Stockpile of Arms With No Big Guns

2/14/08

The Phillies closed a deal to land right hander Kris Benson to a Minor League contract on Thursday. Benson has been rehabbing from surgery on his right shoulder to repair a torn labrum, which forced him to sit out all of the 2007 season. Benson has been courted by the Phils’ brass since he threw before scouts and executives from nine clubs in January near his home in Arizona. Benson, a former first-overall pick in the 1996 draft, provides the Phillies with another pitching option for the back end of their rotation should Adam Eaton’s balky shoulder, or worse his performance of the 2007 season, rear its ugly head again.

Since Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon recorded the final strike of the World Series, Phillies GM Pat Gilick has states repeatedly that the team’s primary focus for the offseason remains on upgrading their pitching. Some can argue that they have done so by using the acquisition of closer Brad Lidge to push Brett Myers back to the starting rotation in addition to adding recent Rule-5 draft picks LHP’s Fabio Castro and Travis Blackley, and the signings of RHP’s J.D. Durbin, Chad Durbin, and now Benson. The fact is that Lidge, 30, has shown the ability to be a lights out closer with a tendency to hit ruts and lose confidence and composure. Sound familiar, Myers fans?

Myers provides a definite upgrade to the top of the rotation simply because he has dominant stuff in his repertoire. His fastball reaches the mid 90’s, which he uses to set up his knee buckling curve for strikeout after strikeout. He also throws a cut fastball which will make him more effective than before against left handers. Beyond him the, the Phillies hope that control artist Kyle Kendrick can repeat his performance of last season when he went far beyond the call of duty coming from Class AA Reading to help save a starting rotation the saw John Lieber, Freddy “the Flop” Garcia, Eaton, and ace Cole Hamels all go down with injuries during the season. Kendrick proved to be a sure thing almost every start, not missing a turn and winning half of his twenty starts while still pulling a remarkable 3.87 ERA having never pitched above Class AA as a 22-year old.

Since the Pat Gilick Era began in Philadelphia prior to the 2006 season, the focus has been on stockpiling arms. However, the club’s most recent activity to gather more starting options has yielded little more than Chad Durbin who is heading to spring training now with his fifth organization at the age of 30. He owns a career ERA of 4.72. Compare that with Adam Eaton’s career ERA of 4.70 and see if you can make a connection. Durbin also owns a K:BB ratio of only 265:193 for his career, far below the favorable 2:1 standard. Also, Durbin has given up 535 hits in just 465.0 career IP. When a pitcher spends eight seasons in the Major Leagues compiling those numbers, he points critics to the fact that he has control problems (note the number of walks), and when he does find the plate, he gets knocked around, giving up a lot of runs (look again at the number of hits and ERA and imagine what the cozy Citizens Bank Park will do to him).

The Phillies dug into the free agent market for a starting pitcher in his early thirties to shore up their pitching staff. This particular pitcher had a career ERA of 4.40 and a history of injury problems. Am I referring to the Phillies’ acquisition of Adam Eaton prior to the 2007 season or to the Benson signing of this offseason? They bear striking similarities to one another. If I told you that Kris Benson’s career ERA when signing with the Phils was 4.34 at the time of his signing, you would know that the pitcher I described above was Adam Eaton. Numbers do not show much of a difference among the trio comprised of Chad (or J.D., for that matter) Durbin, Benson, and Eaton. There has been some excitement surrounding the acquisitions of Durbin and Benson, but if statistical history is any indicator of what is to come, I would urge Phillies fans to be more excited about the acquisitions of Lidge and Blackley, and to look forward to the arrival of up and coming minor league prospects Carlos Carrasco, Josh Outman, Joe Savery, Andrew Carpenter and 20 year old Kyle Drabek in that order, and not to get too excited about the arrivals of Durbin and Benson.