Where are all the south paws?
Last season the Phillies bullpen had three reliable left-handers in Aaron Fultz, Rheal Cormier, and Arthur Rhodes. The dearth of southpaws gave Charlie Manuel a lot of options when he needed to get a left-handed batter out late in a game. Today the Phillies sent both Eude Brito and Fabio Castro to the minors leaving Matt Smith as the lone lefty in the Phillies bullpen.
Many analysts point to the lack of a trustworthy set up man as the main flaw of the Phillies bullpen. However, that’s not the case. The biggest problem is that Matt Smith isn’t a great option as a left-handed specialist. There are a number of talented hitters in the NL East who hit from the left side of the plate including Brian McCann, Chipper Jones, Carlos Delgado, and Carlos Beltran. Matt Smith just isn’t going to get the job done. Smith had good numbers last year throwing 8.2 innings with a 2.08 ERA. However, he pitched poorly when the game was on the line.
Pat Gillick could do a lot to help the bullpen by acquiring a left-handed reliever. Another reliever who could hold lefty hitters to a low average would really improve the Phillies bullpen.
Sources:
Picture of Matt Smith from dynastymanager.com
4 comments:
You call Arthur Rhodes reliable? That's a stretch, especially towards the end of the 2006 season.
That's a good point Arthur Rhodes was pretty terrible last season. But at least he threw with his left hand.
I am 100% with you on Smith. My mind is baffled as to why he is practically guaranteed a spot since he only has 20 innings pitched in his career. I hope he succeeds but I'm not so confident about it.
Smith has the stuff but relief pitching is about mental toughness. Smith has proven he has the psyche for pitching out of the pen.
Post a Comment