Roster notes

Other Stuff

Sorry if this has been covered and I missed it, but 2 days ago BA listed a new set of minor league transactions;

Philadelphia Phillies
Signed: RHP Rodrigo Lopez
Released: RHP William Savage, 2B P.J. Antoniato, OF Alberto Cambero, OF Casey Craig, OF Brandon Haislet, OF Jay Miller, OF Javon Moran, OF Wilkin Ruan
Voluntarily retired: 2B Rob Watson
Added to 40-man roster: 2B Miguel Cairo
Placed on 7-day DL: RHP Manny Ayala, RHP Mike Cisco, RHP Scott Mathieson, RHP Sam Walls, LHP Jason Mackintosh, LHP Walter Tejeda, 3B Terry Tiffee, OF Jeremy Slayden
Placed on temporarily inactive list: RHP Francisco Butto, RHP Edgar Garcia
Placed on military list: OF Karl Bolt

So there’s that.

57 thoughts on “Roster notes”

  1. Is there any word of whether there is something new or unxpected that is wrong with Mathieson? Or is this DL listing precautionary so that he does not have to test the reconstructed elbow out in inclement weather? I’m pulling for him and am curious to know. Has anyone heard anything?

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  3. Haven’t heard anything recently re: Mathieson, but I came across this blog entry from March 31 that I hadn’t seen before…

    “[T]he plan is for him to start throwing bullpen sessions and batting practice during extended spring training early [April]. If all goes well he’ll start throwing in game situations in May, a year after his second Tommy John surgery, and the Phillies hope he’ll be “out of Florida” by June.”

    And because I think of them as a duo, here’s the latest update on Zagurski, courtesy of The Grand Island Independent (whatever that is)…

    “Philadelphia left-hander Mike Zagurski, placed on the disabled list while recovering from Tommy John surgery, will open the season on an injury rehabilitation assignment while staying at the team’s spring training home in Clearwater, Fla. The Millard North product is expected to be near 100 percent in May.”

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  4. James, I noticed you highlighted Haislet. I guess you were surprised by his release, as am I. He was only 22 last year. He didn’t have a horrendous year. He had 70Ks in 225 AB but he hit .240, OBP .328 and .621 OPS. It wasn’t great but it was something for a 22 year old to build on. Maybe he asked to be released.

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  5. I heard that Garcia has wavier issues getting back into the country…Anyone know what is wrong with Cisco & Slayden? surprised they gave up on Moran.. that guy has been traded and brought back a couple times.. Think they could’ve traded him again to someone for some A or rookie prospect?

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  6. When a draft choice gets only one season, They must have seen very little in his play to release him so quick,

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  7. Haislet being released might also be a function of who was ahead of him. His .621 OPS last year was relatively weak for an OF, especially a college senior. He has OK speed but nothing special. He would probably not have done well with a Clearwater promotion. And at Lakewood we have 4 good prospects (Myers, Collier, Gose, Castro) who are leagues ahead of him as a prospect. TJ Warren is also lurking somewhere in extended spring I believe. Giving Haislet ABs would have taken them away from a better prospect. It is nice to see the depth in the organization so they actually have this problem.

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  8. andyb you might be right, but gose, myers and castro haven’t exactly been studs so far, myers has been in a two year downslide,

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  9. Moran’s waiver fodder. He had a .701 OPS in 2007, .664 last year at the age of 25, mostly in AA. When you can’t hit well enough to justify a AAA job, you’re no kind of prospect.

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  10. Speaking of Lakewood prospects: Jason Knapp’s night: 5.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K. He’s on the hook for the loss so far but he still seems to have pitched pretty well. 4 BB/16 K in 11.1 IP so far…not too bad for an 18 year old in the Sally League.

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  11. I got to be honest, why are the Phils signing Rodrigo Lopez, every stat sheet I have read, he is mediocre at best.

    At age 33, what’s the upside here?
    Trade bait?

    I don’t get it!

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  13. What’s the upside of Andy Tracy? AAA clubs need veteran players to stay competitive. Not every player can be a prospect.

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  14. I love guys like Andy Tracy and Mike Cervenak. They don’t play in the expectation that they’re ever gonna make it at this point…they play for pure love of the game and that one little chance to have a cup of coffee in the Majors. I was very happy that Cervenak got the call last year as he will forever be able to say that he played for a World Series champion. No matter what else he ever does in his life, he will always have that. And like Andy says, they’re not all prospects.

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  15. Funny picking the top 30 neither Rizzotti or Murphy made it or were talked about much now they are terrors. I hope then continue
    Its going to be tough to match the ’08 draft

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  16. We hit big on pitching in 2008 (at least that’s what it looks like so far). I doubt we are that successful again but if we are able to reinvest that 1st round money that we won’t be spending in busting slot in the 2nd & 3rd round picks and some other guys, we can make up for it. Last year seems to be a very special draft that we might be looking back on in 5 years and going WOW, we got those guys in the same draft???

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  17. Did Mike Cervenak receive any World Series money from the Phillies for his part on being on the roster for over 45 days? I know they gave out partial payments, I wonder if he got any.

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  18. Did anyone else notice that Travis Mattair now has 10 walks in 30 ab’s, he also has 6 hits and only 4 k’s

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  19. The Phillies can certainly have a good draft. The Red Sox’s have been doing it for years. Last year Tim Mellville fell to the 4th round, who was in the top three HS pitching prospects going into the draft.

    I think there first pick is 74th, just for fun I looked at baseballreference.com to see who was picked in that slot. No recent stars really(Graig Nettles in 65, David Cone in 81) but with the 75th pick in 05 and 04 Yunel Escobar and Wade Davis(One of the Rays top prospects for those who don’t know) were picked there. Also Grady Sizemore was taken in the same slot in 2000.

    Oddly enough, Utley was taken with the 76th pick in the 97 draft by the Dodgers. And Mike Stanton(Marlins top prospect) was taken in 07 there as well.

    There’s some useless information for you guys. 🙂

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  24. He’s about 11 months out from surgery so he should be throwing by now. He went under the knife in mid-May of last year IIRC. Haven’t heard anything specific on him though.

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  27. I probably missed something somewhere, but did Karl Bolt enlist in the Military? When did this happen? Sorry for being ignorant, but I never heard about it.

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  28. Let me reply to my own post…I know he was in the Air Force Academy, but is he in active duty now? If so, how long?

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  29. Tom B. I thought the people in the academy could get a discharge, from there committment , if they apply for it , it seems to me some football players have done so.

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  31. I don’t see cutting Haislet as any big loss. Not fair to compare him to a ‘failed’ D’Arby Myers. Myers is over 3 years younger, yet put up better numbers than Haislet at Williamsport. If, as suggested, Myers is appropriately not currently high on our OF prospect pecking order, where should that put Haislet? I also don’t see Tracy as a fair comparison. Yes, Tracy also too old for his level to be a prospect, but his .900+ OPS helps his team. Haislet’s .621 OPS really doesn’t help the younger guys to play in a winning environment. Far better to give the AB either to a higher ceiling kid or an older guy who hits an awful lot better than Haislet. Haislet really didn’t help at all last season.

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  32. i know its early in the season but im thinking switching gose to pitcher would be more benefical to the phillies and gose himself

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  33. It really is way, WAY too early to judge Gose on anything. I’d trust an 18 year old hitter with good scouting reports far more than a low minors live arm. The injury risk as a pitcher is too severe.

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  34. Give him a bit more time…if he spends the entire year in the OF and fails completely, then I might consider it. A year “lost” at this piont in his developmental curve doesn’t hurt him all that much and, as James has mentioned previously, it helps protect his arm from overuse while he’s still in that danger period for injuries (18-21ish)

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  35. The problem, Alan, is that the scouting reports on Gose’s hitting — at least coming out — weren’t very good. I’m always wary of guys that come with the warning, “His hit tool is in question.” And southpaws with that kind of velocity aren’t exactly a dime a dozen.

    That being said, the organization has certainly shown a lot of faith in installing Anthony in center field, and in the leadoff spot, as an 18-year old in A ball, and I’m inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt. From all accounts, his glove and speed (and obviously his arm) are plus tools, and we’ve seen that even light-hitting center fielders can have a huge beneficial impact on team performance with their fielding (see Gomez, Carlos).

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  36. when he got drafted it sounded like he would be a better pitcher than hitter but he wanted so badly to play OF that the phillies agreed, we will see how he does as a hitter in lakewood this year, if he struggles I think a change should be considered

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  37. Physically, Gose looks much more like a speedy OF than a pitcher. He’s not built like a power pitcher that’s for sure. As for Karl Bolt, he actually had to use up future years’ worth of vacation time last year to play as much as he did. In ST last year, he was playing all day and then running to the base to work the night shift. He was and is on active duty because I believe he was denied the release that some other athletes received. The kid can really hit but who knows when he’ll be able to play full time and whether he’ll be too old to be of value by then.

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  38. Re: the armed forces argument – perhaps as an officer in the air force, he would rather retain his commission and go for the sure thing employment wise, than take a shot in the dark and play minor league baseball for a year or 2 more.

    He’s a very good player, but given how few people actually make a career of it, maybe he’s making the impossible choice to leave baseball behind with the way the economy is.

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  39. Not sure of what created the impression that Bolt is a good hitter. A .688 OPS for a corner OF/1B who turned 23 in-season at low-A last season is not at all good. That is only 100 OPS points higher than the 5-yr younger Galvis who is acknowledged to not be able to hit yet.
    Among good hitting prospects on the same Lakewood team:
    Brown has .788 OPS and is 2 years younger
    D’Arnaud has an .826 OPS and is 3 years younger
    Taylor has a .995 OPS and is the same age

    Hitters that we all want to see do better:
    Mattair has a .649 OPS and is 3 yrs younger
    Durant has a .767 OPS and is a year younger
    Mitchell has a .694 OPS and is a year younger
    Rizzotti has an .810 OPS and is about the same age
    Naughton has a .696 OPS and is a year younger
    Warren has a .654 OPS and is 3 years younger
    Kennelly has a .732 OPS and is a year younger

    Looking at age and comparable stats for his own teammates, I don’t think Bolt can honestly be said to really hit.

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  40. Bolt hit over .325 for 3 0f 5 months last season, and considering the logjam at 1B and in the OF in Lakewood, I think he did well. I have seen him play almost 2 seasons in FL (between GCL and FIL, ST) and I for one can attest to the fact that the guy can hit. The Mnt West Conf just named him to their All Decade Team (look at the other names on that list) and when you check out his stats at Air Force, playing for a lousy team in a tough league, he raked for 4 years.

    http://www.goairforcefalcons.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/040109aab.html

    I hope we get to see the Lt. in a Threshers uni soon.

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  42. Allentown pops the Bolt Ballon . Whats up buddy bad periogy
    at Yocco’s
    Still he may make it or be a manager prospect with his training

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  44. Didn’t Bolt play with a busted nose for a month or two last summer? I think I remember reading he broke it twice, and wore some goofy mask. Would certainly make for a down turn in one’s OPS, if that was the case.
    Eight homeruns in the heat/humidity of the GCL doesn’t sound like a bad performance.

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  47. The issue with Bolt is not batting average. His .266 for the season is respectable. The problems are low walk rate (less than 1 in 20 AB) and low power for a 1B/corner OF (an xbase hit rate of only 1 per 15 AB)

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  48. Bolt- when someone is educated by the Service Academies they incur a 5 year military service obligation. Those pursuing professional Sports careers(and certain other careers) could mainly serve through working as Recruiters and incurring a reserve obligation. When the Detroit Lions drafted Army Defensive Back, Caleb Campbell, last football offseason, this policy became more known to the general population. A small number of malcontents put up a whine and howl about the situation, and the jelly-fish administration acquiesed to them. Service Academy Graduates now incur a full 5 years active duty Mililtary Service Obligation.

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  51. How come D’Arby Myers only has 8 at bats? is he hurt or is he Blueclaws 4th outfielder and will see limited at bats

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  52. I’m assuming the jelly fish administration is the current one, since the last one was anything but.

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  53. Not by my story, it ain’t. The decision in question was made by the prior administration. Though as a whole they were perceived according to public relations build-ups. As the old saying goes “a fish rots from the head” it could be converted to “a jellyfish starts from the head” and the head was a jellyfish, just like his old man.

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  54. They changed the military discharge rules last year. There was a guy who got drafted in the NFL and they wouldn’t let him leave. So I’m guessing it affects baseball players too.

    I was a little surprised about Javon Moran but he had his chances.

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  55. I’m glad someone commented on Swindle. He had a 0 ERA and 10 Ks in 6 innings. He’s going to be in the major leagues for a while. I’m not saying the Phils should have kept him, but he’s done about as much as he can do in the minors.

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  56. Catch 22, I said the same thing to a buddy of mine last night. I don’t blame the Phillies for how the situation played out — the organization had two lefty relievers (obviously pre-Romero-suspension), and the Brewers were offering him a real shot at a bullpen job — but I’d certainly rather have R.J. than Jack Taschner right now.

    And I’m sick of the argument that his stuff won’t play at higher levels. You can say that all you want about guys who haven’t made it past Double-A, but when you post these numbers over three Triple-A stints…

    44.1 IP — 36 H — 9 BB — 61 K — 1.62 ERA — 1.02 WHIP

    …then there’s not a whole lot more you can prove at that level. In a league in which guys like Arthur Rhodes continue to pull down a paycheck, there has to be room for somebody like Swindle.

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  57. Marfis is this really the site to be grinding your axe? you obviously have no problem trying to indoctrinate people with your views, but I’m sure there are many that don’t share your bitterness for the last administration and would like to stick to baseball.

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