No Detail Too Small

Last week, the Phillies signed Adam Eaton and justified it, in part, by saying he's a good fielder.

Today's paper includes this gem from General Manager Pat Gillick:

If the Phils landed another starter, they would try to trade Lieber for desperately needed bullpen help. Gillick said moving Lieber to the bullpen was not an option because of the pitcher's suspect fielding.

"There are too many plays late in a game that a reliever has to make," he said.

This takes attention to detail to an absurd extreme. Last year, Phillies pitchers handled about 300 plays, which is 2 a game. It was the other 25 outs a game that the Phillies had trouble with. Besides, no pitcher has ever made the Hall of Fame for being a good fielder.