Lehigh Valley finished the season at 55-89, in last place in the Northern Division of the International League, 33 games behind division leading Scranton. Taking a last look at Iron Pigs among International League leaders, Brandon Watson was 3rd in at bats (514), 2nd in hits (157), and 10th in batting average (.305). Mike Cervenak was 5th in the league in batting average (.310), and 7th in the league in doubles (30). Andy Tracy was 2nd in the league in doubles (34), 8th in the league in homers (22), 5th in the league in RBI’s (85), 4th in the league in walks (64), 5th in the league in OBP (.383), and 7th in the league in slugging % (.525). Jon Knott was 8th in the IL with 30 doubles.
Pitching leaders included JA Happ who was 8th in ERA (3.60), led the league with 151 strikeouts and was 7th in WHIP at 1.21. Brian Mazone led the league in starts (28), was 4th in innings (164.2) and was 7th in homers allowed (20). Matt Childers was 4th in the league with 20 saves.
Week in Review: Behind a very strong outing from Carlos Carrasco (2-2), the ‘Pigs got back on the winning track on Friday evening with a 9-1win over Syracuse. Carrasco went 6.2 scoreless innings giving up only 3 hits, while walking 3 and striking out 9. Andy Tracy was a huge force in his return to the Iron Pigs lineup going 3-5 with 3 runs scored and a homer(22). Oscar Robles had a big game going 3-4 with a run and 3 RBI’s and Brandon Watson had another multi hit game going 2-5 with 2 RBI’s.
Lehigh Valley wrapped up their home schedule Saturday evening with a 5-2 loss to Syracuse. I was unfortunate enough to witness the latest lethargic, uninspired effort by Adam Eaton (0-1) who went 3 innings and gave up 3 runs on 5 hits. Oscar Robles had his second consective 3 hit game, and Brandon Watson continued scorching hot with another 2 hits as well.
Andrew Carpenter (0-1) got his first start at the AAA level and pitched well for the ‘Pigs on Sunday going 7 innings and giving up 2 runs on 6 hits in a 2-1 Lehigh Valley loss. He walked 2 and struck out 5. Pawtucket went ahead 2-0 with a 2 run third inning and the ‘Pigs were unable to muster enough offense to recover. Rich Thompson and Chris Snelling both had 2 hits for Lehigh Valley.
Yet another loss to Pawtucket, this time 9-2, to wrap up the inaugural season for Lehigh Valley. Travis Minix (0-1), up from Reading, got the sport start because of a depleted pitching staff and lasted 3.2 innings, giving up 7 runs on 6 hits. The ‘Pigs offense was provided by Mike Cervenak who was 2-4 including his 10th homer of the year.
Notes: Lehigh Valley finished the season drawing over 602,000 fans which ranked 5th among 160 Minor League Baseball teams. With a fixed seating capacity of 8,089, Lehigh Valley averaged almost 8500 fans (standing room and lawn seating included) a game a remarkable number considering the poor season Lehigh Valley had. As an aside, having gone to about a dozen games, Coca Cola Park is a great place to watch a game, with excellent sightlines, good concessions, and a reasonably priced tickets.
–The ‘Pigs finished the season 31-41 at home.
Transactions: LHP Kris Benson was released last Saturday, after the Phillies decided their was no use for him as a starting pitcher in the organization. Benson was 1-4 with a 5.52 ERA in 11 starts for the ‘Pigs. Opponents were hitting a whopping .344 againt him and his WHIP was 1.64.
With the recall of JA Happ and Adam Eaton to the Phillies, Andrew Carpenter was recalled from reading to pitch Sundays’ game against Pawtucket. In an up and down year, Carpenter, 23, was 6-8 with a 5.67 ERA for Reading in 93.2 IP. He walked 30 and struck out 69, and opponents were hitting .305 against him.
Season in Review:
–Outfielder TJ Bohn. Bohn, 28, began the season as a candidate to make the Phillies as a 5th OF after being acquired off of waivers from the Braves. Simply put, Bohn’s season was poor at best. He hit .215 with 4 HR and 27 RBI’s in over 300 at bats, playing primarily RF. He stole 4 bases, had an OBP of .280 and a .326 slugging %, and hit .250 with RISP. He was called up to the Phils twice in the seasons’ early going because of injuries and was a late inning defensive replacement for the Phils. He does play good defense and has a very good arm with 12 assists. He played a bit better over the last third of the season hitting above .260 over the last 50 games of the season. On the season he was .186 against lefties. Projection: I wouldnt imagine that he will be back with the Lehigh Valley organization with the prospects that appear to be coming up from Reading.
Outfielder Jon Knott–Knott, 30, was acquired in a trade from the Twins organization after the horrible start the ‘Pigs had exposed the OF as an area of weakness. Knott had a good year hitting .260 with 19HR and 65 RBI’s for Lehigh Valley in 111 games. His OBP was .340 and his SLG was an impressive .479. He was a clutch hitter as well, hitting .288 with RISP. 45% of Knott’s hits went for extra bases and he plays a fairly good OF as well. Knott was an impressive .350 hitting off of left handed pitchers. Projection: Knott is a prototypical AAAA player who isnt quite good enough for the majors but puts up consistent AAA numbers. I would be a bit surprised to see him back with Golson/Slayden looking to be near locks to start the season in Lehigh Valley, but he certainly wouldnt hurt the team if he was.
—Catcher Jason Jaramillo. I would call the year that Jaramillo had adequate. As he is about to turn 26, Jaramillo is at somewhat of a crossroads especially with Lou Marson hot on his tail. Jaramillo hit .266 with 8HR and 39 RBI in 115 games played this year with his offensive output increasing over the second half of the year. His OBP was .340 and SLG was .371. He hit only .205 with RISP. Since May 12th, his average was over .300 this year. He threw out slightly over 22% of runners this year, in a year he struggled with his defense committing almost a dozen and a half errors. He defense and the way he handled pitchers was to be his strong suit, so that area must be improved upon. Projection: WIth the surprise callup of Lou Marson, Jaramillo could by anywhere next year….Lehigh Valley, backup for the Phils, or, most likely, I believe, another organization.
–Second Baseman Casey Smith, 29, was quite a dissapointment for Lehigh Valley. After hitting .290 last year, similar stars were expected from Smith, however because of his lack of productivity the ‘Pigs were forced to acquire Oscar Robles. Smith hit .170 on the year in 300 at bats, with 3 HR and 20 RBI. He had an abysmal OBP of .213 and a SLG that was just as bad at .223. Smith hit .162 with RISP. The only decent statistic was his fielding, committing only 6 errors for a .984 fielding percentage. Projection: I would not expect to see Smith back.
–Third Baseman Brennan King, 27, had an up and down, injury plagued year, finishing at .237 with 5 HR and 34 RBI’s in 342 AB’s. He had a .274 OBP and a .319 SLG, and hit .250 with RISP. His fielding was just short of outstanding. Projection: Although a super nice guy, I, for one, would be a bit surprised to see him back in the Phils organization next year with a slew of infield prospects more than likely coming up from Reading.
–Outfielder Brandon Watson, who will shortly be 27 and a good season hitting .305 in 126 games, with 6 HR and 40 RBI. He also stole 11 bases but was caught 9 times. Watson had an OBP of .341, a SLG of .388 and hit .287 with RISP. Additionally, he hit .335 since the All Star Break. Playing mostly in LF, he had 7 assists, but did commit 7 errors on the year. He led the team with 16 bunt base hits and hit in 34 of his last 40 games. Additionally, he was very tough to strike out…about one every 10 at bats. Projection: Watson continues to hit at the minor league level and I feel would produce in the Majors in an Endy Chavez type role. He is a slap hitter who makes contact and has decent speed. He will not hurt a team, its a matter of how much he will help. Whether or not he will be back in the Valley depends on what opportunities present themself to Watson in the off-season. It seems pretty clear through recent call ups that he is just a blip on the Phillies radar.
–Shortstop Mike Rouse,28, was acquired early on in the season to solidify the Infield and he did an adequate job. He hit .250 with 2 HR and 29 RBI’s in 316 AB’s, and also stole 5 bases. His OBP was low at .285 and SLG, not much better at .323. He hit .247 with RISP. His 18 errors at SS in 89 games is too much. Projection: I would be surprised to see Rouse back next year with the prospects likely coming up, as well as his marginal staus at this point in his career.
—Mike Cervenak, 32, had an excellent season for lehigh Valley, hitting .311 in 456 at bats, with 10 HR and 66 RBI’s. He had an OBP of .336 which was poor for a guy hitting for his average and a SLG of .452. He hit .293 with RISP and stole 5 bases. He also had 42 multi hit games this year. He was very consistent hitting .309 against RHP and .315 against lefties. Projection: Two issues with Cervenak. His fielding is adequate at best and he hasnt mastered any position. He can play 3B, 1B, RF, and LF. Also, he is a hacker. That isnt necessarily a bad thing as he consistently hits for average but that average would surely go down in the Majors. At 32, he is a longshot to be back, but…dont forget Chris Coste.
–26 year old OF Chris Snelling was a disappointment this season for the ‘Pigs having been hampered pretty much all year by a bad knee. He hit .229 in 96 at bats, with a homer and 8 RBI’s. He has a good eye with a .367 OBP, but a horrible SLG of .271. He hit only .180 after coming off the DL late in the season. Projection: The Phillies actually paid Snelling a guaranteed salary this year, in excess of $350,000 which caused them to stick with him. I do not think he will be back.
–Outfielder Rich Thompson, 29, a local product was signed early on in the season to show some hustle and grit and he did just that. He hit .264 in almost 400 AB’s with 4 HR and 42 RBI’s, to go along with 25 Stolen Bases, including 22 straight. He had a .342 OBP and a .378 SLG and hit .286 with RISP. He also made quite a few spectacular catches in CF. Projection: I dont think anyone believes Thompson is a major leaguer but I, for one, hope he returns to either the ‘Pigs or Reading as a 4th OF to show the younger guys how to play the game.
Look for a review of the pitchers next week.
Phuture Phillies 
Great final report!!
It is interesting (but no surprise) that you anticipate few of these guys coming back or moving up. The few that are real prospects are on all of our screens; hopefully, these guys will have a good year @ AAA or with the Phils.
I am pulling for Jaramillo to stay in the organization and have a break-out year, whether @ AAA or in the Bigs.
Thanks for all of the updates this year!
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Thank you Gregg—–
Tough team to follow but you did a great job!!!!
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Nice report I hope he phillies give you more prospect to see next year. We know it must be hard for you to follow a team with very little prospects and having a miserable season. You really did a good job to keep us inform thank you.
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What’s amazing to me is that Reading somehow actually turned out to be a worse team than the Piggies.
That’s not easy to do particularly since Reading had a lot of good prospects and the Pigs had only one solid prospect (Happ) and a bunch of other fringe players (sorry everyone, notwithstanding the love he’s seen on this website, Jaramillo is a fringe prospect) and they started the year as bad as any professional team I’ve ever seen.
As much as I hate to say it, on the whole, I found this to be a somewhat disappointing minor league season for the Phils. Fortunately, there are some real bright spots, including what appears to be a fine draft.
We did lose some young players in trades that I believe were not particularly beneficial for the organization. That outflow of talent made me think about the overall strategy that any organization should be pursuing on whether and how should use minor league talent to trade for major league talent or vice versa. Some organization seem always to be buyers of young talent (the A’s are the best example), others are almost always sellers of young talent (until recently, the Yankees fit this description) and others buy and sell depending on what cycle they are in (Phillies, Astros, Braves and many other teams fit this description).
However, not every team follows a strict trend and will always sell young talent when they are good or obtain young talent when they are bad. I think these teams get it “right”. To me, the best example is the White Sox – they seem to view the process more organically – deciding whether to sell or buy based on depth at the position at issue and the particular merits of a trade. Thus, they will use young talent to buy a Nick Swisher, but will also trade experienced talent to get a Gavin Floyd.
Honestly, I wish the Phillies did this as well. It’s not healthy for the team for there always to be a significant net outflow of talent. Young talent (either minor league talent or raw major league talent) should also be flowing into the organization. And you really do need to view these things on a cumulative level. Maybe it’s not a big deal to lose Gavin Floyd and Gio Gonzalez in one trade and Josh Outman, Adrian Cardenas and Matt Spencer in another, and Michael Bourn and Mike Costanzo in yet another trade (and I am NOT saying these were all bad deals – the Lidge deal is turning into a great trade). But when you add these trades together and you do not see the team acquiring talent from other organizations, the effect on the organization as a whole can be significant. It is certainly part of the reason that this year there was almost no talent at AAA, spotty talent at AA, and, by the end of the year, virtually no high level talent at A+. It’s not a good thing and each year we trade more talent than we obtain is another year that the organization is probably not producing new talent at the major league level that can displace average and more expensive big league talent. It can evolve into quite a vicious cycle.
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nice job i for one am very disapointed that team was not better stocked When i saw HUPPERT was the manager
the thought the PHILS were moving prospects out of Reading
but….. not much of gift to the valley
next year new management i hope
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Catch—
Our problem is more related to poor timing—we gave away Rolen,Abreu and Schilling. Those players should have landed us real prospects but we allowed ourselves to be fleeced. Garcia was damaged when we got him.
Bourne and Costanza are easily replaced. Floyd,Cardenas and Outman not quite so easy.
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mwbbfan that’s one thing I never understood. How we traded three players who were allstars. and never got one top prospect back. I would have rather took the draft choices for schilling. Instead we get a twenty game losing pitcher who was thirty eight , a washed up reliever, and a non pitching prospect and schilling wins the pennant for them. In my opinion that set back our minor league system. We lost three top caliber players and get nothing for your farm system is crazy.,
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The stupid trades of Schilling and Rolen are all part of the problem (the Abreu trade was a straight salary dump – they wanted to get rid of him, but, admittedly, they did a poor job of getting talent in return) although those two trades were accomplished so long ago that they really have little bearing on the system or the major league team today.
The point, really, has been that, for a very long time, we do not get fair value when we trade our stars and we overpay for other teams’ established players.
Really, the only trade I can think of in the past 7 or 8 years where the team really did a good job of trading away a veteran was the Jim Thome deal. They got rid of a star player because they had a less expensive star in the wings and they received one minor star in return (Rowand) along with at least one nice pitching prospect (Gio Gonzalez). And by the way, that trade may still pay dividends because Rowand’s departure as a FA led to compensation picks. Just one example of how a good trade can keep giving long into the future.
On the whole, over the past 8 years or so the team probably gets about a “C-” or “D+” grade on trades. Here are a few examples of grades I would give trades
1. Schilling trade – D- (could easily score this an F)
2. Rolen trade – C (Polanco turned into a decent player, but they should have either signed or traded him earlier so they could get better value)
3. Ashby trade – F (total failure)
4. Garcia trade – F (maybe the worst acquisition in team history – really, how could it get any worse?)
5. Lidge trade – A (let’s wait a year or two, but this looks like a phenomenal trade)
6. Millwood trade – B- (Millwood did not pan out completely, but he was not horrible either. We didn’t miss “Ponch” Estrada very much).
7. Thome trade – B (very well conceived trade – we paid a little too much in future salary to get rid of him but got more than fair talent value in return).
8. Second Polando trade – D- (hmmmm . . . a future all-star second baseman for . . . a future felon – not good).
9. Small deadline and waiver deals during the Wade Era – F (who did he ever get that didn’t stick a dagger in our hearts – just a complete disaster).
10. Small deadline and waiver deals during Gillick Era – B+ (one of Gillick’s selling points is he is pretty good at finding and picking up talent out of nowhere – good deals/pick-ups include those for Moyer, Romero and Lohse).
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The only thing you said that I disagree with is that, If they got value back then we might have a third basemen or corneroutfielder or number two starter. So by not getting value it could be hurting this team now.
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