Philadelphia Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon can still bring the heat when he gets the call, but the veteran All-Star hasn’t been seeing many save situations this season. Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Jonathan Papelbon is the greatest closer in Boston Red Sox history and they still need him. Too bad he pitches for Philadelphia because the Phillies can’t find enough for him to do.

By finding themselves with so few save situations the Phillies are making their once-upon-a-time high-profile free agent signing irrelevant. Papelbon, who as of Sunday had 270 career saves and seemed likely to steadily keep moving past 300, the first-level of milestone for relievers, is becoming a forgotten man.

And it’s not because he’s playing poorly. Papelbon is pitching just as effectively as always. Effectiveness for Papelbon is defined as being very, very good. He is a five-time All-Star and the 6-foot-4, 225-pound thrower has had impeccable control and impressive heat as he has blown away hitters with regularity over his nine-year career.

This season the Phillies are just kind of muddling along. Not so very long ago they had a solid hot streak going and that included going into Boston and unleashing Papelbon on his old Red Sox teammates for the first time since he jumped to the National League for a four-year, $50 million contract. Papelbon, a prominent and popular member of Boston’s 2007 World Series championship team, was welcomed back with very respectable enthusiasm by Fenway Park fans.

Some of them probably still get on You Tube periodically to watch Papelbon celebrate on the field doing a jig to Michael Flatley music following one of the high points of the Sox’s second championship run of the 2000s.

Better he was still inhabiting the BoSox bullpen. Papelbon, 32, became a free agent after the 2011 season and the Phillies made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. At the time it seemed as if he was the missing piece needed for Philadelphia to pluck another World Series crown. Instead, the Phillies fell apart and became the biggest disappointment in the NL. Coincidentally, the Red Sox did, too.

Boston has been searching for a new closer from the moment Papelbon left. They picked up Mark Melancon and he was horrible for them. Then they traded him to the Pirates in a deal for Joel Hanrahan, an All-Star, who is out for the season. The Red Sox also picked up Andrew Bailey last year and he got injured. Right now Bailey is the Boston closer, but doesn’t appear to have the full faith of management. In-between Alfredo Aceves gathered 25 saves last season, but had a 5.36 ERA. This year he has appeared in eight games.

Last season, Papelbon’s first in Philadelphia, he collected 38 saves and finished with a fine 2.44 earned run average. This year, as the season approaches the halfway mark, he is o-0 with 13 saves in 24 games. Papelbon’s ERA is a superb 1.46. The problem is that the Phillies just aren’t finding themselves in very many save situations. Papelbon could probably write the great American novel in his free time sitting around the bullpen.

Papelbon can’t save games that are long lost or blowouts the other way. There is no place for him on the field unless circumstances invite him in. The Phillies do not look like contenders. Maybe they will finish over .500 and maybe they won’t get back over .500. The Red Sox may not win the American League East Division, but at the moment they are leading it, and seem to have the goods to qualify for the playoffs.

The irony is that if the Red Sox had Papelbon back anchoring the bullpen they would have a much better chance to capture the division and ensure a spot in the playoffs.

J; Philadelphia Phillies left fielder Domonic Brown has been on a crazy hot hot hitting pace lately, including eight homers in eight games headed into Tuesday. Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

It’s not exactly as if Domonic Brown has gone from being a garage band to the top 40 in one jam session. The Philadelphia Phillies drafted him in 2006 with the idea that some day he would be knocking on the clubhouse door at an All-Star game. Which he is. It’s just that despite the long wait, it seems as if he is an overnight success.

In fact, in Brown’s case, it seems like success came with the turn of the calendar page from April to May and that’s how the numbers read. Brown was the National League Player of the Month for May. He was also the National League Player of the Week for May 20-26. For about six weeks he has been player of the universe.

Regardless of his pedigree and the long-held belief in Philadelphia that Brown would someday be a star for the Phils, even by the end of the 2012 season the average baseball fan didn’t know much of anything about him. Brown played just 56 games in the majors last year. So it’s been a long time coming for the Phillies and Brown, but Brown announced his arrival with skywriting and fireworks over the last several weeks.

The Phils outfielder had 17 home runs and 42 runs batted in to go along with a .291 average entering Tuesday. Monday, Brown hit his eighth home run in eight games. Pretty soon we’ll be seeing charts in newspapers comparing Brown’s pace to Barry Bonds‘ record single-season homer pace. Eight home runs in eight games is a pretty nice streak. You know what Brown said after that was pointed out to him? “I’m not really big on numbers,” he said.

Does that mean he wasn’t good at math in high school? Everyone else in the baseball world is pretty big on numbers, from fans to general managers. Here are a couple of other Brown numbers: In May he hit 12 home runs and drove in 25 runs. That’s worthwhile arithmetic.

Not so very long ago the Phillies won a World Series and were perpetual pennant contenders. Things fell apart very quickly due to injuries, sudden old age, and disappointing play. For the last couple of years Philadelphia has been aching for a fresh face to root for and now it seems as if Brown is the man and that the promise seen in him half a decade ago when he was being selected in the amateur draft is being fulfilled.

Right now Brown is the best player in baseball. How long he can keep up such torrid pace is totally unknown. Has Brown finally become the breakout star his team expected? Is he going to cool off (he pretty much has to), but remain a star? These are exciting times for Brown and for the Phillies. Sometimes young players get smokin’ hotter than the backyard grill, but they do eventually have water doused on them. It’s always fun to watch and experience as long as a hot streak continues. It’s what comes afterwards, when the temporary brilliance has subsided, that counts. Staying power at a high level is sought.

Brown is 6-foot-5 and his weight is listed at 200 pounds, which gives him NBA point guard dimensions. One reason his season’s average is “only” .291 is because he started slow in April and despite knocking the cover of the ball like the Robert Redford character in “The Natural” he had a ways to go to raise it to above average.

But at the moment Brown is playing so far above average they don’t have report-card grades that cover his performance.

Chad Durbin has pitched poorly this season, prompting the Phillies to release him Friday. (Image Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports)

Veteran right-handed reliever Chad Durbin was given his unconditional release by the Philadelphia Phillies prior to their game on Friday. Left-hander Joe Savery was called up to take his place on the active roster and in the bullpen.

Durbin had joined the Phillies on a one year, $1.1 Million deal that he signed back in January. The deal contained a club option for a second year. Durbin has been beyond ineffective, however, for a Phillies team that has struggled much of the season. In 16.0 IP he’s allowed 16 earned runs, 25 hits, and 9 walks. The performance drew the ire of the Phillies Faithful, as Justin Klugh at That Ball’s Outta Here reminds us with regards to Durbin’s departure:

Is this the first of many roster moves to try and fix the Phillies? Nobody would call the release of Durbin as the fuse lit to blow up the team, so perhaps the Phillies still believe, as they hover around .500, that if they dump some of the more adamantly incompetent pieces, they can still make a run at this thing.

Savery has pitched 22.1 IP for Philadelphia’s Triple-A affiliate on the year, going 3-1 with a 4.03 ERA, 1.119 WHIP, and 11.7 K/9 in 18 appearances. He’s made one appearance for the Phillies Major League club, throwing a scoreless inning against the St. Louis Cardinals in late April.

Carlos Ruiz hurt himself rounding the bases in Sunday’s game. An MRI revealed a strained hamstring that will push him onto the DL. (Image Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports)

The Philadelphia Phillies have already played a stretch of the season without their starting catcher and it looks as though he’ll miss some more time, as Carlos Ruiz was placed on the disabled list prior to the team’s game Monday. Ruiz is suffering from a Grade 2 strain in his right hamstring and will likely miss three to four weeks, according to MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki.

Ruiz has appeared in just 16 games for the Phillies this year, batting .235/.286/.275 with just two extra base hits (both doubles) in 56 PA. He missed the first 25 games of the season while serving a suspension for using a banned stimulant and has struggled at the plate since his return. Rounding the bases during Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds, Ruiz would pull up lame coming into third base from first in the 2nd inning. He’d come out of the game and the team conducted an MRI Monday morning which revealed the extent of the injury.

Humberto Quintero (.250/.286/.350, 21 PA) will replace Ruiz on the active roster and will likely serve as the backup behind Erik Kratz (.205/.247/.337, 89 PA). Phillies catchers have combined for just a .582 OPS on the year, ranking them 27th out of 30 teams across Major League Baseball.

Carlos Zambrano has signed a minor league deal with the Philadelphia Phillies and will head to Extended Spring Training. (Image Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports)

Last week it appeared as though Carlos Zambrano would be heading to play in the independent Atlanta League, having signed a deal with the Long Island Ducks. While Zambrano did agree to the terms of a deal with the Ducks, he never ended up actually signing the contract as he continued to seek employment with a Major League organization. This afternoon, according to multiple sources, Zambrano instead signed a minor league deal to join the Philadelphia Phillies.

He’ll head to the team’s Spring Training complex in Clearwater, Florida initially and will then join one of the team’s minor league affiliates.

Philadelphia’s need to add to their pitching depth has been widely publicized as the team is already dealing with multiple injuries. Roy Halladay will miss the next three months, if not the remainder of the season, after undergoing shoulder surgery. John Lannan has been sidelined with a knee injury and isn’t expected to return until early June. Both Kyle Kendrick and Cliff Lee have pitched well, but the team has also had to cope with Cole Hamels’ struggles. Thus far they’ve relied on internal options – namely Jonathan Pettibone and more recently, Tyler Cloyd – but there is little experienced depth within the organization.

Shortly after Zambrano’s agreement with the Ducks was first announced there were rumblings that the Phillies might have interest, but GM Ruben Amaro expectedly downplayed much of the rumblings. With this signing, less than a week later, it’s clear that the team is leaving no stone unturned in their search for options. Based on his track record in the clubhouse and recent success (or lack thereof) on the mound, Zambrano is going to need some strong showings in the minor leagues in order to join the Phillies’ pitching staff. His deal contains a July 1st opt-out date, meaning there will need to be a decision made one way or another by then.

Roy Halladay’s struggles this season have not gone unnoticed, but not it appears we know the reasoning behind them. (Image Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports)

News wasn’t positive for Roy Halladay and the Philadelphia Phillies after the veteran right-hander met with Dr. Lewis Yocum in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Halladay has a bone spur in his pitching shoulder that has been causing inflammation and other concerns. He’ll undergo arthroscopic surgery in the coming days and will likely miss at least the next three months.

Halladay has struggled all season, posting a 2-4 record and MLB-worst 8.65 ERA through his first seven starts to the season. He’s allowed 33 runs on 33 hits in 34.1 IP, while walking more batters (4.5 BB/9) than he has since 2000 (the second full season of his career). Halladay lasted just 2.1 IP in his last start, Monday at the Miami Marlins, allowing nine runs on just four hits. He’d land on the DL within 24 hours and subsequently arranged to meet with Dr. Yocum the next day.

Halladay at least sounds optimistic towards the procedure, according to quotes passed along through ESPN.com:

They’re going to go in and clean up the bone spur, clean up the rotator cuff and the labrum, try and keep that as uninvasive as possible. From what I understand, if they go in and see during surgery what they saw on the exams, I have a chance to come back and pitch this year. I have a good chance to come back and pitch this year, hopefully be a lot more effective.

The 35 year old went on to explain that the bone spur appears to be “rubbing against his rotator cuff”, causing a small but progressive tear, which could be largely responsible for his diminished velocity.

The injury assures that Halladay will become a free agent at season’s end, as there is no way he’ll reach the innings pitch mark that would trigger a vesting option for 2014 that would allow him to remain with the team. Whether or not the Phillies would consider re-signing him to another deal already appeared to be an unknown, but this also likely signals the end to his career in Philadelphia barring something unforeseen. Halladay is 53-28 since joining the Phillies in December 2009 (at a price of Travis d’Arnaud, Kyle Drabek, and Michael Taylor). He’s pitched to a 3.20 ERA, 1.104 WHIP, 8.1 K/9, and 1.6 BB/9 over 675.0 IP over the last four years, winning the 2010 NL Cy Young Award.

If he can return before season’s end – and demonstrate that he’s healthy – then Halladay should have options on the free agent market next winter. Given his age and injury history, however, it’d be surprising to see him end up with anything more than a 2-3 year deal – though an argument could be made that he won’t see more than one guaranteed. Players at Halladay’s age don’t often bounce back from such a procedure to their pitching arm, but perhaps Halladay will perform above the norm.

Philadelphia will start Tyler Cloyd in Halladay’s next turn in the rotation. Cloyd, 25, is 1-3 with a 5.40 ERA and 1.486 WHIP on the year with the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate. He made six starts for the club’s Major League team last season, going 2-2 with a 4.91 ERA in 33.0 IP with 8.2 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9.

Perennial All-Star Roy Halladay has been suffering from shoulder stiffness and after a poor outing against the Miami Marlins Sunday, the Philadelphia Phillies plan to put him on the disabled list so he can be checked out. Credit: Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports

The game has not been a holiday for Roy Halladay in 2013. There were worries about his usually golden right arm in spring training and there have been concerns about what’s been happening in recent weeks. Now he admits something is wrong, although he doesn’t know what.

Halladay has been one of the premier pitchers in the sport for years and the Philadelphia Phillies need a health Halladay very badly, not a pitcher whose earned average after Sunday’s game was 8.65. Halladay is a potential Hall of Famer and an earned run average that high is a flashing red light something is terribly out of kilter.

The 6-foot-6, 225-pound master of the mound is in his 16th Major League season. He will turn 36 next week, and although that is approaching senior citizen-hood for a thrower, there were no real indications that Halladay didn’t belong in the starting rotation anymore.

Last year perhaps offered some hints of problems with Halladay finishing 11-8 with a 4.49 earned run average. He spent some early-season time on the disabled list because of shoulder strain, but he came back in the second half of the season.

Most baseball fans don’t have a clue what Halladay’s real name is because it is never used: Harry Leroy Halliday III. The Roy part, obviously preferred, comes from the middle name. His nickname of “Doc” is an obvious one, stemming from the Old West character Doc Holliday. But the way Hallday threw everyone knew who he was, anyway, and no one was giving up on him after last season.

In the absence of any definitive major injuries, the Phillies, and everyone else, figured on Halladay being back in top form for this season. That has not happened. He was shaky in spring training and with his 2-4 start and that horrific ERA even Halladay confesses he’s got a problem. He’s about to undergo tests on his shoulder to explain the stiffness that is throwing him off.

Lifetime, Halladay is 201-104, a .659 winning percentage. During his career with the Toronto Blue Jays and the Phillies he has won 22 games, 21 games, 20 games and 19 games twice. An eight-time All-Star, and two-time Cy Young Award-winner, Halladay authored a regular-season perfect game and a playoff no-hitter. He has indisputably been one of the top few starting pitchers in the game for more than a decade.

Given that history what Philadelphia saw of Halladay this season was not the Halladay of yore. As an ugly sampling his Sunday outing consisted of 2 1/3 innings pitched, four hits and four walks allowed, contributing to nine earned runs scored by the Miami Marlins. The Marlins, currently the worst team in the National League, have suffered most from an inability to score runs this season, so for them to rough up Halladay in such a fashion is grounds for suspicion.

After the game Halladay made his admission that yes, his shoulder has been bothering him. And general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said that it was time to stop pretending that Halladay could tough it out without medical attention. Halladay conceded that is what he has been trying to do since April 24 and the shoulder has only gotten worse.

All good baseball fans can only hope that Halladay’s injury is minor and that rest and some time off will cure him. It would be a sad ending indeed if a pitcher of this caliber, known as one of the best of his generation, is forced into retirement before he’s ready.

Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

The opening week of the 2013 Major League Baseball season is now officially in the books. While most contemporary fans of the game are savvy enough to understand that one week sample sizes aren’t generally the most reliable representation of a player’s performance, the temptation to overreact to early returns often times still exists. Take a player who pitches in one of the most notoriously harsh sports towns in the country, slap a big new contract on him, add in a couple of poor outings, and you have yourself a solid candidate for some good-ole-fashioned overreaction.

Enter: Cole Hamels.

So far this season, Hamels has thrown 10.2 innings, and they haven’t been very good (13 earned runs, 5 walks, 4 home runs). The early results have been bad, but there is bound to be a lot of noise in the statistics when dealing with such a small sample size. Therefore, rather than looking at Hamels’ outcomes so far this season, it will likely be more enlightening to examine the process that led to them. How is his velocity? How is the movement on his pitches? Answering these questions, rather than simply looking at an extremely small sample of outcomes, will provide some insight as to whether there is anything potentially wrong with Hamels.

Through two starts, Hamels’ velocity has not been a problem. In fact, his average fastball velocity so far, 92 mph, is actually higher than it was last year, 91.2 mph. Typically, a pitcher’s velocity is lower in April than it is at any other point in the season, so the increase is a very encouraging sign. Higher velocity directly correlates with higher strikeout rates, so it’s fairly safe to assume the early lack in strikeouts is probably a result of the variance that occurs in such small sample sizes.

In addition to increased velocity, Hamels has actually had more movement on his pitches so far this season as well. According to pitch-fx data, each pitch in Hamels’ repertoire has been moving more this year than the averages for his career. His fastball, changeup, and curveball all have increased horizontal and vertical movement, while his cutter has increased vertical movement despite moving slightly less horizontally. Therefore, as far as movement goes, Hamels also appears to be okay.

Cole Hamels has not had a great start to his 2013 campaign, but it’s important to remember that strange things happen over one week samples. Batters get lucky on balls in play, fly balls sneak over for homeruns (see: Billy Butler grandslam off Hamels last Sunday), and a whole host of other factors come into play. What is important at this stage of the season is that there has been no drop in velocity or drastic change in pitch selection/movement to cause any red flags. In all likelihood, Cole Hamels is just fine.

Washington Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg should not be held back by inning counts this year as he was in 2012 when the team felt he was not far enough removed from surgery to go full blast all year. Credit: Brad Barr-USA TODAY Sports

Now that we have put the Stephen Strasburg fiasco behind us and he most likely will be treated like a real live pitcher rather than a porcelain doll, the Washington Nationals seem as solid top-to-bottom as any team in baseball. They should capture the National League East Division title and then fight it out in the playoffs with a strong chance of advancing to the World Series.

The last time the city of Washington, D.C. had a World Series winner (including a couple of versions of the Senators) Walter Johnson was on the team in 1924. To hear people talk Strasburg is the second coming of Walter Johnson, but after the team’s mollycoddling last season, shutting him down before the regular season ended, an act that help nip the Nationals’ own playoff run, I expect him to be superb.

Washington has the pitching (Gio Gonzalez won 21 games, though his name did come up in the paperwork of the Biogenesis Clinic files) and has rookie of the year Bryce Harper in the outfield, among other weapons. At this time last year many thought the Nationals might have a breakout year to push them above .500. Well, the Nationals zoomed all of the way to the top of the standings with 98 wins. Health permitting, the Nationals should be better this year.

The Nationals do not seem to have any holes in their lineup and are so wealthy in talent that they have two closers in Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen. Many of the players are young, too, and may be primed to post their best seasons. Washington definitely looks as good or better than any  team in either league.

Still, it’s the Atlanta Braves’ job to chase down the Nationals. They won’t do it in the regular season. Atlanta is not nearly as well-equipped to win as many regular-season games as Washington. The Braves are good, but not as good as the Nationals in most categories. The biggest void will be replacing future Hall of Famer Chipper Jones in the field and in the clubhouse. There’s no easy fix for that.

Two Braves players who will be intriguing to watch are starting pitcher Kris Medlen and closer Craig Kimbrel. At times they were each the hottest thrower in the National League in 2012, which for different reasons had them bordering on the unbelievable.

After scuffling for a few years Medlen began the season in the bullpen. But when he was shifted into the starting rotation in the latter stages of the season, all of a sudden he was Greg Maddux II. Medlen finished 10-1 with a 1.57 earned run average. The way he is talked about going into this season the Braves make it sound as if they expect 20-2 this time around.

Meanwhile, out in the bullpen Kimbrel was doing the same thing that Aroldis Chapman was doing in Cincinnati, though seemingly with less fanfare. In 2011, the 5-foot-11, 205-pound righty was the NL rookie of the year when he set a rookie record of saving 46 games. Last year, on his way to a second straight All-Star selection, Kimbrel saved 42 games. He also became the first pitcher in history to strike out more than 50 percent of the batters he faced. You used to hear the phrase about a handcuffed team at the plate that it couldn’t hit the ball out of the infield. Against Kimbrel teams can’t even get their bats on the ball.

It was not so long ago that the team of consequence in this division was the Philadelphia Phillies. Riding high one minute, falling apart the next, though, pretty well defined the Phils. They reached the playoffs four straight years, were a World Series favorite in 2012 after winning 102 games in 2011, but won just 81 games in 2013. Ryan Howard‘s Achilles heel was definitely the Phillies’ Achilles heel as well.

The disastrous year provoked the Phils into making some personnel changes, but no one is talking about Philadelphia possessing the greatest pitching rotation of all time the way they were two years ago. The Phillies are solid, though, and very dangerous in a short series as long as Roy Halladay stays well. He had some worrisome outings in spring training.

New York’s Metropolitans are also in this division and it figures to be a long summer at CitiField. There should be a few bright spots, starting with David Wright, once he glues his body back together after the World Baseball Classic.  Which should be enough to put the Mets ahead of the Marlins, who will have a shortage of pitching, a shortage of hitting, a shortage of wins, and a shortage of bright spots.

This is how the NL East Division should look in 2013: 1) Washington Nationals; 2) Philadelphia Phillies; 3) Atlanta Braves; 4) New York Mets; 5) Miami Marlins.