No 'Pen for Happ

J.A. Happ has come on to the scene in 2009 and really made an impact on what was a questionable starting rotation in the first half. He is coming off his second complete game shutout this year, and Ruben Amaro has decided that he will not be in the 'pen when Pedro comes up from his rehab assignment. Happ is 8-2 on the year with 2.74 ERA. To me this is a no brainer to keep him in the starting rotation. He has proven that he can win, what more can you ask for. By having Happ come out of the pen, you are essentially wasting him. Our bull pen will be just fine. The Phillies will have Myers coming back at some point, and it is almost certain that they are going to get relief help come September.

Now for the problem they have with the all of the starting pitchers. To me this is not necessarily a good problem like critics are saying. You have Moyer and Pedro battling for that fifth spot now that Happ is in the rotation. I know everyone is down on Moyer, but you have him for another year. He is a proven Marlins killer so that will help the Phils down the stretch. Throughout his career he has been a gamer, and that's what is expected of him. I think I can throw harder than him, but he knows how to pitch and keep hitters off balance. So what do you do with him? He is not the kind of guy that will go on the DL without being injured. He has been shaky for most of the year, and somehow he has 10 wins this season. Moyer is older but he can be effective enough to pitch into the 7th inning sometimes because he can keep his pitch count down when he is on.

Pedro, on the other hand, has proven nothing so far. The Phils have no loyalty towards him, and he hasn't pitched in the bigs since last year, oh and he sucked last year. He is not a bull pen pitcher and the Phils are only paying him $1 million this year. He is a good experiment but I think that's all he is at this point. This is how I see it, Pedro is a five inning pitcher and nothing more. If you have seen his rehab starts he dominates the first five innings and then gets rocked after that. The guy clearly does not have the stamina to be an effective starter that can help save the bull pen arms when needed. He cannot go deep into games we saw that when he was with the Mets, so what makes anyone think that he can do it with the Phils when he is a year older.

We all know that once the playoffs start there will be a four man rotation in Hamels, Lee, Blanton, and Happ. Wow that is not a bad 4 man rotation, when your number 4 is 8-2. Both Moyer and Pedro are not bull pen pitchers, so I would assume that they will not make the playoff roster. For Pedro I am not too concerned, and maybe we can use him as a trading piece in September. Moyer is a Phillie and he has got it done ever since he got here. I have way more faith in Moyer's ability than Pedro's.

I have to hand it to Ruben Amaro this year. He has done such a great job of handling this team so far. Pat Gillick set the table for Ruben, but he has made some great moves in his first year. Ibanez was an enormous addition to the offense. The biggest move was when he didn't waste anytime after that moron Ricciardi denied the counteroffer for Halladay, and went after Cliff Lee right away. I think that we can all agree that Lee has not disappointed so far.

If you are Ruben Amaro what do you do with the starting pitcher dilemma? I want to hear your thoughts. Put yourself in Ruben Amaro's shoes for a minute, and make the decisions on what you will do to put the Philies in the best situation to make a run at repeating as World Series Champs.