Comments on: Is The Fastball Gone? No, Myers Is Being A Baby

By: Monthly Monday MLB Report Card: Philadelphia Phillies « Them’s Good Eaton: Philly/New York sports with a “PC twist”

Tue, 06 May 2008 17:39:16 +0000

[...] Myers preferred to close, he’d do whatever he needed to help the team. Gee, Brett, how about listening to your pitching coach so your fastball doesn’t top out at 88? The Phils will gladly take a 4.70 ERA from many of [...]

By: Geoff

Geoff — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:51:45 +0000

Sure but you cant keep sending someone out there that is ineffective. Myers was dominant in like one start this whole season. some hes done ok in, and like 2 or 3 of them he has been terrible. if something is wrong with him you have to fix it before you sttart throwing away games. See Barry Zito and Matt Morris: when your velocity goes youre done unless you know how to adjust like the guys that last past age 35. Myers is 27 though, so if hes not hurt than he is just really mentally not there (which is what i think). When he gives up a hit or walks somebody he starts breakthing fast and heavy and begins overthrowing and it eventually will often lead to him giving up a homerun and getting pulled.

By: Lewisauce

Lewisauce — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:53:17 +0000

Unless something catastrophic happens to Lidge, Myers is not leaving the rotation (at least not this year). Whiner or not, his job is to pitch seven innings or so every fifth day, and that will be his job until the autumn. He isn’t going anywhere.

They need to find a way to fix him — or more accurately, he needs to find a way to fix himself. That is the only option.

(And even if something catastrophic happens to Lidge, I would think they’d try to give the job back to Flash before they moved Myers. The starting rotation is just too shallow to justify moving Myers to the pen unless Lidge and Flash both get DL-ed for an extended period of time.)

By: Geoff

Geoff — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:12:55 +0000

I said, either said or meant, that you SHOULD be able to get Myers to win 16 games with his talent. If he wants to be in the bullpen then put him in the bullpen, closer or not (as long as lidge is here..not). Lidge is a far better closer right now but myers can setup if hes complaining so much. of course, they would have to then go out and get another starter (shudders to think what they would come back with if they got another starter) and gillicks record isnt as hot on that. If he gets shelled a few more times they will move him to the bullpen like barry zito and either go get somebody or start calling people up to audition for the 5th starter role. (hamels as ace, moyer – ugh – as the 2, eaton the 3, kendrick the 4). thats scary, theyd have to go out and get somebody because thats all screwed up. moyer as 2 doesnt look right. theyd need to go get a 2.

By: Don M

Don M — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:45:03 +0000

To say that you can rely on Brett Myers to win 16 games is just incorrect… the MOST he’s won in a seson his entire career is 14 games, in 2003. He won 11 in 2004, 13 in 2005, 12 in 2006… He has a career ERA of 4.37… doesn’t look like he’ll win a CY Young anytime soon. He has great potential, but the bullpen flip-flop sure didn’t help…neither does the fact that Lidge is most likely gone after this year, and Myers will probably be moved back to the closer-role… no wonder he doesn’t want to spend a year getting his arm strecthed out, if he won’t need for next year. Meanwhile.. I can’t believe that some things aren’t “mandatory or you get benched” ….Manuel wants Howard to move up in the box to protect the plate… he doesn’t want to, so he doesn’t. Rich Dubee has wanted Brett Myers to throw long toss to strengthen his arm.. Myers doesn’t want to, so he doesn’t… If they are going to act like stuburn little kids, then they should be treated as such.. give them a “timeout” sit their asses on the bench and make them abide to the instructions their coaches give. The same thing happened before with Myers when Joe Kerrigan was the pitching coach.. I think JK said something along the lines of Myers being the most spoiled and immature pitcher he’d ever been around???

By: Geoff

Geoff — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:26:00 +0000

People are all hoping he comes sometimes in June. If hes delayed, theyre going to have to go get somebody or call somebody up because I cant see this rotation holding up. Brett Myers has a dead arm right now (88mph), and you cant have that from your opening day starter. moyer is moyer, if he doesnt get the calls hell give up 5 runs in the first two to three innnings and get pulled. every quality start from eaton is a plus, and kendrick, in the time since i said this yesterday, still hasnt learned to throw a curveball. Theyre gonna need help in may and june.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:48:46 +0000

Latest team report:

“RHP Kris Benson (right rotator cuff surgery in March 2007) had a setback late in spring training and was diagnosed with biceps tendinitis. His first start in extended spring training on April 26 was cut short due to a strained right groin. He will be down from throwing for a few days.”

It now appears that the injury proned pitcher may not be ready till sometime in June at the earliest.

As I mentioned in a recent post, Benson is not an automatic for the Phillies rotation once he is done rehabing (likely includes stints with the Phillies’ AAA farm club where he can continue to strengthen his arm and fine tuning his repertory of pitches). If and when he does join the Phillies, he probably will be relegated to the bullpen for a period of readjusting to MLB hitters. If he proves to be consistently effective in the bullpen, he may get first call as an emergency starter to replace another in rotation that is injured or struggling.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 02:56:51 +0000

thats assuming they dont make any trades. id prefer to add another starters to go between hamels and myers if theyre actually serious about a pennant push.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 02:54:00 +0000

If the Phillies were smart they would make Kyle Kendrick learn how to throw a better curve and a slider that doesnt get drilled out of the atmosphere when he throws it over the plate. make him take a few starts in AAA when benson comes up. i would let kendrick spend june resting and working on his new pitches in starts in AAA while benson gives you innings. by then itll be july and moyer will have gotten shelled in the first or second inning at least 5-7 more times so itll be time to shift kendrick into moyers vacated slot and reshuffle people a bit by giving spot starts to chad durbin and maybe someone lik ehapp or carrasco or bastardo here and there to give the other starters an extra day off when needed whihc i believe you must do. castro was ok in his time in the big league last year. so by the end of the season your rotation is hamels, myers (assuming he doesnt go barry zito or matt morris on us), benson, eaton, kendrick. thats presuming eaton remains fairly decent. im presuming moyer will be done by then, but i could be wrong. when he starts tiring and getting litup again and again in mid to late season like he did last year before recovering itll be time to cut your losses and ask him to be the pitching coach. anyways, myers needs to get right fast…

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 02:48:56 +0000

Sounds like Rick “Wild Thing” Vaughn. I hope he doesn’t start naming a pitch the eliminator! Seriously I hope he gets his act together because without him we will have a hard time repeating in the east.

I think Benson will still replace Eaton. Even though he has been better he is the weak link in the staff. Especially if Kendrick continues pitch better, Eaton will be the one who goes.