Good riddance: Adam Eaton is an Oriole

Philadelphia has lost another beloved sports figure! No, wait, it's just Adam Eaton.

Lost in all the news about the Eagles was a move the Phillies made on Friday when they finally got rid of Adam Eaton. Despite owing him another 9 million dollars, the Phils chose to eat salary and waived Eaton, ending his illustrious Philadelphia career. Eaton spent two years with the Phils and finished 14-18 with an ERA in the high 5's. He played absolutely no role in the Phillies championship run.

Shockingly, another major league club was willing to pick up Eaton. The Baltimore Orioles, obviously desperate for pitching help, signed Eaton to a minor league deal. The Orioles invited him to Spring Training and even expect Eaton to compete for a spot in the starting rotation. If he makes the team at all, the Orioles will officially be the worst team in baseball.

The Phillies will still be on the hook to pay Eaton for this season but they have to look at it as addition by subtraction. Eaton may go down as one of the worst free agent signings in not only Phillies history but also in the entire history of baseball. I guess 24 million doesn't buy what it used to.

Phillies call up 4, more on the way

September 1st is here, and that means that MLB teams can start calling up reinforcements. The Phillies already called up four players from the minors:

P Adam Eaton
OF Greg Golson
P J.A. Happ
C Lou Marson

Eaton and Happ both have been with the club while Golson and Marson are making their major league debuts.

Eaton and Happ figure to settle into long relief roles. Both are starting pitchers joining a team that already has a set rotation so their contributions could be minimal. Let's hope that Eaton sees very minimal time on the mound, I for one have enjoyed his time away from the team.

Golson figures to play a small role on the team as a pinch runner and as Burrell's late inning defensive replacement. Golson isn't great with the bat but he can run and play the field well. He can only be better than So Taguchi.

Marson will be the third catcher, at least for now. The Phillies will probably call up more reinforcements from the Lehigh Valley squad, and you can bet catcher Jason Jaramillo will get the call and he will be the third catcher.

Besides Jaramillo, the Phillies will probably call up a handful of other players from the minors. Mike Cervenak figures to get the call since he wasn't terrible in his limited playing time last month. T.J. Bohn was another player who saw time with the Phillies earlier in the year and he is a candidate to re-join the team. Expect pitchers like Joe Bisenius, Les Walrond, Drew Carpenter and R.J. Swindle to also be considered. There is also talk that Jason Donald will get the call soon, too.

It's nice to see the Phillies give a lot of these prospects and minor league veterans some experience with the big club, just don't expect too much from them. A low leverage pinch hit at-bat and some mop-up duty will likely be all they are called on to do. After all, there's an NL East title to win, and if these guys were going to be big contributors they would already have been in the majors.

Eaton demoted, Happ called up?

Apparently 24.5 million doesn't buy as much as it used to. That's how much Adam Eaton, who was just sent down to the minors, will make over his 3 year deal with the Phillies. Eaton was removed from the starting rotation when the Phillies acquired Joe Blanton but was even worse when coming out of the bullpen. The Phillies offered to send him down to the minors and Eaton accepted, making him the second Phillie to accept a minor league assignment to work on his pitching this month. Eaton has no future in the rotation so hopefully he will work on becoming a reliever. I doubt we see him up again before September.

The rumored replacement for Eaton on the roster is J.A. Happ. Happ started yesterday for Lehigh Valley and was removed from his start in the 3rd inning despite pitching well. Happ has been working as a starter so the question remains as to whether he will be in the bullpen and be the Phillies missing second lefty option out of the pen or if he joins the starting rotation and bumps Brett Myers back to a set-up role. It probably depends on what the Phillies can get done before the trade deadline since they have been rumored to be seeking a lefty reliever and another starting pitcher.

Phillies officially demote Eaton to the bullpen

With the acquisition of Joe Blanton and the return of Brett Myers, Adam Eaton figured to be the odd man out of the Phillie rotation. The Phillies made it official today, announcing that Eaton has lost his spot in the rotation and will now pitch out of the bullpen.

While many Phillie fans wish Eaton was traded or taken off the team altogether this is at least a step in the right direction. Eaton is known for having terrible innings in the early stages of games, so who knows how he will perform coming out of the bullpen, something he has only done twice in his major league career.

Eaton currently has a record of 5-8 and an ERA of 5.71.

Ace Adam Eaton pitches Phillies past Reds

(Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)

And the Phillies just keep winning. The Phils beat the Reds 3-2 Tuesday night for their 3rd straight win and their 8th win in their last 9 games. The game was a good display of how the Phillies can still win a game even if their offense doesn't explode. Just like I did after yesterday's game, here is the good and the bad from Tuesday night's win:

3 Up:
1. Eaton's on a roll! Meet your new ace of the Phillies, Adam Eaton. Coming off his first win of the season last week against the Rockies, Eaton put forth his second straight dominating effort. Eaton went 6 and 2/3rds innings, gave up only 3 hits and 1 run, and struck out 5 batters to earn his second straight victory. Eaton was in total control all night, making very few bad pitches, except for the one Edwin Encarnacion planted in the left field seats. Eaton has fared remarkably well lately and has done enough to tighten his grip on his spot in the rotation. It's a good thing, too, since there isn't really anyone else the Phillies could turn to right now, given how far Kris Benson seems to be from being ready.

2. Burrell supplies the offense The Phils offense was held off the scoreboard for most of the night despite getting 9 hits off Reds ace Aaron Harang. Pat Burrell had the big hit on the night, a two-run blast in the 6th inning that proved to be the game winner:


With 6 hits in his last 4 games, Burrell appears to be heating up again after going through a rough stretch for most of May. It seems like only one of Burrell or Ryan Howard can be hot at once, imagine what this line-up would look like if both were able to get going at the same time.

3. The bullpen holds another lead If Chase Utley is the team MVP then the bullpen has to be a close second. Even though they gave up a run in tonight's game, the trio of J.C. Romero, Tom Gordon and Brad Lidge continue to hold leads and shut down the opposition. Throw Chad Durbin into the mix and I have never been as confident with a 1 run lead in the late innings as I am right now. Most of the credit has to go to Pat Gillick for assembling this group; it appears that he has finally found the right mix for the late innings.

3 Down:

1. Utley goes homerless Chase Utley failed in his attempt to break the Phillie record of consecutive games with a homer when all he did was go 2 for 3 with a double, an RBI and 1 run scored. Utley should be ashamed that he didn't hit a homer and was only able to muster a broken bat RBI single:


Obviously, Utley is still the man. He doesn't even need his bats to stay together to get hits.

2. Howard keeps missing and missing Like I said before, this team will really take off (as if it hasn't already) when Pat Burrell and Ryan Howard get hot at the same time. Howard went 0 for 4 tonight, striking out 2 more times. He also left 7 runners stranded on base. His average has now dipped down to .205. Howard has gone back into a mini-funk after two weeks of solid hitting. He'll bounce back.

3. Manuel benches Coste One day after Chris Coste hits his 6th homer of the season, Carlos Ruiz gets the start behind the plate tonight and goes 0 for 4. Hey, Charlie, play the hot bat! Keep Coste in the line-up! Manuel is known for riding the hot bat so why wasn't Coste in there tonight? Count on him to be penciled in tomorrow.

Phillies waste Eaton's quality start

I already regret praising the Phillies bullpen in my previous post. The Phils lost 4-3 to the Reds, with the bullpen and offense squandering an actual quality start by Adam Eaton. Eaton was unable to hold a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the 8th, giving up a home run to the mighty Corey Patterson, and Chad Durbin walked two batters and gave up the game winning run on a strange final play. There were runners on 2nd and 3rd and one out in the bottom of the 9th, and Reds catcher Paul Bako hit a slow roller to shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who bobbled the ball and then threw wildly to first base. Rollins made no attempt to get the runner out at home, opting instead to try to get a meaningless out at first. It was unlikely that a throw to the plate would have gotten the runner out, but why didn't Rollins even try to make the play? Of course, the better question is why didn't the Phillies intentionally walk Bako to load the bases with one out, and try to get the next batter to hit into a double play? Such are the maddening decisions of Charlie Manuel.

The Phillies offense was mostly shut down by Reds ace Aaron Harang. The game was tied 2-2 when Harang was pulled for Kent Mercker, and Ryan Howard subsequently hit his first home run of the season, a mammoth shot to center field, off the lefty Mercker.

Prior to today's game, there wasn't a Phillie fan out there who expected Adam Eaton to be able to out-duel, or even match, Aaron Harang. The fact that he did, and the Phillies lost the game, was frustrating. The Phils had their chance to win this game, but they came up short. The bullpen isn't entirely to blame, but Durbin struggled to get anyone out today.

The Phillies continue their series with the Reds tomorrow at 1:15. They will send ace Brett Myers to the mound, while the Reds counter with 24 year-old Edinson Volquez.

Eaton, Gordon in midseason form

With only a handful of exhibition games left before Opening Day on Monday, the Phillies should be rounding into form. The hitters should be kicking it into high gear, and the pitchers should no longer be looking to "make their pitches", but instead looking for results. Someone forgot to tell Adam Eaton and Tom Gordon that the season starts next week, because both players got rocked today in the Phillies 14-5 loss to the Tigers.

Eaton, the Phils 5th starter by default, pitched 4 2/3 innings and gave up 6 earned runs, upping his spring ERA to 7.41. Flash Gordon, the closer until Brad Lidge is healthy enough to return, gave up 6 earned runs in 1/3 of an inning to bring his ERA to 12.38. They were facing a scary-good Tigers team with no easy outs in their lineup, but there is no excuse to be getting shelled like that so close to the season. We've come to expect this kind of outing from Eaton, but the Phils are relying on Gordon to hold down the 9th until Lidge comes back. Even after Lidge returns, Gordon is supposed to be the setup guy, but he doesn't appear ready for any high leverage situations.

The only positive thing to happen today for the Phillies was a 3-run homerun by new third baseman Pedro Feliz. It was Feliz's 5th homer of the spring, and he looks like he will be a potent addition to the bottom of the lineup. He's going to hit about .250, but he will also hit 25-30 homeruns.

Here are "highlights" from today's ugly game, courtesy of Comcast SportsNet:

Phillies Pitching Turning Around

Maybe we can all relax about the Phillies pitching now. Since giving up 11 runs to the Minnesota Twins last Saturday, the Phillies pitchers have given up 13 total runs in their last 6 games. That's an average of 2.2 runs per game. That span of games included good outings by each member of the rotation: Brett Myers, Cole Hamels, Jamie Moyer, Kyle Kendrick and the most recent one today by the beleaguered Adam Eaton.

Eaton pitched 5 1/3 innings against the Twins on Friday, giving up one run and scattering 4 hits. It's his second straight solid outing, and it lowered his ERA, which had recently been in double digits, to a reasonable 5.84. The Phillies, who benched most of their star offensive players in the game, ended up beating the Twins 3-2 when Carlos Ruiz drove in the winning run on a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning.

Eaton's solid outing comes on the heels of Kyle Kendrick's best start of the spring. On Thursday, Kendrick pitched 5 scoreless innings against the Pirates, giving up only 2 hits. Even though it was just the Pirates, it was an encouraging sign for a guy who hasn't looked confident on the mound all spring.

It appears that the Phillies rotation is finally starting to settle in and pitch they way we know they can. The Phillies offense is going to put up a ton of runs, so they don't need the pitching to be lights out every game, but it makes things a lot easier when you don't have to face five run deficits in the early innings after Eaton or Kendrick gets shelled.

The last pitcher to get hit hard, Chad Durbin, will start tomorrow's game against his old team, the Detroit Tigers. Durbin is going to need to shut down the Tigers potent offense if he wants any shot at the 5th spot in the rotation. Even then, it might be too late, as Adam Eaton may have already sewn it up with his performance today.

The Sluggish Race for Phillies 5th Starter

Yesterday I wrote a piece about Adam Eaton and his struggles this spring. Eaton is the leading candidate for the 5th starter spot, but with the terrible spring he is having, he is losing his grip on the spot. Too bad there isn't anyone stepping up to take it away from him.

Travis Blackley is one of the four options the Phillies are considering for the final spot in the rotation. He pitched 1 2/3 innings, walked 4 and gave up 5 earned runs in an appearance today against the Indians. He did strike out three batters, but he had trouble with his control all day. Blackley was considered a long shot for the rotation, but with Eaton slipping he could have asserted himself and grabbed the role.

Here are the Spring Training statistics so far for all of the 5th starter candidates:

Travis Blackley: 4.2 IP, 5 K's, 4 BB, 5 ER, 9.64 ERA
Chad Durbin: 5.0 IP, 5 K's, 0 BB, 4 ER, 7.20 ERA
J.D. Durbin: 6.0 IP, 3 K's, 3 BB, 5 ER, 7.50 ERA
Adam Eaton: 4.0 IP, 2 K's, 0 BB, 7 ER, 15.75 ERA

Not exactly the type of competition the Phils were hoping for. Each one of the candidates has had at least one bad outing that has caused their ERA to increase dramatically. Blackley had looked the best out of the group until today's performance. Chad Durbin probably has overtaken him, at least he has shown good control to go with his high strikeout rate. Clearly Eaton is struggling the worst out of this group.

Of course, it's always important to take Spring Training statistics with a grain of salt, especially for pitchers. It's long been said that the hitters are ahead of the pitchers during the spring, and by the time the season starts the pitchers are caught up.

Still, these numbers are concerning. It will be interesting to see what the Phillies decide to do, if all four pitchers continue to struggle. Kris Benson will probably be the next option down the road, and it will be interesting to hear how he did in his simulated pitching experience today. He's got to do better than Adam Eaton, right?

What to do with Adam Eaton?

The Phillies really screwed up with Adam Eaton. He's in the second year of his 3 year contract worth 24.5 million dollars, and he stinks. Because of his huge contract, Eaton is the front runner for the Phils number 5 spot in the rotation, despite having an ERA of 15.75 in two spring appearances. Now he is using the lame excuse that he has a bad back that has been affecting his performance since July.

So what are the Phillies supposed to do? Despite how bad he has been, the Phillies have no other choice but to trot him out every fifth day. They can't trade the guy because no one would want him. They won't release Eaton because the Phillies aren't in the habit of giving away money. He would be terrible out of the bullpen because of the way he gets rocked in the early innings of his starts.

The other fifth starter options aren't all that appealing, either. J. D. Durbin has shown flashes of what made him a prospect a few years ago, but he looked awful last September. Chad Durbin is very average and would be better suited in a long relief role. Travis Blackley is also an option, although he had an ERA over 7 last year with the Giants.

Prospect Carlos Carrasco has been a long-shot option, and he has the best stuff out of any of these back-end guys, but he won't be ready for at least another year. By the way, I know that everyone in the Phillies organization is high on Carrasco, but before we get our hopes up, Baseball Prospectus projects him to be only a "solid, mid-rotation innings-eater". Doesn't sound like glowing praise for a guy the Phillies are counting on to be a stud.

So, getting back to Eaton, it looks like the Phillies are stuck with him. Expectations couldn't be lower. If the Phillies could get 6 innings out of Eaton and he only gives up 3-4 runs, they will be ecstatic. The Phils are probably hoping to get about a month of decent pitching out of Eaton until Kris Benson is healthy. They can then stick Benson into the rotation and then figure out what to do with Eaton.

Of course, if it was me, I would sign Kyle Lohse for the 1 year, 4 million dollar contract he is seeking, and then cut my losses with Eaton. It would be tough to swallow that huge contract and admit they made a mistake, but the Phillies can't afford to have such an inept pitcher in their rotation. The Phillies have an amazing offense that can pile up runs in a hurry, but they still can't risk using a starting pitcher who consistently spots the other team 5 runs in the first two innings. Hopefully a few more awful spring performances will force the Phillies to get rid of the dead weight known as Adam Eaton.