Phillies closer Brad Lidge received a cortisone shot to combat soreness in his pitching elbow, team physician Michael Ciccotti told members of the press. Ciccotti called the soreness ‘routine’ and unrelated to surgery. Readers called BS.
“You have a guy who has made five rehab appearances now and posted generally poor results against some generally inferior competition. What is more worrisome though is that you have a pitcher who relies upon throwing his fastball hard not gaining any real additional velocity & building arm strength the last 2 weeks. That's a red flag. Now he has a cortisone shot to try to jump start the arm strength building process and Ciccotti is literally seeing how Lidge will respond to the cortisone shot over the next 48 hours.” - MG
To me, the Phillies should treat Brad Lidge the way they treated Kris Benson a few years ago. That is, they should carefully monitor all his minor league apperances and hope that he can improve to the point that he can help them. But they should certainly not count on that to happen, because it probably won't. And if it doesn't happen, they should certainly not force-feed him back onto the roster based on nothing more than a blind hope that he's suddenly going to turn it around. My No. 1 concern heading into the season is that they're going to do precisely this. – bay_area_phan
Notes: Twitter reports have clocked Lidge’s fastball in the 85-87 range, down from his 2009 93.6 mph fastball average during the season, based on Fangraphs.com data.
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Another season and I again find myself agreeing with (almost) everything bay_area_phan says.
Posted by: J.R. King | Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 12:41 PM
J.R.: I also think we should resign Eric Bruntlett, make him the starting second baseman, and trade Chase Utley for a LOOGY.
Posted by: bay_area_phan | Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 12:48 PM
BAP-- There are some things we can ALL agree on.
Posted by: Robby J | Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 01:00 PM
If the bullpen wasn't in such flux, I'd really be pissed that Moyer's 8 million trumps a 25 yr old guy w/ upside. We really may need Kendrick's arm due to injuries/futility. All that being said, I'm STILL kinda pissed.
Posted by: Robby J | Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 01:03 PM
To the poster formerly known as RoLo
from Murphy's blog:
former Phillie Rodrigo Lopez will enter the season in the Diamondbacks rotation
Posted by: Bubba | Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 01:08 PM
BAP: If that's how you feel, you don't deserve to be posting here.
Thanks. Now I feel better.
Posted by: J.R. King | Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 01:17 PM
I was about to say that since halladay is such a horse he should pitch every fifth day and close the other four. Now I'm watching him get shellacked against his old mates and just glad that it's not next Monday and he's just getting his work in.
Posted by: Dukes | Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 01:19 PM
Halladay. Not so hot right now. Halladay.
Posted by: Lynsk | Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 01:20 PM
Halladay's getting absolutely lit up.
Posted by: bay_area_phan | Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 01:20 PM
Christ Almighty....just what we want to hear 5 days before opening day. Anyone know what any long term solutions would be for the 'pen? This is only a worst-case scenario...which I'm believing is more and more probable.
Posted by: Inky | Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 01:23 PM
Remember we made the WS last year when Lidge reached new heights of suckatude? Either Madson will step up, or we'll trade for someone. The closer position is the single more overrated one in baseball today, so forgettaboutit!
Posted by: Dan in Philly | Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 01:33 PM
Their stuck with Lidge. Plain and simple. You just have to hope that he eventually gets a little healthy & rounds into shape.
It would be just a bit ironic if he ends up being arguably one of the key pieces that brought the Phils a WS in '08 and yet is one of the things that drags them down the most in '09 & '10.
The real shame in this is there isn't a single arm in AA or higher that is remotely capable of coming into the closer's role/key setup role either. This is something I could see the Phils do especially if they had a bullpen arm at say Reading who got out to a good start the fist 2 months of the year.
Pieces the Phils have will be the pieces there for most of the season for a couple of reasons.
Posted by: MG | Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 01:48 PM
July. If Lidge is still rehabbing or can't find his slider by July then RAJ will make a move.
Posted by: SteveW | Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 02:16 PM
I have faith in Madson. Not sure why. Worried about Halladay? Check Sabathia's line yesterday. The bell rings on Monday.
Posted by: Zudok | Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 03:57 PM
Blanton down with ab tear...it just gets better the closer we get. Remember how good the pitching was 2.5 weeks ago?
Posted by: kilbillrain | Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 04:50 PM
Better to force it with Madson than Lidge I think.
Upon hearing this, it would have been handy to have Myers around for just such a thing.
Posted by: Wade | Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 07:02 PM
Season = Over
Posted by: phlipper | Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 08:13 PM
Everybody panic!
Posted by: Collin the K | Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 08:17 PM
the only sensible thing to do is panic.
If Lidge continues to top out in the 80s, he'll never set foot on the hill. I can't see that possibility as a death knell for the team. The bullpen is in flux but, that's not an uncommon condition in April.
It would suck if Kentucky Joe goes on an extended hiatus with a jockey full of bourbon while his oblique heals but, as long as Josh Fogg doesn't actually start a game, I think they can weather that issue.
Amaro should be moving on a lefty relief option in a couple days here.
Posted by: Hugh Mulcahy | Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 10:56 PM