"Bandbox Blues" - the solution seems obvious to me...

[Ashburn1]

The reality that Citizen's Bank Park is a ridiculously homer-friendly bandbox has led many to abandon all hope of the Phils having a good, well-rounded team with good pitching for any time in the foreseable future. Surely no decent pitcher is going to want to sign on to play in this HR Derby park.

Well, the solution seems obvious to me - it has to come from the farm. The Phils need to focus their entire system around developing strong young starting pitchers at all costs, and not fireballing strikeout artists but groundball pitchers who keep the ball in the yard. They need to make a long-term commitment to making the development of pitchers their #1 priority. They shouldn't give a lick about young postion players, there'll never be much of a shortage of guys who can hit the ball out of this park.

Now I'm not too up on the recent/current Phils minor league system, so I'm wondering, have they done anything to go in this direction at all in the last few years? They need to start making moves that will ensure a steady pipeline of young arms for the future since we know any of them that eventually turn into good big league starters will eventually leave for somewhere that won't be so destructive to their ERA.

Any Phils minor league experts on here who can give me some hope (or smash my dreams)?

[Mr. Met]

Well you can't forsake the position players totally but I pretty much agree. It's going to be hard to attract free agent pitchers, FA hitters will more likely be licking their chops. They need to develop a good young system of pitching. But, then again, who doesn't?

[philliesfiend55]

The Phillies are already doing what you suggested to a good extent. Almost all of their #1 picks the last 8 years have been pitchers. They are in danger of just the opposite. Their farm system is almost bone dry of position player prospects. They have not brought up one position player minor leaguer since Opening Day except for Chris Coste and Chris Roberson, who are not new to the team.

[Ashburn1]

Well, I understand that being a problem, but of the two potential problems - not enough pitching or not enough hitting, I'd rather take the second.

I do think that because of the inability they're going to have finding any veteran pitchers who want to come pitch in Philly, it's the way to go. The GM's job will be to get us bats, and the FD's job will be to get us arms.

[philliesfiend55]

To Ashburn 1:

The makeup of the Phillies pitching staff and the emphasis of their pitching coachs will have basically the same as that of the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies have improved this year by management finding more "Ground Ball" pitchers and by their coachs teaching their pitchers to throw the Sinkerball , the Split-fingered fastball and other pitchs that drop, and keeping other
pitchs down at the bottom of the strike zone, where they are less likely to be hit out of the park.

[Ashburn1]

To Ashburn 1:

The makeup of the Phillies pitching staff and the emphasis of their pitching coachs will have basically the same as that of the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies have improved this year by management finding more "Ground Ball" pitchers and by their coachs teaching their pitchers to throw the Sinkerball , the Split-fingered fastball and other pitchs that drop, and keeping other
pitchs down at the bottom of the strike zone, where they are less likely to be hit out of the park.

No question, that's the way to go. I hope the Phillies organization goes in this direction and keeps going that way. I do want to see another world championship in my lifetime. At best, I've only got another 50-60 years to go, and with this team, that might not be enough time.

[philliesfiend55]

With Citizens Bank Park becoming much more hitter-friendly than anyone could have predicted when the park was still on the drawing board finding "Ground Ball Pitchers" has become the only way to go. You can find pitchers like Randy Johnson or Mariano Riviera with lights out stuff, who can simply throw the ball by hitters, practically at will, once every 10 or 15 years. Lots of pitchers can be found however, who can induce ground ball outs and finding that type of pitcher is what Phillies scouts should be concentrating on.