Sorry I’m a tad late on this.
The Phillies selected David Herndon, a righthanded pitcher from the Angels. Herndon was a 5th round pick in the 2006 draft. He’s a control specialist, as he’s posted a ridiculous 1.40 BB/9 rate in his minor league career. His 5.20 K/9 rate is not so hot, but he couples that with a career 60.4% GB rate. So you can see why the Phillies were interested. He doesn’t walk anyone and rolls up tons of groundballs. He was ranked 28th in the Angels system last year, and as high as 11th in 2007 according to Baseball America.
Update: I found a video clip of him. Click here.
I like the pick. Check below the fold for more
The Phillies lost Carlos Monasterios to the Mets, and he was then traded to the Dodgers.
The Phillies also took Angelo Sanchez, a RHP, in the minor league phase of the draft. I’m not sure how that works, because he only has 2 seasons on US soil. I know very little about him, and if I find anything, I’ll update this post.
PhillyFriar had written a post at almost the same time as I did. Here was his analysis
Interested to hear James’ take on this — but the way I see it, it’s a worthwhile gamble, if not a particularly exciting move. Herndon is eerily similar to last year’s Rule 5 selection, Robert Mosebach: big Angels righthander, plucked from Double-A, poor strikeout rates but good sinker. If you’re an optimist looking for a couple of reasons why Herndon might succeed where Mosebach failed, try these on for size: Herndon has shown excellent command throughout his pro career (just 1.4 BB/9, compared to 2.8 BB/9 for Mosebach), which gives him a sterling 3.73 K:BB ratio; and Herndon isn’t a conversion project (he’s pitched the lion’s share of his last two years out of the bullpen, including every appearance in 2009).
With as wide open as the bullpen competition appears to be at this juncture, adding another arm to the mix isn’t a bad thing. I think Catch 22 f/k/a H Man was dead on when he likened Herndon to Clay Condrey — a ground ball specialist who can give you 60 or so innings in the 4.00 to 4.50 xFIP range isn’t the worst thing in the world, even if he lacks upside.
Meanwhile, the Mets grabbed Carlos Monasterios and promptly sold him to the Dodgers. I’m not so sure he’ll stick in LA’s bullpen — they’ve got a pretty deep group out there — and the Dodgers will, of course, have to return him to the Phillies if he doesn’t make the 25-man roster. For now, though, Jesus Sanchez is the lone remaining piece from the Bobby Abreu deal. But hey, at least C.J. Henry is scoring 5.8 points per game for the Kansas Jayhawks right now!
Phuture Phillies 
so since kennelly didnt get picked where does he go now is he done or does he stay with phillie
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Since he has less than 6 years of service, he remains Phillies property.
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Herndon seems to have what a guy from AA would need to be successful in the bigs and that’s great control and a sinker. The odds would certainly seem long for him to make the team but a great spring training and who knows. Effective sinkerballers have been known to do better in the big leagues due to better infield defense…
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Sorry to jump the gun on that, but just wanted to get something up on the site.
If you’re not going to strike a lot of guys out, you better do two things very well: not walk anyone, and keep the ball on the ground. Mosebach only succeeded at the latter, whereas Herndon has done both effectively, so he’s at least got a shot.
Beerleaguer quotes John Manuel as saying that “struggles with lefthanded hitters,” and while that may be true, his career splits aren’t too bad: 4.1 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9 with a .295 BAA and 59.5% GB against lefties, as opposed to 5.7 K/9 and 1.2 BB/9 with a .275 BAA and 61.1% against righties. In short, there’s enough to like here to envision Herndon having a shot to compete for the last spot on the Phils’ roster.
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I would say that Herndon will be challenging Matheison and Condrey for either the last 2 or last 1 of the bullpen slots
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If Herndon sticks, it will be as the last man in the bullpen. He’s another guy who is part of the mix. If he shows something, it also wouldn’t surprise me if they tried to flip him to another club in a trade. It’s all about redundancy – he’s another guy who might be effective if others falter.
I still have great hopes that Kendrick is going to stick as one of the last one or two guys in the bullpen. He improved enormously last year and even picked up a tick or two in his velocity.
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Don’t we already have a sinker ball pitcher by the name of Kyle Kendrick???
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Any word on the other guy? Pretty good peripherals, huge jump in HR/9 last year may have been what made him expendable.
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On Angelo Sanchez he was rule 5 eligible so he must have had 3 seasons in the DSL before the 2 seasons in the U.S. He is rule 5 eligible this year and was not protected in the AAA phase. Probably not a prospect, but the Phillies at least get an extra arm (probably for Lakewood) and a year to look at him before his 6-year minor league free agency kicks in.
Stats on Sanchez here:
http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/S/Angelo-Sanchez.shtml
Gives up too many hits to be that much of a prospect especially that he now has 5 years as a pro.
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I hear a rumor that Taylor may be traded today or tomorrow…and we all know who that would be for… we’ll see…
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Taylor to be traded now or soon?
Halladay for Taylor and Blanton? That’s MY hope and proposal.
Blanton is on the market, anyway.
Arms for the pen is good for a shyot, but only one pick has possibility of aid to the big club in ’10.
If not a shot in the dark, at least a minor explosion in a partially lifting fog.
Couldn’t hurt. Another one to watch in spring training.
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Sanchez looks like an interesting project. Good size, won’t turn 21 until next June and in his two years state side has averaged better than a strike an inning in 23 starts.
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I heard that the phillies were looking to include either taylor or brown, coupled with happ.
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I don’t agree with what was said about Mosebach failing. He didn’t get a chance. He went back to the Angels, pitched very well at AAA(PCL(extreme hitters league)) and was added to the Angels 40 man roster. To me, it looks like the Phils screwed up letting him go back to LA.
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Murray,
hearing as in audible sounds or hearing as in voices in your head?
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wow southpaw…so putting up decent numbers & being added to the Halo’s 40 man made Mosebach deserving of a 25-man spot on the Phils?
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I agree with Southpaw, but hindsite is 20/20 or some other cheekly cliche. The phils got ZERO value out of the last man on the bench (thinking of Bruntlett) and carried any number of relief pitchers that weren’t that great (I’m being slightly unfair to Durbin but I’m thinking of him).
Last year would have been a perfect year for this team to carry a Rule 5 player because Charlie let his starters play all season and Bruntlett was comletely ineffective.
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Re: possible trade – from a friend of a friend inside – 75% chance but who really knows with this stuff.
Re: Mosebach: the phillies didn’t screw up, just the opposite. They identified a talented arm and took a shot at keeping him but the Angels wanted him back. He wasn’t good enough to be in the big leagues this year for a contending team. And I agree that on paper, Sanchez looks like a guy with a decent chance to be good.
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So, just to be clear: the trade from the Mets to the Dodgers doesn’t change anything in terms of keeping Monasterios on the 25 man roster? Like, if the Dodgers don’t want him, he gets offered back to us, not to the Mets first, or something crazy like that?
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Question, if a player picked does make his new team’s 25 man roster but then sometime during the season there is no longer spot for him the orginal team still gets first dibs correct?
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If the Dodgers don’t want Monasterios he would be offered back to the Phillies.
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“If the Dodgers don’t want Monasterios he would be offered back to the Phillies.”
With the caveat that he’d have to clear waivers first. Another team could claim him with the same Rule 5 restrictions.
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“I hear a rumor that Taylor may be traded today or tomorrow…and we all know who that would be for… we’ll see…”
God I hope not.
I personally don’t want to see any of the big 3 prospects traded away for Halladay.
If Blanton can yield a piece to the puzzle, then I would rather give up a guy with higher upside like gose.
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Wow, you guys made it until the 10th post before this thread was derailed. Congratulations.
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I added a video clip of Herndon to the original post. As you can see, he kind of has a little whip in the back, which is what creates the sink and movement on his fastball. Pretty compact and repeatable it would seem.
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His arm speed is different when he throws whatever off-speed pitch he’s throwing. Not fair to him, though–that clip looked like an inning where he was really struggling–fly-ball, walk, undetermined ball hit in the air to LCF.
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