Beer nuts: Phillies recall Carlos Ruiz

The Phillies recalled catcher Carlos Ruiz after last night's game, and optioned lefthander Matt Smith back to the minors. That, and some other stuff, too.

Ruiz may not have done much during his earlier call-up, but the 27-year-old catcher has flat out been Scranton’s best player this season. Chooch was hitting .308 with a robust .505 SLG, 16 homers and a .389 OBP, and his strikeout-to-walk ratio was totally fine (56/44). Plus, he's considered a plus fielder with a good arm.

This should be the last Ruiz ever sees of the minor leagues, either here, or with some other organization where he has a chance to play. There’s absolutely nothing left for him in the minor leagues, unless he falls on his face in the majors.

Next season, I’d like to see the Phils keep him in a backup capacity and catch our pitchers from the very beginning. I have a suspicion that Lidle, Lieber and the rest had a hand in shipping him back to Scranton so soon. However, the biggest offender is the Phillies’ front office for signing a broken down catcher in Sal Fasano, who can’t play ... who could never play.

Brito back in bullpen
Beerleaguer senior correspondent has passed along word that Eude Brito is no longer starting and has been moved back to the bullpen. We both agree this is the right decision for the short and long-term. If Brito has any future with the club, it will be in this role, not starter. We could soon see him in this capacity when rosters expand.

Orioles get infielder for Conine
The Phillies and Orioles named infielder Angel Chavez as the player to be named in the Jeff Conine trade. Chavez is a 25-year-old infielder who split time at Reading and Scranton this season. He was claimed off waivers from San Francisco before the season. This is not a big loss for the Phillies, who have plenty of infielders just like him in their system.

Comments

[hecka]

Hey guys - first time long time...

Is anyone else concerned about what the weather this weekend is going to do to the remaining schedule? What happens if they can't get these games over the next 3 days - Braves and Phils only share one off-day the rest of the season...

[kdon]

Kind of an odd move since you can just add him to the roster tommorow.

Any idea if Coste can play 3B for extended stretches?

[Willard Preacher]

I haven't yet seen Coste play 3B in the bigs for even "un"extended stretches.

[J. Weitzel]

Jose Hernandez has played 418 games at third base in his career, and a couple this season in Pittsburgh. It's a safe bet we could see him in some of these games, especially against Florida's left-handers.

[Drama Queen]

Conine can probably still play a game or two at the hot corner as well.

[Drama Queen]

I know this doesn't fit at all, but I'm currently having an argument via email with someone who thinks Burrell serves as just as good or better protection for Howard than Rolen does for Pujols and Delgado and Wright do for Beltran. As most of you know if you've been around I like Burrell. I support Burrell, but in my opinion he doesn't serve the type of protection that the other players listed do for the perspective hitter in front of them. Anybody else want to give their take?

[Willard Preacher]

Unless by "protection" you mean that Burrell keeps the insects from biting with his violent swings and misses, your email colleague doesn't have much of a leg to stand on.

[Jeremy]

How do you figure? Burrell's line isn't all that worse than Rolen's or Wright's:

Rolen: .311/.383/.547 (.930 OPS)
Wright: .299/.373/.523 (.896 OPS)
Burrell: .259/.382/.507 (.888 OPS)

[Dantheman]

kdon,

"Kind of an odd move since you can just add him to the roster tommorow"

Not really, as it makes a difference for his eligibility for the post-season roster. We won't need 12 or 13 pitchers then, so we are better off with another bat already on the roster.

[joe]

yeh, today is the day for post-season roster...

I guess that we arent getting juan pierre this year :-(

Bringing up Ruiz allows Cholly to pinch hit Coste, and still have a non-emergency catcher. Or, it could give Coste the chance to start at 3b.

we needs a bat stronger than Nunez in the lineup everyday.

[RickSchuBlues]

Someone's trying to argue that Burrell is as dangerous a hitter as Rolen or Wright? It might be more productive to argue that Pete Rose is a model citizen.

[John Salmon]

There are many problems with the Phils' front office-the biggest has been its complete inability to evaluate the players they already have. As Jason said, it would've been much smarter to let Ruiz take his licks at the ML level than play somebody like Fasano who you know is inadequate.

[ajc]

I'm tired of the Burrell hating. The problem people have w/ Pat is his apparent lackadaisical attitude, but the dude has been playing on one foot all season, and one of his wrists is shot to hell. The REAL problem is the ungodly amount of money Wade gave him. But look at his stats for what they are - a corner outfielder who projects to 30 homeruns, a .260 average, .380 OBP and more than 100 RBI this season. That's pretty much his career average, too. So he strikes out a lot - the Howitzer is on track to break Thome's all-time Phillie whiff record this year. Burrell's contract should draw the ire of Phillies fans, not the player himself.

[Tim]

burrell, if 100% healthy, COULD be as good as those two guys. that's as far as i'd be willing to go in that arguement. in the reality that exists though, it's not even close who of those three is third on the list.

[Matt]

The reason Ruiz was brought up today and not tomorrow is because if he had been on SWB's roster tomorrow he would have had to stay with them through the playoffs. This is the same reason Smith was sent to Clearwater instead of SWB -- SWB will make the playoffs while Clearwater will not.

[John Salmon]

The people who dump on Burrell's attitude are the type who think that if a guy yells at umpires and throws bats when he whiffs that he wants to win more than somebody who doesn't. No, that just means the bat-thrower is childish.

Nobody was more stoic on a baseball field than Hank Aaron.

That said, if you compare the ballparks Burrell's year isn't nealy as good as Wright's or Rolen's, even with the huge slump Wright's been in-worse than A-Rod's.

[Matt]

And, for the record, I completely agree with ajc about Burrell. If his contract were half as much as it is (with the same output, of course), the furor over his performance would be exponentially less than what it is.

[Bob D]

Bringing up Ruiz is a smart move. In the playoffs the Phils will need more bats with them. They will not need a 5 man rotation either, so Wolf will find himself as a reliever. Also Castro may not find himself on the post season roster as Gordon will be back tommorow when the roster expands. Pat is using a little creativity with his roster here.

The weather is a concern Friday and Saturday's games are likely to be washed out. Sat. is a double header 1PM and 7PM. The later game may be possible by then. A Sunday DH is likely.

[J. Weitzel]

Plus, Lieberthal has a bad back on top of everything else (knees, hip).

[J. Weitzel]

Also: It was hinted on Phillies.com that Mathieson could pitch one of the games in the double header....

Yep, just checked tonight's press notes. Saturday's pitcher for that second game is TBA. Something's brewing. That's Mathieson's turn, so it's a likely choice.

[ajc]

Another point on Burrell - people deplore his pitch selection at times (me included) ... but he's got his best BB/SO ratio ever this year at 1:1.4 (76 BB to 108 SO), and is near the top of the list in pitches per at bat. I've always loved that about Pat. I always figured a 9-pitch strikeout is better than a 2-pitch flyout since the former wears down the opposing pitcher.

[Billy Mac]

And you have to love when Burrell does that stupid "jump back move" to try to get the call on inside pitches. Burrell is one guy whose walk numbers are deceiving. He does not have good strike zone judgment. He just takes a lot of pitches -- many of them strikes. He is frustrating, but you cannot discount his production.

[Drama Queen]

I brought this whole Burrell thing up and I want people to know I like Burrell. Burrell is a good ol' fashioned right-handed slugging outfielder. He's putting up solid numbers...I'm not even arguing that. What I was arguing was that somebody said he offers as good or better protection that Delgado, Wright, or Rolen. My thing is that pitchers look at Burrell as an easy strike out and are more than willing to pitch around Howard to get to him. The same can't be said of the other 3 mentioned.

[Billy Mac]

The Phils may be fine with Ruiz and Coste at catcher next year. I think 3rd base and corner outfield are bigger concerns.

[Billy Mac]

DQ, I agree with your premise that Burrell is seen as someone who can be pitched to. With the way Howard is hitting, we may start seeing "Bonds like" intentional walk numbers the last month of the season. I am not sure we have an answer for this other than hitting Howard 3rd and Utley 4th.

[Drama Queen]

I love Utley, but his stroke looks horrible right now. He needs to get straightened out right-quick!

[sean]

Phils need to establish themselves at home or they don't deserve the wild card.

[SamDracula]

"Sal Fasano, who can’t play ... who could never play." Are the Yankees in the habit of signing guys that can't play? I think that's a little harsh.