Wednesday notes

Other Stuff

Happy Wednesday, some random thoughts…

* With the signing of Trevor May, the Phillies draft board is now taking shape. The Phillies took lots of high school kids in the first 10 rounds, and so far, they’ve followed through on a number of those picks. They now have 3 unsigned picks in the first 10 rounds, plus James Weber in the 12th round. My general thoughts on the likelihood of these guys is as follows

Pettibone – 75%
Shreve – 90%
Coy – 0% (he enrolled in classes, he’s gone)
Weber – 40%

Pettibone wasn’t a highly touted guy, but he has everything the Phillies look for in a pitching prospect. I’d imagine he’ll sign, probably close to the deadline, probably for slightly above slot money. I still believe that Shreve was a pre-draft deal, and that it will be announced right near the deadline, probably for mid-late 2nd round money. Coy is gone, it was a decent risk to take, it seems that the Phillies really made an effort, so I won’t fault them. Weber seems less likely, he has a good college commitment, but I’ll hold out hope.

* Brandon Workman, “the one that got away”, is on the Cape this summer, pitching for Wareham. So far he’s thrown 27.1 innings, with a 1.98 ERA, allowing 17 H and 8 BB to go with 38 K. Much like Kyle Gibson lit up the Cape last summer, another Phillies pitching prospect is doing well in a wood bat league after his freshman year. The Workman situation still has a few unanswered questions, but it sure would have been nice to get him into the system. He may blow out his arm tomorrow or he could be a first rounder in 2 years. We’ll see.

* Joe Savery, “the one we’ve given up on”, turned in his second solid start in a row.

6.2 IP — 1 ER — 6 H — 1 BB — 4 K

He’s now gone 13.2 IP — 1 ER — 3 BB — 10 K in his last two starts. Baby steps, yes, but definitely positive movements after really struggling. Its important to remember, as I’ve said before, that he was double jumped, and despite the reports, he wasn’t a polished pitcher who was going to rocket to the big leagues. He’s focused solely on pitching for the first time, and adjustments need to be made. This is certainly a positive development, let’s see how things progress.

* I didn’t get a chance to touch on it because I was gone, but Edgar Garcia made his AA debut on July 5th, going 6 innings, allowing 2 ER on 5 hits, with 2 BB and 4 K. Garcia, 20, is now one of the youngest pitchers in AA. The Phillies have challenged him aggressively since his signing, and he’s responded at every level. The big knock on him at this point is consistency, but very few 20 year old pitchers are consistent for entire seasons. He’s pitching against guys 2-3 years older than him (prospects wise), and many guys in their mid 20’s with a wealth of experience. If he can hold his own for the rest of the year in Reading, assuming he stays up, it will give his prospect status a big boost.

43 thoughts on “Wednesday notes”

  1. That’s good stuff from Workman, especially after he struggled a bit during his freshman year at Texas.

    It’s incredibly early, but Zach Collier looks like the real deal thus far in the GCL. 6 walks, only 4 strikeouts, and 3 doubles in 21 plate appearances (plus 1 steal for good measure). It’s refreshing to see a young, “raw” prospect with some plate discipline for a change.

    Finally, a question for you, James: I posited this on another thread, but do you think the money potentially earmarked for Adis Portillo could be used to sign an extra draft pick or two?

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  2. i have a question similar to the one phillyfriar posted. however, it deals with a potential trade. if the phils trade a few prospects later this month, wouldn’t they be more likely to sign an additional high ceiling draft pick or two to try to replenish the farm system?

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  3. I don;t think the draft budget and the international budget are tied together. I can’t be sure, but most teams don’t operate like that. The A’s just dropped 4+ million on Inoa, and they likely will spend close to 4M total on their draft, if that. Teams don’t spend in the draft because of the Commish. They spend freely in Latin America because the Commish doesn’t regulate money spent there. The Mariners are a prime example of this.

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  4. Workman had a no-no going into the 9th on Saturday. I wish I’d gone over to see him but then I’d be crying over spilt milk.

    When’s Hewitt supposed to start playing? I read he’s going to the GCL but he’s not on the roster yet.

    No one’s mentioned James Murphy and his GCL career so far. .407 average., 4 doubles, a triple and a homer, 13 RBIs. I thought I’d give him a little plug. I hope I don’t jinx him.

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  5. Does Garcia still project into the bullpen or into the rotation?

    Don’t take what Savery said about wanting to be being ready in 2009 to heart. I want to be head of my department by next year, but here I am, eating General Tso’s tofu out of a plastic container and reading phuturephillies…sometimes ‘want’ doesn’t agree with ‘experience’.

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  6. Savery also started and finished a DP, and picked a guy off in that start.

    Pardon the ignorance, but I’ve seen a lot of chatter about players signing an MLB contract and playing in the NCAA in another sport. Is that possible? (still holding out Coy hope)

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  7. Shreve is gonna be the steal of the draft. I could be completely wrong but that’s my prediction. When we look back in 3 years we may say “Damn I can’t believe we got him that far into the draft.”

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  11. I agree on Shreve. It would be amazing if the Phillies developed a reliever/closer, yet alone they drafted one. Looks like James Murphy is playing for Clearwater in the FSL today. Those Workman numbers make me cringe.

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  12. Referring to the link provided by Turadad above…Anybody notice who the Hitting Coach is for Williamsport? None other than Eric Valent…at least we got a short season hitting coach for not signing battery boy.

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  14. I don’t think you missed it. I haven’t seen it announced. Someone just mentioned the Crosscutters roster.

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  15. excited to see happ go again tonight. he pitched well in his first game. got a little wild at the end, but showed some promise.

    really like what they are doing with this draft too. at this point, signing 1 or 2 of those guys would be terrific.

    that being said, i think that they were caught asleep on the harden deal. they missed out on that one. honestly, for what the cubs gave up, even if he only pitches some games the rest of the year, he is a huge upgrade over what we have now. even more, i think that the club needs a wake up call type of trade.

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  17. PP Fan – Harden’s velocity has dropped over his last two starts. I know he’s a stud, I’ve seen it firsthand, but who knows how many starts he’ll have before it’s time to shut him down for the rest of the year?

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  18. The velocity is a big worry to me as he’s on my FB team. I think Beane knows he’s about to go down again and pushed the deal through. I’m happy the Phillies didn’t sell the farm for damaged good ala Freddy Garcia.

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  19. PhuturePhillies. I saw a site that shows the top ten rounds of the draft. I notice that the marlins gave twohundred and forty five thousand to a outfielder named galloway.Most of that round was under one hundred and seventy. Is he that good to bust slot like a lot of people on this site talk about,It seems to me the phillies picks so far fall in range with the rounds.

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  20. I think by moving Harden so early, Billy Beane has no faith in Hardens ability to stay healthy and figured he’d sell at Hardens highest value before it’s too late.

    If the Phils get shreve and one of Pettibone/Weber I’d probably be happy. Hopefully they sign all three though.

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  21. “The one that got away” caught my eye and makes me bring up an unrelated question. Do you guys feel we need to get Bedard to make a push for the NL, and what do you think it’d cost to grab him? Would we be in trouble with then four lefties in the rotation (assuming happ stays up)?

    On a related-to-thread note, I really hope Savery comes through even if it’s a couple years away. I missed Happ’s first time out and am anxious to see this one.

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  22. Rocky – you should post a link. That site sounds interesting. I’m sure we’d all like to see it before we commented on it. If the Marlins busted slot so much on one player was it because they didn’t sign a bunch other? Or did they go under slot on a few?

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  23. The sad part of the Harden deal is that Chad Gaudin would’ve also been an upgrade for us.

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  25. Ike Galloway is who you are presumably talking about. He was a late first round talent heading into the spring and kind of had a disappointing year. Still lots of talent, but his stock dropped. Didn’t think he’d sign, but if he did, thats a decent gamble for Florida.

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  26. James Weber isn’t going to Florida anymore, btw. I read somewhere that he’ll be going to St .Petersburg College (a JUCO).

    That makes his situation all the more interesting.

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  27. RodeoJones. I never heard of a lot of what is talked about on this blog. like over slot and it interest me that all. I really could care less what florida does. Things like detroit paying a ton for the kid from seton hall and now he looks like a stud porcello. I think that’s how it’s spelled. is the stuff that makes me wonder sometimes about us that all .And how do you post a link

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  28. OUCH!! Someone said Freddy Garcia!!! Whew….im ok now…… Rich Harden (as good as he looked against the Phils a few weeks back) has a career win total of 36….in 6 years!! He has only averaged 80 IP over that time…..glad he is not coming East!!

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  30. Happ just put up another great start for the phils! Too bad Durbin let both his inherited runners in, Happ deserved six scoreless…. Still 6.1 IP and 2 ER is a fine line for JA. It’s better than Meyers is putting up in AAA.

    RodeoJones is right on Harden. When he’s healthy he’s as good as anyone in the league, but he CANNOT stay healthy. (the A’s are my AL team, so I know) His numbers tell the whole story. Glad he’s a Cub.

    Although tjc is right about Gaudin being an upgrade too….I’d take him over Eaton any day.

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  31. Rocky, if you see an interesting website (if you’re running windows) right-click where the address is displayed, select ‘copy’ and then right click into the comment box and select ‘paste’. It’s called copypasta by the kids on the street.

    It was a nice outing by Happ. If they can upgrade the bullpen some more Happ could be all they need.

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  32. Happ was up in the zone way too much tonight. Very fortunate. But he showed good composure. He needs to work down in the zone and he’ll be ok. His fastball really is straight as an arrow, no late life at all.

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  33. Yeah, he can be a bit scary at times and will give up a lot of HRs. Some potential there definitely, but him next to Moyer, Kendrick, Eaton…makes me nervous.

    Deserves another shot, though!

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  34. happ looked good as far as him keeping the ball down i think its a question of nerves, hell be fine. as far as myers i could be wrong but with gordon out we need a setup guy, but as usual monty will not pay an 8th inning guy 10 million a year. myers should be in the pen as ive always said. marson should be up now and carrasco too. forget about the team spending big money. what you see is what you get with this bunch. and please dont tell me marson is not an improvement over ruiz, or well hurt him. BS. and than we have the idiotic situation of not playing donald at 3rd.

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  35. Mike – the Bedard to the DL isn’t anything serious supposedly. It seems more precautionary then anything else.

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  36. Happ’s delivery must be really deceptive because his fastball hardly moves at all…. But overall I’m really impressed with this kid. Even if he isn’t totally legit at least it will take a while for the league to really figure him out… a la Kyle Kendrick.

    He located his fastball really well inside for called strikes. The ump was pretty pitcher-friendly though.

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  37. He’s been effectively wild. At some point, he’ll come across a team and effectively wild is going to not be effective. Still, color me impressed so far.

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  39. Keith Law ranks Marson as one of the top four catching propsects in his latest chat (exact order unclear). He also suggested in another response that the phils will be active at the deadline, but that he thought marson should be untouchable for them.

    John (NF): Who is the best catching prospect in the minors outside of Wieters? Come on Keith, throw me a bone!

    Keith Law: (2:10 PM ET ) Teagarden, Marson, Conger.

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  42. It seems that Clay Harris has been promoted to AA, which is about time as he really had nothing to prove in high A. Anyone know why Rizzotti has been playing in the GCL the last couple games? Is it just a personnel-related numbers thing? His power hasn’t been what I’d hoped for, but he wasn’t playing all that badly either. Also, any word on why the Phillies have Miguel Matos repeating at the GCL level this year? He pitched pretty well there last year, and one would think they’d at the very least have pushed him up to Williamsport.

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