Chan Ho Park made his first start since tweaking his left hammy on Tuesday, and he did not disappoint.  Unless you are pulling for him to implode.  In that case, he sucked ass.  In reality though, he pitched extremely well in his four innings of work.  He gave up four hits while striking out seven and walking one batter.  He did allow three runs to cross the plate, but looking it looks like he was the victim of some timely hitting bad luck.

One thing that Zolecki brings up, briefly, is the question of what will happen to J.A. Happ if Park wins the coveted fifth starter role with the Phillies.  Happ could either be put in the bully, where he helped the Phils win the 2008 World Series, or he could be sent to AAA Lehigh Valley to continue to start games.  The question is what would be better for Happ’s development, and that is a question I’m on the fence about.  Is it better for him to stay stretched out with a nine inning approach, or is he better off staying in the Bigs even if it is in a bullpen role.

I was going to wait a few days to break this out, but Steve Henson of Yahoo Sports has forced my hand.  Stephen Strasburg is a 20 year old phenom who can hit 103 on the radar gun.  No, he is not a closer waiting to happen, he is the best pitching prospect to ever take the hill waiting to happen.  He is a right handed starter for San Diego State University, who also happens to be a US Olympian from the Beijing games.  Dude is just straight sick with the seams.  He will be the number one pick in this Summer’s draft, and the Washington Nationals currently hold that slot.  One other little tidbit, Boras will be representing this kid when he does turn pro.

Check out his numbers:

• 1.57 ER over 34.1 innings
• 74 Ks
• 7 BB
• 0.82 WHIP
  
• 21 Hits
• 122 Batters Faced

Those are some pretty sick numbers, especially if you look a little bit deeper into them.  Think about the fact that he has faced 122 batters, and only 21 of them have managed to get a hit.  With 81 more either sitting down or walking to first, you have 20 more hitters who managed to get wood, er, alluminum on the ball and put it in play.

Jason Stark of ESPN says that Will Ohman is searching for a deal worth about $2.75mil, with $1mil of that being incentives that are very much attainable.  Ohman is pretty much the last good lefty on the reliever market, and it seems like the Giants and Padres are the current leaders.  Stark says he prefers the left coast, for what it is worth, and that while the Phillies and Marlins are still in on Ohman, they are not willing to be in at the current asking price.

Hit the jump for more.

Continue reading ‘Braves & Phillies Notes – March 24, 2009′

It looks like the Phillies have trimmed the search for their fifth starter down to two, with Kyle Kendrick being sent down to the minors.  I never thought I would say this, but it is looking more and more like Chan Ho Park may win the job.  While J.A. Happ has pitched extremely well in Grapefruit League play, he may get pushed into the bullpen because the Phillies desperately need another lefty in the bully.  Park could also be sent to the pen, but he has pitched phenomanelly well this Spring himself.  Happ gets two more chances to sway the decision in his favor.

Yesterday, Brandon Costner announced that he will enter the NBA draft pool.  Also leaving the team will be Trevor Ferguson, a redshirt junior, who is hanging up his sneakers for good.

The Ferguson move does free up a scholly, but most of the good post players are already committed.  Of course, John Wall is still out there, but who is he going to feed the ball to if he plays in Raleigh?  Other than Tracy Smith, the post is completely void.

By now, if you frequent this blog or pay any attention at all to Spring Training, you are well aware of who Tommy Hanson is.  It’s time to implement the Prospect Watch on him, as his time honing his skills in the minors is coming to an end.  Hanson has pitched extremely well this “Spring” (Spring officially starts this weekend, by the way), and depending on the health of one other Tommy (some guy named Glavine) he is poised to make his Major League debut this Spring/Summer.  When it comes, we have no way of knowing, but if Glavine is not ready to pitch on April 18th (the first time the Braves will need a fifth starter) then Hanson might get the call.

Go here for a good writeup by MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo, and here for some DOB love for Hanson.

There is another factor here as well, which is service time.  The Braves have to be smart and either get the most out of Hanson possible this year, or make sure he is not on the ML roster for more than 85 days this season.  If he is on the roster for 86+ days he becomes a “Super Two” exception which gives him an extra year of arbitration.  This makes me think that if Glavine is ready for that April 18th game, and the Braves do not see any significant injuries to their rotation, that Hanson will not be called up until mid to late July.

Side note

Do not do a Google image search for Tommy Hanson.  Rather, do not do one for Tommy Hansen (dude is a gay porn star).

I don’t know how we missed this one, but apparently Erik Bedard had not pitched in a ST game since March 5th because he is a tight ass.  Well, because his ass is tight, I should say.  Make sense?  Yeah, not to me either.  Seems that dude’s gluteus maximus tightened up on him, and it made it hard for him to pitch.  I would think that would make it hard for him to catch?

Because it is a muscular injury, the Mariners are not overly concerned.  Dude pitched well on Monday, but that was in a split-squad game with the Dodgers.  Bedard had shoulder surgery last September to repair a “frayed” labrum and have a cyst removed.  When healthy, Bedard is a quality starter who will return a good K:9 ratio and decent WHIP and ERA.  He is in Seattle, so his wins may be lower than a pitcher of his caliber would normally get, but if he gets 20+ starts this year he should rack up enough to make a difference for you.

The Phillies are saying that Cole Hamels’ elbow has no structural damage, and that he will resume throwing on Thursday.  He will most likely miss his first start this year, opening night against the Braves.  I’m not convinced that everything is just fine, however, especially after the Phils covered up Jimmy Rollins’ ankle issues last season.  We will obviously know more come Thursday, but given the fact that Hamels threw 262.3 innings last year, when he was 24 years old, and 189.5 innings in 2007, I am very leery of his elbow right now.  The Phillies had better be careful with how they handle this, because if dude blows his elbow out and ruins his career it will be criminal.

We checked with Heidi, and she said not to worry because she is watching this like a hawk.

Chipper Jones is not happy at all with the WBC.  Click the link or hit the jump for some quotes from the 2008 NL Batting Champ. Continue reading ‘Chipper Rails on the WBC Format’

Read into it what you will, but Cole Hamels is experiencing “discomfort” in his left elbow. The Phillies, while dismissing it as being a little bit sore and tight, are still bringing him back to Philly for an examination by team physician Michael Ciccotti.  We will keep our eye on this, as will Heidi?