Lannan the latest Phillie aided by Dubee's changeup magic

John Lannan had his best start of the spring Friday in the Phillies' 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay, allowing just two hits over five scoreless innings. He has a 3.21 ERA and 1.14 WHIP through four starts.

Phillies pitching coach and changeup guru Rich Dubee noticed Lannan's change "was a little firm," Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com reported, and worked with the lefty to soften it up and increase the differential bewteen it and his high-80s fastball. According to Salisbury, Dubee noticed the same firmness in Lannan's first inning Friday and the two made an in-game adjustment that helped Lannan.

The numbers bear out what Dubee saw. According to Fangraphs, Lannan's changeup has been between 3 and 5 miles per hour slower than his fastball the last two seasons, which is a pretty minimal dropoff. If Dubee can fix that, and the pitch in general, it could be a huge help for Lannan against righthanded pitching.

Since 2010, righties have hit .296 with a .795 OPS off Lannan, compared to .248 with a .662 OPS for lefties. Statistically, the changeup has been Lannan's best pitch over the course of his career, but Dubee is the same man who helped Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay and Kyle Kendrick improve their own version of it.

Charlie not thrilled with young RPs

Charlie Manuel challenged the Phillies' young arms after Friday's game, saying it's time to "pick it up." It's not the results that has Manuel fired up about the relievers fighting for spots, it's the way they're pitching.

“It’s not always the scoreless innings,” he said, per Salisbury. “It’s how you get there.”

Based simply off of the way information has come out of Clearwater the last week or so, it is looking more and more like Aaron Cook will make this team as a long man out of the 'pen and insurance policy for the rotation. That would cost a young reliever like Justin De Fratus or Jake Diekman a spot. De Fratus allowed a solo homer Friday in his second inning of work. It ended his scoreless streak of five innings.

Comments

[Kendrick Appreciation Society]

I'll say it... no way Aaron Cook makes this team as a reliever. There is nothing in his profile that suggests he'd be a good reliever.

He hasn't been a reliever since 2003. He hasn't had a WHIP under 1.400 since 2008 so he gives up far too many baserunners.

It's not happening. No way. No how.

[Star Drekker]

Dubee brings more to the table than merely the edible accents in a centerpiece.

[The Perils of Thinking]

*"... it's the way they're pitching."

[Mick O]

I'm not concerned about the relative velocity, it's the lack of outs that worries me.

[lorecore]

If Lannan's change-up has been his best pitch, then why are his numbers vs RHB so much worse?

[bay_area_phan]

I have no idea who will win the last spot in the Phillies' opening day bullpen, but I really can't believe it will be Cook. If the Phillies want to pick the guy with the best stuff and most upside, that's DeFratus. If they want to pick a guy with the versatility to pitch to RH and LH hitters, and eat up multiple innings, that's Valdes. If they want a middle ground option, with better stuff than Valdes and more durability than DeFratus, that's Stutes. All of them would be much better choices than Aaron Cook.

The Phillies have had some decent success turning washed up starters into solid relievers, but that was with guys like Park and Contreras, who could strike people out.

[Will Schweitzer]

Based on his career as a position player and his bullpen strategy, I can conclude that what Charlie Manuel knows about pitching could almost fill the shell of a sunflower seed if you write with a crayon.

He's a lame duck manager, and I think that he knows it.

[bullit]

bases loaded, stanton up w/ zobrist on deck. 1 out.

[Iceman]

JC Romero coming in with the bases loaded, two outs, PR up one.

Anyone want to wager on how this turns out?

[Iceman]

Never mind. Hosmer went up there hacking. Awful replacement for Tex at 1B.

[bullit]

kimbrel will put it out of reach.

[lorecore]

PR letting Vic face a LHP? Bad idea.

[lorecore]

oh nm, vic sucks now i forgot

[EDGE]

Kind of surprising they didn't ph for Hosmer.

[Iceman]

Getting shut down by Nelson Figueroa and JC Romero? This team deserves to go home.

[bullit]

vic watches a pair of stikes and jimmy pops up on the first pitch. both actively hurt team usa.

[EDGE]

If anyone wants to hear TMac do college basketball play by play, hes doing Temple v Umass on TCN.

[Bake McBride Was Here]

Some questionable strikes called.

But still, that bottom of the ninth included some vintage Phillies losing ABs.

[lorecore]

Galvis PT will be seriously affected in ST now.

[donc]

The Bag isn't half bad at hoops. Maybe he should make that his life's work.

[Pblunts]

I'm also a huge Temple fan and no fan of TMac. At all. But he's actually pretty decent at college hoops play by play and he's infinitely better than Temple's radio guy.

[Conway Twitty]

I think the Howard off-days are more the product of getting more looks on guys they have to make decisions on. Playing RFD and Nix at 1B gives them playing time while also getting more looks at Ruf, Inciarte, and Orr in the OF.

[Elephant in the Room]

I look at this like there are three spots left for the pen.

You figure Papelbon, Adams, Bastardo, and Durbin already have spots. Leaving three spots open for the following-

Aumont
Zach Miner
Stutes
De Fratus
Diekman
Horst
Raul Valdez
Ceaser Jimenez
Arron Cook
Rodrigo Lopez

The three I would pick from this group to bring north to camp would be:

Phillipe Amount
Jeremy Horst
Raul Valdez

Who would you bring?

[MG]

Getting shutdown by two over-the-hill retreads in an elimination game? Really weak way to go out for the US. Dominicans rallied and that was just a tough loss after Kimbrel couldn't close it out.

I was listening to a little of TMac on the radio today and I wish he stuck with college basketball. I would say he is at least average and probably even a bit better than that while genuinely seeming like he enjoys calling those games a bit more.

[Dragon]

Agree that T-Mac should stick to B-ball. He's actually pretty good in that venue. Also, who gives a fiddler's damn about the last bullpen spot. If Cook flops early-on then there are plenty of other options.

[PhxPhilly]

Despite the short season and lower caliber players in Spring Training it is unfortunate that no reliever thus far has taken advantage of the open spots on the 25man.

There is still more time for someone to stand out, since relief pitching itself is essentially a small sample size each year.

Do the Phillies really need a 'long-man'? I agree that a pitcher who can pitch multiple innings is needed but the Phillies should have a shuttle of fungible AAAA relievers able to move between LHV and Philly all season if some pitcher gets over extended.
I could see Horst as the option for mutliple innings. Valdes also pitched well in the majors last season but not sure if I could expect a repeat of that performance. My early guess was on Rosenberg but he has Mathieson diseass, only a straight FB that gets rocked in the majors. I am not sure if Stutes is a multiple inning guys, especially after injury.

[rolo]

Wait. Do I understand the theme of the thread header correctly?

John Lannan may actually be able to improve?

But he's 28 years old. According to many posters here on BL, that's impossible for a pitcher that age.

[limoguy]

Charlie may indeed be a lame duck, but he says that he wants to continue managing beyond this year. As a fan, I hope he manages like he means that.