Wednesday Morning Phillies Thoughts

Yesterday was certainly a busy day as far as Phillies news went. Geoff Jenkins was released, which got the rumor mills roaring about Gary Sheffield; Chan Ho Park was named the team's fifth starter, which set off debate about what will happen with JA Happ; and Brett Myers was officially tabbed to be the opening night starter on Sunday.

So now that we have had some time to digest all of that information, what are your thoughts on any of the topics of conversation?

Jenkins, to me, seems a little puzzling. From what I had gathered it seemed as though he was on a small list of veterans who would not return, with Matt Stairs being another. Personally I probably would have kept Jenkins, at least until another option was firmly put in the mix.

To cut him at this point seems strange to me because what if one of the regular outfielders gets injured? Who would you rather have replacing any of them in the outfield; Jenkins or take your pick from Stairs, Eric Bruntlett, or Greg Dobbs?

Maybe the Phillies have something in mind that will unfold in the coming days. Sheffield? I sincerely hope not. Everything you read about him suggests he is the proverbial "cancer" to a team and the Phillies have such a great chemistry that I would loathe seeing anybody brought in that could disturb that situation.

Somebody will take a flyer on Sheffield as he will be next to dirt cheap, and the prospect of him hitting his 500th home run (he currently is sitting on 499 career homers) will be too much for a team to pass up on, especially a small-market team that is struggling (Pittsburgh? Kansas City as a DH?) and could use something to draw some attention.

The Phillies were the first team to be reported as showing interest in Sheffield, but I wouldn't count on them being a front-runner in acquiring him. He should go to the American League where he can DH.

Park winning the fifth starter job is a decision I applaud. He had a better spring than Happ, not that Happ had a bad one. To see Park and Happ battle as tough as they did for the fifth starter job gives me tremendous confidence in this starting rotation.

This is a gigantic improvement over the debate of whether Kyle Kendrick or Adam Eaton should be the fifth starter, is it not?

It will be interesting to see what happens with Happ now. Does he win a final spot in the bullpen or does he get sent back to Lehigh to stay in a starting rotation.

If he does not earn a bullpen spot I won't be surprised, as I feel he may be a starter down the road, so I support any decision to send him to Lehigh to work on that aspect of the game.

Don't get me wrong, I think Happ had a fine spring and I would have been fine with him as a starter this year, but Park was just too good this spring to leave him out of the rotation. Rich Dubee and Charlie Manuel had a tough decision to make, and I feel they made the right one.

Myers will be opening the season for the Phillies for the third consecutive year (more on that later today) when the lights are turned on Sunday night. Cole Hamels will get his first start in the first game in Colorado later that week.

Jaime Moyer will start game two and Joe Blanton will get the honors on Wednesday for the ring ceremony game (I'll be there!). So while Myers is getting the opening night start, Hamels will become the first starter in the rotation very quickly.

By the way, the Phillies beat the Blue Jays last night, 9-1. Maybe the offense can flip a switch!

This article was originally published on Macho Row.