Tuesday: Bastardo stays sharp in Dominican Republic

Left-hander Antonio Bastardo, part of the the Phillies' 25-man roster throughout the playoffs, resumed pitching Dec. 4.

The Dominican League is a sneaky thing. Just when it looked like Sabastian Valle in the Mexican League was the only player worth tracking in the Carribean this winter, Bastardo jumps into the mix. If you needed further proof that Bastardo's place will be in the 'pen, all seven of his winter league appearances with Cibao have been in short relief. In six innings of work, he's given up five hits and two walks while striking out six. Bastarto is currently accompanied by another Phillie, shortstop Wilson Valdez, who signed a minor league deal with the club last month. Valdez, who served as Jose Reyes' replacement with the Mets last season, has a .575 OPS in 158 plate appearances. Veteran Andy Tracy and Rule 5 selection David Herndon also appeared with the Cibao club earlier this offseason. Meanwhile, Valle continues his catching duties for Mochis. The 19-year-old Mexican native has a .861 OPS and 10 homers in 155 plate appearances.

Comments

[mvptommyd]

Monty on 610 now. Some of his key points...

- Regarding Cliff Lee trade he says, "We are looking for tomorrow, not just today."

-He says they wanted the prospects for trade chips or to play here down the road.

- Says it was Amaro's decision.

- Monty said they "are not operating in red" currently, but if they had kept Lee they would be.

Pretty good interview. Alot of "spin control" going on, but what do you expect?

[Greg V]

The LOOGY of the future I tell ya!

[awh]

From previous thread:

tommy, thanks for the Monty/WIP blip.

Yes, it's as we suspected....they ARE making money. Only a fool would believe they are not.

Good for them. I hope they continue to, because then maybe we'll continue to see them sustain their success.

Bastardo: Why would anyone be surprised? Let's face it, his issue(s) is not "stuff". We all saw what he's capable of in short spurts last season. If he's capable of harnessing his pure talent there's no reason to believe he cannot be a MLB pitcher.

[thephaithful]

Andy Tracy in the Domincian League?

[CJ]

Braves are dealing Javy Vasquez to the Yankees for Melky Cabrera.

This is a net positive for the Phillies because Vasquez was their best pitcher. And your best pitcher is almost always more valuable than any hitter.

[pb]

Brandon Morrow (SEA) and Brandon League (TOR) are being traded for one another.. i would have liked to had either guy as part of the Lee deal... young cheap and help our pen for years to come

[J. Weitzel]

Phaithful: Yes, in late November, for about five games.

[thephaithful]

CJ: Agreed that this makes the Braves a weaker team, but not so sure Vasquez was their best pitcher.

Gotta think Jurrijens has taken that role. And if Tim Hudson comes back healthy, he could also take that role.

[thephaithful]

pb: I thought that was pretty odd as well. A reported '3way trade' involving Seattle and Toronto with the phillies a week ago kept both Morrow and League(and another unnamed prospect) out of the deal, only to be swapped later.

[B]

The yankees rotation just got better. wow.
That's a nice top 4 in the rotation.

[euphronius]

Apparently the Yankees just traded for Javier Vasquez.

Well. God Damn.

[euphronius]

The Vasquez deal is a net negative for teh Phillies because they are not going to be playing the braves in a post season 7 game series.

[CJ]

thephaithful: Jurrjens is close, but Vasquez was clearly the better pitcher last year.

WHIP:
J: 1.241
V: 1.026

K/9:
J: 6.4
V: 9.8

SO/BB:
J: 2.03
V: 5.41

Jurrjens had a better ERA+ (158-143), but Vasquez's peripherals were significantly better.

Jurrjens is younger and certainly could be better than Vasquez this year, but in 2009, Vasquez was better.

[euphronius]

The one peripheral that kills Vasquez in the past is HR/9. He was excellent last year though.

New Yankee stadium may give up more HRs than other parks.

[CJ]

euphronius: Nice to see the Phils have already won the NL East.

Bottom line: You build your teams to make the playoffs. Nothing else is guaranteed.

[bsly]

Braves pitching depth can take the Vasquez hit. Glad to see him out of the division but it worries me that the yanks are getting better, although I don't think had a great sesason his first go in pinstripes.

[The_GodfatherSJP]

Vazquez had a career year for the Braves in a pitchers park. Now he's moving to a very homer happy hitter's park. It'll be a good year for him if he reproduces his career statline. But for a #4? You can do much, much worse. Yankees just matched themselves with Boston, it's a good move by them.

And a poor move by the Braves. You'd think they'd get a better offensive piece than Melky Cabrera. Melky's career statline OBP/SLG/OPS of .331/.385/.716 is very similar to Garret Anderson's last year in Atlanta(.303/.401/.705), but Cabrera's numbers are boosted by career high slugging percentage in Yankee Stadium. That numbers going to regress to his career norm or go lower. In effect, they've traded Vazquez to replace Garret Anderson in the lineup. And Anderson wasn't a good hitter for them last year.

If they start Cabrera and move McLouth over, fine, but this move makes it necessary to acquire Adam LaRoche. Otherwise the Braves will have a pretty punchless offense.

[bsly]

CJ: Vasquez had a career year this past season. Definitely proved to be the staff ace with 09 numbers, but I would expect an increase to all relevent stats in yankee stadium. Never had a season of comparables.

[CJ]

The GodfatherSJP: I'm with you. I figured if they were going to deal Vasquez that they'd do better than Melky. I'll have to see what minor league piece they'll get in the deal.

[CJ]

bsly: Any pitcher moving from Atlanta to Yankee Stadium will see in their numbers go the wrong direction. I'm more concerned with getting him out of Atlanta.

The Braves wanted to deal Lowe... but instead dealt Vasquez. That's good for the Phillies.

[CJ]

This trade could also be bad news for the Mets. The Yankees now have a hole in their OF that could be filled by Jason Bay.

[Jonesman]

If Melky is the biggest bat the Braves pick up this offseason they really must be banking on Jason Heyward being a monster as soon as he gets to the majors. If Prado regresses and Chipper keeps looking like an old man, their offense could be really ugly.

[TNA]

So... how does the Lee deal now measure up? Would you have been ok with a return of Cabrera and Vizcaino (the other two players involved look like a wash talent wise)? Vizcaino has dominated rookie and short-season ball so far and was ranked by BP as their #2 prospect.

[euphronius]

If the Phillies don't win the NL East is will be the largest collapse in the history of civilization and possible this quadrant of the Milky Way Galaxy.

So yes, I am looking past winning the NL East.

[TNA]

CJ - the Braves also have around $10M to spend on a bat. (if they use all the savings from the trade)

[CJ]

Yo, new thread.

[awh]

yo, new thread.

[EastFallowfield]

Yo, new thread