Phillies outfield reservist elects free agency

Jason Pridie, 28, appeared in 10 games with the Phillies including a start in center field. He played in 49 more with the Triple-A IronPigs and hit .298/.356/.455 with five homers in 194 plate appearances.

Beerleaguer: Philadelphia has become the land of opportunity for several minor league journeymen, like Erik Kratz and Kevin Frandsen, but for many more, like Pridie, it's been a place where careers have often hit a wall. We never heard from Pridie once the Phillies obtained fellow lefty hitting outfielder Nate Schierholtz in the Hunter Pence deal, otherwise the door would have been fairly open for the former Met to get some looks in the Phillies' outfield. But that's life on the Major League fringe. Scott Podsednik, who lost the battle with Juan Pierre this spring, caught on with Boston and produced. Oakland first baseman Brandon Moss, who's featured in tonight's Division Series game between the A's and Tigers, was the IronPigs' most consistent hitter a season ago before catching his big break with the AL West champs (recall that Moss was not only blocked by guys like Domonic Brown, Ben Francisco and John Mayberry, but also the late addition of John Bowker). Tigers outfielder Quintin Berry was another Phillies castoff who bounced around before a breakout season in Detroit.

Pridie could easily become a similar find for teams shopping at Value Villiage, where Ruben Amaro Jr. will open a preferred shopper's card this winter.

Comments

[GTown_Dave]

... recall that Moss was not only blocked by guys like Domonic Brown, Ben Francisco and John Mayberry, but also the late addition of John Bowker.

Have more damning words ever been written?

[Meyer]

blocked by guys like Domonic Brown, Ben Francisco and John Mayberry, but also the late addition of John Bowker. worth a repeat.

[Mike]

If you're blocked by John Bowker (who never got a freaking hit), then I'd look for a new team too.

[Luis]

Makes sense for him probably has a better shot with another team. Im actually surprised that Scott Pod dude didnt leave earlier.

[Meyer]

Pure conjecture but does anyone get the feeling that the hiring of Bart Braun has something with the miss on Cespedes. Maybe Ruben wants another whisper voice to help.

[GTown_Dave]

Solid start for Detroit. Helps to have Verlander pitching like Verlander.

[NEPP]

Good for Verlander to finally get that monkey off his back.

[Fatalotti]

Verlander was awesome in the middle part of the game. Was just unhittable. Good start to the postseason for the Tigers, beating a tough A's team. So far, the posteason has gone exactly as I'd hoped it would. Just need the Reds to win tonight.

[GBrettFan]

Good game, well-pitched.

Go Reds!

[GBrettFan]

Did they just say Game 2 is on the MLB Network? I don't have the MLB Network.

[MG]

Phils haven't exactly gone to those journeyman though preferring current veteran MLB retreads over career minor league journeyman/AAAA players the past 2-3 years.

Can't blame them but you could make a pretty strong argument they haven't done a very good job of making those calls the last 2 years either.

Still don't understand why a guy like Grilli wasn't promoted at the time instead of keeping a guy like Herndon/Stutes on the roster. Ditto Bowker over Moss and a few others.

[Fatalotti]

67?

[Fatalotti]

The answer: Tim Lincecum's 2012 ERA+

[GBrettFan]

I'll root for Pence to do well but the Reds to do better.

[GBrettFan]

From what they're saying, it doesn't sound great for the Reds. Phelps struggling at leadoff, Votto struggling & with a bad knee, Cain being such a strong starter.

[The Hook]

Really like the Braun signing. Shame concidering how well ces has fit into A's lineup. Would have been nice and cost effective. Considering what was on market and how much players are going to cost. The two names people really are high on for philles are Ross and swisher. Upton slides in third. If they don't sign any of these players. I fully look for a trade of some sort to fill hole(s). Ruben def has work cut out for him.

[Conway Twitty]

The only problem I have with the Tigers is that Detroit riots and burns down the town when any of their teans win anything. Of coarse I don't know if there is anything left to burn.

[MG]

Definitely rooting against the Giants in this series. Kind of indifferent to the Giants until I moved out to the Bay Area and really grew to dislike them. NLCS '10 didn't help things either.

All of the frontrunners and trendy people followed the Giants in the Bay Area. Their are certainly diehard Giants' fans but most them got priced out of the new stadium when it replaced Candlestick & as SF in general has really gentrified over the last 15-20 years.

Not a terribly knowledgeable crowd when you go to games. Just a lot of people there especially when the weather is nice to take in a game. Found the exact opposite of the A's crowds when I went. They were definitely outnumbered but much more vocal & into the game itself. Kind of had to be since the Coliseum is such a dump.

[GBrettFan]

No! You can't hurt yourself in a postseason game!

[GTown_Dave]

Great. Just what the Reds needed.

[GBrettFan]

I can easily see him straining an oblique, watching his delivery in slow-motion.

This sucks.

And I've not been happy - I know I'm repeating myself - about the team with the worse record having home-field advantage in the first two games.

[GTown_Dave]

One of the best Beerleaguer comments of the season came when this guy entered a game in Philly & promptly imploded, leading to the remark "It looks like LeCure was worse than LeDisease."

This does not bode well for Cincinnati.

[GBrettFan]

I feel like the game is already over and it's just begun. Can you imagine how Reds' fans feel?

[GBrettFan]

It was his back, apparently, that he injured.

The LeCure comment was priceless.

Nice job by him, too.

[Meyer]

Just purchased the mlb video postseason package for $4.99 on the advice of my bay area resident son. He lives in Oakland but is a Giant fan. Good times for him.

[MG]

Imagine Cueto won't be available for a possible Game 4/5 either. Really surprised if the Reds win this series at this point.

Only going to win this series with some surprise power especially with Votto and Philips with nagging injuries. Need a Cosart/Stubbs to have a surprising series and give them a lift.

[GBrettFan]

Game 3 starter coming in tonight? What do they do in game 3?

[Iceman]

MG- I've been to a fair amount of A's games and you are right about them being incredibly knowledgeable and engaged in the games. The stadium is probably the worst I've been in aside of Rich Stadium in Buffalo. Sure there are a fair share of drunken/disorderly fans at the coliseum but you'll have that anywhere. I enjoy going there for games. Their fans deserve this.

Haven't been to a Giants game but a co-worker of mine was at the 'brawl' game last year and he felt in the aftermath that he was going to get the sh*t kicked out of them. Not surprising their fans lack class. From Sabean on down the rest of the organization is the same way.

[Meyer]

I'm guessing that Pence has 150 one hoppers to the 3B this season.

[Elephant in the room]

John Bowker....................

[MG]

Iceman - Went to a bunch of Giants' games the 4 years I loved out in SF because of work/friends' employers.

I always got the sense that there were a lot of people who went to the Giants' game because it was something to do as much as going to watch baseball.

I kind of liked the drunk and routy fans at the A's games. Wasn't as much fun riding home afterwards on the BART with them but it kind of reminded me of the old crowd at the Vet except a bit better behaved.

49ers' crowds were generally a good crowd especially at the few Eagles games I went to out there.

[GBrettFan]

Nice, Phillips!

[GTown_Dave]

Of course having guys who can hit HRs always helps.

[Meyer]

Pence with another bounder to 3rd.

[Meyer]

I regret not seeing an Oakland game when I visited my son. I loved the BART always heading to SF. I'm overdo for a visit. A Bay Series would get me excited to visit my renegade Giant fan son (unbelievable after all the late 80's season ticket games).

[Meyer]

Posey slams one for 1st score.

[GBrettFan]

I didn't think Ludwick was going to get that.

Come on, Latos. 1 more out.

[GBrettFan]

Whoa, Phillips!

[Hugh Mulcahy]

Great effort by Ludwick to catch that ball. Lightning in a bottle for the Reds with that guy.

[Meyer]

Ludwick catches the ball. However ugly.

[GTown_Dave]

Solano screwed that up pretty good.

[East coast A's Society--]

Gotta love Pence .. On the opposing team!

[Meyer]

Although neutral in this affair, I'm hoping for a tie. Up steps Pence and I knew exactly how he would swing and where it would go according to the pitch.

[GTown_Dave]

San Francisco looks like the Phillies tonight. Pitching keeps them well in the game, but their offense is stone dead.

[GTown_Dave]

... or at least their pitching was good until the 9th. Casilla looks like Phillies 8th inning material.

[GTown_Dave]

Great job, Fat Panda. Chapman has nothing, & you swing at 3 straight pitches out of the zone.

[GTown_Dave]

Three of these first four games of the '12 MLB Postseason have been won by the road team.

[MG]

Pence had 4 ABS tonight, saw 11 pitches, and swung at 3 first-ball pitches including 2 that were out of the strike-zone.

Just fundamentally not a smart baseball player. Didn't miss seeing his 'swings for the fences' approach at the plate regardless of the situation and shoddy defense after he was traded.

[Iceman]

"Pence had 4 ABS tonight, saw 11 pitches, and swung at 3 first-ball pitches including 2 that were out of the strike-zone."

Irreplaceable.

[out of my league]

No secret I am an A's fan, and hope they do well in the post season. However, I am over the moon about how the last week of the season played out, and it's hard for me to imagine any single post season ball game being more exciting than game 162 of the regular season was for A's fans. It was crazy! (I am beginning to wonder if Melvin is some sort of witch.)

MG, imho, you have nailed it with your description (in general) of the Giants fan base and the A's fan base.

BTW, I attended all but ONE A's home game this season. One.

Go A's, and kcuf the Giants!

[bullit]

ooml: what a record of fandom. how are the hotdogs in oakland's ballpark? i love that the A's were born in phila. good luck to you and them.

[out of my league]

@bullit,

I usually take my food to the games with me...it would get pretty expensive to eat at the ballpark 80 times in a season. The dollar hot dogs (on dollar hot dog Wednesdays) usually went down pretty easily. Alas, no more dollar hot dog Wednesdays this season.

I, too, love the A's rich history dating back to their birth in Philadelphia. I traveled back to Philly to catch the A's series against the Phillies last season and had a great time! What a nice ballpark you have in Philly. Someday I hope the A's will have a shiny new ballpark too...in the bay area.

[George S]

I go to both Giants and A's games. I only go watch the Giants when the Phillies are in town. Stadium's nice, concessions are priced out of this world, and I don't much like the fans. The one really nice touch is that during the baseball season you can take the ferry (20 minute ride) from across the bay right to the front entrance to the ballpark. The last ferry returns to Alameda 20 minutes after the final out, docked right outside the stadium gate.

I go to more A's games because the park is just 15 minutes away, and I like the A's team better. It's also a good chance to see some the AL teams I never got to see in Philly. Stadium is somewhat of a dump, but pretty casual, and you can kick back and enjoy the game.

I'm hoping for a Cincy-Oakland WS.

[bullit]

i'm glad you enjoyed philadelphia. i hope you get a new ballpark soon. what is the current one like? was it built in the large stadium era? maybe multipurpose?

[The Hook]

Franco 16 in SAL league top twenty.

[The Hook]

One more. Bob b nice Pc on philles, and what moves made and what worked and didn't. He pointed out the ces at 9 mill for 4 years and a 280 30 100 guy.

[GBrettFan]

Unfortunately, I missed much of the Reds-Giants game because I could not stay awake.

But I'm impressed with the Reds! They lose their SP in the 1st inning and win anyway. Their reliever comes in early, then their 3rd game starter comes in and pitches on 3-days rest. It could have been a disaster. But they won, in San Francisco. Good for them! Good call by Dusty Baker, as it turned out, to make the pitching moves that he did.

And how about their offense? They'd been slumping, yet they turned it on for this playoff game.

It makes me compare to the Phillies, who had opposite results. I remember that when Oswalt pitched in relief, it did not go well. I remember that our slumping offense did not recover. It could go either way, and I'm that much more impressed with the Reds because of it.

[GBrettFan]

Speaking of slumping offenses not able to recover for the playoffs: I saw that Josh Hamilton only saw 8 pitches total - in 4 ABs! He struck out twice - on 3 pitches both times - and hit the first pitch the other two ABs for a ground ball out. That's bad.

[GBrettFan]

Forgot to say bravo to Brandon Phillips, Justin Verlander, & Pat Neshek.

Good series so far. Phillies really wouldn't have been up to the task. I want to taste the postseason excitement again - have those butterflies in my stomach, bite my nails, feel ill, and all that - So I hope we can get back there while we still have Lee and Halladay.

[Fatalotti]

Got to watch most of the Reds/Giants game last night. Never been a huge fan of Latos, in that I always thought he was a bit overrated, but what he did last night was pretty awesome, coming in on 3 days rest, in relief, and pitching the Reds through the 5th inning, to get the game to Marshall/Broxton/Chapman.

Kind of thing that will go down in Reds lore should they win it all this year.

Also, if the news that they were reporting last night is true, and Cueto can actually start game 3, what a boost for the Reds. They'll have 3 straight games at home, only have tow in (at most) 2 of them, with their ace starting the first home game, and have already gone through the Giants 2 best pitchers.

[Fatalotti]

Really cool stat about the 2012 Reds. Of the 162 games started by the Reds this year, 161 were started by one of Leake, Bailey, Arroyo, Latos or Cueto. That's impressive, and definitely a great way to win 97 games.

Their starters threw 1,015.1 IP of the total 1,453 IP by the Reds this year. Of those 437.2 innings not pitched by the starters, 313.2 IP were thrown by relievers with ERAs under 3.

This team may be known as offense-first, but it's pretty clear that they were a 97 win team because of their pitching. 4 of their starters had an ERA+ over 113, and Leake was slightly below league average at 93, which is great for a 5th starter.

Really well designed team that took advantage of a couple starters (Arroyo and Bailey) pitching a bit above expectations, with a great offense, great defense, and a deep and powerful bullpen (even with Madson missing all year).

[Fatalotti]

Not a shock, after posting the above, that the Reds had the best team ERA in the NL (3.34 - tied with the Nationals), and had the 4th best xFIP in the NL (just behind the Cardinals and Brewer at 2 and 3, and the Phillies at 1).

They were 4th in starters ERA, first in bullpen ERA, and had the 2nd most IP out of their starters (once again, trailing the Phillies).

Very impressive total pitching staff for the Reds. If Cueto can return healthy for game 3, this is probably the most well rounded team, even with Votto being a shell of himself right now with his knee.

[Fatalotti]

CIN also led the majors in ERA+ by a good margin. 127 to 120 (Rays), 119 (Nationals).

Never thought I'd be this blown away by the Reds pitching staff. I considered that they had a good pitching staff, but not the best in baseball. Surprised they didn't win more than 97 games.

[NEPP]

Votto missed a good chunk of time (50 games or so)...that probably prevented them from winning 100+ games.

[Fatalotti]

NEPP, as crazy as it may sound, the Reds were 47-27 when Votto was out.

What hurt their chances to win 100 games was starting the season 19-19.

[Fatalotti]

New thread.