"I don't think it's absolutely necessary that we get a righthanded bat in order to win the World Series," Amaro said. "To me, I'm more concerned about our pitching than our offense."
Amaro, of course, always has placed a heavy emphasis on pitching, and that remains even though the team's 2.98 ERA going into Thursday night's game at St. Louis was the best in baseball. The GM said his concern right now is in the bullpen, which took a hit when Jose Contreras was placed on the disabled list for the second time this season with an elbow injury.
"I'm always concerned about our bullpen," Amaro said. "We have some young kids throwing in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, and it's hard to rely on them on a daily basis. They've never been through it in September, and they've never been through it in October, and now Contreras is down, and we don't have [Brad] Lidge back."
The two young kids Amaro referred to are 24-year-old Michael Stutes and 25-year-old Antonio Bastardo, both of whom have been outstanding out of the bullpen for the Phillies this season. Workload is a valid concern. Bastardo threw a total of 39 innings in his first full season as a reliever last year, and he already had 28 innings through 75 games this year.
Stutes, on the other hand, covered 76 1/3 innings in his first full season as a reliever last year and is only at 22 2/3 innings right now. It's clear that Manuel will continue to lean on the two rookies because of how impressive they've been. Bastardo went into Thursday's game with a 3-0 record, two saves, and a 0.96 ERA, while Stutes was 2-0 with a 2.38 ERA.
Veteran Juan Perez, 32, was added to the bullpen to replace Contreras. Perez was 0-3 with four saves and a 3.52 ERA at triple-A Lehigh Valley this season. He had two previous big-league stints with Pittsburgh, the last one in 2007.
