The Clearwater Threshers began their last seven games with a rain out at the Tampa Yankees, and then returned home to split a four game series 2-2 against the Eastern Division’s last place team the St. Lucie Mets. They then headed to Palm Beach for a four game series against the Eastern Division’s first place team the Palm Beach Cardinals.
The Threshers dropped the first two games of that series losing by one run in both games. The team has two games remaining at Palm beach before a long weekend for most of the team as the Florida State League will host its all-star game this upcoming Father’s Day weekend. Edgar Garcia, Matt German, Brett Harker, and Gus Milner will all take part in the game. In addition as the defending Western Division champs the Clearwater Threshers coaching staff has the honor of leading the Western Division squad in the game.
Edgar Garcia got his first start after missing a couple of starts with an injury this past Sunday. Unfortunately he was brutalized for six runs on six hits lasting just 1.2 innings in the game. That being said I am not sure whether or not he will be allowed to participate in the all-star game for the Threshers.
With all of the draft excitement this week and the first-half of the Florida State League season about to come to a close I will not go into further detail this week, but will will have a first-half recap for you next Wednesday recapping the first 70 games of the Threshers’ season, and look forward to what we perhaps can expect from the team as they start fresh with an 0-0 record in the second half of the season.
Get Daily Threshers recaps at http://clearwaterthreshers.jeffcrupper.com
Phuture Phillies 
is edgar garcia still injured? when will he pitch again?
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I have no confirmation of that and did not ask, but I would have to think based on his perfromance he is still not 100%. At this point he is not scheduled to start again before the all-star break, so I guess we’ll know by whether or not he plays in the all-star game whether he is hurt or not.
I am going over to the east coast for the all-star game this weekend, so I’ll report on any highlights either on Monday or in next week’s Threshers report.
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Sam Walls, the closer for CLearwater was called up to Reading today. He has put up outstanding numbers so far this year, so this jump should be interesting for him.
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i expect a steady trickle of promotions to happen over the next few weeks.
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Congratulations to Walls. Despite missing an entire season to injury (2007). Walls has advanced as far as any 2006 draftee AA (joining other 2006 draftee Jason Donald).
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hey jeff – do you think that cardenas is ready to move up? or keep him in A ball for more time?
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I won’t answer for Jeff, but I think Cardenas should stay in Clearwater all year. He’s hitting real well right now, the secondary numbers are improving, but at Reading, he’s likely to see a bit of an adjustment period, and he might struggle. This wouldn’t be a big problem, but I think he’s going to get shopped this summer for a starter (just a hunch) and his trade value will remain higher if he’s still raking in High A. He’s only 20, the average prospect age is closer to 21 in High A, so he’s still ahead of the prospect curve.
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when are brown, naylor, and taylor moving to clearwater. i agree that cardenas should be part of a package since there is no where here for him.
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I wouldn’t say there is “nowhere for him”, there’s nowhere for him this season. But some scouts feel he’s going to end up in LF, and we might have a hole there this year, or next.
I only think he’ll be shopped because he’s still at 2B now and is competent there, and hes one of the best 2B prospects in the minors in terms of offensive upside. Gillick is going to go for broke this summer, and I think Cardenas will be one of the guys who other teams will want.
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There was an article somewhere saying that Taylor and Brown won’t be getting promoted as soon as it seems, they quoted “a Championship” as a reason, but this could also be as PP speculated with cardenas, a way to keep numbers up till they could shop these guys during the summer for a pitcher…
promotions probably wont happen until after a trade is made for a SP, or the trade window for a starter has closed this summer….
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i might be biased, but i would think that the opportunity to add marson, cardenas and carrasco should be enough to get a CC Sabathia or similar type player. or maybe we package victorino, cardenas and carrasco. those are some really talented guys that are not far away from the bigs.
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If the Phillies traded Marson, Cardenas and Carrasco for Sabathia and didn’t have the framework in place to sign him long term, I’d probably stop updating this site. Trading your 3 best prospects in an already depleted system to increase your World Series chances from 21% to 25% seems beyond ridiculous.
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looks like 7 more players signed
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/20080611_Phillies_sign_7_more_draft_picks.html
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i agree. but i don’t think that the phils would trade those 3 guys without a long term deal in place a la what the mets did with santana. 24-48 hour window to negotiate a deal
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that being said, i think that trading for sabathia and signing him to a long term deal probably means that burrell is gone. which i am fine with.
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While I WHOLE heartedly agree that I would not want to trade those 3 for CC would you be against us trading 3-4 prospects for a pitcher but leaving some higher value guys still in the system?
I mean part of the reason for a farm is to use it to trade for better current MLB players. If we traded let’s say 2 of Cardenas/Marson/Carrasco/Golson and 2 other prospects would that be ok? Basically where is your point where its just too much?
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I wouldn’t trade Marson unless we were getting a young pitcher who had 2+ years of controlled service time left. I don’t really want to trade Carrasco either. I’d trade Golson now, I’d trade Cardenas if the player was under control for at least a year.
Essentially, I don’t want think that adding Sabathia makes us that much more of a lock to win anything, unless hes added sooner rather than later. Sure, I’d rather Sabathia start a playoff game than Kyle Kendrick, but the difference between Sabathia and Kendrick for 2+ months isn’t enough for me to give away 18 years of Marson, Cardenas and Carrasco. If a long term deal is in place, or if the player we trade for is under control for 2+ years, then its a different story.
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And I agree with that point on rental players.
Also why are all our starters struggling now in Clearwater? None of the current starters have performed well all yr. Are we getting worried on Garcia and Savery or is it that they are larger projects than we had org. thought?
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I would shudder if the phils included marson in any deal that didnt bring back a player with at least 2.5 years on a deal. the numbers he is capable of at a weak offensive position like catcher are wayyy too valuable to just chuck away. of all the guys in the system right now, i think i am most excited about him.
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i agree on marson. i have been high on him for a while now.
but what if we got a 28 year old reigning cy young winner and signed him to a long term deal. put him at the top of the rotation and slid meyers to our #3. with this offense and bullpen, we got a shot against any AL team.
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…and then what if we lost that Cy Young pitcher for 2 draft picks and didn’t win a World Series? Then you’ve depleted the system, your roster is one year older, and you’re drafting guys who will help prop up the system 2 years from now. But if the team that signs your rental player is picking in the first half of the first round, instead of a premium pick, you’re now picking in the late 40’s/early 50’s like we were this year with Rowand.
Its a huge gamble. Very few prospects are “sure things”, but a catcher like Marson with secondary skills, ie, ability to draw walks, should not be treated as just another prospect. I have a funny feeling that the major outlets are all going to be on board with Marson this winter, and he’s going to be at the top of most every Phillies list, and start to garner national attention. I’d prefer he do that here, not in the Indians organization.
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who said anything about a rental player? I think that we are all in agreement (and i said several times already) that we should only do this if we sign him to a long term deal. i don’t think that gillick will make the same mistake he made with garcia. and i agree with marson. he can be very special. i have been singning his praises since last year. but it is equally hard to acquire a 28 year old cy young winner. those guys just don’t move that often.
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Scout.com website is reporting that Segovia has been released by the Phillies and are speculating that Naylor will be called up to replace him on the roster.
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A shame for Segovia. Before last year, it looked like he could be an effective major league pitcher, but it looks like he’s never quite been able to recover from the TJ surgery.
Speaking of rotation spots in Clearwater… with Savery, Garcia and Brummett currently taking up 3 of the spots, the All-Star break is the perfect time to promote both Naylor and Chance Chapman to Clearwater. When Monasterios comes back, Chapman can pitch long relief out of the pen and get his innings that way (as it appears he’s on the “Pat Overholt Plan,” if you will). But it’d be pointless to leave him in Lakewood anymore since he has absolutely nothing more to prove there.
The only question then is: who takes spots in the Lakewood rotation? In the above scenario, the BlueClaws would have Sampson, Diekman, Byrd, and two empty spots. Personally, I’d tab Dan Brauer for one spot, but not sure on the other.
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Saw this on Reading’s site today:
C Kevin Nelson acquired from Toronto for future considerations. Added to Reading
C Alan Robbins returned to Clearwater from Reading
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Drew Naylor was scheduled to pitch Sunday’s game, but the BlueClaws are going with Kissock instead. Naylor was named to the SAL all star game which is this Tuesday. I am guessing that he will be in Clearwater on Wednesday.
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