Posts Tagged brad lidge
I Love Big Canadians
Posted by Bay Slugga in General Thoughts, Minor Leagues on March 1st, 2010
I realize that the title of this post may sound a bit faux pau after yesterday’s hockey game, but hear me out on this. Phillippe Aumont, one of the prospects acquired in the Cliff Lee deal, is a fucking beast. Standing at 6′7 and weighing 220, Aumont has the potential to be an intimidating force for the Phillies. I’m all about the kid’s ability to throw the baseball, but I’m very happy I now have a new Canadian to root for. RIP Matt Stairs 
Aumont was drafted as a starter by the Mariners, but was moved to the bullpen in order to quicken his road to the show and alleviate the stress on his throwing shoulder. Since he was acquired by the Phillies, it has been reported that Aumont will be shifted back into the rotation in the minors. I’m in agreement with the Phillies on this one – this is the right move.
While Aumont’s value may be as a late inning reliever, it is important for him to throw as many innings as possible in the minors to polish his stuff. I would say that it isn’t outside the realm of possibility that Aumont is a September call up to fill out the bullpen, and a minor league season of 140ish innings could be great preparation for the kid.
Whether Aumont is a starter or a reliever moving forward, I’m confident in his abilities to have an impact with the club within the next few years. A fastball that touches the upper 90’s paired with a diving slider could make Aumont the favorite to take over Lidge’s closing duties a few years from now. Until then, I’ll be excited to check out the Reading boxscores every 5th day and see how my large Canadian is doing.
If there was any doubt to the kind of stuff Philly has (haha get it?), check out this video.
Jamie Moyer… or lack there of.
Posted by Dickie Assburn in Free Agency, injuries on January 11th, 2010
Not too long ago, Jamie sprayed champagne all over the walls. This year, it's feces.
I figured the first post of the new year should include a popped bottle of champagne. It seemed/seems timely, so why not?
Alright, that’s all I’m going to say about champagne.
Is Jamie Moyer dying? Seriously – his blood is deteriorating, he’s old as shit, and I feel like he shadily gets rushed to the ER bi-weekly. Is it just me, or is the guy that’s projected to be our fifth-starter going to be warming up before games in a tomb?
In other news… The Phillies signed Danys Baez to a two-year deal and hope he can pick up the slack. The bullpen sucked last year and that is no secret. Brad Lidge is the poster child for nervous ninnies around the globe and clips of Pujols rocking his shit into night have resurfaced. Life has certainly sucked in that department for mole boy and Phils fans alike.
What is our bullpen going to look like? I can’t just sit around and accept that Ruben is going to scrape up some sourpuss that is pissed off in March over the fact that he couldn’t command a reasonable offer to match his skill set. I hate bargain hunting. Sure – it is troubling to some that a team that’s been to the World Series two years in a row can’t just go out and sign someone GOOD if they want to, but I’ve already spoken about why we can’t do that.
Chad Durbin? J.C. Romero (don’t give a fuck if he took drugs; can he still play)? Who else? Kendrick? Bastardo?
I will point out that projecting bullpen stats for most teams is a fools’ game. With that said, I will be quiet before going any further.
Dickie Assburn – 3B – Philadelphia Phillies
Posted by Dickie Assburn in Coaching, Free Agency, injuries on November 9th, 2009
Got a better idea? Let us know.
Well, I’m sure everyone that still cares about the Phillies realizes that Ruben Amaro Jr. declined the team option on our (possibly former) starting third-basemen, Pedro Feliz. The option saves the team $5 million (option was worth $5.5 million with a $500,000 buyout clause.)
I should point out that Amaro did not rule out bringing Pedro back even after declining the option, but this is a good sign, as it shows that Ruben is not open to overpaying a very average third basemen just because the market for the position isn’t overflowing in talent.
At the very least, even if we wind up getting Feliz back, it saves us money that can be used to aid our bench/bullpen. If we save 2 million dollars, maybe we could use that money to sign a MLB-level talent to spell our infielders when they’re tired (Eric Bruntlett, this means you suck, btw.)
The major guys out there are all pretty old. Mark DeRosa, Chone Figgins, and Adrien Beltre are all in their 30s. All three have had their problems with injuries as well. But what else are we to do? These three are better than guys like Troy Glaus, who has also been heard in the grumblings of who might replace Pedro (clearly by people who don’t know what they are talking about (I don’t want an overly inconsistent power hitter that played 12 games last year, thanks.)
Quick question:
1. Was Brad Lidge pitching hurt all season? He recently had surgery to remove “loose bodies” in his pitching arm. If this is true, as Rob Neyer of ESPN stated, ’someone needs to be fired.’
The Phillies have some spending decisions to make
Posted by Dickie Assburn in Coaching, Free Agency, General Thoughts, Mic'd Up, Phillies Rants on November 7th, 2009
Charlie: "I need the same exact players playing the same exact roles as they did last year, even if they are ineffective... Patrick, get back over here and start re-collecting your 14 million dollar yearly paychecks again, we need YOUU AHHHHMFKMAfsdff!!!!"
A lot of you have been talking about the Phillies’ current financial state in light of free agency/the offseason. Already we have seen Cliff Lee’s thrift-store-esque $9 million team option exercised. We have also seen, as stated in the last post, Brett Myers leave without a contract offer.
Amaro has stated that his payroll will be around 130-140 million dollars. We will likely see ourselves locked up for around $125-130 million before we sign any free agents/trade for someone. (Side note: we are paying those pieces of shit known as Geoff Jenkins and Adam Eaton a combined $2 million dollars this year… ugh)
Article of the Future: Charlie Manuel pleas with Ruben Amaro Jr. to bring back Adam Eaton in the interest of loyalty... HE PLAYED HERE IN 2008, WE NEED HIM!
A couple of things I’d like to point out/talk about (in no real order):
1. If Brad Lidge is fucking up, we need to deal for a new closer. I can’t do last season all over again. If he’s going to play like shit, we have to deal for a closer. Period. Fuck ‘loyalty,’ Charlie. I don’t want to hear it. There is no way IN HELL we can settle for 2009 Brad Lidge in 2010. For a team that wants to compete, that is retarded. I don’t think we can afford to sign a closer right now (we have Lidge signed to a big contract and you know they’re going to try their luck with him again because of it), but like I said, if he sucks again… we NEED to get someone to do that job during the season.
2. Victorino, Blanton, Ruiz, and Durbin will all likely see pay raises. Do I really think Durbin deserves a raise through arbitration after the shitty season he had? No, I don’t. Chooch was Senor Octubre, but over the course of the season, he wasn’t anything spectacular (not that I mind, just saying.) Blanton had a good year, and Shane deserves a raise — ‘no questions asked.’
"Son, I promise I'll be able to afford pants for you to wear once I get this raise..."
3. It would be a good idea to re-sign Scott Eyre and Chan Ho Park. Eyre is a great clubhouse guy that can get the job done out of the bullpen, and Chan Ho was great for us when he settled into his relief role. As long as they’re willing to come back at a reasonable asking price, I’m down.
4. We need a fucking bench – seriously. The problem is that the free agent pool seems to be full of players that are past their prime and will want to start, and guys who will want more than they’re worth (which is partly going to be due to a weak free agent crop.)
5. Regarding Pedro Feliz, Ruben Amaro Jr. said:
“He had a solid year for us,” Amaro said. “I like the man personally. He’s a great person, a great teammate, but I also believe in trying to improve and change can be for the better. It doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to, but it’s something that we’ll look into.”
For the most part, I agree with this. While I don’t like Pedro Feliz, there aren’t many options available at third base. Kudos to Ruben for telling it like it is.
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This offseason:
Given the pay raises that we will likely see out of the guys we will actually keep, we’ll probably have $20 million to spend at the most. With that, we need to revamp our bench and fix our bullpen. Starting pitching is the next biggest concern, and then, lastly, we should address third base (the only part of our everyday lineup that I’m not satisfied with.)
The Phillies have a lot of guys that can be starting pitchers in the majors, but they do not have a lot of guys that would be good at it. In hindsight, Jamie Moyer should have gracefully retired after we won the World Series last year. I really don’t want him to be guaranteed a spot in the rotation on Opening Day, but I’m sure we all know that that’s going to be the case. We’re going to have to sit through him getting rocked for 5-10 starts before Drabek/Kendrick takes his place.
I’m oddly optimistic about Kyle Kendrick. He seemed to have better stuff when he came up late last season. What we do know about Drabek is that, even if he starts as a rookie and pitches for an ERA under 3 during the season, he won’t smell any playoff action, because it will be more important to pitch guys like Durbin and Madson (even if they put 10000000…00000…00000 runners on base per appearance… YOU MUST BE LOYAL. Fuck JA Happ. l8uh – cholly.)
YOU DID NOT PLAY MUCH LAST YEAR, SO YOU CANNOT PLAY THIS YEAR$@#@ LOL - Charlie Manuel (photo courtesy of thefightins.com)
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Past next season:
Not sure you get paid more or less for looking like Edge
The Phillies have Jimmy Rollins (club option), Ryan Howard, Brad Lidge, Raul Ibanez, Cole Hamels, Ryan Madson coming off of the books after the 2011 season. To me, it is very possible that none of these guys will be re-signed. Ryan Howard will get many offers from other teams that will overpay him for way too many years, and it will be hard for him to turn that down. I personally do not want Ryan Howard until he’s 40 years old, and you know someone’s going to offer to sign his checks until then… and pay him handsomely in the process. If Cole can get his head back on straight, we will probably do whatever we can to keep him, but if he doesn’t, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him walk, either.
It is important to keep in mind that we will need to re-sign Jayson Werth and Cliff Lee next year. Both are eligible for free agency at that time. Cliff Lee is going to want a LOT of money (the guy hasn’t gotten a good contract yet and he could very possibly be looking for something long term with a lot of zeroes.) We have Werth going into the last year of the extension we signed him to, and he’s making $7.5 million. In my opinion, I think we’ll see him ask for something in the ballpark of $12-13 million, maybe more. We have to decide if what he’s asking is worth it. He can do it all, but he’s not a young guy. He’ll be 31 next offseason, and I think negotiations will depend heavily on how many years he’s willing to accept. To me, he’s worth the money, and his body hasn’t seen as much wear-and-tear as a guy his age would have by now. Overall, the amount of games he has played in isn’t even the equivalent of 4 full seasons. He’s seen less action in the big leagues than the typical 30-year-old big leaguer, and that’s definitely a good thing.
Welcome to Assburn Alley, DJ.
Posted by Dickie Assburn in Enemies on October 23rd, 2009
I’ve decided to open up Assburn Alley to traffic.
What does this mean for the rest of you?
Well, every so often, I’m going to pick out dumb Yankee fans from the comments we get on the site, and from those comments, I’m going to exploit how idiotic their fan base is.
This time… the picking is easy. ‘Derek Jeter’ is up to bat:
“Why did I fail?!”:
This one is easy, Derek. You ignore the only evidence we have of the Phillies and Yankees going toe-to-toe by using Brad Lidge’s in-season blown save as an excuse for your team not getting swept. I’m not sure how you think this helps the Yankees case.
The only reason your team didn’t get SWEPT is because they faced a version of Brad Lidge that lost his command (the version most teams saw ALL season.) The video of A-Roid hitting a homer off of Brad was posted on YouTube around Memorial Day. We’ve now passed Labor Day, and if you haven’t noticed, we are approaching Halloween. If you’re going to say that A-Rod’s homer counted as something real, you’re going to have to realize that that happened months ago. Brad Lidge has been dominant in the playoffs. A-Rod has too, and I’ll admit this because I’m living in the present. You? Clearly not.
“Why did I fail?!”:
Again, you can’t have it both ways. This seems to be a recurring issue with your arguments thus far. If you’re going to try and make the point that Lidge sucked ass during the season, and that we booed him, and this and that… Then what about A-Rod? You guys were always in love with him? When he did steroids and LIED about it, was New York his shoulder to cry on? When he left his wife and tried to get with Madonna, did New York not persecute him in the media? When he bitched about not having “sleep overs” anymore with his butt-buddy Derek Jeter (the real one, not you), did anyone feel bad for him? I think everyone did quite the opposite, in fact.
Sure, I’ve battered Lidge around for his shitty performances this year, but I didn’t stop watching because of it. I maintained that I wish he’d bounce back, but I didn’t see it happening. No one did. You naturally get pissed at guys you expect to perform at a high level when they perform at the lowest. It shows that you care.
“Why did I fail?!”:
Quick background info for you, Derek: I no longer live in Philadelphia. Saying that I’ve survived “this long,” is incorrect. Never assume, little bitch.
As for the shootings… I don’t really know what you’re trying to say there. Big cities have high crime rates. Look up the national listings and discover this truth for yourself. New York is not exempt from this.
I didn’t create this website, either. Your argument doesn’t work, regardless. Why? Well, that’s simple. Almost everything is a slightly changed replica of something else. When the first person created a blog site about their thoughts, I’m sure another person may have seen that, and created a blog about cars. The cycle continued until we all got to this point in blogging history. I’m not sure why I have to explain this to you, but by what you’ve told us, I clearly need to.
Saying that thefightins.com created the first Phillies blog site of this type may be true (I’m not sure that it is, but knowing you, it probably isn’t), but even THEY drew inspiration from something. Their website hasn’t existed since the beginning of time, has it? No, it hasn’t. It isn’t the first blog ever, is it? No, it isn’t. Again: your brain sucks ass.
“Why did I fail?!”:
If you accept what you claimed as truth, New York Yankees blog sites are forever guilty of this. If I wanted to, I could say, “Oh yeah, go ahead! Make a blog site after you’ve bought the whole fucking All-Star team! Front-runner.” You make it as if it is illegal to make blog sites when one chooses to do so. There are many, many factors that go into the creation and maintenance of a web site. Without any real proof that we all became Phillies fans when they started to play well, your point here is dumbfounded, dick.
“Why did I fail?!”:
I clearly stated that your fans wearing Yankees apparel is probably due to Jay-Z, a pop culture super-icon, wearing a Yankees cap as well. The Phillies are a Philadelphia baseball team. They are not exactly ‘baseball fans.’ They can listen to whatever music they want. I enjoy Jay-Z, but you will never see me wearing a Yankees hat as a result.
Jay-Z even said it himself: “I made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can.”
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And seriously… let’s not talk about Jersey people being Phillies fans. That’s over-generalization at it’s worst. I am around PLENTY of Jersey residents on a daily basis and a vast majority are Yankees fans. Some are Phillies fans, but most are Yankees fans. That made NO sense. Don’t hate on Jersey. You’re not allowed. That bitch Derek Jeter is actually FROM the state, and you suck his cock on a consistent basis.
The New Big Red Machine
Posted by Bay Slugga in Breaking News, Game Summaries, Playoffs and World Series on October 22nd, 2009
Two years, and two National League Pennants.
This will never get old.
We are all witnessing something very special, and our Philadelphia Phillies may be the best this city will ever see. The players haven’t been complacent after last year’s magical run, and they are obviously hungry for more World Series glory. Jimmy Rollins summed it up best in saying that winning once wasn’t good enough, they want to go down in history with teams like the Reds, Yankees, and Red Sox.
Hopefully they’ll be calling us the Little Red Machine
While you may be a little guy, Jimmy, I assure you their is nothing small about this team – I’m going to stick with the New Big Red Machine.
We like NASCAR team! Now go to World Series!
What went down: With their foot on the gas, and Chase Utley’s blunder in the rear-view mirror, the Phillies finished off the Los Angeles Dodgers at Citizen’s Bank Park to clinch their second consecutive National League Pennant. Cole Hamels was ineffective once again, as he surrendered three runs over four long innings. Vincente Padilla didn’t fair any better, as he allowed six runs to cross over three innings of work. The big blow that got the party started was Jayson Werth’s three-run homerun in the first inning after Padilla walked both Utley and Howard. All and all, the bullpen did a fine job of bailing out Hamels after an early exit. Chad Durbin, J.A. Happ, Chan Ho Park, and Ryan Madson all did a great job of keeping the Dodger’s at bay and coasting to the victory. Brad Lidge came in and worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning, and showed a swagger that Phillies fans haven’t seen since this time last year. Credit to Charlie Manual for sticking with his closer, and credit to Lidge for really delivering when his team has needed him.
The Power of Werth Compels You!
What I liked: Jayson Werth. You only had a few hits this entire NLCS, but boy do you know how to time them. You launched two homeruns tonight, and are now the Phillies leader for extra basehits in the postseason – wow. You really exemplify what this Phillies team is all about. CC and Pettitte should be afraid, very afraid.
Chad Durbin. I’m going to go out on a limb and and say that this is the first time you have been under the “What I liked” section of 4DR. You picked a hell of a time to make your mark, and you pitched a hell of game in relief. You fucking owned Manny – keep it going.
Shane Victorino. You put the champagne game on ice with you’re moonshot homerun in the 6th. I love how former Dodgers really came back to bite their old club. Save a few more for CC please? K, thx, byez.
Brad Lidge. You’re back from the dead, Brad. What else can I say?
Chan Ho Park. You were absolutely filthy this NLCS. Brett Myers who?
MVP! MVP! MVP!
Ryan Howard. Your fantastic postseason continues, congratulations. You are an absolute force in the middle of our lineup, and like Werth, you strike fear into the hearts of opposing pitchers. Who is capable of getting you out? Phil Coke? Please.
What pissed me off: No Harry Kalas
Can somebody explain to me: how Mets fans must be feeling? I’m not rubbing in our success (not yet anyway), but it must be a shitty feeling to field such a shitty team and then have the Yankees and the Phillies meet in the World Series.
Now what: We wait. Though I’m basically assuming the Yankees will beat the Angels in Game 5 of the ALCS, I suppose it is possible that the series could get interesting.