Pedro Martinez in the rotation, Moyer to pen

The Phillies announced yesterday that Pedro Martinez will make his debut in the Phillies rotation on Wednesday night at Wrigley field. Jamie Moyer was sent to the bullpen to make room for Pedro. In Pedro's 2 rehab starts he was 1-1 with a 5.11 era, but held opponents to a .200 avg and recorded 16 k's in 12 innings. Pedro has been throwing 91-93 mph and had a good feel for the changeup in his rehab starts.

I like this move that the Phillies made because I believe he is a better option than Moyer at this point. So far this season Moyer was posting a 5.47 ERA and a .300 BAA. Moyer also led the Phillies with 10 wins which just proves how pointless a stat wins are for a pitcher. Moyer received a ton of run support this year from the offense. Moyer is dead last in the NL in ERA among starting pitchers so it shouldn't be too hard for Pedro to do better than Moyer has. This is the main reason I like this move is because I don't see any way that Pedro will do worse than Moyer. Pedro is also better equipped to get major league hitters out since he doesn't throw 82 mph. I dont think hitters will salivating at the mouth anymore now that the Phillies have a much better option in the rotation. Hopefully Pedro can give the Phillies some wins down the stretch and help them win the division.

Cliff Lee throws a complete game in win over Giants

In Cliff Lee's first start with the Phillies he did not dissapoint. After acquiring Lee on Thursday from the Indians for four prospects, Lee got the start Friday against the Giants. He went the distance giving up 4 hits 2 walks and 1 run. He also had a no hitter through 5.1 innings until the power of the bloop was used by Juan Uribe. I was impressed with Lee's ability to throw strikes with all of his pitches. He used his cutter/slider very effectively against the right handed lineup of the Giants, consistently getting in on their hands producing weak ground balls.

This trade gives the Phillies the upgrade they needed in their starting rotation. The Phillies lead the league in runs scored, fielding percentage, and have one of the best bullpens in the NL. With the Phillies getting a frontline starter to pair with Cole Hamels it makes them more of a complete ballclub. Ruben Amaro did a good job of not giving up the Phillies top 3 prospects (Drabek, Taylor, Brown). The Phillies gave up Marson, Donald, Carrasco, and Knapp. Knapp is the player the Indians really wanted. At just 18 years old, Knapp is 6'5" 240 pounds and can throw 98 mph. He was dominating Class A with 111 strikeouts in 85 innings while holding opponents to a .208 average.

The value for this trade was good but I think Cliff is a little overrated. I noticed that opponents were batting .278 against him including .303 against righties. Cliff Lee is a guy that carries the "Ace" label with him and I am concerned that he is a little to hittable to be the ace of the staff. The positive side of it is that he doesn't walk many hitters and keeps the ball in the yard, although he will find it harder to keep it in the ballpark at his new home. He also has that ability you look for to go deep into games keeping his pitch counts low by throwing a ton of strikes. Lastly the best part of this deal is that he is moving from the AL to the NL. He should fare well after facing the AL for his whole career. If you think about Clifford from an NL perspective, I think he can be an Ace. I expect him to be pretty damn good in the second half for the Phillies giving them a much needed boost in their rotation.

Sean McDermott named Eagles Defensive Coordinator

Today the Eagles announced that former secondary coach Sean McDermott will take over as the defensive coordinator for the ailing Jim Johnson. The great Jim Johnson, who has been dealing with cancer since the end of last season, decided to take a leave of absense giving McDermott the opportunity to take over the defense. A former safety in college, McDermott has been with the Eagles since 1998 and the secondary coach since 2003. He has worked closely with Johnson over the past several years making him the obvious choice to take over the defense. He has seen the way Jim Johnson handles the defense and the success that he has had so hopefully McDermott can carry that with him. As long as he can keep that aggresive style of play that the Eagles thrive on the defense should be alright. The 3rd overall ranked defense from last year will not have the veteran leadership of the future hall of fame safety Brian Dawkins this year either. This is one of the many challenges McDermott will face heading into his first season as defensive coordinator. It should be interesting to see the way the defense reacts to the coaching change in the upcoming year. I will take a wait and see approach before I judge this coaching change. More importantly, hopefully Jim Johnson can make a full recovery from cancer and come back strong.

Can Lou Williams play effectively at point guard?

With Andre Miller likely to be playing for another team next season its time to talk about the possibility of Lou Williams being the new starting point guard. Last year, as the sixth man, he averaged 13 points and 3 assists in 24 minutes while shooting 40% from the floor. The 22 year old guard has now played 4 seasons with the Sixers and has been groomed for this oppurtunity for awhile. He has shown flashes of brilliance at point guard but is probably more comfortable playing shooting guard. The problem is he is only 6'2" so he undersized for shooting guard, but has good size for the point. Here would be some of the positives and negatives of Lou Williams taking over at point for the Sixers.

Positives: Lightning quick and very athletic, Lou is very adept at getting to the basket and is a good finisher around the rim. He has a deadly first step and usually can get to the basket at will. He draws many fouls as well averaging 10 free throws per 48 mins and shooting 79% from the line. In the Sixers up tempo system Williams should thrive in transition with his speed. Lou also has a nice shooting touch but can be very streaky at times. Defensively he uses his speed well in the passing lanes allowing him to pick up some steals.

Negatives: Needs to change his shoot first mentality if he wants to be a full time point. Shoots a low percentage from the floor mainly because of his poor shot selection. His shot also tends to get flat at times. He could really help the team by improving his 3 point shot (29% last year). Like most young guards, needs to cut down on the turnovers. When driving to the basket he will need to do a better job of finding open teammates instead of forcing the issue. Needs to be a better on ball defender and add some bulk to his frame.

It should be interesting to see how Lou Williams adapts to point guard and if he will have a breakout year or struggle. He is very good at getting to the basket, and when his shot is on is really tough to guard. If he can find a more consistent jumper and take a more pass first approach to the game he could be a real good player. Of course if Dalembert and Brand actually made some plays down low that would also help the development of Lou.

Phillies Sign Pedro Martinez

On Wednesday the Phillies announced the signing of Pedro Martinez. He signed for 1 year at 1 million dollars and can earn up to 1.5 million in incentives. He last pitched for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic and apparently looked good enough in recent workouts to earn a contract. Pedro will start in the minors for probably 2-3 weeks and hopefully will be ready for the Phils vacant 5th starter role by that time. Personally I view this signing as low risk and decent reward. If it doesn't work out the Phils only had to pay him 1 million. Obviously we won't be seeing Pedro in his prime but he still has a good idea of how to pitch and much more experience than the Triple A call ups who were trying to fill the 5th starter role. I guess this means that the Lehigh Valley experiment will be over, but was fun while it lasted. As long as he can keep the Phils in ball games for 5 or 6 innings its worth it. In the end there was currently nobody filling the 5th starters role on this ball club, so its an upgrade in my mind. With the risk being so minimal in this situation its hard to complain with this signing. Now Amaro can get back to bidding with the Blue Jays over the prospects it will take to pry Halladay out of Toronto.

Phillies First Half Recap

48-38, 1st in NL East, +48 run differential (22-23 home) (26-15 away)

Strengths: The offense was great for the Phillies in the first half leading the NL in runs, home runs, slugging % and OPS. With Utley, Howard, Ibanez and Werth in the middle of the Phils lineup they have done some major damage. All 4 of them have atleast 20 homers and 56 rbi at the break which is quite an accomplishment. Ibanez looks to be a great signing so far and has definately been an upgrade over Pat the Glove in left field. His offense has been a pleasant suprise with his ability to use the whole field while showing plenty of power to the opposite field as well. Victorino has also stepped it up so far hitting .309 with a .839 OPS at the top of the Phillies order setting the table for the middle of the lineup. With the signing of another left handed hitter in Ibanez there were a lot of questions about whether the Phillies would be effective against left handed pitching. They have been just fine against lefties, Utley has posted a .990 OPS, Ibanez a .998 OPS and Werth a 1.092 OPS against southpaws. The Phillies have also shown their speed ranking 4th in the NL in stolen bases.

The defense has also been phenomenal all year for the Phillies ranking 1st in the NL in fielding % only committing 33 errors so far. All around the field the defense has been great including Ryan Howard who has made significant improvements. He still has problems throwing the ball accurately to second when trying to turn two but his actual fielding has been great this year. Ibanez has also been a pleasant surprise on the defensive side. He gets good jumps on the ball and has shown a strong arm in the outfield. I was under the impression he was Pat Burrell bad in the outfield but he is definately a solid defensive outfielder.

Weakness: The Phillies starting pitching has been awful this year ranking 14th in the NL with a 4.98 era. Hamels has been the biggest surprise posting 4.87 era. Moyer is showing his old age posting an era of 6. Blanton has been good after getting off to a rough start posting an era of 4.44. After Myers went down after struggling again this year the Phillies have used Antonio Bastardo, Rodrigo Lopez and now appear to be close to a deal with Pedro Martinez to fill the 5th starter role for the rest of the season. I think its worth the gamble for him to pitch for half a season with no other legitimate replacements. The pleasant surprise of the first half was J.A. Happ who has been excellent for the Phils since taking over for Chan Ho. Happ is 6-0 with a 2.90 era and hitters are only batting .226 against him. He doesn't blow you away with his pitches but he does a great job of keeping the ball down in the zone and hides the ball extremely well. As the second half of the season starts it will be interesting if the Phillies move in on Halladay. I think the asking price is somewhat absurd and think he will end up staying on the Blue Jays when its all said and done. I still can't decide whether I want the Phillies to make the trade or not. Its always a tough decision when you know you basically have to sell the farm to acquire a great pitcher.

The other glaring weakness of the first half has been Jimmy Rollins. He was killing the team by never getting on base. As I mentioned in a past post about Jimmy's struggles the Phillies have a very good record when Jimmy scores a run. The good news is Jimmy is starting to look like the Rollins of old with a .378 avg and .500 OBP in July leading the Phillies to a 9-1 homestand before the break. If he stays hot in the 2nd half the Phillies will be tough to beat.

As the second half approaches more consistency from the starting rotation would be much appreciated. I don't know if the offense can get any better than it has and don't think the rotation can get any worse than it has been. As Phillies fans know, in the past the phils have always been a slow starting team out of the gates and great in the 2nd half of the season. Even though the Phillies haven't played their best ball they are still 4 games up in the east. I expect the Phillies rotation to be better in the 2nd half leading to the NL East crown.

Chris Pronger gets multi year extension

After making a draft day trade with the Anaheim Ducks the Flyers acquired the services of hall of fame defenseman Chris Pronger. The Flyers had to pay a hefty price tag as they gave up winger Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa, and 2 first round picks. Sbisa was last years first round pick so they basically gave the Ducks 3 first rounders. I wasn't a fan of the trade at first because Pronger is 35 and would have been a free agent after the upcoming season, which means there is always chance he could be a 1 year rental. The Flyers hammered out a deal for him in the last few days to give Pronger a chance to retire as a Flyer and have him man the blue line for awhile. He will also serve as a great mentor for all the young talented defensemen Philadelphia has acquired over the last few years (Coburn, Carle, Parent). Pairing all star defenseman Kimmo Timonen with Chris Pronger should serve as a great defensive pairing to try and contain some of the star players in the eastern conference, and hopefully give the Flyers the edge they need. Pronger has not shown signs of slowing down yet and we will see if it stays that way for atleast a few years. Getting this extension done makes this trade look a little better although I still think the Flyers gave up too much in the deal. If Pronger can put them over the top and bring that Stanley Cup to Philly it would definately make the trade worth it. The Flyers have always had great offenses over the last few years so upgrading the defense was a must for GM Paul Holmgren. Now that the defense has improved with the offense scoring plenty of goals, the season will largely depend on the play of newly acquired goaltender Ray Emery. The NHL version of Ron Artest needs to keep his act together and stay focused on hockey if the Flyers plan to make a run at a Stanley Cup next year.