GAME RECAP: No Game Yesterday
Phillies took the day off
yesterday to reflect on the drastic shift in play compared to the first half…
anyone else notice that the weather has gotten quite a bit cooler lately?
OTHER
NOTES FROM THE DAY:
- Morgan has been up-and-down in his
first five starts. He allowed nine hits and three runs in just 4 1/3
innings last week against the Rays, but he has allowed two or fewer runs
in 5 2/3 innings or more in three of his first four.
- The Blue Jays are 8-0 against the
Phillies since Roy Halladay beat them on July 2, 2011.
- Doubront has made three starts for
the Blue Jays, and he has gone more than five innings just once. He
allowed seven hits and three runs in 4 1/3 innings in his last start last
week against the A's.
NEXT
GAME:
If the Blue Jays decide to make a serious push for Phillies closer
Jonathan Papelbon they will have the opportunity to see him up close and
personal beginning Tuesday night in a two-game series at Rogers Centre. Sources
told MLB.com that the Blue Jays, Cubs and Nationals are three teams that have
expressed interest recently in Papelbon, although the Blue Jays' interests
might be elsewhere. The Phillies would have to eat plenty of Papelbon's salary
to make it happen, but they have said they are willing to do that. Games will
be played regardless, and Phillies rookie left-hander Adam Morgan and Blue Jays
left-hander Felix Doubront will start the opener Tuesday night.
PHILS PHACTS:
Hamels Named Player Of The Week – One outstanding position player and one outstanding pitcher
-- Rockies outfielder
Carlos Gonzalez and
Phillies starter
Cole Hamels -- have
been named National League Co-Players of the Week after their performances last
week.
Hamels threw a no-hitter
against the Cubs on Saturday, while Gonzalez led the Majors with five home runs
and a 1.190 slugging percentage. Hamels' no-hitter was the third of the Major
League season and included 13 strikeouts against the Cubs, who were no-hit for
the first time since 1965. After throwing the first six innings of a Phillies
combined no-hitter last year, Hamels is just the fifth pitcher in MLB history
to throw a no-hitter of his own and be involved in a combined no-no. Gonzalez
also led the NL with 11 RBIs and 25 total bases while tying for the league lead
with nine runs scored. He hit .476 (10-for-21) and capped his week Sunday with
a
3-for-4 game against the Reds that
featured two home runs, four runs scored and six RBIs. The runs and RBIs both
tied career highs, and the multihomer game was Gonzalez's second of the season
and 12th of his career. It is Hamels' second career NL Player of the Week Award
and Gonzalez's fifth.
Increasing Values – Cole Hamels and
Jonathan Papelbon could have their wishes granted
before the end of the week. Momentum continues to build for trades involving
both the Phillies' ace and their closer ahead of Friday's 4 p.m. ET non-waiver
Trade Deadline. Sources told MLB.com that the Dodgers and Rangers are the
front-runners for Hamels, who also is receiving interest from the Yankees, Cubs
and Giants. ESPN.com reported Monday night the D-backs and Astros have entered
the mix, too. Papelbon is receiving the most interest from the Cubs, Blue Jays
and Nationals, and those discussions seem to have picked up in the past 24 hours.
Both Hamels and Papelbon have limited no-trade protection. Hamels can block
trades to 20 teams, but he cannot veto a trade to the Rangers, Dodgers,
Yankees, Cubs, Nationals, Cardinals, Braves, Padres and Mets. He can block
trades to the D-backs, Astros and Giants. Papelbon can block trades to 17
teams, but the Cubs are not one of them. He can block trades to Toronto and
Washington, but he has said repeatedly his no-trade clause will not be a
problem. That said, Papelbon will only accept a trade to a team where he will
be the closer. The Nationals currently have a closer in
Drew Storen. Papelbon also has a $13 million salary
this season and a $13 million club option for 2016, which will automatically
vest if he finishes just 14 more games this season. He might require a team to
exercise that option to facilitate a trade, but if he closes for a contender,
he should vest it without a problem. Of course, Hamels is the big fish. The
Rangers privately expect to finish second in the Hamels sweepstakes, although
the Phillies like their farm system more than Los Angeles' because Texas has
something that Philadelphia's system sorely lacks: power hitters. Rangers
catching prospect Jorge Alfaro and outfield prospect Nomar Mazara -- who rank
34th and 42nd, respectively, among
MLBPipeline.com's
Top 100 Prospects -- could be part of a package
for Hamels. Both have power. Texas is becoming more comfortable with the
prospect of taking on Hamels' remaining salary, which pays him $23.5 million
annually through 2018, plus a $6 million buyout on a $20 million club option
for '19. The Dodgers would love to insert Hamels into a rotation that already
includes
Clayton Kershaw and
Zack Greinke, but they are expected to hold onto
shortstop Corey Seager and left-hander Julio Urias, who are considered the
fourth- and fifth-best prospects in baseball, respectively. Right-handed
prospect Grant Holmes ranks 75th overall, and right-hander Jose De Leon ranks
89th, but as mentioned previously, the Phils prefer power bats. Dodgers
outfield prospects Alex Verdugo and Scott Schebler have power potential. But
with at least two teams strongly interested in Hamels, the Phillies should be
able to get something they like. The Royals just acquired right-hander
Johnny Cueto from the Reds, and the Astros acquired
Scott Kazmir from the A's on Thursday. That removes
two starting pitchers from the market. The Tigers might hold onto
David Price, which also helps. The Royals shipped
left-handers Brandon Finnegan, John Lamb and Cody Reed to the Reds for Cueto,
who can become a free agent after the season. Finnegan was Kansas City's top
pick in the 2014 Draft. Lamb was 9-1 with a 2.67 ERA at Triple-A Omaha before
the trade. Reed was a second-round pick in 2013. He was 2-2 with a 3.45 ERA at
Double-A Northwest Arkansas. Right-hander
Daniel Mengden and catcher
Jacob Nottingham went to Oakland for Kazmir, who also
can become a free agent after the season. Mengden was Houston's No. 19
prospect, according to MLBPipeline.com. Nottingham was No. 22. The Reds and A's
got those prospects for rentals. Hamels is not that, which theoretically means
the Phillies should get something more valuable in return. Sources said that no
deal for Hamels is imminent, but with four days remaining before the Deadline,
there is time to make it happen. The feeling around baseball is that Hamels
finally will be dealt. Papelbon's chances to be traded seem to have improved in
the past week, although it is far from certain.
Ben Revere,
Jeff Francoeur and, perhaps surprisingly,
Chase Utley have all received interest from teams.
Revere is the most likely to be dealt from that group. But the focus since Pat
Gillick became Phillies president last August has been Hamels and Papelbon. The
chances that the Phils will finally reach the finish line with trades involving
both pitchers is better than ever.
Deadline Approaching – The big
Johnny Cueto trade finished a crazy weekend of
rumors, races and Hall of Fame remembrances in Major League Baseball, but
Monday gets the frenzy going again. Yes, the Week Ahead marks the final five
days prior to Friday's 4 p.m. ET non-waiver Trade Deadline, and if you were out
of cell range or off the grid on Saturday and Sunday, well, you missed a lot,
and much of it figures to affect the season at we inch ever closer to October.
On Saturday,
Cole Hamels threw a
no-hitter. On Sunday, the National Baseball Hall of Fame welcomed its new
quartet of inductees -- Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Craig
Biggio -- while the team with the best record in the American League, the
defending AL champion Royals, welcomed their new ace, Cueto. Hamels, the
Phillies' veteran left-handed ace, twirled his no-no against the Cubs in
Wrigley Field, serving notice that he's not only righted himself after a recent
slump but that he remains a huge, headlining draw for contending clubs looking
to land a stud starter before the Deadline. Hamels is scheduled to pitch for
the Phillies on Thursday night at Citizens Bank Park against the Braves, but
not a lot of baseball people think that will happen. Sources have told
MLB.com's Todd Zolecki that the Rangers, Dodgers, Cubs, Yankees and Giants are
among the teams linked to the owner of both a World Series ring (2008) and a
no-hitter, and that Texas and Los Angeles might be the front-runners. "I
mean, it's not what I envisioned," Hamels said when asked if he was
thinking during Saturday's bit of history that it was his last outing as a
member of the team that drafted him in 2002. "It's not what I thought.
It's not in my thought process. I think all I've been thinking about the past
couple days was just to kind of correct my pitching, just being able to be out
there and enjoy the moment." Cueto might have been thinking about the same
thing with his former team, the Reds, until he was dealt to Kansas City on Sunday
in a blockbuster that brought back a trio of lefty pitching prospects --
Brandon Finnegan, John Lamb and Cody Reed -- to Cincinnati. The timing couldn't
be better for Royals general manager Dayton Moore and his support staff, given
that lefty
Jason Vargas just came
back from an injury only to be lost for the season with a torn elbow ligament,
and in the sense that the Royals were having issues with starting pitching all
season. Now look at them. Cueto is 29, at the top of his game (7-6, 2.62 ERA,
120 strikeouts in 130 2/3 innings and a WHIP of 0.93 entering Monday) and
should get the ball for his Royals debut on Thursday night against the Blue
Jays in Toronto. "He's a guy who gives us tremendous depth in our
rotation," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "If you get
Danny Duffy and
Yordano Ventura to the way they were a year ago, you
got them and Eddie Volquez and Cueto ... you can stop a losing streak right
away with any of those guys. It's a better team for now and into the postseason
if we make it. "If we didn't do this deal, I still would have felt good
about this team. But this makes us better." That's the idea for this time
of year, and especially this week. Teams will be clamoring to improve their
rosters ahead of the stretch run, with parity and the added Wild Card entries
making it even more competitive to land a deal. Take a look at the National
League West, for example. The up-and-down Giants are back on the upswing,
having won five in a row and nine of their last 10 to pull within a game of the
first-place Dodgers. What will they do? And what will the Dodgers do? Los
Angeles might be able to land Hamels, but Detroit ace
David Price is also said to be available, and the
Giants could use an extra arm. If the Tigers decide to hang on to Price, other
arms in the offing could include
Mat Latos,
Yovani Gallardo,
Tyson Ross,
Jeff Samardzija and
James Shields. And would the Dodgers really trade
Yasiel Puig? That will be another topic to keep a
close eye on for the next five days. And what about the AL West? The Angels are
riding another otherworldly season from
Mike Trout (who hit his 30th and 31st homers on Sunday)
and have taken over the lead in the division, but the Astros are hanging in
there, only a game back, and they just landed
Scott Kazmir from the A's for the stretch. The Angels
are looking for a bat, and
Jay Bruce,
Justin Upton,
Ben Zobrist and
Yoenis Cespedes might be available for the right
price. The drama should get even more intriguing on Tuesday, when the Angels
head to Houston for a three-game series that ranks as the best in baseball over
the next seven days. The division lead could hang in the balance, and we should
see Kazmir pitching in his hometown against a familiar rival. Elsewhere, the
Mets could be looking for more offense, even after adding
Kelly Johnson and
Juan Uribe in their weekend deal with the Braves. And
although the Yankees are rolling in the AL East, it's hard to believe that
they're not looking to augment their roster for the crucial days of September
and, they hope, beyond.
THE BEGINNING:
The
Phillies are starting the season as expected and are now at the bottom of the
NL east at 37-63. Given the departures, aging stars,
injuries, and performance so far this season, this could end up being the
worst team in franchise history! All time, the Phillies are 47-65-0 on
this day.
