Tag Archive for 'Pedro Martinez'

Pedro Wins Debut, Victorino Gets Drenched

Published
by
thesportsidiot
on August 13, 2009
in Chicago Cubs, Fantasy Baseball, MLB, NL Central, NL East, Philadelphia Phillies and Shane Victorino
. 2 Comments
Pedro Martinez made his debut for the Phillies Wednesday night, and while he did give up three earned and seven hits in his five innings of work, he showed signs of promise going forward.  He also struck out five batters and hit 93 on the radar gun at least once while earning his first W for the Phillies.  If he can improve just a little bit from his performance against the Cubs, the Phillies are going to be extremely happy with their new fifth starter.

Oh yeah, and Pedro is also back in form with the media.  Always a quote machine, he gave us this gem last night:

“I’ve been there,” he said. “For this club, what I’m lacking right now, I might give them at the end. Experience. A cold-blooded person that doesn’t matter how big the game is. I’m going to stand right there. And if anybody fails, they can always count on the old goat to go out there and kind of stand up. I might do that. I might be able to do that if I’m healthy.

“I’m healthy. And I’m going to improve. Regardless of what happened today, I’m going to improve. I expect to improve, especially with being healthy.”

So I guess a lot hinges on his health? 

There was also a very sad chapter to last night’s tilt.  While fielding a ball in the fifth inning, Shane Victorino was the victim of some very dangerous and bad fan behavior.  Someone in the stands decided it would be a good idea to throw a beer on Victorino as he attempted to catch a fly ball.  Credit to Victorino for not letting getting pelted by a full beer stop him from making the snag.  Even had he dropped it, the batter would have been called out for fan interference.

There is no place in sports for behavior like that from a fan.  What good could possibly come from doing something like that?  The batter is going to be called out every single time, and now you have put it into your own team’s head that they have to worry about retaliation down the road.  Get a life and grow the hell up.

Pedro’s Shot Means Moyer to the Bully

Published
by
thesportsidiot
on August 11, 2009
in Fantasy Baseball, MLB, NL East and Philadelphia Phillies
. 0 Comments
The Philadelphia Phillies are moving starting pitcher Jamie Moyer to the bullpen, and inserting some guy named Pedro Martinez into his slot in the battery.  This move may stir up a little bit of controversy, as for some reason Phillies fans have a warm spot in their hearts for Moyer.  Maybe it is because his 40 wins since 2006 lead the team, or maybe it is because he is from the area, but since donning a Phillies jersey he has not exactly been spectacular.

Sure, people will point to Moyer’s team high 16 wins last season, and team leading 10 wins this campaign, as a reason why he has been “successful” as a Phillie.  Dude has an ERA of 5.47 and a WHIP of 1.508 this season to go along with those 10 wins.  His RS/9 (Run Support/9 Innings) is currently sitting at 6.42, which is 2nd in the NL and 5th in the entire Major Leagues.  Now he will be working from the bully, and his effectiveness in that role will play out quickly, but here at The Sports Idiot we are of the opinion that he will not perform well in a bullpen role.

Moving on to Pedro, he was spectacular in his last “rehab” start and will get the nod tomorrow at Wrigley Field.  This is a high reward/low risk move on the Phillies, as all Pedro needs to be is better than Moyer to be an upgrade.  That means he will have to do better than the NL’s worst ERA.  From a fantasy perspective, Pedro is an interesting target.  He could get blown right the hell up and crush your ERA and WHIP.  Or he could pitch well and provide a boost at every starting pitcher stat in your league.  He could get 8+ starts from here out, so he may be worth a gamble if you are in a deep league and can risk the hits to ERA and WHIP if he fails. 

Did the Phillies Give Cleveland Too Much?

Published
by
thesportsidiot
on July 30, 2009
in AL Central, Carlos Carrasco, Cleveland Indians, Cole Hamels, J.A. Happ, Joe Blanton, Kyle Drabek, MLB, MLB Prospects, NL East, Philadelphia Phillies and Roy Halladay
. 0 Comments
When the Phillies pulled the trigger on the Cliff Lee trade yesterday, the immediate thought was that Phillies GM Ruben Amaro had gotten over on the Tribe.  In acquiring Lee, the second best pitcher on the market behind Roy Halladay, the Phils added a Cy Young winning arm to their rotation, without giving up either J.A. Happ, Kyle Drabek, Michael Taylor or Dominic Brown.  Now that the dust has had a little bit of time to settle, it is time for a better breakdown of the deal.

Carlos Carrasco entered this season as the “co” number one prospect in the Phillies’ farm system with Dominic Brown being the other “co” number one guy.  Carrasco has seen his stock go down this season, as he has toiled away to a 5.18 this season, his first full season in AAA.  While his strikeouts are still there, he does have 112 of them in 114.2 innings, so are the hits and walks, to the tune of a 1.36 WHIP.  Carrasco, who is only 22 years old at this point, could still turn out to be a top line pitcher, but right now his cap is looking like a three in the rotation.

Jason Donald has recently been described as a future utility man in the Majors.  For your fourth ranked prospect, you hope for a better fate than that, and the Phillies used to hope he would supplant Jimmy Rollins at short.  Well, before this season even started those expectations had shifted towards the utility role, and after dude has raked to a .235 batting average this season you can guess where those expectations are at this point.  Maybe Donald, who is 24 years old, can turn it around in the batters box, but in order to do so he will have to stop striking out so much (he has 58 Ks in 234 at-bats, which projects out to over 150 over a full season in the Bigs).

Jason Knapp is 6′5″ of raw talent.  Dude can hit triple digits on the radar gun, has a decent changeup, a power slider and a breaking ball.  Problem is Knapp can not seem to develop a consistent delivery, which causes him to change planes and lose his command.  As things stand, Knapp is projected to be an overpowering set-up man in the Majors, and possibly a closer.  He is young as well, though, at only 18 years of age, so there is time to refine his approach and develop him into a starter if he is durable enough.

Lou Marson was the catcher of the future for the Phillies.  Through 63 games, the third ranked ranked prospect is hitting for a .294 average and a .751 OPS in AAA.  During a brief stint in the Majors, he hit .235 with a .644 OPS.  Like Donald, Marson has been missing too many pitches, as he does strikeout a bit too much.  Will Marson be a top tier catcher in the Majors at some point?  No one knows, but the 23 year old has talent to go with his professional approach. 

Those are the prospects being sent to Cleveland.  A probable utility man, a power bully, a future three in the rotation, and a catcher.  Well, they are giving up something else as well, as someone is going to lose a starting rotation spot. 

Who will Lee replace?  It will not be Joe Blanton or Cole Hamels.  Rodrigo Lopez is slated to lose his spot to Pedro Martinez.  That leaves us J.A. Happ and Jamie Moyer.  Word is that Happ will get sent to the bully, but with Happ being arguably the best pitcher for the Phillies so far this season that will put some strain on things with the fans if Moyer falters or Lee does not come in smoking.

So in the end, what the Phillies gave up for Lee is hard to quantify.  This entry will be added to the “featured posts” section for easy reference next year when we revisit this deal.

Phillies Sign Pedro, Place Him on the Prior List?

Published
by
thesportsidiot
on July 16, 2009
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

The Phillies had a presser yesterday announcing that they have signed Pedro Martinez for the rest of the season. The deal is a one year, $1million contract, which could turn out to restrict them from being able to add Roy Halladay to the mix due to financial constraints (yeah, Neetz, I heard that the Phils might not be able to “afford” Halladay, even though they are at something like a 101.8% attendance rate?). They took a long look at Pedro, to make sure he is healthy, then they inked him with the intention of sliding him into the back end of the rotation. He was placed on the 15 day Prior List due to a mild strain in his right shoulder. Actually, Pedro needs to make a few starts in the Minors to get ready for the Majors. The real reason he is on the Prior List is just to ensure that the Phillies do not have to tie up a roster spot while he does so. Of course, if the Phillies and Pedro are being completely honest about this, then it would be confusing as to why they signed him with an issue in his throwing shoulder.

Bottom line, unless the tied up cash prevents them from adding Halladay, this is a no lose gamble by the Phils. Pedro is not going to be the Pedro we remember tearing it up before his days with the Mets, mind you, but he is better than 40% of the starting rotation in Philly right now. All he really needs to do is sure up the fifth spot in the rotation, and it is a win for the Phillies. Color me blah on this one, as I want to wait and see what Pedro can do against Major League hitters before jumping on the bandwagon. Also, it is reported that his velocity tops out at about 91, while sitting in the 88 – 91 range. How will that work out in Citizen’s Bank Park? Then there is the whole issue of why Pedro was still a free agent on July 13th. He can talk about having a short list of NL teams that he wanted to go to (and he did say he way waiting for the Mets to make the call, for what it is worth), but it seems a little strange to me. The fact that the Phillies rotation is so bad keeps me from labeling this a move made out of desperation. That, and the fact that the Phillies have done an excellent job with their farm system, so they could easily add a fourth or firth starter by the way of a trade.

As a Pedro fan, I hope it works out. As a fantasy baseball guy, we should all ignore Pedro until we see him throw the ball a few times. It does not look like he will be a K machine anymore, and with his velocity where it is his WHIP and ERA could suffer.

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