Kyle Kendrick Not the Answer at #5 Rotation Spot

[philliesfiend55]

It's time to bring up Tyler Cloyd or to get a starting pitcher through waivers, but one thing that has become painfully obvious in his two starts since Joe Blanton left, is that the Phillies can't afford to trot out Kyle Kendrick to the mound every fifth game for the rest of the season. There is no way the Phillies will be able to close the gap on the .500 mark with Kendrick, who is having the worst of his six major leagues seasons, in the rotation.

[Ben Grimm]

Honestly, Tyler Cloyd = Kyle Kendrick.

Difference is, Kyle's in for nearly $4M next year, so he'll get every chance to show his "stuff"

Cloyd - aside from the W-L record, doesn't do much for me at all. If anything, package him up with Valle and see if this team can get a legitimate future positional player.

If there's one pitcher I want to see up in September, it's Trevor May. I want to see if the dropoff was from hittng talent against him or simply frustration or boredome. He can actually have success because he has a much higher K-potential.

Honestly - if you can move Cloyd in a deal (he's 25-26 btw) - do it as soon as possible.

EDIT: BTW - when you have $68M invested into your top-3 arms, you need to go cheap the rest of the way. Kendrick is paid way too much to be a reliever, so if he's #5 with Worley #4, I can live with that. I say that because about 10 years ago I told my friend that if this team gets a legitimate #1/#2, I don't care what they have for 3-5. Now that they've got lockdown-type arms from 1-3, it makes it more obvious to me.

Use the money on offense. No more pitching please. And no to Michael Bourn and his hope for $80-$100M.

[philliesfiend55]

There's been kind of a rush to judgement on Tyler Cloyd, even before he's been given a chance to pitch in the majors. People just look at Cloyd's radar gun figures and conclude that he can't be suc essful with an 88 or 89 mph fastball.
I think there's still room in the major leagues for the "crafty Junkballer" or the guy that has excellent command and wins because he has great location and outthinks hitters and simply knows how to pitch.
Greg Maddux never awed people with his fASTBALL. MIKE CUELLAR WON A cY yOUNG Award AND HE WAS A REAL CRAFTSMAN,WITHOUT A BLAZING FASTBALL. Even Warren Spahn and Whitey Ford were never known for "put away" fastballs. There have been plenty of others... Livan Hernandez with about 1960 strikeouts without a blazer, Robin Roberts had several successful years after he lost his fastball....etc., etc.
I wish they would give Cloyd his shot in the major leagues without jumping to the conclusion tha he can't be successful there.
P.S.: Cloyd turned 25 less than 3 months ago and for a college drafted player, 25 would not be considered too late to reach the majors these days, but would be considered close to average progress through a team's minor league system.

[philliesfiend55]

Another reason you might see T Cloyd in Philadelphia soon is that Vance Worley has arm problems that need to be corrected surgically, eventually . It's quite possible that the Phillies might shut Worley down for the year soon.

[Ben Grimm]

Kyle pitched very well today. He's now up to 15 scoreless innings.

Interesting little factoid I got off of David Murphy's twitter...

Kyle Kendrick 1 of 10 NL pitchers to allow 5+ runs in 7 games. He's also 1 of 9 in NL to pitch 7+ scoreless in 4 games.

Which is, in a nutshell, exactly the type of pitcher KK is. You never know what you're going to get out of him one start to the next.

[Ben Grimm]

Another good start from Kyle last night. He must have read this thread

He's actually become the second-most predictable (reliable?) starter the past few weeks.

[Ben Grimm]

Tyler Cloyd is being recalled today and will make his ML debut tonight against the Mets. Cole Hamels was scratched with a gastrointestinal issue.

[Ben Grimm]

Kyle's ERA from the beginning of July to current is 2.18 over 57.2 innings.

[Ben Grimm]

Kendrick throws a career-high eight strikeouts last night to continue his dominance over the Marlins. He's now 10-2 (.833) against the Fish and hasn't lost a game to them dating back to September of 2008. He's now 24-14 (.631) against the NL East in his six seasons.

[jalbright]

I've seen several times in the paper where Dubee has praised his now more frequent and effective use of the change-up. It will be interesting to see if the league adjusts, and if so, how much.

[Ben Grimm]

I've seen several times in the paper where Dubee has praised his now more frequent and effective use of the change-up. It will be interesting to see if the league adjusts, and if so, how much.

It's been the best thing that's happened to him. His success has come as soon as he utilized the change-up much more often. The increase is rather large.

                 Change%   Cutter%  2-Seam%  Whiff%  Strike%  Chase%
Thru June 30      20.3      32.4     35.4     17.3    59.4     29.3
July 1 - Sep 5    36.1      11.9     51.1     24.9    65.1     37.4

Last night, the change-up was used even more.

                 Change%   Cutter%  2-Seam%  Whiff%  Strike%  Chase%
September 10      40.0       4.3     55.7     15.7    63.2     47.4

[philliesfiend55]

THERE'S NO DOUBT THAT KYLE KENDRICK's outstanding performance has been among the two biggest surprises of the last third of the season. The other big surprise (at least to GM Ruben Amaro Jr.) is that Tyler Cloyd can indeed get big league hitters out, even though his fastball rarely touches 90 MPH.
Kendrick is now 9-10, with a 3.83 ERA for the season. If he finishes at or above .500 with an ERA of 3.75 or less, it will be a far cry from the 2-7 record with a 5.00 plus ERA he sported only about seven weeks ago.

[Ben Grimm]

As much as I've complained about him, and don't like what he brings to the table, Kendrick's been more than adequate this season. He pitched a gem last night, and has been one of the more reliable guys on the mound so far.