J.A. Happ finally had another chance to prove he could be a major league starter. The rainout from April 15th was to be fortuitous for Happ as he could get out of the bullpen and prove his worth as a starter. Well, it was not to be as the Philadelphia Phillies needed Happ to pitch in extra innings in Friday's night win taking him out of consideration to pitch in the second game of the day night double header.
While Happ was needed and came in and did his job, the Phillies will now go with Andrew Carpenter in the night cap and keep Happ in the pen. It is no ones fault, but this is not a good move for a guy that should be a starter. Happ continues to be stagnated in this role. The Phillies need to either move him to the rotation or option him and allow him to continue to develop as a starter. At 26, Happ needs a well defined roll.
Carpenter has done anything but set the world on fire. His 4.72 ERA would be a bit high for the majors let alone Triple-A. The Phillies may have been better going with Kyle Kendrick who is scheduled to pitch tomorrow anyway. It will be interesting to see how Carpenter does. His 2009 stats are below.
2009 StatsGW-LERAIPHBBKSVWHIPLEH (phi)AAA61-04.7234.131152301.34
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