Phillies Nation

Odds And Ends: Lahey, Kendrick, Lineup, Golson

Posted by Tim Malcolm, Sun, April 13, 2008 11:13 AM

• Tim Lahey, who the Phillies took a flier on at the start of the season and even placed on the 25-man roster, has been sold back to the Twins for $25K, per MLB Trade Rumors.

Lahey was designated for assignment after the Phils signed reliever Rudy Seanez, a much better option. All the best to Tim.

• Scott Lauber has the skinny on Kyle Kendrick, as Rich Dubee talked about what Kendrick needs to do to succeed.

Dubee wants Kendrick to attack the plate and not try to “nibble” around and be too fine. He also noted a psychological possibility in Kendrick’s 2008 campaign:

“Last year, I don’t even think he knew where he was … It was a whirlwind for him.”

It seems now Kendrick has realized he’s in the show and has to produce to stay on the 25-man roster. That’s true. But Kendrick has won his spot — he needs to forget thinking and just throw. Sure, he doesn’t have electric stuff, but when he’s finding the plate, guys swing and hit at fielders. He needs to trust his teammates and, more importantly, trust himself. And he has to realize going back to AAA for fine tuning isn’t a bad thing. Bottom line: He has to know he isn’t Cole Hamels, and he’ll never be Hamels. He just has to be Kendrick.

• Sam Carchidi, filling in for Todd Zolecki, asked Charlie Manuel about possibly slotting Pat Burrell into the cleanup spot between Chase Utley and Ryan Howard — both to break up the lefties and give the hot bat better RBI opportunities.

“You have to be careful of doing it, but I’m not ruling anything out. But I want to keep Utley in a position where he could knock in runs.”

Of course you want Utley to knock in runs, but with Shane Victorino landing on the DL, to whom would you rather give more at bats — Utley or Jayson Werth? Utley or So Taguchi? Manuel needs to look at the lineup relatively and give his best bats more chances to hit. Putting Utley in the three or two-hole won’t really hurt his RBI chances, especially if the difference means driving in Werth or Carlos Ruiz. Both should get on base.

As it stands, the Phils should go with Werth/Utley/Burrell/Howard/Feliz/Jenkins/Ruiz/Bruntlett/Pitcher.

• There’s been some talk about Greg Golson finding a spot on the 25-man roster with Victorino’s injury.

I don’t know about that. Golson needs a little more time working with the strike zone — so far in Reading, Golson has eight strikeouts and one walk in 36 plate appearances. That doesn’t translate well in the Major Leagues. Of course, Golson wouldn’t get a lot of at bats if brought up; he’d be used in that Michael Bourn, late-game and speed replacement and replacement role. For now, still, I’d rather stick with Chris Snelling and if Golson can improve his discipline, by all means.

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