The Phillies will shift righty Nick Pivetta into the bullpen, manager Gabe Kapler tells reporters including Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer (via Twitter). He’ll be available in a relief capacity beginning this evening.
This’ll be the second time that the 26-year-old has been bumped from his rotation spot. The first time, he was sent down to Triple-A in hopes he’d be able to work out the kinks. Pivetta has mostly struggled since returning to the majors and currently owns a 5.74 ERA over 69 innings, with 7.6 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9 and 16 long balls marring his record.
The expectation is that lefty Drew Smyly will step right into the open rotation spot. His recently reported deal still is not official, but he’s now clearly destined to move onto the MLB roster if and when it hits the book.
Pivetta threw 2 1/3 hitless innings before his latest appearance was interrupted by rain, but he also allowed four walks to go with his four strikeouts. He’s now carrying an ugly 15:13 K/BB ratio in his past 24 frames over a five-start stretch. After turning in a 12.0% swinging-strike rate in 2018, he’s sitting at 9.3% this year.
It’ll be interesting to see how the hard-throwing Pivetta functions in a relief role. Already a hard thrower, with a fastball that has traditionally been clocked at around 95 mph, it’s certainly possible his stuff will play up in shorter bursts. Whether the Phils will consider utilizing him in a multi-inning capacity remains to be seen.
The Phillies are also curious to find out what they’ll get. Kapler says the team elected to bump Pivetta to a relief role rather than Vince Velasquez because the latter has already shown the organization what he looks like in each spot. (Via Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia, on Twitter.)
Even as they hope for a boost from Smyly, the Phillies are said to be looking hard at other possible rotation upgrades. Given the team’s situation in the standings, though, it’s arguable that it shouldn’t push too hard for near-term improvements. It seems likely that the club will target hurlers who are controllable and/or require mostly cash (rather than prospects) to acquire.
Greinke would be a great pickup for Philly if they take on all the contract and do not have to give up much prospect capital but I am not sure he is for sale right now..
One could only hope. Greinke makes up 28% of the D-Backs payroll, so I’m sure they wouild love to get him off the books. The Phillies have the money to eat 100% of it and STILL have money this offseason for moves They are one of the few teams that can afford to take on Greinke.
My wonder is what it would take to get BOTH Greinke and Robbie Ray in a trade? Eat all of the Greinke contract plus send them Moniak and 2 other prospects?
More prospects than we could afford but it would be nice
You’re probably right but I don’t see why he wouldn’t be. They aren’t going to contend for years with the Dodgers in the division and the East/Central being so strong.
Grenkie has a modified no trade clause and the Phillies are on his list of teams he can block a trade to. He also said in February he doesn’t wanna go anywhere.
Thank god. As bad as Vince has been Pivetta been worse. I’d much rather get a look at Pivetta in the pen.
“Thank god. As bad as Vince has been Pivetta been worse. I’d much rather get a look at Pivetta in the pen.”
This is literally verbatim what I was going to right. Cheers to you sir!
as bad as vince and Pivetta have been, i really doubt smyly is better.
If Drew Smyly is the answer, I don’t want to know the question.
If Drew Smyly is the answer, the question is probably rhetorical.
How will you know when the Phillies have given up on 2019?
If Drew Smyly is the answer, I would be terrified to hear the question…
The question is, “Who could you possibly replace Nick Pivetta with and get…worse?”
Plus, I don’t see Pivetta as a viable reliever. Part of his issues ate throwing strikes, especially early in games. That does not bode well coming out of the pen.
Keep plugging people in until you catch lightening in a bottle.
i would hope they’d take that approach with suarez by now, but alas…
Suarez never had the ceiling Vince and Pivetta have. He’s pitched surprisingly well in the pen and I’d rather not ruin a good thing.
what’s the use of mentioning ceiling here? that’s the whole problem. the organization is wrapped up in this concept of these two having phantom star-caliber ceilings, when its possible they really dont or have no chance of reaching them. Suarez’s floor is higher then either’s actual ceiling in my mind.
He’s had his ups and downs but the first seven games with the Rays he was awesome.
Pivetta for Wilkinson would be a great trade. Then they could get Greinke by trading Phineas and Ferb.
I don’t see Greinke wanting to play for a big market team on the east coast.
Pivetta usually gives up 2 runs in his first inning of work. So I fully predict he’ll fit right in this struggling pen.
When Pivetta is pitching, I am generally yelling at the screen to throw effen strikes.
These guys have great stuff. They just do not know how to pitch. The problem is between the ears.
As bad as Pivetta and Velasquez have been, I’m afraid Smyly may be worse. If you’re serious about making a run, fix this.
Looking for a silver lining? Smyly struck out every batter he faced in 2018. Unfortunately, all were members of the Bowling Green Hot Rods of the Midwest League and the total he fanned was a scant three.
Signing Smyly and immediately installing him into the rotation without throwing a single inning at AAA first is a ballsy move.
Innovation, you say? Dunno. Sometimes innovation and desperation area lot closer to one another than people want to admit!