Transaction wire tells the tale of Phillies' stability

It’s not uncommon for two dozen moves to cross baseball's daily transaction wire. Healthy and relatively secure, the Phillies haven’t taken part.

There was a time when promotions and demotions accounted for half of Beerleaguer’s daily content, but the golden days for fringe talent ended in 2007. The World Series winners kept the same starting rotation into July and the bullpen basically stayed the same from start to finish. Just ask Clay Condrey about this. Demotions, like the ones issued to Brett Myers and Adam Eaton, became big news, instead of the steady stream of small-time Anderson Garcia and Brian Sanches contract purchases we’d grown accustomed to. This April, the Phils have moved just two bodies of note: Carlos Ruiz to the DL and Lou Marson to replace him. Left-hander Mike Zagurski, who’s recovering from Tommy John, was also maneuvered into a minor league assignment.

I monitor the transaction wire daily and it’s a total mess. Despite a month of poor pitching, the Phillies don’t seem to be there yet. There are a couple of reasons the Phillies are less likely to tinker, talent being the biggest, health being the second biggest. There simply aren’t many holes. Second, they’ve bet right on a number of veteran reclamation projects. This makes them more likely to stay patient. Third, not enough prospects are knocking on the door, and the Phils value experience above all else.

Nevertheless, it’s worth noting the number of proven veterans hanging out in Triple-A. Relievers Mike Koplove, Gary Majewski and Tyler Walker have all pitched at a high level before.

Comments

[MG]

2008 was the exception and not the norm. This team is likely going to need meaningful contributions and need to use the transaction wire as more players end on the DL this season.

[LA Jeff]

Can we trade Rollins and Happ for Peavy yet? Bring Donald up to short? That would create some transaction wire buzz right?

[Bonehead]

From the tail end of the previous thread....

I am impressed with Victorino's game so far this year.
Previously, my opinion of Vic was that he is mistake-prone, has bad mental makeup, and his hitting stroke is un-fluid and inconsistent. I thought that he didn't have the capacity to improve his game; so that when his speed declined, his game would fall apart.
But, to me, he looks much better this season. No boneheaded mistakes, smoother hitting stroke, and he's playing a great CF.
I hope he keeps it up.

[J.R. King]

I'd like to see one of the aforementioned Triple-A relievers take Cairo's place so Charlie has another option. At this rate, Happ and Condrey and Durbin are going to have their arms fall off.

[bay_area_phan]

With a $130M outlay this year, I haven't bitched about the Phillies' penny-pinching ways in awhile. So here goes. Call this a conditional bitch since, at this point, I am only speculating about it.

I'm happy the Phillies bumped payroll this year, but the one lingering fear I have is that it might make them more reluctant to spend money as needs arise during the course of the season. For instance, if the need arises (as it probably will), will they still be willing to trade for a veteran starter in mid-season, as they have done in each of the past 3 seasons? I also wonder how long they'll go before cutting bait on Miguel Cairo, who is probably the Phillies' single most obvious mistake of the last 10 years.

So Taguchi, Alex Gonzalez, and Shawn Wooten all had histories of being pretty decent reserves. Unlike Cairo, there was some plausible justification for keeping them around for ahwile to see if they straightened themselves out. There is no such justification with Cairo, who has been washed up for a good 3 years. By the way, Taguchi & Wooten are both still playing in the minors. In all seriousness, I would trade Miguel Cairo straight-up for either one of them.

[J.R. King]

Bonehead: I still think Victorino makes mental mistakes and his swing looks as wild as ever. He's just making it work for him.

[Andy]

"I would trade Miguel Cairo straight-up for either one of them."

Whaaa.... And lose all that versatility?

[Andy]

Actually, b-a-p, I would consider Cairo a miscalculation, whereas Taguchi was a mistake. In Cairo's case he was signed as insurance in case they couldn't land someone like Wigginton. They couldn't. No one wants to be, mostly, Raul Ibanez' back-up. It's not a great way, evidently, to get playing time. Giles and Ozuna were signed for the same reason. Cairo wasn't the guy they wanted; he was what they had to settle for.

In Taguchi's case he was signed to actually perform as the fifth OF. He was the guy they actually wanted. Only he (as kindly as possible) "underperformed" their expectations.

And besides, there are plenty of bigger mistakes: Garcia, Eaton and Abe Nunez come to mind. Really: Expecting Freddy Garcia to be your number starter and then getting what we got? That's gotta be a strong candidate for biggest mistake in the last many, many years.

[Andy]

Incidentally, talking about "mistakes" and "versatility," I notice that Jesus Sanchez had a fairly good game the other day as a relief pitcher.

I guess the Phils are bound and determined to find some way to get some kind of value out of that trade. I expect any day to hear that Monasterios is taking up third base somewhere in the system.

[Gregg]

I am not sure what Cairo gives you...He is actually 0-5 with each out occurring on one pitch. That is not easy. I agree that an extra arm in the bullpen (Tyler Walker), or another bat such as Mayberry would be far more effective than this waste of roster space. At least Mayberry gives you SOME potential for something to happen when he is at the plate. Cairo "is what he is"...a career .230-.240 hitter who is an adequate defensive replacement if necessary. We already have that , and a bit more in Bruntlett. This is not an area where repitition creates success.

[Albert]

The nice thing about Garcia was that he only pitched a handful of games for us. He essentially stole 10 millions from the Phillies, but us fans didn't have to deal with Garcia every 5th day.

Eaton, however, pitched a lot for the 2007 club. To make matters worse Eaton stayed in the rotation for a good portion of 2008. Everyone in Philadelphia will loath Eaton for years to come.

[MG]

I still wonder why Amaro was seemingly better able to this offseason stock up some AAAA type relievers who might help the team over the course of the team but not positional players.

It also looks like Marson is going to get another 2-3 weeks at least with the big-league club. He has looked okay so far but both Paulino and Jamarillo has excelled in limited sample sizes.

[That Dude]

"For instance, if the need arises (as it probably will), will they still be willing to trade for a veteran starter in mid-season, as they have done in each of the past 3 seasons?"

...the answer is not through trades it will be Kendrick or Carrasco. I'm not saying it is the best answer per se, but 3A is there for a reason.

[Andy]

MG - I think it helps to look at it from the side of the player. If your a middle relief guy, ready to sign a minor league contract in the hope of restarting a career, you can probably have your pick of teams so why not do it with the WFCs? But if your a position player, you really need to PAs. If you're any good you'll sign somewhere where you have a shot at actually starting. The only everyday slot that even marginally looked like it might be open was catcher. And even though guys like Ozuna, Cairo and Giles are, by no means, high quality batters, I kinda figured they signed on the off chance that Feliz or Utley might not start the season.

I wish Junior had actually gotten someone better than Cairo; but I kinda understand how difficult a job it actually was.

[RSB]

Gregg: you're really selling Cairo short. He's actually 0 for 7.

[Andy]

"...it will be Kendrick or Carrasco. I'm not saying it is the best answer per se, but 3A is there..."

And, there is an added reason to look to one of these guys to fill a hole. There may be a bit of a pitching logjam at the various single A levels of guys whose age says that they should be at AA, but aren't there right now. Some of them have performed extremely well; and the Phils may wish to get them up to AA to see how real that performance is. (They may want to bump some guys to AAA from AA and some guys from below up to AA.)

[Andy]

RSB - I hear 8 is his lucky number! (Or was that 6. I always forget.)

[Wes Chamberlain]

Does anyone remember back when Jayson Stark was writing fo rthe Inquire and he had the Baseball Week in Review column. Every year he would give out the Rance Mullinicks Memorial Last Guy To Get a Hit Award, to the last MLBer to get a hit.

Even though it kind of hurts the Phils, I am rooting for Cairo to win the 2009 RMMLGTGHA.

[dwr]

Wes: That was the best column. I couldn't wait for the Sunday Sports section to read it.

[Andy]

Wes - What kind of award is given to a bench player who goes through the whole season without even getting a hit?

Just wondering.

Not inferring anything about Cairo.

Not really.

Okay. I admit it - that's the award I think he'll more likely earn.

[JZ]

Stark's column is a blast from the past. Wow. Used to love reading it back in the day. Nice callback, Mr. Chamberlain.

[Mac Tonight]

LA Jeff: it was more interesting than the 50 post rant about McCarthy/Wheeler. Next, I have some complaints about the Cracker Jack guy in section 420 on Tuesday - Thursday games. His cadence is off, and his volume dips in the second syllable of "Cracker."

[AWH]

""Everyone in Philadelphia will loath Eaton for years to come. ""

Albert, I don't loathe Eaton for how he pitched. I'm certain he wanted to pitch well. One doesn't become a professional athlete unless one is highly competitive.

What I loathe about Eaton is the attitude he conveyed - the attitude that he didn't pitch all that bad. OTOH, based on his performance before he got to Philly, maybe he didn't pitch all that bad.

[G-Town Dave]

Mac: There's no excuse for that kind of behavior. Is there a better Cracker Jack guy somewhere in baseball we could trade him for?

;-)

[G-Town Dave]

AWH: Amen, brother.

[Andy]

AWH - The attitude that offended was more than that - like that time he came out of a game behind, saw the team go ahead, and was more offended than happy (or at least relieved) - as if the team was doing something to him.

I'm sure he must be a better guy than the guy he presented himself to be to the press; but it is his press, more than his performance, which will put him on the permanent Philadelphia BOO list.

[AWH]

Oh, what I meant to say was "in his mind he didn't pitch all that bad".

Denial is a dangerous thing.

[doubleh]

The infamous John Lannan on the mound tonight. Let's keep him winless against the Phils, please.

I'm still p'ed that he broke Utley's hand 2 years ago.

And apparently MASN announcers are still p'ed that he got ejected from the game for hitting 2 straight batsmen, saying he was just a rookie and wasn't throwing at them. Ummmm...yeah, but the bigger picture is that he could have seriously hurt someone because he couldn't command his fastball. He had to go.

[Andy]

MacT:
You may not like the way he calls a game, but his defense saves us five dinky little prizes a game.

And, for the season, his P/PC (peanut to popcorn) ratio is .453, which puts him fifth in the league. I'll take that from a CJV.

[EastFallowfield]

Stat from Metsblog:

Mets are 1-5 when their opponent scores first.

[Brian G]

Great quote from Ibanez about a great team..

"This is a very resilient club," Ibanez said. "I can't remember ever being a part of a team that could (come back so often), especially late like that, but they were doing that long before I got here. I'm not going to try and figure it out. I'm just going to try and be a part of it."