Weekly Wrapup

Well, after weeks of speculation, the Phillies signed LHP Steve Kline to a minor-league deal and he will report to the AAA Lehigh Valley IronPigs next week. Considering how often pitchers go down with injury and/or are ineffective, Kline could very quickly find himself on the big league roster as long as he performs in Allentown. RHP Ryan Madson has been complaining about soreness in his pitching shoulder (the same injury that forced him to miss 2 months last year) and both Tom Gordon and Clay Condrey have been somewhat ineffective so far this season. Gordon had a streak of 4 scoreless appearances going into last night where he gave up the winning run in 1 2/3 IP. Granted that run came on a horrible call by the home plate umpire but a run is a run is a run and the Phillies always need more pitching.

In other news: RHP Kris Benson continues to throw off the mound in Clearwater and looks to start in a minor-league game in hopefully two weeks if everything goes well. Considering how poorly SP Kyle Kendrick has pitched thus far in the season, Benson could quickly find himself in the starting rotation.

Huge Surprise of the Year: SP Adam Eaton has pitched in two games so far and both have been quality starts (6 IP, 3ER or less). He has posted a 3.91 ERA so far. Perhaps this will be the year that he figures it all out and somewhat earns his $8 million a year in salary. Or perhaps he will give up 10 runs in his next start...with Adam you never know.

Its About Time: SP Brett Myers was quoted as saying that he will be a "Closer for 9 innings on Saturday". Basically he means he's gonna go out there and just rear up and throw fastballs. Hopefully the Cubs don't read the Daily News and just sit fastball on him but hey if he can bring it, let him. It would be nice to see him stop throwing 90 MPH fastballs and actually get some mustard on the ball.

Weekly Awards:

Player of the Week - LF Pat Burrell: LF Pat Burrell has simply been on fire this week going 9 for 21 with 7 BB, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 4 R, and 20 Total Bases. For that math impaired that's a .438 AVG/.571OBP. Burrell has been the most consistent hitter for the Phillies so far and he looks to build on excellent second half in 2007. Over the past couple season, Pat has cut his strikeout rate and raised his OBP each year and those trends seem to be continuing as he becomes a much more patient hitter than the free-swinging days of his early career.

Pitcher of the Week - SP Cole Hamels: SP Cole Hamels went 7 strong innings on Monday afternoon picking up his first win of the season snapping a two game losing streak and salvaging a 2-2 series split with the Cincinnati Reds. He struck out 4 and gave up 1 ER getting the win. Reliever Chad Durbin was a close runner-up pitching 5 innings in 3 appearances with no runs scored. He continues to be strong out of the Pen.

Goat of the Week - 1B Ryan Howard: Despite Victorino's struggles at the top of the order, Howard has actually been worse this week going 4 for 28 (.148 AVG) with 11 K. The only bright spot is that he has hit 2 HRs with 4 RBI but otherwise Howard looks lost up at the plate.

Phillies Acquire Relief Pitcher

The Phillies claimed RHP Tim Lahey off waivers from the Chicago Cubs today. Lahey is a Rule V draft pick that failed to make the Cubs lineup and he must therefore be kept on the Phillies 25 man roster all season or be offered back to the Minnesota Twins. Lahey was originally drafted out of Princeton as a catcher but was quickly converted to a pitcher after one season in the Twins minor-league system. He is a prototypical power pitcher; He stands 6'5" tall, weighs 250 lbs and throws 3 pitches. His fastball stays in the 90-95 MPH range hovering around 93 most of the time. He throws a good slider and a decent changeup according to scouting reports. He has struggled with control so far in his career but his strikeout rate is above average.


2007 Stats in AA New Britain:

ERA W L GP GS CG ShO SV IP H R ER HR BB K
3.45 8 4 50 0 0 0 13 78.1 78 42 30 8 33 56


As you can see he was good in AA posting a decent K/9 ratio of 6.45 however his BB/9 ratio of 3.80 needs to drop if he is to be successful in the Majors. Also his WHIP of 1.42 needs to improve but its not horrible. The bottom line is that he can't possibly be worse than J.D. Durbin.

Closing notes: The Phillies are also hoping to add another pitcher off waivers before 3pm tomorrow when rosters need to be set.

Why Helms For Kline Might Be A Good Idea

Yesterday, I wrote an article giving three good reasons why trading 3B Wes Helms for LHP Steve Kline would be a very bad idea for Pat Gillick and the Phillies. Now I'm gonna flip the coin and give reasons as to why it might be a good idea.

Reason #1: Home/Road Splits - His home/road splits last year and over the past 3 years show him to be a far more effective pitcher outside of San Francisco than inside. Usually this wouldn't make sense but the reason is simple. Steve Kline isn't and never has been a flyball pitcher so having a huge home park doesn't really help him by preventing HRs. Kline is a sinkerball pitcher with extreme groundball tendencies (1.52 GB/FB in 2007, 1.57 GB/FB for 05-07 and 1.79 for his career). Given a good infield defense (i.e. Feliz, Rollins and Utley are all much above average defensively) he should be pretty competitive.

Here are his road numbers over the past 3 years:


By Breakdown

ERA W L SV SVO G GS CG IP H R ER HR BB SO AVG
3.20 4 3 2 6 100 0 0 78.2 67 30 28 9 39 39 .233


Reason #2: Experience - Steve Kline is an experienced setup man. He performed this role admirably for the Cardinals from 2001 -2004 so he has plenty of experience pitching in high pressure situations. While it may be nice to give Blackley a shot at the Big Show, maybe Philly in 08 is not the place to be experimenting. Kline has pitched on playoff teams and could easily fill in as a setup man when injuries start piling up in the Pen.

Reason #3: Why Not? - Helms isn't gonna make the team anyway so the Phillies will have to outright him before the start of the season. Feliz is the starting 3B with no arguments and Bruntlet and Dobbs are far more versatile off the bench anyway. Both can play corner outfield and Bruntlet can capably start at 7 positions and has in the course of his career, so there is no room for Helms anyway.

Reason #4: Addition Through Subtraction - Helms is one of the most "beloved" figures in Phillies history. He probably gained this loyal following by hitting well under .200 at home last year. Getting rid of him can't possibly hurt. If someone like Steve Kline is all we can get for him, so be it.

Either way, we need to get rid of Wes Helms.