having a better team around him. Guthrie? Maybe. His price is a little steep as he sits at $3 million currently.
Let’s throw this guy in the mix as well, Jason Marquis. This dude would look good in a Phils uniform. His 3.53 ERA and 7-2 record looks appetizing and again he is a right handed arm. Marquis has said that he wants to stay in DC and you would have to think that the Nats wouldn’t send him our way. Although they do have a lot of pitching waiting in the ranks.
The biggest sellers at the deadline will have to be the New York Mets. Once a rivalry and now just a joke, the Phillies-Mets relationship is not a good one. They do have a pitcher that would be easy to get and easy to fit in the rotation. Chris Capuano has been putting together a decent campaign while playing for the lowly Mets. The reason he is on this list is that his 3.99 ERA is pretty good despite his situation and he is only making $1.5 million. Thats a number that the Phillies will most certainly like. That is if they can pry him away from New York.
A few wild cards at the deadline coming to the Phillies could be John Danks, (a $4 million contract and a trip to the DL says no), Crazy Carlos Zambrano (no thank you), or Kansas City’s Jeff Francis (again $4 million looks to be too much).
So while we wait to see what Ruben has up his sleeve, I think it is safe to assume that the Phillies will be looking at pitching to help out Roy, Cliff, and Cole. If worse comes to worse, we can always just ask those guys to pitch complete games everyday. And on the other days? Worley and Stutes got that in the bag. Sounds good to me.
SW – Brian Maloney
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