Biggest disappointment of the season

Other Stuff

As promised, today we’ll talk about the biggest disappointment of the 2008 minor league season for the Phillies. Again use whatever criteria you see fit, and give as much or as little explanation for your choice in the comments. I’ll have more on both today and yesterday’s poll on Monday. Thanks.

71 thoughts on “Biggest disappointment of the season”

  1. For me, the biggest disappointment was the poor showing in Reading overall. Before the season, I expected a rotation of Carrasco, Outman, and Carpenter and possibly Savery in mid year to propel the team to the playoffs and a great season. None of the 4 had good years although I suppose Carpenter was the biggest disappointment of the group followed by Carrasco (AAA not included). Offensively, D’Arby and Brad Harman were my 2 biggest bummers.

    Like

  2. Brad Harman He would seem to have the tools to be a good prospect but he struck out too much and had an off year . I think he could possibly play himself back into favor particularly with Cardenas gone.

    Like

  3. My biggest disappointment of the season has to be the Cardenas and Outman trade I still cant believe it happened.

    But if I had to pick a player that just did a 180 and fell off the spectrum it has to be Carpenter. After last year and his 4IP outing in ST against the Yankees I was 90% sure he was going to get a shot in the rotation if something happened. I hope its the same thing that happened to Happ last year and he was hurt all year.

    Like

  5. Edgar Garcia. Huge expectations for the youngster going into the year, and he really didn’t live up to them at all nor did he show significant signs of improvement.

    Like

  6. Garcia? He did very well at High A, before being the youngest player at AA. I respectfully disagree.

    As for mine, I’m going with the Phillies drafting of Anthony Hewitt. I know this isn’t that strong of a disapointment considering what they did afterward, but they could of done better with their first choice and I know everyone here was extremely disapointed in the selection.

    Like

  7. Does anyone have a website to get info on the Instructional League results? I know they played their first game the other day and was wondering what happened. Thanks

    Like

  8. 1-Brad Harman
    2-Jacob Diekman
    3-Reading Phillies
    4-Drafting Hewitt instead of a pitcher, though the draft was very good overall. But I hope Hewitt makes me eat my words.
    5-Iron Pigs
    6-Kris Benson

    Like

  9. Hmmmm…

    D’Arby Myers I suppose would be my biggest disappointment. Brown roared past him on the depth chart. D’Arby may not even make our top 30 this year.

    Carpenter was somewhat of a disappointment, but I think he vindicated himself with a strong showing after his remotion (is that a word) from Clearwater

    Harman was also a disappointment – but he still has some glove skills, fairly decent pop, and can play a few different positions. Don’t be surprised if he turns it around next year.

    Like

  11. Scott Mathieson. Obviously, his arm problems aren’t his fault, but his inability to return to pitching at any level this year has to rank as a major disappointment, especially since the chances of his returning from a second Tommy John are pretty poor.

    Like

  14. I agree with Reading, specifically Harmon and Carpenter. Carpenter redeemed himself a bit at the end of year, but it was basically a lost season for him and he doesn’t look like nearly as much of a prospect as he did at this time last season.
    D’Arby Myers also merits consideration.

    I agree on Garcia — he actually had a very good season and reached AA at a very, very young age.

    Like

  15. “Does anyone have a website to get info on the Instructional League results?”

    You won’t find one. They don’t care about game results, the best you can hope for are descriptive summaries of how guys are performing. Games are informal and statistics aren’t kept.

    Like

  17. Ryman – out of curiosity, why do you think Savery was the biggest disappointment? I think that we (meaning both the fans and the organization) might have expected more from him, but his season wasn’t that huge of a disappointment. Was he inconsistent? Yes. Does he need to reduce the hits and walks allowed? Yes. He still earned a promotion to Reading next year though, and is still a top 10 prospect for the team.

    – Jeff

    Like

  18. Drew Carpenter, he had everyone fired up after that ST performance (as was mentioned above).

    …I guess I’d have to throw Carrasco’s AA season in there. If it weren’t for the AAA performance he’d be my biggest disappointment.

    Like

  19. Re: Rocky

    No, Murphy wasn’t at all. He came out of no where, he wasn’t even a top 10 prospect for them. I think he hit .275 on A+ year.

    As for my disappointment, I’d have to say Harman. Carpenter rebounded nicely the second half of the year so I can’t get on him.

    Like

  20. Losing Cardenas was by far my biggest letdown and adding Outman was just added pain.
    I think the jury will stay out on the Hewitt pick for 3 more years.
    All things considered I am anxious for the Spring—-we have some great prospects to follow.

    Like

  21. Brown was given every opportunity to roar past D’Arby, D’Arby had one at bat when Brown had three or four at bats per game. D’Arby came in the game in 8th or 9th inning getting 1 at bat or he was taken out of game early, many times he played defense only, whereas Brown came in game in the beginning and played the whole game, if he struck out in his 1st or 2nd at bat he got another at bat. D’Arby did not have that same opportunity in the majority of his time in Lakewood. He also had to split his time. Warren is not a centerfielder nor is Brown but Myers had to make room for them. In Lakewood it was supposedly crowded in the outfield but TJ Warren .211 Avg skipped a level. He did not go to Williamsport he went straight to Lakewood, Darby was sent back to Williamsport. Brown was put in centerfield, were he made many errors 9. D’Arby had 2. If Brown had the same playing time Myers had, his numbers would be different, just like if Myers had the same playing opportunity that Brown was given his numbers would be different. 1 at bat Myers vs 3, 4, or 5 at bats Brown per game. Almost 80 % of Myers hits when he did hit were called an error or fielders choice or sac bunt where everyone was safe a runner even scored, Myers did not get the RBI and his avg went down. That is why Brown roared past Myers on the depth charts. Myers has talent it would be hard for anyone to show his talent with one at bat when other players get more at bats per game. My biggest dissapointment is that D’Arby Myers did not have more playing time in Lakewood like Brown and Warren.

    Like

  22. Now read back and you will get my point
    SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN READING how can so many prospects fail in one place without managerial help.
    Put SAM WALLS and others on that list.
    As for my dissapointment it must be SAVERY I thought he would be in the majors by midseason. From what it being said
    he needed to build up arm strength and I was fooled by
    the short stints in the minors and AFL. Next year i expect to comes out with a rush
    2. why in the hell didnt they get rid of J.DURBIN he took up
    starts that could of been used for prospects like OUTMAN

    Like

  23. Mike,

    With all due respect, you are wrong. D’arby Myers was an everyday starter at Lakewood for the first half of the season. Look at his stats. He had ample opportunity to play with regularity. He did not perform. In fact he never hit above the Mendoza Line. He was way out of his element. The Phillies decided to move him down to Williamsport where he did better, but your analysis of his time at Lakewood is way off base.
    Max

    Like

  25. Harman was pretty terrible this year, but it seems he figures it out in his second go around with each level. So I’m optimistic about next season. Carpenter’s stock shot up a bit at the end of the year, especially with his promotion to the bigs. But I’d agree that the lack of production from clearwater, reading, and lehigh valley is the biggest disappointment. On a side note, does anyone else get a migrane when reading what nowheels please writes? His eccentric use of the return key and caps lock makes my brain bump against the side of my head.

    Like

  27. Right on, Max. D’arby was the leadoff guy for a good portion of the half-season he was in Lakewood, even as he wasn’t producing. Moreover, Warren didn’t start the season in Lakewood, he was added in late May, and there were only 3 outfielders listed on the opening day roster.

    Without looking too far into the negatives this year (I prefer the positives), I’d say Myers was pretty disappointing given all the expectations following his performance in Williamsport.

    Like

  30. Mike I remember asking about myers and you saying the same thing. I really don’t get it. you are saying the offical scorer was not giving him hits when he got them? how can that be?

    Like

  31. Would have to say Jaramillo because he came into the season as a potential mid-season call-up. If he had gotten off to a better start, he might have replaced a struggling Ruiz early in the season.

    Instead, he ended the season as their 3rd best catching prospect and was passed to the majors by Marson and will probably end up being trade bait this winter.

    Like

  32. As for Myers, it is highly unlikely that the organization or Lakewood’s official scorer had it in for him. IF 80% of his batted balls were incorrectly scored as claimed, he would have hit about .600 this season.

    D’Arby is still a very young guy and it’s not a disaster that he took a step back this season. He is still a legit prospect and will most likely get another shot at Lakewood next year..

    Like

  33. My biggest disappointment was the drafting of Anthony Hewitt. If he gets enough at-bats next year, he could obliterate the major league strikeout record in the minors! That’s how badly I view thhis pick.

    Like

  34. I’m disappointed that JD Durbin and Adam Eaton are not off topic for this discussion. As bad as they’ve been they should be gone!

    Like

  35. Harman and Carpenter were terrible, but I can’t really say I had very high expectations for either so it’s hard to say they were a huge disappointment.

    Probably the biggest difference between what I was hoping for and what played out was Savery, just because with his pedigree I thought he might truly dominate a year further removed from surgery. But apparently he never got his fastball back and ended up being extremely hittable in a pitching-friendly league where he was on the high-side of age-appropriate for a good prospect.

    Like

  36. Will I still in my mind think Savery was a safe pick for them. He had to sign because of injury and age, They got him at there price instead of what detroit did. Overpaid for a great pitching prospect. Savery if he went back in draft would have just now started his career,next year would have been his first full season at almost twenty four.So they had him over a barrell.

    Like

  37. 1. Savery
    2. Myers
    3. Bisenius

    Although he is listed as “Moved On” my biggest disappointment is the second surgery on Mathieson. I just hope that he SOMEHOW comes out of this one with a strong & healthy arm.

    Like

  40. Not only that, Rocky, but D’Arby would have scored about 150 runs with his speed. And his 14′ high leaps easily take away home runs over the fence. That’s NOT been reported yet.

    Like

  42. I know that we should forget the trade. But just looked up blanton stats for oakland he had 9 quality starts out of 20 games, and 5 out of 13 with us,so thats 14 quality starts. and we gave up our top prospect plus our seventh rated prospect. so that is 39% of his starts are good. That is bad. What was the phillies thinking.

    Like

  43. Biggest disappointment: The lack of help the Phils got from the minors. Happ is the exception as he did help. The team may get that help next year with Happ, Carrasco, Golson, Marson, and several others that should be ready to contribute. But overall very little help came from the minors this year.

    Like

  44. I’d have to go with D’Arby Myers. He had so much promise going into the season and from all reports has all the talent in the world. i just hope that this season is a wake up call and he comes out bangin next yr

    Like

  45. Bob D you are right the lack of help from the minors. Forced the bad trades and Fa signing. Jenkins would not have been needed if we could develop one outfielder in ten years since burrell. Who was number one pick in draft and made into a outfielder. And no starter better than blanton forced that trade. and he stinks

    Like

  46. off topic but the PIRATES were begging people to take NATE MCCLOUTH (380,000). jARAMILLO would have brought him the the Phils. CARRASCO didnt get a chance or Happ so where are you coming from with BLANTON. Axing SO-SO would of opened a roster spot to at least try someone

    Like

  48. Hated to see Cardenas go, but when I read ‘Biggest disappointment’ i’m thinking solely from a performance perspective, and Joe Savery has to be near the top of everyone’s list. Harman, Carpenter, Castro make honorable mention. As much as I thought the handling of Outman this year by management was atrocious, I also think that this was a make or break year for Outman, and he did little to suggest that he would make any impact in the majors. Time will tell however.

    Great site Future, keep up the good work.

    Like

  49. Disagree with you Max, D’Arbys Lakewood games: on 6-11-08 throwing error, ball was hit to outfield D’Arby has speed he was safe on base but error was called. 6-10 he went 1-3 only player taken out of game early when only 4 players including D’Arby had a hit. 6-8 not in line up. 6-7 he went 2-5 throwing error,
    6-6 error, error, & sac bunt when no was out everyone safe including runner scoring, D’Arby did not get RBI and his avg went down. how is it a sac when no one is out? 6-5 error, so in 5 consecutive games he had 5 errors and a sac bunt. 6-2 not in line up, 5-30 not in line up, 5-29 taken out early, 5-28 PR for Warren only no AB, 5-27 played def only, 5-25 entered in 8th no AB, 5-24 entered in 9th defense only, 5-22 not in line up, 5-20 not in line up, 5-19 he doubled another error, 5-17 not in line up,
    5-15 taken out early, 5-14 not in line up, 5-13 error and taken out early. 5-12 error, 5-11 error, 5-9 he entered in 9th, 5-5 error. 4-3 error, 4-5 played defense only, 4-6 error. I was not accusing any one being wrong just letting some of D’Arbys fans know some of the reasons why it appears that his avg is low. He was not way out of his element, let Brown get the same opportunities that D’Arby had to endure and see what his avg looks like. D’Arby is hitting and getting on but it is not showing for his stats. D’Arby was the only player taken in and out of games, getting 1 AB, not playing for two to three days and where the majority of his games played have errors lowering his average and RBI’s. Even now he had two stolen bases against Auburn that were not given to him. He stole 3rd on 7-26 and 2nd on 7-31-08. You can listen to games 7-26 on WLYC 41:45 and the game of 7-31 on WAUB 45:29. D’Arby did not have the same ample and opportunity to play like the rest of his team who had the second half to redeem themselves and he had a lot of offensive errors. Some players get better in the second half.

    Like

  50. Outman has gone through the same thing in Oakland. He’s just one of those pitchers that organizations aren’t sure what they have in him.

    Like

  52. Brad Harman: He led the Treshers to the FSL championship in 07. Though he hit 17 homers at AA this year he struck out too much and did not hit for average. As his homers went up his average went down as the season progressed.

    Like

  53. There is no way I’m going to go through all those games and check the validity of those statements, mike slash anonymous…but going to a couple and looking, oftentimes the “errors” that you claim were hits were fielding or throwing errors by infielders. Unless the ball was hit very hard (which I doubt from watching D’arby hit this season), they probably were groundball errors that Myers beat out. That makes him a great runner (great for all the pinch-running situations they put him in), but they would probably not be hits against less error-prone fielders.

    Furthermore, you can’t blame the manager for only using him as a pinch runner in late May and June when the team was in a playoff race. He was hitting under .200!

    And, btw, it was a sacrifice bunt because, to put it very simply, he was bunting with the intention of advancing the runner. He was not charged an at-bat (therefore it didn’t affect his average), and he was given a RBI.

    Like

  54. MT’s first game confirms not seeing him Arizona is a bid disappointment. There must be tremendous pressure inside him to succede yet he takes two walks. That is playing the game.

    Like

  55. I’ll be the pollyanna guy. There were no real major disappointments, in my view. All of the guys who struggled eventually came back to play pretty well for significant stretches, so they actually advanced their development, IMO. That includes Savery, Carrasco, Carpenter, and some others. Those who were busts, like Harman, were never really expected to do much. Harman has not had a great offensive year–last year was good, not great and he has always followed some good stretches with dead months or even a dead half a season as a hitter.

    To me Matthieson’s second operation was the biggest disappointment. I thought he had the most potential of any pitcher in the system, including Carrasco. He had a chance to be a front line starter or an exceptional reliever. I am still holding out hope for him, since he is a great competitor with tons of maturity also, and that type of guy is easy to pull for.

    Like

  56. For the record , I had trouble with my computer and submitted my comment twice, once my reply started it could not be stopped so I am anonymous and Mike. I am not trying to confuse anyone. Now on with my reply, First of all
    I am not blaming anyone, I just wanted to show for those who are interested that D’Arby can and did hit at Lakewood
    D’Arby was used as a pinch runner in April when he was hitting .286 so that’s not the issue. There were other players who were hitting under .200 and the low 200’s. Warren was hitting .211 and skipped over a level, he did not go to Williamport. D’Arbys avg droped and he was not given the chance to redeem himself in a second half. Given the chance some players do better in the second half.
    He was hitting every team they played in the SAL and received errors on most of the hits, which gave him less RBI’s, and lowered his avg. That was the issue. no one knew about all the errors, it just looks as if he can’t hit and that is not the case. Ryan you say less error pron-fielders I don’t think so not every team and as for the sac bunt, his avg could have gone up, it should have been a hit. Anyway for those interested D’Arby was hitting in Lakewood and Jay he was on base most of his hits. Dom Brown did not hit him in. Rocky, that happens sometimes, listen to WLYC on 7-26-08 against Auburn 41:48 and WLYC 7-31-08 Auburn 2:18:27 should be stolen bases but he did not get the stolen bases. I am not trying to place blame, people are humans and make mistakes, even score keepers. Therefore I want people to known that D’Arby was hitting, getting on base and producing runs but due to many errors his avg was down. Why is it that you are out to get D’Arby, there were other players on the team that had low avg’s but no mention of them. You say he can’t hit or hit the ball hard and you say you were there, then you had to see his outstanding defense. How he robs the homeruns, his fast running and great catches, players need great defensive skills also, not even one mention but if you have not seen him go and check out his defensive plays. He makes basaeball exciting.

    Like

  57. Mike,

    No one is “out to get” Myers. In fact, it is really the exact opposite. The reason his name has come up is because he IS a prospect and Philly minor league fans expected him to be successful and he wasn’t.

    No one cares if some non-prospect doesn’t hit since no one expects anything from them anyway. Obviously you are a big fan of D’Arby Myers but your fandom appears to be overwhelming any objectivity.

    I’m fairly certain that everyone here is sincerely hoping he comes back next year and has a breakout season.

    Like

  58. 3up3kkk, I am a Philly minor league fan and I know Myers has talent, that is why I commented and tried to explain why he was not successful. Because I am a big Philly minor league fan I look at why the prospect is not successful. With a guy like Myers I did not think his talent should move him backwards and I wanted to know why so I did some checking. Next year he should have a breakout season.

    Like

  59. Mike,

    Myers not only had trouble hitting at Lakewood (207 ABs, 10 extra base hits indicates he wasn’t really hitting the ball very hard regardless of he infield errors), he really didn’t shine at WMPT either–a 688 OPS with 7 out of 11 SBs isn’t up to what you’d want from a second year prospect.

    He could have a great year next year, but it would help him to focus on his performance and ignore all the other extraneous factors that sort of held him back this year. Making excuses, complaining about playing time, and worrying about the official scorer waste time and mental energy.

    Like

  60. BTW, I’d pick Myers a my biggest disappointment after the Cardenas/Outman/Spencer trade.

    Don’t mind trading prospects, but at least get a quality player back…

    Like

  61. I went to one of the Auburn games and saw Myers steal the base and learned later that he did not get the stolen base, it was clearly a stolen base and thanks to Mike’s info I listen to WLYC and I know that Myers had more SB’s that he did not get. I do know that due to his exceptional speed a lot of the SB’s will be ruled an error. I don’t think Myers was complaining about playing time or making excuses. But now I have some idea of what was going on. Myers was not given the proper playing time a second year prospect should have had like the playing time Brown had. Bad score keeping and poor playing time will put a damper on anyones avg. You say that Myers had 10 extra base hits. Myers had a total of 20 second base and 4 third base. Brown had 23 second base and 3 third base. Thank you Mike for the info on Myers,he is not no lnoger on my biggest disappointment list.

    Like

  62. This talk about myers is getting to me. As someone who just started to follow the minors, Why would they try to screw this kid like you suggest. It is crazy to me to think this goes on, that they would cheat a prospect out of hits.

    Like

  65. Robert, I believe the 10 XBH reference was referring to his time at Lakewood, not his overall combined numbers.

    Hopefully Lakewood will hire a new official score keeper next season!!!

    Like

  66. Biggest disappointments:
    Phillies: Eaton
    LV: overall record….and terrible start
    Reading: record
    Clw: defense at times and pitching at times, Cardenas trade
    Lakewood: Tejeda at times

    Like

  67. you all might think that i am crazy. but to me, blanton justified the deal today. he took the ball in a crucial game 4 and pitched great. without him, we would have used either kendrick or eaton. most likely we would have been headed back to philly for a 1 game series.

    these oportunities are so rare, that you have to go for it. i like cardenas, but this deal had to be done.

    Like

  68. I am a fan who knows darby from los angeles he has never been a good hitter he can run good not great -below avg arm -decent pop . The phillies like to take black players with tools i.e jermainne williams ,t.j warren ,hewitt out of that group darby was the least accomplished player all in all a overdraft but he has a chance to be good.P.S ANYONE WHO KNOWS THAT FAMILY AND THAT MOM BEWARE PLEASE DONT INCUR THE WRATH OF HIS MOM RITA AND BACKPACK !!!!!

    Like

  69. PP Fan the fact that you would have had to use blanton or eaton justifies nothing. It just points out how poorly this team was managed by the front office.
    This is not a knock on Blanton he did well but this was a players win not upper management. A useless SO-SO still has me wondering,Jenkin ,etc
    note check the stats on Happ’s four starts only the first was even shakey, and we know he was unsupported by management

    Like

  70. HA HA!!! LA DARYL. You are absolutely correct. As I was reading, I definitely started thinking that sounded like his mom. LMAO! Always someone elses fault. Hahahahahahaha

    Like

  71. LMAO!!! LA DARYL. You hit it right on the nose! He is a project. By the way who else would go line by line to explain why D’arby hasn’t produced? Always someone else’s fault.

    Like

Comments are closed.