A look at former Phillies playing in Japan

Meanwhile in the Far East, the Japanese Central and Pacific leagues are heading down the home stretch. Several ex-Phillies, including a pair from last season's roster, experienced highs and lows this season.

Canadian right-hander Scott Mathieson, who spent 10 seasons in the Phillies' system including three brief stints with the parent club before signing to pitch in Japan this offseason, has helped anchor the bullpen for the Central League-winning Yomiuri Giants. The 28-year-old flamethrower, who underwent multiple Tommy John surgeries while with the Phillies, is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA, including 10 saves and a 46/11 K/BB in 40 innings for the Giants.

However, it's been a struggle for Yomiuri teammate John Bowker, who famously went 0-for-13 with seven strikeouts in 12 games for the Phils late last season. The 29-year-old Triple-A journeyman hit .191/.264/.301 in 203 plate appearances for Yomiuri. It's unclear whether he's still on their roster.

Meanwhile, 2007 fan favorite Tadahito Iguchi has continued his stout play in the fourth year of his second tour of the Pacific League. The 37-year-old second baseman is hitting .258/.346/.384 with 10 homers in a full season with Chiba Lotte.

Other notable North Americans include right-hander and former Phillie Brandon Duckworth (3-1, 3.45 ERA in five starts for Rakuten), 2006 Scranton Wilkes-Barre alum Bobby Scales (.262/.373/.384, 5 homers in 362 PA), Josh "Wrong Spelling of Weitzel" Whitesell, who leads the Pacific League in hitting (.318/.402/.502, 9), Wily Mo Pena (.275/.334/.488, 21 HR), Lastings Milledge (.300/.379/.485, 21 homers) and Wladimir Balentien (.273/.390/.583, 30 home runs). If they're smart, they'll stay in Japan. That's a nice infusion of power for this crop of first-timers, and with numbers like that, they can play forever.

Comments

[jbird]

I have a soft spot for Wily Mo Pena. Surprised he doesn't have 50 homeruns over there.

[Sil Campusano]

Nice to see that Bowker's torrid slaughter of professional pitchers has continued abroad.

[SLO Phan]

Bowker blows. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'd take Mini-Mart in a clutch hitting situation over Bowker any day of the week. And that's saying something.

[Dan Koch]

One quick note -- offense has been decimated in the NPB since they switched to the 'no fly' ball last year. By 'decimated', I mean 'sub-1968 in the MLB'. The league ERA for both leagues was under 3.00 last year, so Milledge's line easily makes him one of the top-5 hitters in the NPB.

Bowker still stinks though, and has continued to look like he's swinging his bat underwater, even against the marginally slower NPB pitching.

[R.Billingsly]

Wow...I guess Tyson Brummett only gets a cup of coffee on Beerleaguer, too.

[J. Weitzel]

Beerleaguer HQ consensus is that Bowker was the worst Phillie of the Beerleaguer era (2005-2012).

[norbertods]

JW: Worse than Mini?

[donc]

He didn't do as much damage as Mini what with only 13 AB's.

Also I hear Lenny Dykstra is tearing it up in the CCL (California Correctional League)seniors division.

[donc]

Just saw where the Braves have won the last 23 of Medlen's starts. You just know that will change in the playoffs. Bet they lose his first start. If he gets one that is.

[Sil Campusano]

No one is worse than Mini Mart. Bowker sucked something fierce, but he (thankfully) wasn't given enough playing time to reach that level of ineptitude.

[J. Weitzel]

Way worse than Mini. At least Mini can play a couple of positions.

[Willard Preacher]

"At least Mini can play a couple of positions."

Haha. Well played, JW.

[MG]

Bowker worse than Chris Robertson (couldn't hit and played all 3 OF positions terribly)?

Worse than Alex O. Gonzalez who was so bad in early '06 that he flat up and retired almost right after the season?

There are many stiffs that could be added to that list.

I would take Chris Robertson or Pete LaForrest over Bowker.

[MG]

As bigger stiffs I mean.

[donc]

At least Roberson was fast. Remember the footrace between him, Bourne and Vic. IIRC Roberson was the winner. Ricky Otero blew chunks too. Jay Loviglio? God we've had some bad players.

[Sil Campusano]

I would take Wendall Magee Jr. over Bowker. Maybe even Reggie Taylor.

[J. Weitzel]

Bowker is on the same level as Julio Santana IMO.

[J. Weitzel]

Wow - Santana pitched in the Can-Am league this season. First pro action since 2006.

[GTown_Dave]

The 37-year-old second baseman is hitting .258/.346/.384 with 10 homers in a full season with Chiba Lotte ...

This is a massive improvement over Martinez! I demand Tadahito Iguchi be returned to the Phillies, posthaste!

(By-the-by, I first read that as "Chiba Latte", which brought the bizarre image of Sonny Chiba opening a coffee shop to mind. But I digress ...)

[GTown_Dave]

Corey Seidman: "Nationals starting John Lannan instead of originally scheduled Chien-Ming Wang ..."

Wonderful. Ryan Howard will be in the visiting dugout. Lannan will hit him w/ a pitch anyway. Kyle Kendrick will retaliate by surrendering back-to-back-to-back home runs.

This game is gonna suck.

[MG]

Roberson was ridiculously fast but because he was piss-poor at reading balls & had no idea on how to steal bases it almost completely negated his speed.

[lorecore]

Great start by Cole yesterday, capped off another great year. He's basically anywhere from top10 to top5 in almost every pitching category this season.

Cole and Chooch are the only two players in the entire organization who have complete immunity for this travesty of a season.

[lorecore]

I should say, only two *people* in the organization.

[NEPP]

Cole might never be the best pitcher in baseball in a given year but he's incredibly consistent and he'll be a Phillie for life.

Win-win for both sides I think.

[MG]

Speaking of Roberson:

No idea he was still playing. Been tearing it up the last few years at Monterrey (Mexican League) and with Winnipeg in the American Association league this year.

Put up a well dominant season at Reading in '05. Really thought he was going to be at least a decent 4th/5th OF type at the MLB level.

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?P=Chris-Roberson

[donc]

MG: He sucked for sure. With that kind of speed to completely fail at the major league level, well nuff said.

[lorecore]

Papelbon reached a career high in IP this year, I can imagine how intensely scrutinized this stat would be if the Phillies remained in the playoff hunt and he blew a game or two.

Instead, the common complaint is that Paplebon didn't pitch enough, and thats why we're not in the race to begin with.

[NEPP]

Papelbon actually had a fantastic year and earned his salary (about as much as he possibly could at least). The unfortunate part was that like most of the team, he had a crappy 1st half and didnt become a beast until the 2nd half when it was too late.

Clearly he didnt care for Hunter Pence either.

[lorecore]

NEPP: Agreed. Papelbon and Lee ended up with very solid years, but they timed their worst stretches along with the rest of the team, which is why I say Cole and Chooch are really the only two you can't hold anything against.

[NEPP]

Papelbon from Jul 24th to PRES:

31 G, 30.2 IP, 0.59 ERA, 17 Saves, 1 Blown Save, 8 BB, 43 SO.

Basically what we were expecting and then some. That June stretch killed them as a team.

[NEPP]

Though it should be noted that Joe Nathan had basically just as good a season for half the cost AAV and 1/3 the cost overall so his signing was still a mixed bag.

[Willard Preacher]

Knowing that occasional slumps and dips in production occur throughout a season, I'd also go so far as to put JRoll on the list of Phillies who lived up to, or exceeded, expectations.

Yeah, he had that little stint of not running out some balls (again...), but after Charlie dealt with it head on, he's been very, very good. And for the season, I have to say, his numbers exceed what I would have expected from him at this stage in his career. I'm just thrilled he stayed healthy all season, and appears to still have it as one of the best defensive SS's in the league.

[NEPP]

Jimmy did everything and more that could possibly be expected of him. Rube expecting him to repeat his MVP season just because Utley & Howard were out the first few months was a ridiculous and unfair expectation.

Rollins was basically one of the top 2-3 SS in baseball this year at a fairly low price.

[MG]

JRoll had a very good June too

.303/.357/.580 (.936 OPS) with 6 HRs and 16 RBIs in 119 ABs

He was one of the few hitters who did hit in June.

JRoll's had a quality year overall and earned every penny of his contract (and then some). Expecting him to carry the team or play the caliber of defense he did 4 or 5 years ago just isn't a realistic expectation.

One of the odder stories this season was the report that the Phils explored trading him at the deadline that was reported by multiple sources including Jayson Stark (still one of the best sources on the Phils).

[lorecore]

MG: Agreed, i kept dismissing that rumor, but it resurfaced more than once from legitimate sources. And never once did I hear that the Phils asking price was outrageous, it almost felt like they tried moving him and no one really was interested outside the "kicking the tires" phase.

Very odd if that truly was the case.

[Sophist]

No discussion of Roberson is complete without mention of his most infamous Phillies moment: Sept 5, 2007 for all those brave enough to look it up. Brett Myers closing against the Braves.

[BMS]

Don't have to look it up. Will never forget that alligator-arms effort by Roberson on the Diaz hit in that Braves game. Myers, and to some extent Flash, were both victims of really bad luck with bloops and Baltimore chops until Diaz scalded that oppo bases-clearing "double" courtesy of the aformentioned Roberson.

As bad as that loss was, the Phils bounced back almost immediately and regained the momentum for the run to the East title, the hallmark of those teams for the next several years.

[Sophist]

BMS - And I recall Diaz claiming he thought he hit a normal FB out until he realized how shallow Roberson was playing him.

[MG]

Best part was that Roberson kind of hinted at the fact that he didn't have shades on is why he misplayed the ball.

Really do wonder if that really poor play & then Roberson's idiotic comment after the game didn't seal his fate in Philly.

Roberson was getting semi-regular PT before that late in games and after that his appearances were sparse & just as a PR.

[DH Phils]

JW's 12:40 post makes me think that I would love a best-of/worst-of series of the Beerleaguer era. Best/worst game of the last 8 years, best/worst player, etc., with a poignant game-chat quote to accompany each player/moment/whatever.

[MG]

Replayed 11-10 victory the Phils had vs. Mets in late August '07 at CBP.

I have to admit that watching that game was still exciting. '07 season is still my favorite Phils' team in my adulthood. Probably put the '93 team as No. 2 and '08 team as No. 3.

[BMS]

Yeah, he was stylin with the shades on the bill of his hat IIRC. The only good thing about that game was that TMac was still working for the Mets and we didn't have to hear a suger-coated excuse as to why the ball wasn't caught......

[Kendrick Appreciation Society]

Been gone a week on a cruise. As expected, the funeral occurred while I was gone.

Not sure if this has been posted, but Baseball America did its Top 20 prospects in the New York-Penn League. You can see it here.

Phillies SS prospect Roman Quinn (19 years old) is 3rd on the list. He's also one of the younger players on the list as many others are college players.

The Top 20 from the Gulf Coast League came out last week. Phillis OF prospect Carlos Tocci (only 16 years old, allegedly, youngest ranked) was 6th on the list.

The South Atlantic League rankings come out Oct. 3rd. Florida State on Oct. 8th. Eastern League Oct. 9th. And International League Oct. 12th.

The Phillies have a total of 9 players who appear on all of the league ranking lists. 16 teams have more players on the lists (up to 14). 12 teams have fewer players (down to 4).

[Willard Preacher]

Anyone take notice of this?

http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2012/09/30/sports/doc5068d34364805671116535.txt?viewmode=fullstory

[derekcarstairs]

If you look at the stats for the season, the Phils' decline is attributable to defense and pitching, not hitting.

(Just to cite one stat, in 2011, the Phils were 15th in the majors with an OPS of .717. In 2012, the Phils are also 15th with the same exact OPS.)

The Phils' emphasis in the off-season should be on adding a top starter, an eighth-inning guy plus improving the defense.

My big move would be to sign Zach Greinke, a top 20 pitcher and one of only two difference makers in free agency this off-season.

[Willard Preacher]

Well, the white flag has officially been waved. Mini Mart getting the start at SS and Frandsen (yeah, the guy with the broken leg) batting lead off.

Frandsen 3B
Mayberry CF
Utley 2B
Ruiz C
Wiggy 1B
Brown RF
Ruf LF
Mini SS
KK P

[Willard Preacher]

If I'm Utley and I'm serious about looking into Regenokine, I'm asking for the rest of the year off...

[Willard Preacher]

derek, I don't think you'll get much argument that pitching was a root cause of this year's (currently) sub-.500 record.

However, the biggest off season move to benefit the Phils would have to be for Roy Halladay to get himself healthy and back to some semblance of his former self.

[Scott]

Matt Gelb ‏@magelb

Manuel said Rollins tweaked his calf on a pickoff play Sunday. Felt he needed a blow, anyway.

[lorecore]

from my very uninformed opinion, i thought Rengenokine was to accelerate healing by enriching the blood/plasma around the injury. Utley is reported to not have any structural damage, but just cartilage that has been worn down to the bone.

Not sure that treatment would make any difference, but as the article suggests, there shouldn't be anything ruled out to make sure he doesn't repeat 2012's spring.

[Kendrick Appreciation Society]

derekcarstairs: The flaw in that logic is that the offense next year will do as well as this year without Vic or Pence. It also suggests our pitching can be as good in 2013 as it was in a near-historic year of 2011.

[lorecore]

derek: I think you are using awful logic.

The Phillies are 15th in majors in OPS this year, but that shouldn't be addressed because they were also 15th in 2011 as well?

Being 15th of 30 teams in the majors should be improved, no matter what aspect of the game it is. Just because the team finished in 1st place with a 15th ranked offense one year doesn't mean that should be a desired output.

[lorecore]

haha, now thats a 'eliminated from the playoffs' lineup! Utley and Chooch should be spared as well, nothing good is coming of them playing.

[GBrettFan]

But I want to play spoiler! And to finish with a record above .500.

[derekcarstairs]

KAS - I agree that, even with a bounce-back by Halladay, the Big 3 in 2013 will probably not be so good as they were in 2011, but I think they can still be the best threesome in baseball. Add Greinke to the rotation and the 2013 version of the Big 4 could be better than the 2011 version.

While I am not suggesting the Phils stand pat on offense, I think it should not be given the emphasis that many posters seem to want in off-season moves.

I should also remind you that, had the Phils not traded for Pence - the right-handed bat they so desperately needed, the Phils would have won the division by only ten games.

[kilbillrain]

Unless I missed it on here Pirates clinched yet another losing season.

"They pulled a Pirate" is the new catch phrase for 20 years of futility.

[derekcarstairs]

... the Phils would have won the division by only ten games in 2011.

[bay_area_phan]

All-Suck team from the Beerleaguer ERA

Starting lineup (50 Phillies PAs minimum):

C: Brian Schneider
1b: Wes Helms
2b: Juan Castro
SS: Mini-Mart
3b: Abraham Nunez
RF: Endy Chavez
CF: Chris Roberson
LF: Eric Bruntlett

Bench

Sal Fasano
Tomas Perez
Nate Schierholtz
Ty Wigginton
So Taguchi

Starting Rotation (50 IP minimum):

Adam Eaton
Freddy Garcia
J.D. Durbin
Gavin Floyd
Rodrigo Lopez

Bullpen (20 IP minimum):

Scott Mathieson
Danys Baez
Mike Zagurski
Francisco Rosario
Jack Taschner
Ryan Franklin
Jose Mesa (closer)

[bay_area_phan]

Actually, that should have said "Beerleaguer Era," not "Beerleaguer ERA." I wasn't talking about Beerleaguer's earned run average.

[SLO Phan]

Wow. The Phils have had a lot of crappy players over the last few years.

[Willard Preacher]

Holy sh8t BAP! I think you pretty much nailed it. Though I do think that Alex Gonzalez is deserving of a roster spot. Maybe on the 40 man?

Sad that Bowker doesn't even make the PA minimum. He was a shoe-in.

[Bonehead]

bap - You selected two very worthy catchers, but Barajas deserves a roster spot.

[Willard Preacher]

I'd agree with a Barajas inclusion. Plus, I always kinda liked Sal, sucktitude aside...

[MR]

Fabulous, bap. Nauseating, but fabulous.

[GTown_Dave]

b_a_p: You forgot Desi Relaford, who managed the following line over 5 seasons w/ the Phillies:

.234 BA/.315 OBP/.328 SLG/66 OPS+

[GTown_Dave]

(Although I suppose that's technically pre-Beerleaguer Era. Good Lord did he suck, though.)

[donc]

Love (hate) BAP's list. Though I agree Barajas has to be on the roster. I think the fact that Schneider's high school yearbook picture is a cave drawing is a mitigating factor. The other two clowns were in the prime, for lack of a better term, of their careers.

[Willard Preacher]

Here's the data (all numbers compiled only in their time with the Phillies)

Fasano (149 PA):
.243 .284 .386

Barajas (147 PA):
.230 .352 .393

Schneider (384 PA):
.212 .295 .327

[bay_area_phan]

WP: Gonzalez would have been on there but he only had 38 Phillies PAs. I figured I had to set some sort of cutoff because: (a) a guy with only a handful of PAs or IPs can't do all that much total damage; and (b) without a meaningful minimum, there would just be too many names to choose from Without a minimum, how could you leave off Bowker? Or R.J. Swindle? Or Nate Robertston (1 IP, 6 ER allowed)? Or T.J. Bohn? Or Drew Carpenter? Or Les Walrond? Or Randall Simon? Or Pete LaForest? Or . . . well, you get the idea.

[Kendrick Appreciation Society]

Charlie Manuel (via Matt Gelb): "A month ago when we're talking about getting [Michael] Bourn for a leadoff hitter, Rollins got more production. Bourn might have a little higher average, but Rollins has more production. So which one would you rather have in your leadoff hole?"

Remarkably, it looks like Manuel might be looking at OPS (.743 Rollins vs .742 Bourn). Nah... probably just looking at runs scored and RBI.

[bay_area_phan]

I figured Barajas would be my most controversial omission, if only because of "the play." But his overall numbers were much better than Fasano's.

I admit that I allowed sentimentality to enter into my choices to some small degree. For instance, Ryan Madson probably belonged in the starting rotation because his career as a starter was nothing short of putrid. But, out of appreciation for his stellar work out of the pen, I left him off.

[Bonehead]

"The play" equates to a .050 deduction from each slash line figure, of course.

[Willard Preacher]

The PFF (yet to be created Punchable Face Factor) has to be taken into consideration, as well.

Fasano has the exact opposite of a punchable face. Like, it would hurt your hand to punch his face, and give you no joy whatsoever.

[Willard Preacher]

Excitedly tuning into tonight's game is the fan equivalent of having Dr. Kevorkian show up to your house.

Yet, here I am with 5 minutes to game time staring at the "This Game Will Begin Shortly" screen, like some sort of psychopath.

The irony is that I actually HAVE tickets to the LAD/SFG game tonight. I need help.

[Willard Preacher]

Nah, it's cool guys. I'm good here chatting with myself...

[SLO Phan]

Go team.

[bay_area_phan]

If there were a statistic which measured best/worst use of plus speed, Mayberry would rank near the bottom of the league. Hasn't stolen a single base all year & never seems to miss an opportunity to ground into a DP.

[Willard Preacher]

yo, new thread for the three of us to post in.

[bay_area_phan]

WP: The choices are: pay money to watch a meaningless Giants-Dodgers game and run the risk of getting murdered in the parking lot, or throw away money on the Dodgers-Giants game and spend a quiet, safe evening watching the meaningless Phillies game and talking to yourself on Beerleaguer.

[Johnson]

Always like Mathieson. Saw him just dominate in Reading. Too bad he had so many injuries. Maybe bring him back after a year in Japan once he has a healthy track record