No Laughing Matter: Kyle Kendrick Optioned by the Phillies

During Spring Training in 2008, Kyle Kendrick was the victim of one of the more elaborate pranks in baseball history.

A collaborative effort between players, manager Charlie Manuel, assistant GM Ruben Amaro Jr., traveling coordinators, and media alike all convinced the young, easily rattled Kendrick that he had been traded to a Japanese baseball team for a player with the same name as the world famous hot dog eater, Kobayashi.

One wonders if Kendrick thought it was a joke yesterday when he learned that he was being optioned to the minor leagues.

It was a matter of time before Kendrick was officially eliminated from the competition for the fifth starter in the rotation.

Kendrick has had a run of poor outings in which he seemed to get rattled as soon as one thing would go wrong.

To this point in the spring, Kendrick had a 1-3 record and a 9.20 ERA in Grapefruit League action, which does not include his abysmal performance in exhibition against Team USA.

For Kendrick, the time in the minor league system will allow him to work on developing some new pitches to his repertoire. The sinker that got him to the Majors and has given him some success has become common knowledge to batters, and he needs to work on new ways to get batters out.

His run support was usually very good, which kept Kendrick out of a few losses, but if Kendrick is to be a Major League pitcher, he will need something else.

Kendrick has already said that he will be back in the Majors, and hopefully he gets a chance to redeem himself with the Phillies. The team has made their support vocal by claiming that many pitchers have gone back to the minors to fine tune themselves.

So where does the fifth starter race stand right now?

While the competition is down to three (JA Happ, Chan Ho Park, and Carlos Carrasco), only two figure to have a legitimate chance. Carrasco remains in camp with the Phillies, but all expectations are that he will start the season with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in AAA.

Happ and Park are left to determine the final starting spot. Happ may have the slight edge because the Phillies may feel Park will be best used out of the bullpen.

In addition to Kendrick, Dave Borkowski, Jake Woods, Lou Marson, and Jason Donald were also demoted to the minors yesterday.

Donald has been seeing a lot of good playing time with Chase Utley and Pedro Feliz rehabbing for a while and Jimmy Rollins playing with Team USA, but with Feliz and Utley back in action and Rollins returning to the Phillies after Team USA's elimination from the World Baseball Classic, Donald's playing time was about to decrease drastically.

It seems, however, that the Phillies are now comfortable with Donald if they need to call him up for any reason.

He got off to a slow start in the spring but came back to really catch on offensively. Donald will benefit more from the opportunity to be an everyday player for the IronPigs as opposed to being a bench player with the Phillies.

Donald should not be discouraged at all.

Catching prospect Lou Marson is in that same boat as Donald. Marson is a highly touted catcher in the organization but finds himself sitting behind a stiff competition for a backup role.

With Carlos Ruiz the everyday starter for the Phillies and Ronny Paulino and Chris Coste the top two candidates for the backup job, Marson will be better off working on his weaknesses with the IronPigs.

The Phillies feel he has potential for a successful career, but right now he needs to work on some things behind the plate.

Marson is also the topic of trade rumors involving the Boston Red Sox.

I do not think trading Marson would be a good idea as long as the Phillies believe he will eventually be a solid catcher. It is just too hard to find a solid catcher, and Marson may be the best bet for the future.

Unless the Red Sox offer something to the Phillies that would be too good to pass on, I say let the Red Sox find some other team to pry talent from.