Spring training is well underway, and I was wondering if any minor leaguers appear destined to make the jump to the majors. Those with an outside shot at the beginning of ST were Happ, Carrasco, Mayberry, Marson, and Donald.
Thus far, I am pretty confident that both Marson and Donald will not be starting the ’09 season with the Phillies. It seems like the Phillies need to be forced into giving a prospect a chance, either by the prospects unbelievable play, length in the minors, or by extreme circumstances with the ML club. Marson and Donald do not fit any category, and I feel that the Phillies will prefer to play it safe with some combination of Bruntlett, Dobbs, Giles, Coste, and Paulino for the infield. Also, unless Carrasco absolutely dominates in his next 5 starts, I am afraid he will be joining his old Reading teammates in LHV. That leaves Mayberry, who I still think has an outside shot as he fits into every category above (has played well in ST, has 437 at-bats in AAA, and the Phillies need a RH bat with some speed/defense). Finally, we have Happ, who I think will make the team at this point due largely to the fact that the man has spent two full seasons in AAA, the perfect amount of seasoning for a Phillies prospect. Anyway, what are your thoughts on the Phillies’ minor leaguers trying to make it on the big league club?
Also, the Phils lost 4-3 to the Jays yesterday, with Mayberry going 0-4 and Marson collecting a walk in his only plate appearance. Feel free to discuss anything.
Phuture Phillies 
Book it that Happ will fill the Romero spot in the bullpen and provide insurance in case of a Brett Myers meltdown. Mayberry has to continue to impress and if he does, he is a lock to go north with the Phils as a spot starter in RF and a right handed bat off the bench. Carasco, Donals and Marson will be sent down for another year of seasoning with one or two of them called up in September. Chris Coste will not make the team but I predict he will be offered a coaching job in the organization within two years.
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avery i disagree. happ will be the 5th starter simply because he is better than kendrick or park , plus he is not a reliever. donald is 24 his time is now.hes fielding great at third and hes beginning to relax and hit. the two utility men will be donald and giles.
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Personally if Mayberry can handle CF at all. I would drop Bruntlett and keep Donald in at least the utility role. At some point you have to break in some young guys as the division will get tougher in a couple of years.
Raul and Mayberry seem like great moves for the GM at this point and I guess he would like to show Mayberry off a little
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Giles and Mayberry certainly seem to making an impression- and if thats the case, I don’t see any reason to be upset that Donald and Marson start at AAA. Developement-wise, they probably don’t need it, but it will be helpful to them to get off to a strong start.
They just don’t need Stairs and Jenkins both- given the praise Mayberry is getting for his athleticism, it seems they would like him enough to cover for every outfield position- which I think is his ticket onto the club.
I guess Giles takes Coste’s job- its ashamed, because he is such a likable guy, and a useful bat- but roster dynamics look like they’ll leave him out of luck- but he’ll get his time with some other club.
Its good for Carrasco to get this exposure to major leaguers- because really it just seems the last piece of the puzzle for him is getting his head together. And it might be too much to ask him to do that with a few months or even a year in AAA given his still young age. Patience is a must with him, and hopefully he can get to a point where his stuff will allow him to stick on the roster by the end of the year and be enough to help him survive the maturation process.
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I think Happ will fill the long relief LH role in the pen…I think Chan Ho Park will be the 5th starter out of the gate and I think Mayberry Jr will be the 25th man on the roster and fill that RH bat off the bench role. My guess is Stairs will be gone and that Coste will be in AAA or traded.
All the reports of Mayberry say he is a true RF, i.e. he’s athletic enough to cover the position every day. Likely that means he can at least be a below-average CF, which is a vast improvement in putting out Bruntlett out there.
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Giles could be this year’s “scrap heap” gem.
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I know one thing – Happ will make the team.
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I just called my broker and doubled my Mayberry stock. Another hr 3 RBI . Ruben must be proud of his new baby boy
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The Phillies should be replacing Bruntlett with Giles. Bruntlett has versatility and can pinch run, but that’s about it. He is just a complete zero at the plate. Giles has much more pop and can also run. I’d give up the versatility for better performance.
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Bruntlett can play any position on the field, Giles can’t.
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Yes, no offense at multiple positions trumps actual offense at a couple positions.
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I think a lot of it depends on whether there’s a trade market for guys like Coste, Stairs or Jenkins, Giles and Bruntlett. If you can trade one of the two old lefty outfielders, and the organization feels that Mayberry has more value starting once a week and pinch-hitting than playing every day at AAA, he’ll get a bench spot. Bruntlett and Giles are a bit redundant, and if Mayberry makes the team you don’t need Bruntlett’s outfield subbing–Mayberry’s your late-game defensive replacement for Ibanez if such is needed. Bruntlett is the only veteran who can cover shortstop, but if Rollins got hurt, Donald would come up anyway and even Feliz can cover the position for a few innings.
So probably Giles is a better option for infield reserve duties than Bruntlett, given that you also wouldn’t be embarrassed to use him as a pinch-hitter. But maybe Giles is tradable–to the Yankees to cover A-Rod, even. I doubt Donald starts the year on the bench, just because he’s still never played at AAA; though I felt differently a few weeks ago, now I’d rather see him work full-time there at third base than sit, losing development time while starting his arbitration clock.
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I would love it if the Phillies could afford to eat some or all of Jenkin’s salary in a trade that would free up a spot for Mayberry Jr.
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I suppose I understand the concept of using only one primaryu guy to take up the infield and outfield utility spots, rather than having two roster spots for this. The consequence, however, (at least last year) was that Bruntlett got way too many at bats. It may very well be that the team carries Giles and Bruntlett and either trades Jenkins or releases Stairs. Well, I guess if this is the worst of the team’s problems, they’re in pretty good shape.
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Bruntlett got so many at-bats for 2 reasons. The first was Rollins injury early and the 2nd was that So Taguchi was even worse as a pinch-hitter.
Bruntlett is fine for the role he should be filling as a defensive replacement/pinch runner/injury insurance. Offensively, he should be the last bat off the bench..
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There is really no room for him right now, but with every game, Jason Donald is making it harder for the Phillies not to keep him. For example, he has two hits today in three ABs to raise his on base percentage this spring in official Grapefruit League games to .433. His BA is up to .292 after a slow start. From what I can tell, his fielding has been good wherever he has played.
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Update: Make that three hits in four trips for Donald, who is now batting .320 with an on base percentage of .452
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liquidanthropoid Says:
I would love it if the Phillies could afford to eat some or all of Jenkin’s salary in a trade that would free up a spot for Mayberry Jr.
The trouble is Gillick is still around and may take getting rid
of Jenkins as a slap in the face which of cource it is
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nowheels, that makes no sense on multiple levels. Gillick is only an adviser at this point, so it is not his decision to make. And are we now going to start basing personnel decisions on the feelings of advisers? Also, Gillick seems very objective and smart, the kind of man who would not take offense to something as silly as this. Also, and most importantly, the Phils already released Adam Eaton! A mistake which was 5x greater than that of Jenkins. It is not a slap in the face, it simply is the current situation.
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Correcting nowheels every time he says something dumb seems to be becoming a sort of hobby for you, huh zac.
Please, enlighten me why having Gillick around is a problem? The man helped put together a world series team.. like the 3rd of his career! He’s a HOF general manager!
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which one of you is Ricard Saunders. Dont you have family to bother. Take Jenkins, and Eaton and Garcia, So etc and the millions they wasted. Ill take Ruben at this point
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He also got Werth, Lidge, Bruntlett, Blanton, Romero, Durbin Moyer. No one is 100% right on every player…. not to mention the core of the team put together under Wade who you also bash.
Without those players we would still be waiting for a World Series. You have a sickly unbalanced value system and seem like you just need something to complain about all the time…. whether it be prospect related or not.
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why they call u skunky
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DAH,CAUS HIS BUTT STINKS
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