Phillies deal Wilson Valdez to Reds

The Phillies bench in 2012 will have one less familiar face: utility infielder Wilson Valdez has been traded to the Reds for lefty pitcher Jeremy Horst.  Valdez spent two seasons with the Phillies and was a mediocre injury replacement for Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Placido Polanco.  While his bat was pretty awful, Valdez was at least a good-to-great fielder that was somewhat useful to have on the bench.

The trade of Valdez may trigger the Phillies to make another move or they could simply rely on Michael Martinez for all of their utility needs.  It would be nice if they could find another bench piece that could give them a few decent at-bats while filling in at the various infield positions.

As for Horst, he made his big league debut last season with the Reds at the age of 26.  He probably won't be a contender for a bullpen role with the Phils and should slide right into the Iron Pigs pen.  What, did you expect the Phillies to actually get a useful player in return for Valdez?

Wilson Valdez (!!) is the winning pitcher in Phillies 19-inning marathon game

That was just how they planned it. After using every available pitcher, the Phillies were forced to turn to Wilson Valdez in the 19th inning and he didn't disappoint, getting three Reds batters to pop out, including 2010 NL MVP Joey Votto. In the bottom of the 19th, the Phils finally plated a run on a Raul Ibanez sac fly and won the game, 5-4, and gave Valdez a win in his first pitching experience.

Valdez actually wasn't terrible, throwing nearly 90 miles an hour as he needed just 10 pitches to get out of the inning. While he was certainly lucky that the Reds didn't get a hold of any of his pitches in their pop-outs, Valdez did a commendable job for someone who probably won't pitch another inning in his career.

As with any 19 inning game, there were plenty of other quirky moments, including Carlos Ruiz playing third base, Danys Baez going 5 innings without giving up a run and Domonic Brown getting 5 plate appearances despite not entering the game until the 9th inning. Phillies fans at the ballpark also deserve a ton of credit for staying late into the night and making plenty of noise in the final innings; you truly had to be a dedicated fan to sit through what amounted to more than 2 full baseball games with very little scoring.

And, hey, the Phillies have another game in just a few short hours! Hopefully Cliff Lee can pitch a complete game and save the bullpen from having to over-extend.