Some on this site get excited about the draft….yawn. Some get excited about prosepects….overrated. The true minor league fans get excited about the journeymen! Each year Baseball America releases a list of the minor league free agents and this year is no different. The complete list can be found here, but the Phillies minor league free agents are listed below:
Philadelphia Phillies (30)
RHP: Jason Anderson (AAA), Matt Childers (AAA), Steve Green (AAA), Travis Minix (AAA), Justin Pope (AA), Scott Vander Weg (Hi A)
LHP: Brian Mazone (AAA), Stephen Randolph (AAA), Matt Smith (Hi A), R.J. Swindle (AAA)
C: Anderson Alvarez (VSL), Kevin Nelson (AA), John Suomi (AAA), Scott Thomas (AA)
1B: John Urick (Hi A)
2B: Carlos Leon (Hi A), Steve Smith (AAA)
3B: Mike Cervenak (AAA), Brian Finegan (Hi A), Orlando Guevara (AA), Joey Hammond (AA), Brennan King (AAA), Anthony Mansolino (Hi A)
SS: Mike Rouse (AAA)
OF: Jake Blalock (AA), T.J. Bohn (AAA), Jesus Granado (VSL), Jon Knott (AAA), Mike Spidale (AA), Brandon Watson (AAA)
In addition, BA mentioned JD Durbin (RHP), Chris Snelling (OF), and Travis Blackley (LHP) have also filed for free agency.
Also, the Phils thought so highly of Jason MacKintosh (LHP), Kevin Mahar (OF), and Rich Thompson (OF) that they resigned them before they could reach the open market.
Anyone the Phils need to resign? Any guys out there who should fill out the IronPigs roster in 09?
Phuture Phillies 
Guys like Jake Blaylock and Joey Hammond are filler type who I might looked to sign to play back at Reading next year, depending upon who is coming up from Single A. Golson, Donald, Marson all we will be AAA or with the big club so there will be holes at the upper levels.
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I think Matt Smith is the only one I think they NEED to keep. He could fill a pen role someday still.
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I would give another look at all these guys and Snelling.
Jason Anderson, Matt Childers, Steve Green, Travis Minix, Justin Pope, Brian Mazone, Stephen Randolp, Matt Smith, Kevin Nelson, John Suomi, John Urick, Carlos Leon, Mike Cervenak, Brian Finegan, Joey Hammond, Brennan King, T.J. Bohn, Jesus Granado, Jon Knott, Mike Spidale, Brandon Watson.
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Joey Hammond gotta be back. 1215 games and 1143 hits in the minors and yet to play one game in the majors.
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See that Abraham Nunez is out there for the taking!!!…
Actually, Only guys I would give any serious interest to would be Matt Smith, Mazzone, Bohn, Minix and possibly trying to re-sign Blackley as a ML FA.
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Did you ever stop and think how much these guys have to love playing baseball? They all hope to be the next Chris Coste against very bad odds.
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With all of the depth we have at SP now, Mazone seems buried. I would take Swindle back, I think he was misused during his brief stint in the majors.
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Sam- Did you see that Mets game with Swindle in it? I was there and if was not even funny how fast the balls were getting off the bats. He’s not going to help us out, especilly in our park.
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Please no more Swindle talk . I saw him pitch every time people bring up his name I have to take pills to calm down my nerves. that guy stinks.
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I would hope they’d give a shot to somebody – anybody – with any talent, instead of TJ Bohn.
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With Matt Smith going, does that empty the cupboard from the Abreau deal?
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I think there may be a couple more. If you go to
mlb.com hotstovetracker there are some names
under minor league free agents that are not
on this list. Thompson and Mahar were originally
on that list.
As far as the list, I would bring back Carlos Leon
and Joey Hammond as AAA infield back-ups.
The rest can move on and clear the sclerotic
build-up . Move up the AA team and on down
the line.
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Matt Smith- left from the Abreu trade are
Carlos Monasterios, RHP and Jesus Sanchez
now convertring to RHp.
Somebody wanted to bring back Jesus Granado.
What in the 2or 3 AB’s he got in the last couple
of years impressed you?
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Cubs are wiiling to add Josh Vitters in trade for Peavy. I would give them a lot for that kid, he is going to be a stud.
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Give Swindle credit for making it to the Show when so many other borderline guys never even sniff the coffee. Good work!
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In looking at the overall list, I would think guys like (health permitting) Jason Lane, Emiliano Fruto, Brandon Medders, Jason Cooper, Chris Seddon, Jose Capellan, John Van Benschoten, Justin Huber, Kiko Calero, and Bobby Bownlie may be worth a look for organizational depth. As for our guys, Mazone and Randolph are probably worth keeping around.
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Didn’t the phillies draft and not sign Cooper out of high school. I think he is from washington state.
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Chat with Brian Mazone
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/nick-fierro/index.ssf/2008/08/interview_with_ironpigs_mazone.html
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Bring back the LHP, Cervanek, Snelling, and Blackley.
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Is Bohn the only guy to jump to the majors while hitting below the Mendoza in the minors. A disgrace
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Rocky — I believe you are right about Cooper.
Anonymous — I would bring those guys back too.
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He pitched to both righties and lefties in a blowout where the mets were swinging hot bats.
He was never advertised as anything but a LOOGY, and his minor league career stats bear me out on that point.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that he was thrust into an unknown role during a blowout that he wasn’t in a position to succeed.
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I love to follow these seemingly career minor leaguers who finally get a shot at the Show and accomplish things that can not be ever taken away from them like Coste homering off of Smoltz, Glavine and Maddux and now wearing a ring and Swindle striking out Carlos Delgado twice in the same game.
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In 194 minor league innings, Swindle’s struck out 226 while walking only 25(!), giving up 150 hits and only 4 (!!!) homers . His WHIP’s .9 and his ERA is 1.58. He’s only 25. Seems like a guy who at least has a shot at being an effective ML LOOGY, doesn’t it? It doesn’t look like anyone else on that list has much of a shot making an impact in the majors…A few people mentioned Blackley, but he missed all of ’05 and doesn’t seem like he’s been the same since.
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Absolutely resign Swindle. He dominated the minors and the only reason he struggled in the majors was because Manual wanted to see how he faired against righties (which we found out he can’t). He is a lefty specialist. He is basically Jamie Moyer, but slower so it will take time for him to learn how to fool good hitters and not simply surprise them with his 51 mph curveball.
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Please stop the insane talk Swindle isn’t a major league pitcher, Could it be that it is his family that is making these comments about him being resign. Swindle should go on to playing softball and getting either a degree or a trade and start his new life. how can anyone be serious and mention him with jamie moyer .
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It just seems to me, why not resign him? It can’t be that much money, and unlike many of these other free agents, he could have a future in the majors.
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Both Rocky and i could hit Swindle after we get our ss checks
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I remember when Blackley was a top prospect for the Mariners. Its ashame he injured his shoulder as he’s never been close to the same player since that time. Shoulder injuries suck.
rocky, that’s a little harsh on Swindle. At least he made it to the Show, if only briefly. Tens of thousands of players dont even make it that far. He could probably be a LOOGY on a 2nd division team.
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That roll call of names reads like a nightmare. The only one really worth keeping is Smith. I also love Mazone. He’s like Coste. He just puts up great numbers year after year. I think he could be a spot starter for the Phillies, if needed.
Swindle is a MINOR league pitcher. He is no Jamie Moyer. Good luck to him. Maybe the Nats will pick him up and give him a shot. He would be a major asset to them because the only player he probably can get out – is Ryan Howard.
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I’d bring back Matt Smith, Snelling, Blackley, King, Watson, and Cervenak. Maybe Blalock as well. With Smith and Blackley, I don’t think you ever want to give up on a left. The rest can fill roles at AAA, and in a pinch, provide play that may be serviceable for a few days if the big league team is struck by injuries.
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I can’t believe anybody would want to bring back TJ Bohn. He was the biggest waste of space on a 40 man roster ever. At least Swindle was good at AAA, Bohn even sucked there.
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Moyer has inverse splits…lefties hit him well.
Swindle has ridiculous stats against lefties. I don’t know why people want to give up on him. Happ was knocked around during his ML debut, that doesn’t prove a whole lot.
He deserves a shot at being a LOOGY, because he has had a very successful minor league career so far, far better than a lot of other pitchers who end up being given a better chance.
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Rocky…I don’t normally go overboard on our prospects, but what exactly is your arguement that Swindle shouldn’t be brought back? If he’s so awful, how has he been so effective?
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One of the reasons Swindle struggles to gain people’s confidence is his stuff. Sure Happ struggled in his debut, but you can’t compare Happ and Swindle. I think Swindle will get another shot at the show, but I’m not sure if it will be with the Phillies.
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Yeah I understand that, but what else explains his minor league stats? They are excellent. It’s not like he’s scamming them down there to pad his stats, he faces the same batters all of our other prospects do.
I’m just saying that we shouldn’t give up on him because of essentially one major league outing, when it is obvious that he was misued. He threw multiple innings and faced righties, roles that he is not used to.
It would be like only pinch hitting a right handed minor league slugger with bad splits against right handed relievers.
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Happ was coming off rehab in his first start . He had a bad first
inning (first pitcher eveer in struggle in his first start).
If Ruiz was the great catcher everyone thinks he is, he would of had Happ knock down Paul LoDuca after Reyes pulled a lot of mind game crap). He later stuck out Reyes after Rollins made an error with men on. He should of never came out
for the fifth. Two Ks and a BB later . Well when he returned
to AAA he gave up 9 runs in 2/3 innings.
There was no reason to extend him just ignorance.
Sorry I am a Happ fan and this is a sore spot
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Because he is getting out career minor leaguer at triple A. The reason most of the guys in triple a are not in the majors is there inability to hit the off speed stuff. Most ever kid who is drafted and moves on hits fastballs. Its the curve and slider and other slower stuff that separates the major from the minor and you seen it with swindle. that junk doen’t fly in the majors. Unless you have pinpoint control . then maybe. But if you want to believe he is a major league talent go ahead. we all can dream. But he won’t ever pitch for them again.
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Rocky – Swindle should go on to playing softball and getting either a degree or a trade and start his new life.
Well said.
A LOOGY does favor well against lefties but if you want to be on a ML club you have to be passable against the other side. Look at Eyre, who just resigned. He is a LOOGY but he can get a righty out in a pinch. Any ML RH hitter will crush Swindle every time.
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When I said well said above I meant ‘funny’. I don’t deny anyone the right to chase their dream. I have a lot of respect for Swindle, I just don’t think he’s a ML pitcher.
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Swindle is going to have a long major league career, mark my words, and that career may not start for another couple of years. Aside from him and, perhaps, Matt Smith, Mazzone and T.J. Bohn, the rest of these guys are barely worth discussing. But, man, they really owe the folks in the Lehigh Valley a better group than the duds they assembled last year. It was a joke for most of the year.
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in my opinion swindell is a non factor. as far as mathison from 2years ago he had a 93-95 fastball without movement, he virtually had no 2nd pitch. now after the surgery hopefully hes healthy because i did see a lot of potential. if he is healthy with a moving 93 mph #1, and i say 93 because radar guns are ridiculasly fast i would say the only pitchers ive ever seen throw 100 were n.ryan and b. feller, maybe koufax and roberts. and mathison has developed a 2nd pitch he has a bright future. once again as far as burrell he inconsistanly consistant. every year he will give you 25 hrs 90 rbis 260 ba 100 walks and 120 so,s. he will be hot for a month and cold for a month. he is an average fielder, slow, with a great arm. i dont think any team will give more than 3 years. sign him for 3yrs at 30 mil. and by year 3 taylor or brown will be ready. i doubt if the phils will a of who will sign for 1 or 2 years who will give them what pat will.P S. GOD BLESS HERB SCORE WHO WOULDVE BEEN ONE OF THE GREAT ONES.
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No, I think his minor league numbers make it impossible to view Swindle as a non-factor. He may be limited, and it may take some time for him to establish himself at a higher level, but there’s definitely something there and, one day, he is going to make a GM look very smart.
As for Scotty M. his straight fastball was a problem, but he threw so hard and was so young and athletic that he was intriguing. I doubt his surgery would cause him to add movement to his fastball, but all he would need is a good secondary pitch and he’d be in business. Of course, this all depends on his health and that is the $64,000 question – still, I like the idea of keeping him around, particularly since the Phils may find it hard to retain Madson after next year.
Burrell is a tough case. I understand his strengths and his limitations. I also understand that he’ll probably take a “home town” discount to stay here but probably also won’t take an insulting deal to stay here. I actually like the Phillies’ cautious approach to this situation. The team both needs to shed salary and get younger at that position, but, coming off a championship, they cannot be faced with a line-up where the 6-8 hitters can’t hit (and, let’s face, at least currently, Ruiz and Feliz are bad hitters). In my view, unless they can sign him for one year or two years at most at a reasonable price, they need to move on and somehow, they’ll find another guy they can plug in there or can go to a left field platoon if they can find someone to pair with Jenkins.
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Why are so many quick to assume Jenkins will
platoon in LF. Dobbs would be the LH component,
as I see it. Stats types—-project out the HR’s,etc.
if Dobbs had all the AB’s against LHP’s. The total
wll go along way to replace the “great numbers”
people feel such a great need to replace from
Pat the Bat.
Now you add what you get from RH part of the platoon
and there you go. You sign Jerry Hairston Jr. for that
role and that production is replaced, the position
player movement is done, and you save about
10 million in salary. Add in another 11 million or so
and you can add a top starter or a contrubuting
starter and a RH reliever and a LH reliever.
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Why are so many quick to assume Jenkins will
platoon in LF. Dobbs would be the LH component,
as I see it. Stats types—-project out the HR’s,etc.
if Dobbs had all the AB’s against RHP’s. The total
wll go along way to replace the “great numbers”
people feel such a great need to replace from
Pat the Bat.
Now you add what you get from RH part of the platoon
and there you go. You sign Jerry Hairston Jr. for that
role and that production is replaced, the position
player movement is done, and you save about
10 million in salary. Add in another 11 million or so
and you can add a top starter or a contrubuting
starter and a RH reliever and a LH reliever.
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the way ppl talk about swindle is the same way people talked about chad bradford before he was given a chance in the majors
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Marfis: Agree Dobbs would be the best choice in LF and get 400 ABs this year. He has earned that until he stops performing. They need a RH hitter with pop to complement him there. Hairston or someone like that. Does not make sense to go after a high-rpiced rental that sells the farm, when we have a guy with the potential of Taylor available in 1-2 years.
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Hairston has around a .700 OPS…that’s pretty substandard for a LF. I don’t know what his splits are though so I am talking out my butt on that one.
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Hairston career vs. LHP:
.267/.323/.380/.703, 11 HR in 942 PAs.
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If Swindle is going to have a long career he better quit now to start, at his age trade unions might not take him. and college is getting more expensive. Some softball teams paid guys fifty to one hundred dollars a game if they are good., he could get maybe 30 dollars based on his stuff.
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I really believe the phillies only want to go two years with burrell. Because they have hopes that Taylor or Brown might be ready by then, if it happens then Howard or Hamels money would be there without them crying about budjet. it would be in there self impose salary cap.to have a minimum guy in left and catcher and third.
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Just dropped Hairston’s name from seeing it in articles. He had great minor leaugue stats (near 1.000 OPS in 1800+ ABs), but has been all or nothing so far in majors.
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It’s amazing how much argument Swindle causes on this site. To those urging him to quit baseball: since when has a player’s first 4.2 IP as a major leaguer the be-all, end-all of the discussion? He may make it, and he may not, but a few bad outings doesn’t decide the issue. Let me put it this way: in J.C. Romero’s first 2 MLB outings, he gave up 3 runs and 7 hits in 3.2 IP. Thank God he didn’t go join a union at that point, or we probably wouldn’t be celebrating a world championship right now.
Dantheman: great point about Bradford. I couldn’t help but think of him when everyone dismissed Swindle so quickly.
Anyway, of the above list, I’d like to re-sign Swindle, Mazone, Smith, Watson, and Childers. I wouldn’t mind any of the Snelling/Blackley/Durbin trio, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see them move on to a club they have a shot to make. I’d be interested to see what Durbin would look like as a reliever — clearly he’s not cutting it as a starter — but that’s probably not happening. Anyway, I don’t think any of the above will ever really get a shot with the Phils, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see all of them go.
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On Swindle: considering they carry 12 pitchers at
MLB and 12 at AAA If they want to bring him back
to AAA and work on some situational stuff over
the course of a season,don’t see much downside
to that. Then they could bring him up when the
\roster is 40 and they could use him in tight spots
against certain LHB’s and maybe it pays off.
MLB hitters can be very quickly reflexed athletes
and are tuned to go after fast stuff, so against
certain hitters a 50mph curve can work.
As to bringing back AAA outfielders, note that
they already signed Kevin Thompson and Mahar
to minor league deals for next season, and Golson
and Slayden should at least go to AAA. Maybe not
much room.
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I’m going to post this again, because it hasn’t garnered a response and as far as I’m concerned it’s the truth.
A LOOGY does favor well against lefties but if you want to be on a ML club you have to be passable against the other side. Look at Eyre, who just resigned. He is a LOOGY but he can get a righty out in a pinch. Any ML RH hitter will crush Swindle every time.
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Just to follow-up on this point. One of the biggest problems the Mets bullpen had this year was that they had too many lefty/righty specialists who were good in a lefty/lefty or righty/righty matchup but got hammered when they had to face multiple batters.
Swindle probably has some ability to get ML left-handed hitters out but he is strictly a 1-batter type of pitcher who becomes a drag on the bullpen as a whole.
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It is pretty funny that we’re arguing so much about Swindle…I agree that you don’t want a one batter LOOGY on your staff (barring September). But do we know that he can’t get out righties? I can’t seem to find split stats on him, but I have a hard time believing that he’s been ducking righties his entire ML career. Maybe I’m wrong though…My point with him is that he’s worth a spot in the organization. He may not throw hard, but he has a good track record with the stuff he has.
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new name phuture Swindle.
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RodeoJones: that’s a fair point, and let me stress that I’m not saying the Phils should keep Swindle on their Opening Day roster or anything like that. My only point is that he’s not some useless underhand-tossing pitcher who’d be better off retiring; he could eventually turn out to be a useful piece for some organization.
But just to play devil’s advocate for a minute, here’s a couple of current Phils relievers with their numbers against opposite hitters…
LHP: .282 BAA, 2.05 WHIP against righties
RHP: .311 BAA, 1.81 WHIP against lefties
…to end the suspense, those guys are J.C. Romero and Chad Durbin. Both get touched up by opposite hitters, but both are nonetheless effective MLB relief pitchers. I’m not saying Swindle can be totally ineffective against righties and still be an MLB caliber pitcher, but the above numbers provide some food for thought at least.
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I think it’s fair to say there will be a need for close to a dozen free agent pitchers b/t AAA and AA next season. Based on his performance this year, there’s no reason Swindle shouldn’t be included in that group.
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PhillyFriar – I’m not against resigning him but lets not blow what he could be out of proportion. I think he would struggle to put up a line like Romero’s in the majors and with the majority of ML hitters being RH these splits affect LH pitchers more.
Swindle at AAA (minorleaguesplits.com):
avg./whip/hr9
vs. LH .145/0.60/0.00
vs. RH .305/1.53/0.60
I think he would struggle to do a line like Romero’s at the ML level. Stats are all well and good but just watching those guys hammer him like it was BP at CBP just seals the deal for me.
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It looks like Brian Mazone is about to leave the Phillies organization again. He’s filed for Minor League Free Agency.
Most Phillies fans are aware that the hard-luck Mazone was called up to start a game for the Phillies on Labor Day weekend, 2006, but the game got rained out. That has proven to be his only chance at the big leagues. Perhaps unjustly, after Mazone got bombed during the International League playoffs the following week, he was never extended an invitation to join the Phillies from Scranton-Wilkes-Barre for the last few weeks of the season, despite a 12-3 regular season record.
Mazone pitched in Japan in ’07 and went back to the Phillies organization at Lehigh Valley in ’08, but has never gotten his shot at the big leagues.
He was similar to Chris Coste, in that he played for a number of years in unaffiliated, independent leagues just to keep the hope alive of playing in the big leagues one day.
Early this season when the Iron Pigs got off to a horrible
5-30 start, I believe that Mazone had four of those five wins.
I hope he has a taker and I wish him success in another organizationj. I hope that he gets his chance to play in the big leagues before he wraps up his career.
-Dennis O.
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I thought that Mazzone pitched in Korea in ’07. I don’t
think a minor leaguer has to file for Free Agency, if they
have the requisite time in service and have not signed
a new contract the name pops up on the list. If they want
him back they can try to sign him. I think he’s the AAAA
version of Jamie Moyer, here there may be a reluctance to
have that many versions of that same type of pitcher as
that. Happ and Hamels also share some of the traits.
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Swindle is now a Brewer, so no need arguing about what to do with him now…
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