Phillies agree to deal with reliever Rick Bauer

The free agent right-hander was designated for assignment by the Rangers on March 26 and has agreed to a minor league contract, pending a physical. The signing was reported in tonight's official game notes.

Bauer, 30, went 3-1 with 2 saves and a 3.55 ERA in 58 games (1 start) for Texas last season. The 6-6, 235 pounder was originally selected by Baltimore in the 5th round of the 1997 draft. In his major league career, he is 11-14 with 12 saves and a 4.34 ERA in 183 games (10 starts) for Baltimore (2001-05) and Texas (2006).

Beerleaguer: Gillick continues to scour the waiver wire for bullpen scraps, but this one could actually help. Baltimore had been trying to make Bauer into a starter for years, but now his future is in the pen. He’s been in Ottawa before, which is where he could start, but I see no reason he couldn’t fill a Rick White-type role eventually and maybe exceed that. Hardball Times pitching win shares rated him as the 27th best American League reliever last season, and in situations classified as "close and late," he held opponents to a .634 OPS.

I agree here – no reason to pass on a guy who pitched 78 good innings last season and can eat innings. But until space is cleared on the roster, Bauer is only good inventory. Matt Smith would be my first choice to be optioned to Ottawa to regain his command.

Lastly, no need to mention the Orioles GM who originally drafted Bauer back in 1997. It's standard practice.

Comments

[GM-Carson]

Finally, some positive news, albeit still a stretch to refer to an acquistion of Rick Bauer as positive. This is a low-risk pickup, that's why I like it. Lets see how he does in Ottawa, and if he does well I'm sure we'll have a bullpen candidate ready to be demoted/released.

[Mike H.]

Do we know what kind of pitches this guy and Rosario throw?

[gr]

as a waiver-wire pickup, you can't do much better. a 3.55 ERA would have made him, what, 2nd behind geary last year?

as for the gillick connection, it seems to have gotten to a point where it needn't even be mentioned, just assumed. it is the gillick-era version of ed wade's "we've had our eye on him" press release quote.

while i don't blame gillick directly for our 0-3 start, i am conscious of the fact that this one degree of separation strategy is getting pretty old. have a single one of his bottom-feeding ventures panned out yet? the answer is, no.

[Tony]

How are these mediaocre guys going to fix anything?

[Bedrosian's Beard]

Yawn. He's worth a shot, I guess.

[jeremy]

I wouldn't be too excited about Bauer. Last year he posted a 35/25 K/BB ratio in 71 innings, which isn't a recipe for continued success. His ERA was pretty low because he only gave up 4 homers, which is impressive, but not something to count on him continuing.

[MG]

Bauer might help but this is the kind of move that Gillick should have made during the offseason. That way he could have let Manuel and Dubee do a better job of sorting out the bullpen during spring training.

Now, Manuel and Dubee are forced to do trial-and-error during regular season games and it still doesn't address issues with Gordon. Ugh.

[JB]

Hard not to be discouraged right now but the next week will be crucial to turning things around with the FISH and YANKEE-wannabees up next.

Howard typically is a slow starter although his funk is a little troubling but he makes quick adjustments and will be back on course soon.

Winning the next two series would get the ship back on course and outside of EATON the starting pitching is something to be excited about and I am anxious to see Garcia on the mound.

I think Gordon is a little rusty as he did not pitch much in ST and mental mistakes are our problem with errors, baserunning, and pitch location.

Hopefully a week from today Chicken Little will no longer be calling.

[Jon]

Not a bad gamble. Hopefully this one will pan out.

[Dukes]

I live in Connecticut and get Red Sox broadcasts. They are playing the Rangers today and guess who started what is their home opener? Robinson Tejada.

Not only hasn't Tejada given up a run through six, but the announcers said he was the AL pitcher of the month last September. I thought he was lost in the minors. I guess I'm spreading old news but it really got me thinking about all the bad moves Gillick has made since he arrived. I'd never in a million years say I miss Eddy Wade, but Gillick better show us something soon.

[Dukes]

There is some good news today (besides our big relief pickup). Either Mets or the Braves will lose tonight.

[Eddie S.]

We don't need Rick Bauer,

We need Jack Bauer! lol.

[Tray]

Robinson Tejeda is two-hitting/shutouting the Rangers through six. Why'd we give him up?

[Willard Preacher]

He's 6'6", he MUST be good, right?

[Bedrosian's Beard]

We traded Tejada for Dellucci, who played well for the Phillies last year, but didn't want to return this year, as a p/t player.

Tejada was 5-5 last year with 40/35 K/BB. Doing well today, but let's not confuse him for Cy Young.

[Tray]

Oh okay, that actually was a sensible trade, we would've been pretty lost w/o Delluci.

[Bedrosian's Beard]

Wish we had him this year!

[Tim]

Zach - the espn list says it doesn't include cash transacations between teams. if that's what i think it is, then the 7mil to the chw aren't on there. that'd move the phil's to 9th behind the cubs.

i see no reason why the phillies shouldn't be right on the luxury tax which i believe is 130ish. with that, 9th is just ok and 14th is really unacceptable.

[GM-Carson]

From Phillies Sports Net-
2004: 1-6 out of the gate
2005: 1-4 out of the gate
2006: 0-4 out of the gate
2007: 0-3 out of the gate

*Last year was also an 1-6 start. That's pitiful!

[The Reverend]

Delluci left because he wanted to play every day and not platoon. Now he is in Cle. platooning in left feild. I wonder how happy he is right now?

[primodudes]

Tejeda is a nice little 4th or 5th starter. He isn't going to be posting 150+ Ks per season any time soon. He is what he is. Delucci on the other hand still had some very positive up side. Apparently Manuel and Thompson couldn't get through to him and thus Delucci could never close the holes in his swing. But for Tejeda, Delucci was not a bad risk.
The Tejeda for Delucci trade really came down to the dearth of bats in our system. We have numerous guys in our system who project to be 3-5th starters. We don't however have any power bats coming up any time soon to replace Burrell and Abreu, I think the Tejeda for Dellucci trade was made with that in mind. I think that the Werth pick up was also made with that in mind. I really think that they expect Werth to take the place of Burrell if his wrist is healed. I don't think Gillick wants or expects to have Burrell around for that much longer. But I'm just guessing here.

[J. Weitzel]

Dellucci was a Type-A free agent, too, so the Phillies were comped, if I recall correctly.

[Tray]

Well if you put it that way, "primodudes," we sure could have used a "nice little 4th or 5th starter" last season - and at the age Dellucci was, I don't think there's upside anymore, the holes in your swing are the holes that will always be in your swing.

[clout]

Gillick is bound to get lucky one of these waiver moves. Rick Bauer mostly throws a sinking fastball and keeps the ball in the yard, which is exactly what we need at CBP. He doesn't throw as hard as Rosario, but, alas, his weakness is command, just like Rosario. A good comparison for Bauer is Jim Brower, who had several good years with the Reds and Giants as a middle reliever/spot starter.

[primodudes]

Tray, Tejeda as 4th or 5th starter only became an issue until after Gillick's insane Abreu salary dump.

[MG]

Clout - That is why I enjoy your posts. Had no idea on Bauer but can always count on a decent post from you with a couple of decent insights.

[1929A's]

Bauer is essentially a younger version of Rick White.

[Mike H.]

Thanks, clout. Maybe he has command problems because batters have learned to let the ball break out of the zone. Helpful to know he's a sinking fastball pitcher.

[Tray]

No actually, 4th/5th starter was an issue until we brought up Hamels. Remember all the Gavin Floyd starts? Dellucci was hardly even used until we traded Abreu. Now sure, as far as talent it was an even exchange, and after we traded Abreu Delluci came in real handy, but going into the season, I think 5th starter was a bigger need than 4th outfielder.

[clout]

primodudes: Are you suggesting that the Phillies would've been better off keeping Padilla and Tejada? Having them in the rotation instead of Floyd/Madsen? Keeping Abreu in RF instead of Dellucci? You think the team would've won 2 or 3 more games down the stretch against the weakest part of the schedule and made the playoffs?

[primodudes]

Clout, yes I would take Padilla and Tejeda over Floyd and Madson if given a choice. However if we had kept Padilla, Tejeda would never have come up as a starter and unless some crazy chaos theory stuff had happened we would've had a solid rotation that would've have gotten better when Hamels came up. Then we could've traded Lidle for value. And yes, I'd take Abreu over Dellucci. And yes I think that they would've won 3 more games down the stretch. However, I don't fault the Dellucci for Tejeda deal. I do however fault the Padilla deal and Abreu/Lidle deal.

[clout]

primodudes: Sounds like we agree.

[Slugdog]

I think the amount of Gillick's incestuous pick-ups are crazy. He is like the Tuna going to Dallas and bringing Bledsoe, Terry Glenn, and Richie Anderson with him.

[clout]

Tim: The Daily News listed the Phillies payroll earlier this week. It is $96M, including the $6M being paid to Thome. Not sure how that ranks across MLB, but it is $3M higher than when CBP opened in 2004. In other words, the budget has remained essentially static since the new ballpark opened.

[Zach]

Clout: The more realistic payroll # was on ESPN. The Daily News number was obviously put out there by the Phillies. Lets concentrate on the money that they are actually spending on this year's team. With that number, they are 14th highest payroll and 7 or 8th in the NL. That is a disgrace. So even though they may be technically spending the same amount of money since CBP opened, I don't think it would unreasonable to want them to spend the same amount of money (or an increased amount) for the players on the field this year. The anonymous ownership group is the true bad guy.

[Tray]

I don't know that it's a "disgrace." A lot of it is because our best players actually came out of our system and are still young and underpaid.

[Ben Rivera]

As I recall, Tejeda was a terrible pitcher for CBP. He was wild and walked a ton of batters. He also left lots of balls out over the plate. I believe many fans on this site were waiting for him to get crushed late in 2004.

[Ben Rivera]

Err, 2005.

[RickSchuBlues]

I think Bauer borrowed his hair from Buddy Bell's 1984 baseball card.