Phillies Nation

16 Responses to “Benson To Start For Clearwater Monday”

1. Bill Says:
   May 29th, 2008 at 10:33 pm

   This is great news. Benson is not going anywhere. He wants to pitch for the Phillies. Hopefully he can be a huge addition for us in the second half.

   http://myteamrivals.typepad.com/phightin_phils_phorum

2. SCOTT MATHIESON Says:
   May 29th, 2008 at 11:12 pm

   Would this guy just join the team already? Who ever heard of a 3 year rehab from an arm injury anyway?

3. Geoff Says:
   May 29th, 2008 at 11:15 pm

   I hope so. i was worried after the first appearance but hes been ok since then and i hope he can take a rotation spot and contribute. however, the phillies should acquire a quality starter at the trade deadline to bolster their chances rotation. i need someone who can fill the role they thought myers was going to fulfill. and i need a back end starter. they still need two starters in my opinion. maybe one can be benson or a callup but the other has to be proven high quality.

4. PhillyFriar Says:
   May 29th, 2008 at 11:52 pm

   Agree with Geoff that the Phils should try to add a quality (aka #2 or, at worst, #3) starter before the trade deadline, but I wouldn’t trade any prospects for a “back end” starter.

   It’s analogous to the Eagles and their search for wide receivers: if someone isn’t better than what you already have, don’t acquire him. Between Moyer, Kendrick, Eaton, Happ, and Benson, the Phils have more than enough okay arms to fill the back end spots — they don’t need to add another one to that collection. Rather, they should focus all of their resources on getting the best impact starter they can swing. The goal should be to start August with a rotation of Hamels, Deadline Pickup (Blanton/Burnett/Sheets), Myers, and then some two-man combination of the above-mentioned group.

   Oh, and just to touch on what this thread is about… hopefully Benson looks good and can stay on the track back to recovery. We’ll need him at some point, that’s for sure.

5. Mark Says:
   May 30th, 2008 at 2:27 am

   Hopefully, either they’ll sign Benson to an extension or that Benson will waive June 1 knowing that if he comes all the way back, Brett Myers may have a real problem unless he straightens out.

6. Lewisauce Says:
   May 30th, 2008 at 5:09 am

   I agree with Friar (not about the Eagles’ analogy; I’m not even going to touch the decade-long wide receiver failure here) that the back-end of the rotation is OK. I still hate Eaton, but if Happ or Benson or Bastardo or Durbin can fill that role, that’s fine. And that’s five pitchers to fill one slot. One of them should work out. I’m with Friar on concentrating resources on finding an impact pitcher (possibly to replace Myers? Who knows at this point).

   Myers is the weakest link on the team right now. We simply can’t roll into August with him pitching this way.

7. Brooks Says:
   May 30th, 2008 at 7:33 am

   Note: Lohse won last night and is now 5-2 with an ERA of 4.02 (side note, the save was for Ryan Franklin who in 25 games his ERA is 1.80).

   I forsee a trip to the DL for Myers - unexplainable at first; perhaps gone for a month. Benson, well - dare we to get our hopes up? He is now 33, it seems every year he spends time on the IR; he does not walk many batters and he does not strike out a lot of batters either.
   His ERA (lifetime) is over 4.3 and he has a losing record in the bigs.

   We may be hoping for rain in the desert here.

   Eaton & the Phils were lucky that the Rox stink this year. Eaton was getting his tepid fastball up in the strike zone but the Rox just could not push it out. They ran themselves out of a few situations and had a lot of men on base. Hey, luck is a huge factor for sure! Until you get to the BP that is!

8. Geoff Says:
   May 30th, 2008 at 8:28 am

   Yeah I dont agree with giving up prospects for back end starters. That was a good point. Theres a lot of junk out there too: robertson, washburn, batista, byrd, padilla, millwoods ok but we already had him too, theres like 10 more junk guys too. washburn just screams next years matt morris to me for some reason. kendrick has solidified the number 4 spot i think, and i hope that is the case. so assuming thats true you have eaton, benson, happ, bastardo? chad durbin as people who might piotentially be given a chance to take the 5th starter spot. so, 5 guys competing for one slot, yes, i agree that we can probably get some decent service out of whoever ends up there. i think they need to give happ and bastardo one start each at opportune times just to see what they can do. you can do that after brett myers goes on the dl in a week or two. the other guy has to be good. weve discussed that at length, and it definitely has to be somebody really good.

9. Tim Malcolm Says:
   May 30th, 2008 at 9:34 am

   Benson should be exactly the kind of pitcher Kyle Lohse was last year for us — won’t be dominant, will keep them in the game, should go 6 IP. If this year proves anything, if we get consistent 6 IP starts we’ll be OK.

   Still, looking at the success Bartolo Colon is having during his comeback with the Red Sox, I still wish we grabbed him way back when I recommended him.

10. Geoff Says:
    May 30th, 2008 at 9:44 am

    Yeah they missed on Colon. I dunno how though he is a Cy Young Award winner, injrued or not they should have known hed be fine when healthy again.

    then again, the phillies have the worst medial staff ive ever seen and they are always wrong about injuries. Any starter in a deadline trade has to be healthy completely or else Ill get leery about it. theyd better get someone, i really dont know how ill feel if they dont go and do it it takes to get someone.

11. Lewisauce Says:
    May 30th, 2008 at 10:45 am

    That’s what separates the Red Sox from us. They have a former Cy Young guy to plug into their rotation when a starter gets hurt. Right now, they have six legit big-league starters (Becket, Bucholz, Lester, Wakefiled, Dice-K and Colon), and waiting in the wings is some dude named Schilling whose rehab is on schedule. Certainly they have guys with injury histories, guys who are old, guys who are definitely going to get hurt. But they have seven quality guys before they even have to think about other options.

    They assemble the people and they win the championships. Why can’t we do this kinda thing with pitching?

12. Geoff Says:
    May 30th, 2008 at 11:04 am

    That is exactly right. They dont do that with pithcing beacuse the OwnershipManagement has a track record of refusing to spend extra money on getting reliable starters WHO WORK OUT and can step into the rotation. I believe in hoarding pitching, apparently the Red Sox do and the Phillies dont. The phillies have hoarded a bunch of 30 something relivers in AAA…great, even clay condrey is better than all of those steve kline guys and thats saying something. theyre not going to contribute to this team. you cant send any of that slop out there in a real playoff game.

    a lot of that depth has to be from your farm system. to get a solid 2 starter they might have to give up a pitching prospect or two, but after that NO pitching prospects are to be traded because you need to have people coming up next year to stay in the rotation. also, you HAVE to spend the money on pitching in free agency WISELY. dont throw 12 million a year at carlos silva, but SIGN people like kyle lohse who can eat up some innings and provide depth to the starting pitching corps. just gather legit pitching wherever you can get it. if a guy is questionable in free agency or is hurt then sign him to a minor league deal and let him rehab with you and take that chance.

    i dont care about the owbnerships limit on spending. that is fraudlent and totally made up and self-imposed.

    this season is one thing, they jsut need to get what they need to win a title but in the future you have to commit lots of money to developing and retaining quality pitching in the long-term. there should NEVER be worries about finding a steady rotation when the season has started on a Major League Baseball team. the teams, including the phils, who dont have those steady rotations lack them because of failure in the effort or desire needed to be a seriuos contender. there is no limit to how much you can spend and if you can afford it which they can theres no excuse to be in situations like this.

    anyways, i just hope they get the starter they need to go over the top and sure up their staff. i really dont want to see what happens if they dont do that.

13. dan Says:
    May 30th, 2008 at 11:08 am

    I heard something about sabathia for burrell on the radio, does anyone know anything about that rumor?

14. Tim Malcolm Says:
    May 30th, 2008 at 11:12 am

    Well, I don’t know why the Indians would do that straight up. Sabathia is on the last year of his contract and would expect a huge payday, but I mean, heh. I’ll search.

15. Bruce Says:
    May 30th, 2008 at 12:21 pm

    Psst! Psst! Rumors persist here that Myers will be going on the DL with a phantom injury (chuckle).

    Myers has said that he is healthy and his arm is fine. Myers still has excellent stuff with his fastballs in the nineties (in his last outing). Overall, he has 52 strikeouts in 65 1/3 innings. And more encouraging, is his ZERO HRs allowed in his last two starts (six innings each). As posted earlier, pitching coach, Rich Dubee has stated that Myers is getting close and needs a solid three innings to start the momentum and boost his confidence. It’s a matter of having better command and location with his pitches. Tonight is a good time for Myers to dispel those “rumors”.
    started by the few here.

16. Joey Says:
    June 2nd, 2008 at 8:21 pm

    Don’t worry about the Phillies trading any “pitching prospects” for a starter by the trade deadline. Theye don’t have any of any proven value.

    And they have almost no one to call up mid-year. Happ has fallen on his face his his last two games. Carrasco still puts too many men on base and needs more time (I am not sure what he is going to ever be). And there isn’t anyone else at this moment.

    Kris Benson has been injured since 2003 and kept putting off surgery. So now he had his surgery and is recovering. I heard he was going to start a game on Sunday, then on Monday. He hasn’t done so. If any of you know what his status is or why he missed those two starts, email me and let me know.

    joey
    Chonors686@Aol.com
    Just put Kris Benson in the subject line

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