This hasn't been a good week for aging Phillies.
The latest: Jose Contreras will reportedly undergo season-ending exploratory surgery, according to CSNPhilly's Jim Salisbury. All the reports I've see say there's no reason to think he can't be back by the start of 2012, but let's be real here, folks. He's 39 going on 43. In addition, Ryan Howard is out of tonight's line-up with heel bursitis and is likely to miss a few days, joining Raul Ibanez (groin) on the list of day-to-day Phillies. Earlier, Cole Hamels was placed on the DL with inflammation in his pitching shoulder, but the move has been made retroactive and he's likely to return early next week. Yesterday, the Phils placed Jimmy Rollins on the DL with a Grade 2 groin pull, but it is considered mild.
Beerleaguer: The two-year deal to Contreras has to be considered a pretty big mistake at this point. Veteran relief (Baez, Romero, Contreras) hasn't been the hallmark of the Amaro era, He should have taken 2010 and run regarding Contreras, or offered just the one guaranteed year. In Marti Wolever we trust for our future bullpen needs. It's not necessarily all Amaro's fault. You roll the dice with veteran relievers always.
Meanwhile, the Phils just need to keep beating up the patsies of the National League while everyone gets healthy. They don't have a tough series until Labor Day (Braves). Tonight, they move John Mayberry Jr. to first and start Ben Francisco in left, his first start since forever ago.
It's over.
Posted by: clout | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 05:49 PM
Quite a shake-up in the lineup tonight.
Posted by: Malcolm | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 05:54 PM
I see what you did there.
Posted by: HammRadio | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 06:01 PM
send contreras to bartolo colons doctor. he'll be back and better than ever in no time
Posted by: circus | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 06:02 PM
Scotch Man Rule #1: NEVER sign relief pitchers to multi-year deals unless they are ELITE closers and even then, it's a crap shoot.
Posted by: Scotch Man | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 06:03 PM
Baltimore DFA'd Felix Pie. Considering he has an option, I wouldn't be opposed to stashing Ben Francisco in Lehigh Valley and plugging Pie in his place. He's cheap, under team control for two seasons, can play all three OF positions. Pretty much a lateral move, but it provides a bit more depth.
Posted by: Will Schweitzer | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 06:04 PM
"Where are you hearing that, Cyclic? God that would be amazing. It's tough to have four players you really want to see play and only three positions for them."
Gelb was tweeting something about it
Posted by: Cyclic | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 06:06 PM
There is no way on earth that a championship contender would go into the playoffs trying out a player at a position like 3B that he's never played in his career. That is simply insane.
I mean, Dom Brown's defense in RF was a big reason why we made the Pence trade. And now we're going to consider Mayberry at 3rd? No way. That simply does not pass the smell test.
Posted by: Jack | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 06:10 PM
Wow...I was expecting Pie to be much better in the field. I think I'll stick with Francisco; at least he has some pop. Pie really sucks.
Posted by: circus | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 06:11 PM
If Pie isn't good enough for the O's he isn't good enough for the Phils. Maybe he can be some minor league depth but that's it.
Posted by: Scotch Man | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 06:15 PM
I notice I haven't read any sarcastic "age-related injury" jokes in awhile. I wonder why not.
Posted by: bay_area_phan | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 06:15 PM
Age related injury jokes are getting old.
Posted by: Old Phan | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 06:17 PM
When Felix Pie is out of baseball, the only thing anyone will remember about his major league career is that he once went on the DL with a twisted testicle.
Posted by: bay_area_phan | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 06:18 PM
Old Phan: Because it's not a joke?
Posted by: Jack | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 06:19 PM
Pie twisted a testicle? Didn't know that. I hope it was his own at least.
Posted by: donc | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 06:20 PM
Anyway, it sounds like a lot of these injuries are actually sports related.
I wonder if this bursitis thing with Howard just happened or if he's had it for awhile and it decided to flare up.
Posted by: Old Phan | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 06:21 PM
"Anyway, it sounds like a lot of these injuries are actually sports related."
I don't think you get the point about correlation between injuries and age.
Posted by: Jack | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 06:23 PM
"...let's be real here, folks. He's 39 going on 43."
You racist. Only a bigot would be more suspicious of a Cuban's age, than, say, a Pennsylvanian's age.
Regarding Mayberry at 3B: I'm sure the internal discussions have been about Mayberry as a third baseman eventually, not this year.
Posted by: DH Phils | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 06:29 PM
If I remember right, the age-related injury thing was in the context of predicting how this team would do this year. Many people pointed out how silly it was that the Vegas over-under for wins was 97, in part because of how old and injury-prone they are.
It seems weird to pat yourself on the back for correctly predicting a bunch of nagging injuries to the older players if you used that reasoning to miss the main prediction (number of wins) by 10 games.
Posted by: DH Phils | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 06:33 PM
Actually, I could generalize that to say "it seems weird to pat yourself on the back for correctly predicting anything."
Posted by: DH Phils | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 06:34 PM
Amaro gave out 2 yrs to Contreras to avoid having to give him a larger deal this year. Flushed $2.5M down the drain next year. Still, that's absorbable although it will hurt considering they already have $113M committed to just 9 players next year including Contreras (Howard, Utley, Vic, Polanco, Chooch, Halladay, Lee, Blanton).
Blanton though is the real potential 'turd in the punch bowl' though because he is making $10.5M next year. Almost certain Oswalt won't be back which means Blanton is #4 starter going into the season. He's reminds me of what Lieber was like in the last year of his deal. An injury-prone veteran coming off a few mediocre seasons that the Phils are just stuck with & have to hope stays health and contributes.
Posted by: MG | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 06:37 PM
Blanton the #4? I've got a pair of goggles that says you're mistaken.
Posted by: Regress To The Mean Machine | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 06:48 PM
DBacks trade Johnson for Hill and a throw-in (McDonald). One of the more interesting Aug deals I can remember in a while. Trading one underachieving positional player for another.
Posted by: MG | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 06:48 PM
Third base, I got it covered plus the guy loves the town. Somebody call Cincinnati.
Posted by: Rauls grandpa | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 07:05 PM
That's not a bad trade for the D'Backs. It's basically Johnson for Hill and they get McDonald to help at short.
Posted by: The Truth Injection | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 07:12 PM
Yo, newer thread
Posted by: EastFallowfield | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 07:25 PM
, I could generalize that to say "it seems weird to pat yourself on the back for correctly predicting anything."
Posted by: outdoor playground equipment | Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 12:52 AM
This hasn't been a good week for aging Phillies. The latest: Jose Contreras will reportedly undergo season-ending exploratory surgery, according to CSNPhilly's Jim Salisbury. All the reports I've see say there's no reason to think he can't be back by the start of 2012, but let's be real here, folks. He's 39 going on 43. In addition, Ryan Howard is out of tonight's line-up with heel bursitis and is likely to miss a few days, joining Raul Ibanez (groin) on...
Posted by: buy lasix | Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 09:06 PM