Phillies Scouted Chad Qualls

Lidge is probably not healthy, but even if he is he's ineffective this year. Qualls is an excellent reliever and I'd welcome him to my bullpen any day.

Unfortunately, the cost for him + Roy would be prohibitive, so it seems the two would be mutually exclusive.

Lidge is 6/6 in save opportunities with a below 2 era since his stint on the DL.. I dunno why the Phils would scout this guy right now while being in the hunt for Halladay. Don't get me wrong, I'd like him in our bull pen too.. but that's just a smack in the face to Lidge who went perfect last year, and threw the last pitch to clinch a World Series for us.. c'mon, let the guy get back on track first before scouting other closers.

That's a far too emotional perspective.

Even though he's 6/6 in "saves" he's allowed 14 baserunners in 7.1 IP and has a 6.14 ERA (where'd you get sub-2 from?) since he got back from the DL. He's not right.

Could this be an indication that the Phillies acquire both Qualls AND Davis thus completely backing out from Halladay? This is all assumption but if they can get both those guys for less than what they would give up for Halladay I may be inclined to take that. Davis is having a career year and is another lefty but Qualls is a solid BP arm that could help from the 7th inning on (go back to his days in Houston) Having Qualls/Madson/Romero/Lidge forms a pretty formidable pen with Davis adding a solid starter as well. Like I said, the question is would both of them cost less than Halladay alone in terms of prospects?

Hm, that's odd that they'd say that, jp. He had those 2 real good outings back-to-back but that's been it.

As for the Davis/Qualls combo, I'd still rather take the single better starter and leave it up to the bullpen we have. It's not as good as it was last year, but it's good enough.

phrontier - as long as he hasnt BLOWN any saves or games yet.. he's okay in my book. Remember during the perfect season last year he had many shaky outings where the team backed him up and made huge defensive stops (victorino's throw out at home plate against the braves comes to mind) He just hasn't gotten the same luck as last year.. and the good thing is his knee (from what he says) is getting better, and his velocity is coming back. Honestly, I think Lidge will work the kinks out and stabilize our bull pen once again.

Phils are just playing it safe, making sure that they don't end up with no help at all should the Doc sweepstakes fall apart on them.

Adding Qualls would make them stronger at the back end, especially if they can't bolster a rotation that seldom gets past the 6th.

I can live with SPs:
Hamels
Happ
Blanton
Moyer
Martinez/Lopez

and key RPs
Madson
Romero
Qualls
Lidge

good point jjpk, security is a good thing.

Davis is clearly better than Moyer at this point and is probably better than Pedro and Co. That then upgrades from 4 and below. I wouldn't be surprised if the PHillies did do that.

Keep the farm intact especially Drabek and get a solid pen arm + SP I'm pretty content.

kj:

You're missing the point though..the Phillies don't need 4 and below upgrades - that's what you do to GET to the playoffs. Their existing rotation is good enough to win the division. Adding a starter for them is ALL about the postseason...and there you pretty much need either two lights-out guys and two ok/filler types, or three very good guys and an ok/filler type.

Davis would be an upgrade to the 4-5 slot, but that slot isn't a problem. IMO it's a frontline starter or bullpen help...anything else is a mistake.

Add another ex Astros reliever who allows alot of HRs in clutch situations. In Houston circles he is known as Chad "Grand Slam" Qualls for his allowing a high number of grand slams and three run homers while in Houston.
That being said he would be a good ad to any bullpen, just don't have him be your closer.

Giants rulez-
Ryan Howard actually has more HR on the road this year. And has an even 100 HR at home and on the road in his career. So look stuff up if you're gonna make ridiculous accusations like Ryan Howard is equal to Matt Holiday.