Young arm(s) for sale?

The Phils may be in position to shop young pitching, including 23-year-old Robinson Tejeda.

Much has been written about the Phils need for starting pitching and ways to get more of it. Free agency is an option, though choices are limited, and trading away existing stars may only yield prospects.

It may sound crazy, but the Phils could be in a good shape to trade young arms. In spring training, the Phils will have a potential logjam of young pitchers to fill limited spots in the rotation, and even less opportunity should the Phils acquire a veteran some other way.

The list of Phils who could be competing for a starting job include Gavin Floyd, Ryan Madson, Cole Hamels, Eude Brito and Robinson Tejeda – in addition to some other minor leaguers who may get a chance to compete in spring training.

The sudden surplus of borderline big-league arms could be tasty for small-market buyers looking to add a fifth starter. That means the Phils actually could have chips to trade that aren’t established veterans like Bobby Abreu.

The Phils can’t, and shouldn’t, try converting all the runners-up into relievers. Only one of them – Madson – has had anything close to consistent success in the bullpen.

Conversely, only one – Tejeda – has had success as a starter, yet his name is mentioned least when considering next year’s rotation.

It’s possible that a trade of someone like Tejeda - the pitcher I’d deal first - could net a young catcher or third baseman. Catcher and third base represent positions the Phils are years away from developing in the minors, a situation that may come to a head as early as next season.

The reason I’d deal Tejeda is that his "effective wild" style is something teams will learn to exploit the more they face him. He’s never been anything more than a moderate prospect in the system, even surrendering a league-worst 29 homers two seasons ago in Double-A Reading, where he went 8-14 with a 5.15 ERA.

Looking back, the opposition made it very easy on Tejeda on many occasions, who squeezed out of countless jams simply because batters weren’t smart enough to lay off fastballs well out of the zone. Likewise in his brief duty as starter, Brito had the same effect with his slider.

Shoppers might bite on Tejeda's 4-3 with a 3.57 ERA, with success as both a starter and reliever this season.

A quick look at Baseball America reveals a fairly weak lot of minor league catchers, but a moderate-to-strong class of third basemen.

Of course, any trade involving the young arms on this list need to wait to see how the bullpen shakes down, or whether the Phils decide to bring back Vicente Padilla. The last thing they need is to spread themselves too thin before the first pitch of the season.

Comments

[Tom Goodman]

I believe the best pitcher the Phillies can trade is Padilla. Everyone loves his stuff. Surely there is someone out there (Leo Mazzon???) who believes he can straighten out the rest of him.

After that, the next best possibility would be Tejeda or Brito, neither of whom can be expected to fetch an impact player. I'd hold on to Tejeda because I like his attitude and believe he earned another look.

Brito, the only lefty other than Wolf, isn't likely to fetch too much.

Hamels won't fetch much if anything with his history. Floyd is still regarded as an untouchable by the Phillies. By May of 2006 he will have confirmed their faith in him or he may very well be shopped by the June trading deadline.

I remain convinced the only way the Phillies get any pitching in here is to trade a position player such as Abreu. Much as I dislike the possibility, it may be time.

[That Dude]

Interesting scenario...I would agree with it based on the fact that I have no faith in the organization to develop "young/wild" pitchers. If we had the right type of pitching coaches, students of the game, pitching mechanics and theory who can work wit pitchers (unlike Kerrigan) than I say we keep and develop. Now we are stuck with "feel" guys so we might as well send off Tejada and watch him turn into another Carlos Silva since Silva could only become what he has somewhere else.

[J. Weitzel]

The Silva deal was indeed a botched job, but the differences between Silva and Tejeda are pretty striking. Tejeda is wild, but gets Ks by "throwing," Silva is a control pitcher who never walks anyone, but gives up a lot of hits and really needs good fielders behind him. The Phils thought Silva couldn't be a starter in the bigs, even though he was a very consistent starter in the minors and walked only about 25 batters in an entire season. They let him go.

Soon enough, Tejeda will start to get bombed, and that's no good at CBP.

[Oisin]

I don't know about Tejada on his own, but I think tejada and padilla as a package might net some big returns - it's the kind of deal that a less than knowledgeable GM is going to eat up . . . IF we research and carefully target decent up-and comers for third base+catcher (maybe even another pitcher). Seems to me that the key to making that kind of trade work is not to ask the sun moon and stars, but to have some very specific mid-range players in mind. Of course, that would require a clear idea of exactly what the team needs. Not something you'd expect of our brain trust right now.

[Tom Durso]

Too bad we don't have, you know, a GM who could, like, consider trades and stuff.

[Jesse]

I agree with what you say about Tejeda being "effectively wild." Take a look up north at Mr. Victor Zambrano, and then to Tampa Bay, where they got Kazmir for him. Not that the Phils are going to get a guy like Kazmir, because the Mets were absolutely fleeced in that deal, but Tejeda is likely to struggle unless he gets better command.

[gr]

i think hamels, if he makes it to spring training, should be tried out of the bullpen. perhaps that can alleviate some of his injury problems. i really gotta question his durability if he's oft-injured in his early 20s. he could end up being a closer with his stuff.