The Phillies

Heard on the radio that the Phillies are shopping Joe Blanton to free up money and are still in the mix for Roy Halladay

 

Phillies get Halladay!

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4742072

 

Giving up Cliff Lee to get Halladay ................ Not sure about this one!

 

A wow deal if it happens. I would still take Atlanta's rotation over the Phils. Braves can't match their bats though.

 

WOW. Woke up and got a text from ESPN on this. Was hoping Cliff lee wouldn't have to be in the mix especially when I had read the Phils were shopping Blanton to get in the mix for Halladay. But trade Lee and 1 prospect for Halladay and 2 (from Seattle) isn't too bad. Halladay already has said he'll take less than market value to sign with the Phils. Maybe Lee enjoyed his time here and after next year comes visiting again

 

After reading more I like the deal better. Hate losing Lee but he is eyeing Sabathia money and a longer deal (5). Phils have never that I remember given a pitcher greater than 3 or 4 year deals and Halladay signed for 20 a year for 3 with a club option for a 4th. That and he is a lot more proven than Lee. Losing Dyrbek (sp) sucks but getting Seattles top two pitching prospects and a top tier OF in return softens the blow. I don't know if Lee will stay in Seattle long as I can't remember them ever paying top dollar for players. Phils still need to add an starting arm IMO. Halladay, Happ, Hamels and Blanton is nice but Moyer is older than dirt (one year left). I read where the Phils are closing in on the Tigers RP Rodney as a setup guy for Lidge unless Myers gets put back in the closer role

 

Myers is a FA and unlikely to sign with the phils. Moyer could easily get replaced by Kyle Kendrick, Bastardo, or some other slop. Looking back at the phils rotations the previous two years, they are already WAY better than before. The 5th starter will take care of itself, and having 2-3 potential guys is all they need. Solidifying the bullpen is really all Amaro has to worry about coming into the season.

 

They missed out on Rodney which sucks but rebounded by signing Baez who has sucked for a while

 

I am psyched about the upcoming season. Roy Halladay has been a top 3 pitcher in MLB for a while and switching leagues to the NL can only get help even more. If Hamels can pull his head out of his ass and with their lineup they should be a 90-100 win club. Good article from Buster Ulney:

Cole Hamels a cut above last year

Roy Halladay threw off a bullpen mound in the Phillies' camp Thursday, and so did Jamie Moyer, but the schedule called for Cole Hamels to throw only long-toss. His partner was Joe Blanton, and the two of them played catch on a field behind the stadium at the team's complex.

And late in the session, both guys started messing with different pitches; Blanton zipped a fastball that moved right to left on a horizontal plane -- a cutter, probably -- and Hamels nodded approvingly. Hamels then drew up his front leg and threw, and late in the ball's journey to Blanton, it veered sharply downward. This was Hamels' curveball.


This was the pitch that haunted him last year, the pitch that deserted him, the pitch that killed him in his World Series start, especially when he hung one to Andy Pettitte and the Yankees veteran slapped a single.

Blanton shifted his feet and jabbed his glove to catch the curve, because of its sharp movement.

The fact that Hamels is able to throw his curveball at all this early in camp tells you that he is already ahead of where he was last spring, when he arrived in camp without much arm strength and with some elbow soreness. Charlie Manuel, the Phillies' manager, and Rich Dubee, the pitching coach, could see Thursday that Hamels was in better shape overall, and that his arm is in better condition to do the work he needs to do this spring.

But they expect another change in Hamels as well.


A little while after Hamels completed his throwing session, Manuel hosted reporters in a conference room attached to his office, and as he started, Dubee sorted quietly through some paperwork in the corner, not really part of the briefing. But there was a question about Hamels' curveball, and Manuel invited Dubee to answer in his place.

As Dubee assumed the floor, he answered more questions about Hamels directly, bluntly.

The left-hander, he said, "pitched with a lot of anger [in 2009] -- at himself, mostly. … He is such a perfectionist." Hamels allowed his frustration to get to him, Dubee thought. He mentioned some telltale signs that were never seen before -- Hamels snatching at the ball on a return throw from a catcher, or stomping around the mound. "His approach wasn't very good last year," Dubee said. "His success won't come back until his demeanor changes."

A few minutes later, Hamels met with reporters and agreed with what Dubee said, in so many words. "The more angry you get, it's that much tougher to execute your next pitch," Hamels said. "I think I let [expectations] get to me."

There were mitigating circumstances, Dubee noted. Hamels pitched the Phillies to a championship in 2009 and threw a staggering 262.1 innings, more than 70 more than he had ever pitched in any season. Physically, there was a price to be paid for that in 2009 -- Hamels was simply behind as spring training opened last year -- and this at a time when the pitcher had adopted outside expectations for his own. Hamels, the lefty who had been so good and so important in 2008, thought he should be even better in 2009. When that didn't happen on a given pitch, when he couldn't execute a single pitch in a big spot, it gnawed at him.

The pitcher who had succeeded in the past because of his unflappable demeanor simply could not put failure behind him last season, from pitch to pitch. "When he wasn't able to attain [his goals]," Dubee said, "he got mad at himself."

Dubee mentioned some vague plans about wanting to show Hamels some examples of how he had melted down emotionally in the midst of games, but Hamels grinned when a reporter mentioned this to him and indicated that this wasn't necessary, because Hamels lived through all of it. "I remember it; I was there," Hamels said. "I understand what I did wrong. It's not the end of the world if I don't execute one pitch."

Hamels will work this spring on better executing his curveball, and because his elbow is apparently sound, he will be able to throw it more and tinker and adjust. But he also has plans to try some cut fastballs, a pitch that moves in the same general direction as the curveball -- away from left-handed hitters -- and could serve the same purpose as the curve. He spoke in the winter with former teammate Cliff Lee about the pitch, given that Lee has mastered it, and he talked with John Wetteland, and with Steve Carlton, who is in the Hall of Fame because of his dominating slider. Hamels will keep throwing his curveball, for now, and by adding a cutter, he could give himself a fourth pitch, or perhaps a new third pitch if his curveball doesn't come around.

Hamels went back to a throwing program that had worked for him as an amateur, starting soon after the close of the World Series, throwing 50 pitches at a time no matter where he and his family had traveled -- sometimes against walls, or against fences. In his first start in spring training last year, his fastball velocity was at 81-82 mph.

But already he seems to be able to throw much harder than that, and to do what he wants with a baseball.

"I'm excited," he said. "My arm feels good."

 

Going down to Clearwater to check out a weekend ST game, against the Rays. Should be a great year for the Phightens, best team they've had during this run. Hopefully Happ wasn't smoke and mirrors, b/c if he's decent and Kendrick can make a comeback, that rotation is really stacked.