Beer nuts: Hill likely to miss Wednesday's start

So much for a nice, easy stretch of right-handers to help the lineup get on track. Nationals manager Manny Acta told the Washington Post he plans on skipping Shawn Hill's turn in the rotation Wednesday.

Left-hander Matt Chico, who was moved to the bullpen since the Phillies faced him opening day, is likely to replace Hill, who’s experiencing lingering elbow soreness. The prospect of facing the Phillies’ left-handed thunder probably made the decision an easy one for Acta, whose club avoided a three-game sweep with a 2-1 win in Baltimore yesterday. Chico is a nobody, so it’s more annoying than anything, especially for someone like Geoff Jenkins, who needs to get on track. Also on the injury front, Nats right fielder Austin Kearns is considered day-to-day with elbow soreness.

Minor transactions: Perhaps the thinnest position in the chain, first base has been overhauled at the Double-A level, where 28-year-old Mike Eylward, who was signed out of the Mexican League in April, replaces Juan Tejeda, who has been released. Eylward spent most the last two seasons in Triple-A Salt Lake (Angels) where he hit for high average (.313 in ’06; .305 in ’07), but marginal power. In eight minor league seasons, he’s a .289/.358/.435 hitter with 68 home runs. Tejeda, 26, hit .248 with 10 homers last season for the R-Phils, but was hitting just .211 this season and was “erratic” at first, as Reading beat writer Mike Drago reports.

The R-Phils have been without a true first baseman since Ryan Howard, basically, and the highest-rated 1B in the system is Lakewood’s Michael Durant, 21, who has an .856 OPS and 9 home runs, but also 56 punch outs and is not rated among the top 30 prospects in the system, according to Baseball America. The situation is dire enough to give pause to Ryan Howard’s staunchest critics, who'd like to see the slumping slugger shipped out of town.

Tale of two pinch hitters: Greg Dobbs is hitting .450 (9-20), 2B, HR, 8 RBI as a pinch-hitter. Meanwhile, So Taguchi is off to a 0-and-7 start as a PH. Both players represented two of the finest pinch hitters in baseball last season.

Good opportunity for Myers: Obviously a big start for Brett Myers tonight. The team needs Brett to eat some innings, but it’s also a good opportunity to get on track, away from home, against a weak Nats lineup, one that’s barely managing four runs a game and averaging .235/.315/.353, the second-worst production outside of San Diego.

Comments

[NEPhilliesPhan]

What's the over/under on how many HRs Brett gives up tonight? I'm gonna go with 2.

I will be stunned if Myers makes it 6 innings tonight.

[clout]

NEPhan & Niefy: What factual evidence do you guys have that makes you think Golson can be a productive hitter at the major league level?

[Tray]

Responding to someone in the last thread, Feliz is a decent pinch-hit option against a lefty.

[J. Weitzel]

If Myers can't go 6 innings against this horrible lineup, my concern rises to another notch. But I think we'll see a good start.

[clout]

Re: Marson as a major leaguer. Haven't seen anyone calling for this move mention defense. Catcher is one of the most important defensive spots on the field. There were questions about Marson's defense heading into this season. Has he answered them?

[Wes Chamberlain]

After a disappointing weekend, it would be very nice to see the Phils come back and sweep a weak team.
It would also be nice to see the starting pitching step up and the team go on a hot streak where we take 10 out of 12.

[GM-Carson]

Clout- I've seen Marson play and he's got a decent arm at catcher. He's still young (21) so his game calling is still improving as naturally it should be. He's a good young backstop with a great eye at the plate.

[Andy]

Two things:
1) Someone mentioned looking at a trade for Blanton. Beane would not want Vic; he would want Werth. (P/PA and OBP)

2) After what the Phils have done against righties the last couple nights, it's not so bad to see Chico slated.

[NEPhilliesPhan]

Clout: What factual evidence do you guys have that makes you think Golson can be a productive hitter at the major league level?

I stated that he could probably fill in as a 4th OF if a major injury and trade of another OF happened...hardly the same thing as saying he'd be sucessful at the MLB level. I also stated that I thought that if he kept up his production at Reading for most of the year (July/August timeframe) that he could probably fill in. You slighted overstated my confidence in him.

****Responding to someone in the last thread, Feliz is a decent pinch-hit option against a lefty.****

I was more joking than anything.

[Andy]

clout - be serious. We all know 3B is a much more important defensive position than catcher.

[NEPhilliesPhan]

Umm...Clout Marson has always been rated as an above average defensive catcher. His offense was questioned going into the season...not his defense.

[J. Weitzel]

They can afford to take their time with Marson. Plenty of time. Numbers are solid this season. Got his first homer yesterday actually.

[NEPhilliesPhan]

BP has Marson at 10 runs above average in LWD in 2006 and 4 runs above average in CLR last year. He's good defensively.

[J. Weitzel]

Baseball America on Marson: Game calling and receiving skills are above average. Arm grades as average to slightly above. Ranked third in FSL in throwing out 36 percent of base stealers. Hard worker. Game started clicking last season.

[NEPhilliesPhan]

And that was before he exploded this season offensively at Reading...he's batting around .320 right now with decent doubles power...combined with the above and you have a pretty nice prospect.

[Andy]

I think I saw somewhere that Marson has an especially quick release.

[clout]

NEPhan: I beg to differ. The scouting reports I've seen said there were questions about his mechanics and his footwork on throwing out base stealers and his ability to block pitches. He hit well last season so hitting was not an issue. I haven't seen anything about his defense this season so don't know if he's improved or not.

[clout]

Well, looking at a couple things, so far this season he's thrown out 10 of 30 base stealers, which is pretty good, but he's also made 5 errors in 31 games, which is pretty bad. I also note he had 11 passed balls last season.

[Ultimately Flushing Queens]

The mets-Phillies is going to be a good race this year. Forget the braves

[SamDracula]

Wasn't Shawn Hill lights-out against the Phils last year? I'd be happy to not see him pitch.

[Sophist]

Forget the team that's out-scoring their opponents by over 40 runs compared to 17 for PHI, 20 for the Mets, and 7 for the Marlins)? I don't know.

From the last thread: Jeltz, the last time Burrell got the day off was May 8th, 10 days ago against the DBacks. Not so long.

[Sophist]

Actually, he got off on the 12th too when the team didn't play.

[Steve Jeltz]

Sophist:

Not as long as I thought it had been. I'm not saying he needs tonight off but I'd look at his career #'s against all the starters this week and give him a rest against whoever he's struggled the most against.

He's really slowed down the last few weeks so I think a game off might be a good mental break.

[Ultimately Flushing Queens]

Braves got some real pitching issues, Read up on Smoltz buddy.

[Andy]

Well, I still can't find where I saw it, but it wasn't Marson's release. He's mediocre on the release. What I read was that his throws, in the air, get to 2B exceptionally fast. (I seem to remember 1.7 seconds.) He was a quarterback at some point.

Relevant to the discussion, however, is that the Phils are not going to offer Chooch any time soon. Marson has time to develop.

They may, however, be shopping Vic - though it'd be a "sell low" situation at this point. I'd hate to think what his departure would mean for team speed.

Golson needs to prove he can hit AA ball for a whole season before they slot him into any role, even fourth OF. Sometimes you need a fourth OF who's not a sure thing strike out.

[JBrod]

According to Scott Lauber, Vic is playing CF and Werth is on the bench.

http://www.delawareonline.com/blogs/2008/05/may-19-national-treasure.html

[NCPhilly]

Has it been mentioned that the Mets have picked up Abraham Nunez and gave him a minor league contract?

[Sophist]

Don't call me "buddy," guy. Smoltz has been on the DL since April 30th. They've played 16 games since his departure, winning the first 6 in a row and 10 in all. They're 2nd in the NL in ERA, 1st by almost 20 runs in RA, 2nd in OPS against, 6th in K/BB, and 3rd in WHIP.

The only team ahead of them across in board in these categories is the Arizona Diamondbacks.

[Anon]

I would be surprised if Myers isn't able to can keep the ball in the park against this lineup of punchless hitters. Maybe a solo jack but no power hitters in this lineup to fear.

[Willard Preacher]

Doesn't Burrell get a break from the 7th inning on when the Phils lead? He's not Pedro Martinez, for God's sake.

[Steve Jeltz]

WP:

The conversation originally started in the last thread about ways to get Dobbs more ABs (since he's hitting .351 and all) while mitigating his defensive liabilities.

I wouldn't advocate resting Burrell if he was hitting like he was in April; but right now he's not in one of his hot streaks. I'm just suggesting one night off this week, that's all. If he hits 3 homers tonight, forget I even brought it up.

[joe]

HAHA LOOK AT SPORTS ILLUSTRATED'S WEBSITE
http://www.si.com
Philly sucks, all your teams, not only your baseball team...you pathetic losers

[mike cunningham]

Regarding sitting burrell for a breather. He might be cooling off as far as driving in runs. But can you afford to sit a guy who is getting on base at 40% clip? In the last 7 games, while batting just .273 he has 6 walks. And yesterday his only homerun during that stretch, came at a critical juncture last night? (If utley or howard just get on, you have a tie game).

So it's not exactly like Burrell is struggling so bad that you need to rest him.

Now granted the "New" Black hole behind him has not exactly been driving him in. He has scored just 5 runs. Without going through each game log, I don't know how many runs were scored by his pinch runner.

[UD Hens]

Umm, what's the deal with the ads on this site??? The girl in the bikini has been replaced by 2 "guys" in a hot tub with the ad line "click with someone." Yeck

[mike cunningham]

If you want Dobbs to get more at bats, I'd rather him in at 3rd than the outfield. Defensively he seems better at 3rd than the outfield.

If you need to rest Burrell this week, you can probably go with a Werth/Vic/Jenkins lineup. Although I imagine, Cholly would go Bruntlett/Werth/Vic or Jenks

[NCPhilly]

UD Hens: I see a RedSox Online Tickets ad instead, every time. I think the ads are targeted to specific visitors' browing habits.

I like the Buzz Bissinger quote addition at the top of the page.

[JD]

I don't see a need to rest Burrell right now. No, he isn't as hot as he was, but he is getting some decent ABs, nice swing on the homer yesterday, and he's still getting on base. That includes that late inning craziness as well. His bat is too clutch to take out unless they are up by more than a few runs

[clout]

Mike C: Agree 100%. Not to mention replacing Feliz with Dobbs gives you a GIANT offensive upgrade while replacing Burrell with Dobbs is a downgrade.

[Andy]

"I think the ads are targeted to specific visitors' browing habits."

That must be why I keep getting ads for Philly Blunts, Schlitz and Kutztown Ring Bologna.

[Andy]

clout - is "GIANT" the right word? I thought that was reserved for quantitative difference. The difference between Feliz and even an average major league hitter is qualitative.

I would suggest "brobdingnagian" upgrade.

[clout]

Andy: May only point on Marson, whom I like, is that it is very doubtful that he is major league ready right now and the posters who are talking about running Marson and Jaramillo out there and dumping Ruiz are not thinking too clearly.

[CJ]

Sophist:

Don't call me "guy," friend. It's true, the Braves have great numbers right now... but there is a reason they haven't won those close games and a reason they've done so poorly on the road. It's not just bad luck.

Jo-Jo Reyes and Jeff Bennett are still big question marks. I think Jair Jurrjens is the real deal... but without getting Smoltz back, it's too solid vets, a good young guy and some question marks. And until Smoltz gets back, they've still got some real problems in their bullpen, one of the big reasons they've had trouble in 1-run games.

[PhillyRocks]

Back to the future of 1B. I love the future of our future 1B, I can't wait to see Utley at 1st and Cardenas up at 2nd.