Happy Friday. I thought today we could again take a look at the impending pitching crisis facing the Phillies, and who is possibly going to step into the open spots.
Myers
Hamels
Moyer
Kendrick
( )
Lidge
Gordon
Romero
Madson
(________)
(________)
(________)
This site has been functional since the end of December, 2006. I really assumed I’d have to make this post a lot sooner, but everyone has behaved far better than I could have imagined. So, this is a friendly reminder. I can see your IP address. Using different logins from the same IP address to post ridiculous/childish comments isn’t going to work. If you do it, I’ll just mark your comment as spam and delete it. It’s as simple as that. My goal here is to make this site as informative and readable as possible. That’s why I don’t make even a penny off of the site by littering it with ads and links, and thats why I’ve turned down offers to sell the domain and its contents to another site. I enjoy writing here, I enjoy the discussions, and I think this site has come a long way in 16 months. But I’m still protective of the content and standards, and that applies to the comments as well. So, for 99.9% of you, thanks for being civil. The .1% will be weeded out.
In case you didn’t see it in the comments section of a previous post, Tyler Mach and Jarrod Freeman have both retired, based on the info thats been uncovered. I guess maybe it somewhat justifies my harsh criticism of the Mach pick at the time. Most college seniors aren’t elite prospects, but most stick around for at least a full season. Its really a shame to waste a 4th round pick on a guy who is only going to play 2 months of pro ball. Freeman is more surprising, as he did seem to have a few legit tools, though he was probably going to take time to develop. But, its just a reminder that pro ball, especially for guys who are facing a major uphill climb, isn’t for everyone. Which makes a guy like Chris Coste all that more amazing.
From Blue Claws PR: Not the biggest news, but its a start!
Galvis, Mattair, Brown all expected to start campaign with the BlueClaws
Lakewood has already produced a number of Major League stars and it appears a few more former BlueClaws are on their way to Big League fame. The 2008 season could produce the latest crop of future Phillies, with a number of big prospects likely starting the season in Lakewood.
The Phillies 40 man roster no longer contains Lincoln Holdzkom. Either this is a typo/web error on the Phillies end, or they’ve already seen enough to know that he’s not going to stick. Which do we think it is?
I hit the Carpenter Complex to check out the first day of minor league games. It was the Clearwater (Group 3) team and the Lakewood (Group 4) teams against the Orioles. Nothing of terrific interest to report except that I did pick up the newly updated minor league rosters. This version has the guys broken out into five groups not four like the previous version that I had posted a while back. Continue reading Updated 2008 Minor League Rosters (Workout Groups)
With many of the prospects re-assigned to minor league camps, there won’t be as much action to report on from big league games. Ken Mandel, the guy responsible for writing most of the pieces for Phillies.com, keeps a “mailbag” where he answers reader questions, though I have a hard time believing people ask some of the questions that get posted. Anyway, he touched on a few Phillies prospects in yesterday’s version
First and foremost… I’ve always called you Andrew, but I keep seeing you referred to as “Drew” Carpenter around the net. Which is it…Drew or Andrew?
Andrew
I know from talking with you earlier that you said you’ve been in Clearwater working out since January to try to be in better shape this year than you were last year. What sort of goals have you set for yourself in 2008?
I think everyone’s goal each year is to get to Philly because I know mine is. Other than that they are to win another championship, to keep my team in every ball game to give them a chance to win, to keep progressing on my changeup and making that better, and now in AA maybe get a couple of hits this year.
Continue reading The Andrew Carpenter Interview
The Phillies have done some spring cleaning, optioning Joe Bisenius, Scott Mathieson, JA Happ, and Brad Harman to minor league camp, while re-assigning Joe Savery, Lou Marson, and Jason Donald, among others, to minor league camps as well. Players on the 40 man are “optioned”, while non-40 man guys are re-assigned, that’s just the way its designated. To me, this is kind of surprising. I didn’t really think Happ was a choice for the #5 spot in the rotation right out of spring training, but you’d have thought they’d have kept him around a bit longer to face quality big leaguers. Bisenius similarly was a longshot for a bullpen spot out of the gate, but again, he’ll probably be up to the bigs again this year at some point, so it seems odd to option him with 3 weeks left in spring training.
Here’s the question of the day. The Phillies top 3 is Hamels, Myers and Moyer. Kendrick is the #4 for now, though he’s gotten his brains beat in this spring. Assuming he is the #4, and assuming Adam Eaton wisely opens the season on the DL, who starts as the #5? Travis Blackley has had mixed results this spring, Kris Benson is still recovering, and now Happ has been optioned out. Is it Blackley’s job?
Yesterday’s game was shortened to 6 innings, much to the delight of Adam Eaton and Chad Durbin who both got smacked around. No real prospect action to report. This article, albeit from Phillies.com, talks about JA Happ, his rough 2007, and his desire to bounce back this year. I’m still kind of worried about him healthwise, as nothing concrete ever came about with his elbow, but I’m hoping he can put it together this year, as we’ll likely need him at some point. Scott Lauber also has a feature on Drew Carpenter, and how he could possibly be this year’s Kyle Kendrick. I disagree with that notion, only because Carpenter is much more on the radar (at least to people who follow the minors) than Kendrick was at this time last season.
Phuture Phillies 