Andrew Carpenter has been waived by the Philadelphia Phillies and was claimed by the San Diego Padres. This means that the Phillies now have an open spot on the 40-man roster and Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly speculates that spot might soon belong to Aaron Rowand.
Rowand was recently waived by the San Francisco Giants, so the Phillies could grab him for the rest of the season. He would provide some support off the bench as he is batting .286 against left-handed pitchers. Since this has been a weakness for the Phillies, this move does make sense.
Overall, Rowand is batting .233 with four home runs and 24 RBI.
He is remembered best in Philadelphia for going all out every time he played, even though it did lead to some less than desirable results occasionally. He was loved in Philadelphia, so this could be a very popular move with the fans.
The downside to this acquisition would be that Rowand would not be eligible for postseason play. Nevertheless, he might be worth acquiring for a month.
This season, Carpenter appeared in six games for the Phillies and posted a 7.71 ERA. He had a 1.821 WHIP which translates to 12.5 hits per nine innings and 3.9 walks per nine innings—definitely not stellar numbers in the major leagues.
However, he was dominating in AAA Lehigh Valley. In 34 appearances there he went 5-1 with a 1.79 ERA. He also barely allowed any base runners as shown by his 0.978 WHIP.
The other reason for opening up this roster spot could possibly be to prepare for the return of Joe Blanton from the DL. Nevertheless, Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. said, “We needed some roster space–just in case.”
Amaro’s quote seems to imply that something unexpected and could happen, so the return of Blanton has been anticipated. We will just have to wait and see what will happen for the Phillies.
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