Escalona a red-hot name among spring previews

May I ask why? Left-handed reliever Sergio Escalona may be on the 40-man roster, but he has only 15 games of Double-A bullpen experience. The 24-year-old is a darkhorse for a spot with the Phillies, according to reports.

Beerleaguer: Not unless he's lights out, there's no way. I highly doubt Charlie Manuel even knows who he is at this point, and he will be competing against known commodities, including three of the four fifth starter candidates, Gary Majewski, Mike Koplove and many more - and they're still considering outside help. And if you're willing to consider Escalona, a 24-year-old whose achievements in Lakewood and Reading last season are truly no big deal, you might as well include Antonio Bastardo in the discussion, a lefthander scouts seem to like more. Escalona is what happens when stories must be filed weeks before actual game action, so it's nobody's fault really. Last season it was Andrew Carpenter, who was to become the next Joba Chamberlain. Obviously, it's too early to tell how any of it shakes out, but I'd lean heavily toward expecting a more conventional solution to the back of the bullpen.

Comments

[NEPP]

I go with none of the younger pitchers making the team (other than Happ). Park, Condrey, Eyre etc are your bullpen.

[J. Weitzel]

Yep. And Happ, technically, is defending his spot on the roster.

[NEPP]

Yup.

[AWH]

Sergio Escalona?

Good fortune to him and all Phillies prospects, but right now......

YAWN.

[GM-Carson]

I'm taking the suggestion from yesterday's post and creating a Phamous Phillies Phans Database. Please email all known name of celeb Phils fans to me- weshouldbegms@hotmail.com

[Alby]

What's Escalona's PECOTA projection?

[AWH]

Alby, LOL!!!

[NEPP]

LOL.

dynamite drop-in, Alby.

[thephaithful]

over at phillies.com I saw this:

Ruben Amaro Jr. said, "If we can't put a World Series champion on the field at this level of payroll, that's my fault.

Sounds like a bold statement right there.

[thephaithful]

And the official website finally made the distinction for Thome that they ARE indeed on the hook for $3 million.

[R.Billingsly]

Not to bring up the Abreu debate, but:

Per mlbtraderumors, Abreu signs 1/$5M (plus incentives) with Angels.

[Klaus]

That, I think, is a steal.

[Bedrosian's Beard]

At least it's not the Mets.

[Bonehead]

I wonder what the Mets are thinking. They have a dire need for a corner OF, and there are many attractive bargains available.

[Billy Mac]

Zagurski has a better chance of making the team out of spring training than Escalona. In other words, no chance.

[Bonehead]

The Mets are not positioning themselves to swoop in and steal Manny, are they?

[Billy Mac]

Abreu is a nice fit for the Angels. Not a replacement for Tex, but a good on base guy who plays everyday (at least 150 games the past ten years) and is a run scorer and producer. Sarge Jr signing looks worse every year.

[AWH]

The Mets would really like a RH bat, and according to their GM, are finished with any significant moves.

Besides, if you look at the list of the Madoof customers, it appears not just the Wilpons themselves, but the METS limited partnerships and other rleated companies were also Madoff clients.

They may not have the money for Abreu or anyone alse of any real significance.

[NEPP]

Giving Matthews Jr a 5 year deal is up there with the Zito signing...just brutal. Best paid 4th outfielder in baseball. Juan Pierre being the 2nd best paid 4th OF.

[NEPP]

So apparently former 2B Roberto Alomar has full blown AIDS? and he's being sued by his ex-GF for knowingly having sex with her after being diagnosed?

WOW!

[Steve Jeltz]

AWH: The Mets finances may be holding them back. I'm not so sure they can be counting on the $20 million from Citi for the naming rights coming through either.

[clout]

Escalona is not on Sickels' list of top 20 Phils prospects and I don't recall him being on BA's list of top 30 from last year (BA's 09 list isn't out yet far as I can tell). Carpenter and Bastardo were on those lists, however. Escalona's kinda old and appears to have major control issues, but since he's a lefty, he'll hang around a long time before they give up on him.

[NEPP]

LHPs cannot be killed by conventional means.

[R.Billingsly]

NEPP: "WOW!" is right. Link?

[Bonehead]

Sad about Alomar. He was always one of my favorites. I've always had an affinity for middle-of-the-lineup switch hitters.

Hell, I was even a fan of the Greg Jeffries signing at the time.

[NEPP]

http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/02/10/2009-02-10_15m_lawsuit_claims_exmet_roberto_alomar_.html

Here's the link...I meant to post it on the earlier post.

[R.Billingsly]

NEPP: Thanks.

[Bedrosian's Beard]

Jeez, what a sad/sick story. Alomar was always a very guarded person who's personal life was quiet. There were persistent rumors about him for years.

(Anyone have an address to that massage parlor? I'm doing research on a book about massage parlors that are owned by hot women. A small business angle. Thanks.)

[Big Mike]

Anyone know how hard Escalona throws?

[GM-Carson]

Abreu and Angel. 1 year $5M for Bobby Abreu who is younger, probably a better fielder, and a better all-around batter than Raul Ibanez who got 3 years $31.5...not right.

[NEPP]

I found this on Escalona:

"Scouting Report: "Sneaky quick fast ball. Curve is a plus pitch. Change someday will be a viable pitch against RH hitters. Works hard to improve his deficiencies. Has the tools to pitch in the majors."

Sneaky fast means not too hard (probably 88-90) but that maybe he fools hitters into thinking its harder? Deceptive delivery perhaps?

[Dull]

He was at 91 when he pitched with Reading in a game against Harrisburg. Here is Larry Shenks scouting report in his Insider column:

Escalona, Sergio . . . B-T: L-L . . . 6-0, 170 . . . 24 . . . El Tocuyo, Lara, VZ . . . Signed as an amateur free agent, 5/25/04, by Jesus Mendez . . . Five-year pro . . . Began season at Lakewood (5-1, 2.43, 28 G) before promotion to Reading (0-1, 2.22, 15 G); combined 5-2, 3.00, 43 G, 3 SV, 89 SO in 69 IP . . . Pitched in Arizona Fall League, 1-0, 6.14, 12 G, 15 SO, 14.1 IP and Venezuela Winter League, 0-0, 0.00 , 3 G.

Scouting Report: "Sneaky quick fast ball. Curve is a plus pitch. Change someday will be a viable pitch against RH hitters. Works hard to improve his deficiencies. Has the tools to pitch in the majors."

[NEPP]

Yeah, that's the best report I was able to find...91 is hard enough for a lefty...if he can locate.

[NEPP]

WFC!

[stjoehawk]

"The Phillies need the Mets to blow it for them to win, and the Mets just need to take care of their own business. Usually the case with a more talented team, such as the Mets, and an extremely lucky team, the Phils."

That makes sense. While you're here, do you want to see our World Series trophy?

[Bedrosian's Beard]

Why is it hard to figure out why a World Champion Phillie phan wouldn't want their rival to sign a good player who is available for cheap?

You're the guy with the name "Phils Suck". Apparently, you spend too much time thinking about the Phillies.

AND-are you saying the Mets/fans don't care about what the Phillies do? How about all that whining about Rollins' statement? You guys all have a Napoleon complex that b/c of the Yankees being the #1 NY team.

[GM-Carson]

I want to have a tailgate this season with a bunch of Mets Trolls and see if they'll still be so obnixious and pop off at the mouth...doubtful.

[NEPP]

Trolls are fun, eh?

[stjoehawk]

"Guys, everyone outside of this C - level Web site knows last year was a joke. Knows 2007 was a bigger joke. Knows who the better team is."

So why would you think that the Mets were the better team than the Phillies in both years?

[AWH]

Jeltz, good point on the Citi deal!

[AWH]

Is something wrong with the server? I have not seen one post from the steMhead troll.

[J. Weitzel]

I think we can all agree it's too early to get into it with Mets fans.

[doubleh]

I didn't realize winning the division 2 years in a row was considered a fluke.

[khaiokien]

The Mets did fail pretty hard those 2 years, but they have lots of talent, and they can't keep underachieving right?

[MG]

Even if Escalona actually did make the Phils roster on Opening Day, I guarantee Cholly would employ "use only in the case of emergency approach" especially since he has a veteran lefty in the pen already (Eyre).

Escalona would be lucky to get work even once a week and more like every 8-10 days. That makes no sense and is the waste of a roster spot that would be better utilized on a RHP option off the bench.

[NEPP]

And he'd be so rusty in those once every couple week appearances that he'd get hammered.

[skeeter4]

Joe Biemel on the radar......

[MG]

There is plenty of time to get into it with Mets fans and for them to choose their best gold chains and pinky rings for Opening Day at Citibank park.

[Andy]

C'mon Fallowfield - you haven't told us about the new thread yet. What's up with that?

[AWH]

Was surfing over at metsblog.

I saw this link:

Ted Berg of SNY expects a regression from some members of the Phillies bullpen.

He makes a decent point, but I have to say, when the media types are so far behind the curve (the issue of bullpen regression has been discussed here for at least three months) it makes me wonder whether they surf blogs for material.

Hello, Teddy.....only an koolaid drinker wouldn't have expected that.

What a MOTO.

Berg also posted a link to a THT site where fielding "stats" can be sorted.

Shane Victorino was #9 amongst CF for plays made "out of the zone" (OOZ).

Believe it or not, Ryan Howard was #15 among 1B, but last in fielding percentage(FP) (no surprise there).

Some people's favorite punching bag, Pete Happy, was #24 among 3B in OOZ, but #3 in FP. I guess that means his footspeed keeps him from getting to balls, but that he fields cleanly what he does get to.

BL and fan favorite Chase Utley, was #8 in FP, but 3! in OOZ plays made at 66 plays out of the zone - a whopping 15 above the next closest 2B. That would seem to support some posters' contentions here that Utley is a very underappreciated defensive player.

Jason Werth made ZERO error in RF, but his OOZ number was low probably because he wasn't playing full-time all season.

JRoll had the highest FP and was #5 in OOZ, indicating that his GG was well deserved.

Met troll favorite "Jose Jose Jose" Reyes finished in the middle of the pack in OOZ, #15, and in FP, #13, indicating once again that he is probably overrated defensively, and that the Koolaid drinking writers and fans in NY tend to overvalue and overrate players wo get a lot of media exposure.

Take a look at the site. Very interesting.

[Edmundo]

It seems like projection systems are expected to be deadly accurate around here or else there is not value in trying to understand what they are about, :) but for your reading pleasure, here's what ZIPS has to offer on Sergio (pardon the formatting):

ERA G GS INN H ER HR BB K ERA+
5.77 32 6 64.0 73 41 10 34 41 79

Not that he's likely to get that playing time. His projected ERA+ is better than Tom Gordon's, Scott Nestor and Joe Bisenius.

http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/oracle/discussion/2009_zips_projections_philadelphia_phillies/

I don't find Baseball Prospectus O/L worth paying for to see what PECOTA has to offer for Sergio. I do have their book on order though, it's a pretty fun read, reasonably accurate in predicting in the aggregate even if they toot their own horn too much.

[thephaithful]

Anyone been outside today? Can't help but to think of baseball even more.

[mikes77phillies]

Would'nt be suprised if a pitcher like Escalona made the team out of spring training. I have Bastardo as my darkhorse to make the team. The Phillies only carried one LHP in the bullpen for most of the last 2 years. They are'nt going to spend any money on a Free agent LHP, just because Romero is out for 1/3 the year.
They'll just slide Eyre up the pecking order to Romero's spot and I believe, keep a Bastardo/Escalona type on the team to fill Eyre's previous role.

[clout]

Dull: I notice that BB is missing from his AFL stats. What might it be?

[EastFallowfield]

As requested...

Yo, new thread