final update before the season starts

[davegod2]

From the Philadelphia Daily News:

Lefthander Randy Wolf finished his spring on a positive note, pitching five shutout innings after taking a 9.20 earned run average into his tuneup start.

Shortstop Jimmy Rollins is batting just .203 this spring but, on the plus side, also has eight walks and has been hit by a pitch in 68 plate appearances.

There are no worries about Opening Day starter Kevin Millwood, and lefthander Randy Wolf has never been known as a great spring-training pitcher. He went 7-3, with a 2.10 earned run average after the All-Star break last year and signed a 4-year, $22.5 million extension over the winter. He also pitched five shutout innings with five strikeouts in his tuneup yesterday.

The rest of the starters have given Bowa heartburn, though. While righthander Vicente Padilla has been more effective in recent starts, he's still 0-4 with a 7.58 ERA. Joe Roa, who was on the bubble to even make the team, is the No. 4 starter since Duckworth has been sidelined by elbow tendinitis.

The biggest quandary, however, has been righthander Brett Myers. After being strafed by the Devil Rays on Thursday night, his Grapefruit League ERA rose to 6.75.

"He's having trouble locating his fastball and has since last year," Bowa said. "He's throwing off his back leg, so it's like pitching uphill. He's probably been doing that since he was 10 or 11 years old, so it's not something we're going to change in 6 weeks.

"Let's face it. He's 22 years old. Most 22-year-olds are in Double A."

Bowa admitted that, in a perfect world, Myers wouldn't be doing his learning at the big-league level for a team that's trying to win now.

"Obviously, if we had some veteran depth and they were all throwing well, [sending Myers to the minors for more seasoning] would be an option," the manager said. "But we need him to keep us in games. We've tried to alleviate pressure by making him the fifth starter. It's definitely a confidence problem because, stuffwise, he's as good as anybody on the staff. He's just got a lot of things to correct."

[Arlo]

I'm starting to worry a bit about Myers. His stuff is amazing, but he needs a bit more time to get not only his confidence, but his timing back. A couple months in the minors might work wonders...

[whoson1st0]

Then maybe when duckworth comes back, they should keep Roa in the rotation and send Myers down to AAA for a bit. Or try to make a deal for a veteran pitcher who can be an innings-eater for them (maybe they should've tried to grab Rogers, or Reynolds)

[Danks81]

Anything new on the catcher situation?

[whoson1st0]

what catcher situation?

[davegod2]

Anything new on the catcher situation?

Uh, I'm not sure what you are referring to, either. Lieberthal is the only catcher on this team, unless he were to get injured again, in which case his backup is Todd Pratt.....