Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Gambling

The recent draft saw the Phillies taking a gamble on more than a few picks. "High ceiling" were the buzz words being bandied about within and without the organization regarding some of their choices who will need a lot of work and development if they are to contribute down the road. "Raw talent" was another combination being applied to these same picks including first-rounder Anthony Hewitt. Pat Gillick's penchant for taking gambles on players was all over this draft.

Well, as long as we are talking gambles, the Phils might consider trying to pick up Dontrelle Willis at the trade deadline should he become available and provided of course they won't be stuck with the bulk of his salary. Sure, those are big provisos, and so is the possibility that the electric left-hander is cooked, his herky-jerky delivery and balky knee finally having gotten the best of him.

Willis has battled knee problems and control issues for a few seasons now, ever since he made a run at the Cy Young Award in 2005 with a 22-10 record. Considered something of a throw-in last winter when the Tigers and Marlins engineered the blockbuster trade of centerpiece Miguel Cabrera, Willis has spent the majority of this season on the DL. In his return last night he gave up 8 earned runs on only three hits in the first two innings against Cleveland while walking five. Word is he may be dropped from the Tigers' rotation, no mean feat given their overall struggles.

He will draw some interest were the Tigers to cut him loose and if they do Pat Gillick and his reclamation team will be interested.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dontrelle Willis?? I saw highlights, er, lowlights of him last night and he looked bad. No fastball, changed delivery, can't throw strikes either. This isn't the same pitcher we once knew. I think the Tigers gave him a 3-year contract for something around 27M this Spring. No thnaks.

Tom Goodman said...

Wow, people aren't reading carefully these days. IF they don't have to absorb most of his contract. IF they want to make a pure gamble. If they conclude (as best they can) he isn't cooked.

Unknown said...

But you can't take Dontrelle from us! He's supposed to be our lefty specialist, i.e. on the team pretty much solely to specialize in posting a comparable ERA to righty Fernando Rodney. We need at least one person on either side of the mound with said statistic in the double digits to justify our pathetic first half. Without him, we'd really have no excuse not to win our (pathetic) division!