After the longest 15-day recovery in history, right-hander Brett Myers returns to the Phillies after missing more than two months with a shoulder strain. To clear room, lefthander Mike Zagurski was optioned to Ottawa.
(From a Phillies news release) Myers, 26, was 1-2 with six saves and a 5.50 ERA prior to going on the DL. In 18 relief appearances, he was 1-0 with a 2.61 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 20.2 innings (13.9 SO/9.0 IP). Zagurski, 24, went 1-0 with a 4.58 ERA in 23 appearances with the Phillies. As previously announced, second baseman Chase Utley was placed on the 15-day DL with a broken right hand and Joe Thurston had his contract purchased from triple-A Ottawa to replace him on the 25-man roster. To make room for Thurston on the 40-man roster, infielder Danny Sandoval was designated for assignment.
Beerleaguer: Makes that Thurston call-up a little more palatable (he wrote sheepishly) and also prevents a few more Phans from jumping off the cliff. In other news, Utley underwent successful surgery on his hand and had some pins inserted. The timetable for his return is approximately four weeks. Zagurski's demotion was overdue, although he showed some flashes early on of becoming a decent left-handed specialist someday. He still has plenty of time to become one. Share your favorite Danny Sandoval moments in the space below.
I suppose my favorite Danny Sandoval memory happened seconds ago, when I realized that his demotion, coupled with Nunez taking over for Utley at second, means that Jimmy Rollins will never get another day off until he dies.
Posted by: king myno | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 03:41 PM
A glimmer of hope in these dark times...
Posted by: CJ | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 03:43 PM
Question: When Jayson Werth stops going 0-fer in rehab games and limps back to the big leagues, will they do the unthinkable and demote Coste, or will they do the obvious and send Thurston back to the Great White North?
Posted by: king myno | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 03:49 PM
I just really hope we're not talking 4 weeks for Utley like they talked 2 weeks for Myers.
Posted by: yt | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 03:51 PM
You mean our "go to" guy the last 2 nights, was also the worst pitcher in the BP? WTF?
Posted by: curt | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 03:51 PM
Last 2 games, that is...
Posted by: curt | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 03:52 PM
help on the way (sarcasm) from rotoworld:
Greg Golson went 3-for-5 with a double Thursday in his debut for Double-A Reading.
The 21-year-old Golson, a 2004 first-round pick, hit .286/.324/.452 with a 124/21 K/BB ratio and 25 steals in 416 at-bats for Single-A Clearwater. Scouts still love his tools and he has plenty of time left to improve, but he's a long shot to become a major league regular.
Posted by: Reed | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 03:53 PM
I just hope that Cholly is careful with Myers coming back. No using Myers on back-to-back appearances and restricting his appearances to a single inning until the Phils are sure he is healthy. Hell, if the Phils are being so cautious with a washed pitcher like Gordon than I don't see why they shouldn't do the same with Myers.
Plus, I don't want to see Cholly using Myers in a situation where the Phils are up 4 or 5 runs like he did at least 3 times this year.
Favorite Sandoval moment: Seeing that he went hitless in a spring training game while making 2 atrocious errors.
Posted by: MG | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 04:12 PM
My favorite Sandoval moment:
When he was late to Spring Training because he was not let out of Venezuela (I believe) because there was a Danny Sandoval wanted for murder. Well played, Danny, well played.
Posted by: R.Billingsly | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 04:14 PM
anyone see the headline on philly.com--"Utley has surgery, placed on DL; Rowand out"
but the article mentions nothing about Rowand being out. whats up? did they mistake Zagurski for Rowand?
Posted by: timr | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 04:18 PM
Looks like the article was updated.
"On the day the Phillies announced that Chase Utley, who broke his right hand Thursday, had successful surgery on the fourth metacarpal in his right hand, the team finds out that centerfielder Aaron Rowand would miss tonight's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates because he injured his left shoulder playing tag with his kids at a neighborhood barbecue Thursday night. It is the same shoulder he had surgery on in 2001 and is expected to be day-to-day. Michael Bourn was scheduled to start in centerfield in his absence."
Posted by: stjoehawk | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 04:28 PM
Rowand is out tonight because he injured his shoulder playing tag with his kids at a barbecue on Thursday night. No Joke.
I guess even Rowand gave up on the season.
Posted by: College Phan | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 04:29 PM
lay off golson. he's only 21 and just needs plate discipline (any discipline will do).
he was old for high A ball, but he's still young too. even if he takes 3 more years, who doesn't want a 24-year-old speedy OF with a little pop on their roster? he's got roughly the same tools as rowand and reportedly excellent in the field.
Posted by: gr | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 04:30 PM
another point in golson's favor is that he apparently hates both tag and the kids in his neighborhood.
Posted by: gr | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 04:31 PM
So the lineup now?
SS Rollins
CF Bourn
RF Victorino
1B Howard
LF Burrell
3B Helms
CA Ruiz
2B Nunez
P
Posted by: CJ | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 04:32 PM
gr - way to end my work day with a chuckle.
Posted by: king myno | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 04:51 PM
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/
PHILLIES GET IGATCHI FROM WHITE SOX FOR SINGLE A PITCHER MIKE DUBEE
Posted by: madubbs | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 04:57 PM
suprised no made a Rowand / Shoulder comment...those are pretty damn funny
Posted by: Reed | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 04:58 PM
According to MLB Trade Rumors!
Phillies Acquire Tadahito Iguchi
According to WSCR 670 out of Chicago, the Phillies have acquired second baseman Tadahito Iguchi from the White Sox for 21 year-old A ball reliever Mike Dubee.
Posted by: Timbo | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 04:59 PM
now we can fire Rich
wow, is this a Freddy Garcia make-up deal?
Posted by: Reed | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 04:59 PM
I rethought the lineup, too.
Rollins, SS
Vic, RF
Burrell, LF
Howard, 1B
Bourne, CF
Brynn the ball girl, 2B
Lindsay, the other ballgirl, 3B
Anybody but Barajas, C
Moyer, P
Posted by: JZ | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 04:59 PM
The pitchcount thing should be abandoned asap. Pitchcount mania has really screwed things up with substantial counterproductive blowback such as destabilization of bullpens and weakening of pitching arms and distortion of plutomaniacal pitcher physcological landsapes. How did Harvey Haddix ever pitch 13 innings against the Braves in 1959. How did Babe Ruth ever pitch and win both ends of a doubleheader?
Posted by: Vail43 | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 05:00 PM
The Iguchi trade is now on phillies.com
Think they'll take Rich off our hands too?
Posted by: gophils88x | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 05:04 PM
Wow... kudos to Gillick. There were multiple teams looking at Iguchi.
His OPS+ of 89 is, although not great, still 34 points higher than Nunez's. His OPS+ last year was 97 and in 2005 it was 104.
Posted by: CJ | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 05:07 PM
Iguchi is upgrade over Nunez. Free agent at end of year; good rental situation. What's not to like.
Posted by: Billy Mac | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 05:09 PM
Iguchi is the first Japanese player to wear a Phillies major league uniform, right? A landmark event for the organization.
This trade was predicted last night on Baseball Tonight. I laughed at the time, wondering who we could possibly trade for Iguchi. Mike Dubee, for whatever reason, was not the first name that came to mind...
Posted by: laramie | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 05:11 PM
I think everyone dreamed of trading Dubee for whatever we could get... I just didn't know we had another Dubee in the system.
Gillick deserves credit for this. It may not matter in the long run, but it cost us nothing to get him and we're not on the hook for any salary if it doesn't work.
One thing I've noticed is that Iguchi has never played a position other than second while in the majors. I'm not sure he's a utility guy after Chase comes back... unless management knows more than us and Chase may not be back this season.
Posted by: CJ | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 05:14 PM
Poor Joe Thurston.
Posted by: curt | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 05:23 PM
If Utley is actually back in 4 weeks, there are contending teams (S.D.) that need help at 2B.
Posted by: curt | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 05:24 PM
The White sox owed us for the Freddy Garcia trade, Williams must have felt bad for giving us damaged goods!
Is he a switch hitter?
Posted by: madubbs | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 05:26 PM
Lineups
Phils
1. M Bourn, CF
2. S Victorino, RF
3. J Rollins, SS
4. R Howard, 1B
5. P Burrell, LF
6. G Dobbs, 3B
7. C Ruiz, C
8. A Nunez, 2B
9. J Moyer, P
Pirates
1. N McLouth, CF
2. F Sanchez, 2B
3. J Bay, LF
4. X Nady, RF
5. J Phelps, 1B
6. J Castillo, 3B
7. R Paulino, C
8. J Wilson, SS
9. J Van Benschoten, P
Posted by: Billy Mac | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 05:30 PM
Lineups
Phils
1. M Bourn, CF
2. S Victorino, RF
3. J Rollins, SS
4. R Howard, 1B
5. P Burrell, LF
6. G Dobbs, 3B
7. C Ruiz, C
8. A Nunez, 2B
9. J Moyer, P
Pirates
1. N McLouth, CF
2. F Sanchez, 2B
3. J Bay, LF
4. X Nady, RF
5. J Phelps, 1B
6. J Castillo, 3B
7. R Paulino, C
8. J Wilson, SS
9. J Van Benschoten, P
Posted by: Billy Mac | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 05:30 PM
Bourn/Vic/Rollins - could be fun.
Posted by: curt | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 05:32 PM
I was skeptical of our chances to begin with, and obviously losing Chase was a big blow to them, so it's not like we have much hope anyway... but either way, I am SOOOOOOOOO happy I don't have to watch and root for No-Hit on a daily basis. Nothing more depressing than having him struggle to hit it farther than the pitcher's mound. Iguchi is the perfect stop-gap guy to grab. And the fact that he's Japanese is fun too.
See Clout, Pat Gillick IS a genius. (but seriously, who said he was in his element with these waiver wire quality trades? they were right)
And I'm rambling at this point, but I wouldn't rule out the possibility that this was a make up trade for Garcia. Not that Kenny Williams feels any responsibility to have everything even out, but I could certainly see him having a few similar offers for Iguchi and throwing Gillick a bone.
Posted by: Brian G | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 05:34 PM
Myers pitched great last night against the cubs. I'm glad to see that he's back to his normal self both mentally and physically.
Posted by: Scheckler | Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at 11:29 AM