Transaction: Phillies sign independent league closer

Long Island stopper Joe Valentine, 28, had his contract purchased by the Phils this weekend. The right-hander will report to Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

From the Long Island Web site: Valentine earned six saves in 14 appearances for the independent Ducks in 2008, compiling a 2-1 record with a 1.62 ERA. He struck out 14 in 16.2 innings, allowing ten hits and three earned runs. In 51 career games with Long Island, he’s 6-3 with eight saves and 51 strikeouts in 51.2 innings. He served as the Ducks’ setup man before taking over the closer’s role at the beginning of the 2008 season.

Originally drafted by the White Sox in the 1999 draft, Valentine has appeared in 42 games at the Major League level, all with Cincinnati, going 2-4 with a 6.70 ERA and 39/37 K/BB ratio in 45 2-3 innings. His last appearance came in 2005. In eight minor league seasons, almost exclusively in relief, he’s 25-23 with a 3.57 ERA and 405/226 K/BB ratio, including 81 saves. The Phillies will be his sixth organization.

Comments

[bay_area_phan]

Some people collect stamps or pennies. Gillick collects fring major league relief pitchers with decent stuff and lousy command.

[bay_area_phan]

That should have said "fringe."

[Andy]

B-a-p: ...or maybe f-ing?

[Andy]

It's a shame this guy is no good. If he was a star, Ray Liotta could play him in the movie.

[clout]

Nice to see fellow Beerleaguers in the last thread correcting a lot of nonsense about Bastardo and Happ. Happ was hurt last year, so his stats should be thrown out. He is healthy this year.

Happ is indeed an offspeed pitcher who relies on breaking stuff to get people out. This makes him the same as Myers, Moyer, KK and Hamels, each of whose best pitch is a breaking or offspeed pitch. If the Phils are biased against command/control type guys, it sure doesn't show up in the rotation. I'm certain Gillick has seen Happ pitch and knows what he has. He is clearly the first choice to be recalled.

Bastardo is NOT a top flight prospect and will not see time in The Show before September (barring injury). When the time does come, he'll be in the bullpen. In noting his numbers, no one pointed out his 3/2 K/BB ratio or the 14 walks in 28 IP. Anyone besides me think those are red flags?

[don]

Since the Phils sign bargin basement bullpen help weekly it makes sense to take care of the ones who have actual value. Chad Durbin has been awesome. I think he would sign a 2 year deal at 1.5 to 2 mill a year. Would this be worth considering?

[Bedrosian's Beard]

Was Swindle a L.I. Duck?

[mark]

andy- isn't liotta already locked up for "Dirty Laundry: The Pat Burrell Story"?

[Steve Jeltz]

I'd think Durbin will want a little more than that, especially if he finishes the season with an ERA under 4.00 and can test the open market.

2 years/$1.5 million isn't a whole lot over the major league minimum. If he'd agree to that, I'd do it today.

[NEPhilliesPhan]

****In noting his numbers, no one pointed out his 3/2 K/BB ratio or the 14 walks in 28 IP. Anyone besides me think those are red flags?****

A little bit...I mentioned his dropping K/9 rate but didn't feel the need to go into detail. I agree that he likely won't be in the Majors before Sep but I'm holding out a slim hope that he becomes a legit starting prospect.

[AWH]

clout, I would like to respond to your question about Bastardo with a question:

How long does it normally take a player, even a "top flight prospect", to adjust to the next level of competition?

don, if Chad Durbin keeps pitching this way for the rest of the season, I will be very surprised if he gets less that 3 yrs at $2MM/yr.

The value of good pitching is at that much of a premium - just look around MLB.

[Steve Jeltz]

Actually, I just looked up his salary and it says Durbin is making $900K this year.

I doubt he's looking at a pay cuy after this season, so AWH's range is probably closer to what he can expect.

[Andy]

Bed's Beard:
Nope. He played for more storied franchises - the Schaumberg Flyers and the Newark Bears.

Gosh I hope he makes it. Aside from the 52 mph curve, to have gone from Schaumberg to the Bigs would be an amazing story - and I'm a sucker for a good story.

[J. Weitzel]

OT: Oakland has won four straight and are two back of deep-pocketed LAA. Return of Moneyball. Good pitching, good bullpen at rock-bottom prices. Sweeney & Sweeney, Emil Brown, Jack Cust, Bobby Crosby, etc. Absolutely no power there, but they're somehow winning. Duchscherer has been very good in the rotation. Besides Blanton, the rotation is mostly unheralded late-round draft picks from other clubs. Looks like it's starting to click for Joey Devine in a relief role. Here's a team that knows pitching talent when it sees it, and they're not afraid to try different things. Team ERA: a sensational 3.27. At their gigantic park: 2.74.

[J. Weitzel]

Wonder if the Phils have interest in Justin Germano, DFA by San Diego last week.

[Bedrosian's Beard]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned that the great Germano was DFA'd before now...

[bay_area_phan]

The question about Durbin's contract situation kind of reminded me that our much improved bullpen is likely to take massive hits in the off-season, with the possible departures of Lidge, Durbin, Gordon, and Seanez. We've spent about the last 10 years trying to cobble together a decent bullpen and, now that we finally seem to have gotten it right, the whole thing will get blown up after one season.

[Tray]

The A's also have Frank Thomas, who's been very good (161 OPS+) since he got there. That was a really daft move on Toronto's part. What kind of GM cuts his team's leader in HR's and RBI's from the preceding season because he gets off to his annual bad start?

[J. Weitzel]

Germano's career would come full circle if they sign him and cut Condrey to make room. Condrey being the one the Phils decided to keep over Germano out of camp last year.

Germano had a pretty good year last year. 7-10, 4.46 ERA, 91 ERA+.

[clout]

Jason: He sure could help the Iron Pigs.

[CubeHostage]

what was Germano's park adjusted ERA? i have no stats to back me up, but on just anecodotal evidence, he seemed to be a guy that benefited from the generous dimensions of Petco.

[J. Weitzel]

Tray: Left out the Big Hurt somehow. Thanks.

[CJ]

Tray: Frank Thomas was clogging the bases, couldn't field, and wasn't a clubhouse leader.

[Andy]

Cube: Actually Germano pitched worse at Petco (4.78) last year than away. Hard to do, that.

[CubeHostage]

anybody know what Germano's park adjusted ERA was? i have no stats, but anecdotal evidence seemed to suggest that his stats benefited greatly from the generous dimensions of Petco...

[CubeHostage]

wow. i'm shocked.

thanks Andy.

[CJ]

Tray: The hilarious blog "Fire Joe Morgan" has more on Frank Thomas' "negatives" here and here. The second one is particularly funny.

[CubeHostage]

weird. my posts seem to be on a delay...

sorry for the double post.

[MG]

I can't believe there haven't been more comments on the Valentine pic. Kind of thoughts come to mind including:

- Did he actually wear makeup for this photo?
- Could he have gotten work as one of the Jokers' henchman in the new Batman movie coming out this summer?
- Was this photo also used for some type of dental product advertisement?

[bay_area_phan]

His ERA+ was 91 last year. That number may be a little misleading, though, since he's being punished for pitching in a home ball park where his numbers were actually worse. Of course, the other way to look at it is that he really did benefit from pitching at Peco, and his superior road numbers were just a statistical fluke.

[Tray]

Yeah, I'm a big FJM fan.

[slappy]

Yeah MG, Joe Valentine has the crazy eyes.

[pb]

Does he look more like Ray Liotta or Lance Bass?

Lets start a poll

[Blarg]

Seeing this headline I thought it would be about Derrick DePriest, a 6'8" guy who absolutely dominated as the closer for the Lancaster Barnstormers last year...oh well.