Update : As speculated earlier today, Chase Utley was placed on the DL with a sprained thumb and Greg Dobbs was called up to replace Utley on the Phillies roster. What was not speculated upon was that Placido Polanco was also placed on the DL with left elbow inflammation and SS Brian Bocock was called up to fill Polanco’s roster spot. Dobbs was hitting .118 in his short stint in Lehigh Valley (17 AB’s). Bocock , 25, has been the primary shortstop for Lehigh Valley all season. He is a fantastic fielder, both covering ground and has an extremely strong arm. That being said, he is simply an abysmal hitter. I have seen few worse in AAA. His line: 212 AB’s .179/.239/.231 with 1 HR and 12 RBI.
Original POST: A couple of roster moves, one which may have come because of injuries on the big club. 1B/3B Neil Sellers was called up from Reading after spending less than a week down with the RPhils. Speculation is that the Phils may need to call up Greg Dobbs because of the injury last night to Chase Utley. Lehigh Valley has not announced the corresponding move to make room for Sellers as of yet.
Additionally, pitcher Ty Taubenheim was called up from Reading to Lehigh Valley. After struggling mightily during his first few outings this year, Taubenheim has been solid for Reading over his last half dozen or so appearances. I would expect him to take a spot in the Lehigh Valley rotation, as the move to the bullpen for Joe Savery is completed.
Update: Mike Cisco, was called up from Clearwater to Reading to fill the vacant Reading roster spot. Cisco started the year with several decent outings for Reading and then hit the DL for quite some time before his activation two weeks ago.
More news to come as the day moves along, along with live recaps of Domonic Brown’s home debut from Allentown later tonight.
Dobbs in AAA: 2 for 17 with 7 Ks…hardly what you want.
He seems finished.
LikeLike
this just in: Keith Law has named Dom Brown number uno and Cosart number 22 in his latest top 25 rankings…
LikeLike
KLaw HATES the Phillies.
LikeLike
Speaking of Brown he’s the new #1 on Keith Law’s list. Cosart is #22. Yeah, are system is depleted.
LikeLike
Sorry for the double post, I didnt see it before.
LikeLike
Will be at the home debut of Dom Brown tonight — it’s been awhile for the fans to get excited about something so plenty of people are looking forward to this…
LikeLike
I wonder if Brown continued to just completely mash in AAA if they would consider a second half call-up like Law suggests.
LikeLike
Gregg, seems like LHV is still plus one (Sellers + Taubenheim – Dobbs). Any ideas or guesses who comes down to Reading to take Ty’s spot in the rotation?
LikeLike
Did anyone see Keith Law’s new top 25 on ESPN?! Dom Brown #1 and Jarred Cosart at #22. He also noted why Singleton wasn’t yet on the list (due to a small sample size), but there’s still time! What great news for a team that has traded a number of high-end prospects in the past year
LikeLike
Micheal Taylor is headed the wrong direction too.
LikeLike
Boston, LHV had an open roster spot so they don’t need to send anyone to Reading (assuming Dobbs gets called up).
LikeLike
I expect of roster move with Utley soon. Probably listed as a hand injury but he got thrown out twice last night on balls he easily beats out. Perhaps his hips is acting up again.
When are they going to move Garcia up? Soon I hope.
LikeLike
My thoughts this is a big week for MT, A 3 for 3 , then an 0 for.
The honeymoon is about to run out.
LikeLike
did anyone see that brian schlitter a former 16th round pick in 2007 for the phils made his major league debut for the cubs goin .2ip striking out both batters he faced
LikeLike
Boston–
As far as the Reading spot, I think Cisco gets called up from CW. CW has 13 pitchers on their roster and Cisco should be about ready for the climb back up after a couple of starts.
LikeLike
Mandy Hoseknick of the Morning Call mentioned there is still a possibility of Polanco hitting the DL with Ransom getting the call. A Dorta call up not likely. I’m thinking both Utley and Polanco (as devestating as it sounds) to the DL with Ransom and Dobbs attempting to fill their shoes.
LikeLike
Starters in LHV: Bump, Carpenter, Happ (for at least 1 rehab start tonight), Mazone, Duckworth and Taubenheim (when Happ moves on).
Reading: Worley, Flande, Naylor, Ramirez and could be Anderson (the jack-of-all-trades). I agree Cisco would the logical choice if the want something longer term.
CLW: Cisco, Correa, Hyatt (1 ip last night because of an hour and half rain delay), May and Sanchez. If Cisco is recalled then Aumont goes into the rotation.
I know everyone’s thinking that Cosart could be moved up but I wouldn’t move him up yet. It’s about that time of the season where he might have a little “tired arm”. He’s pitched 71 innings so far. His last two outings have been sub-par. Let’s see how he fights through (or should I say threw) it.
LikeLike
I apologize if this isn’t the right spot for this but KLaw’s new rankings are exactly the reason I don’t give credence to anything he says. The guy has absolutely zero foresight. Last year when his top 100 came out and he had his chat I said something to the nature of leaving Cosart off was ridiculous and his response was essentially that he gets paid to know who the prospects were and Cosart wasn’t top 100 in the minors. Now half a season later he is a top 25 guy in all the minors according to KLaw.
I’m not an insider so I don’t know about his comments but I hope that he admits that he misses on guys like this, all he does is look at numbers, age, and level instead of evaluating a player based on what he can do. Cosart was obviously a stud at the end of the season last year but because KLaw has no idea about anything he would have preferred at least 100 minor leaguers to Cosart. End Rant.
LikeLike
Cisco to Reading and Matt Way to Clearwater are likely moves. As for the big club (I’ll keep it short) , Atkins is still available if I’m not mistaken. I honestly wouldn’t bring Dobbs back up yet. He can’t hit right now and might be done and we know his glove is terrible at 3B.
As for Savery, I really hope they let him start hitting soon.
LikeLike
wasn’t Schlitter traded for Scott Eyre?
LikeLike
Yeah he was and I remember people flipping out about it at the time saying it was a bad trade then getting countered with saying he wouldn’t amount to anything.
LikeLike
Silly me, I came here to report Keith Law’s latest rankings and it’s plastered all over the comments in similar “Did you hear” fashion.
LikeLike
Before this year Cosart had done absolutely nothing to demonstrate that he was a top 100 prospect. He had all the projection in the world. But, he had no stats and was coming off injury. I’m going to hold that against KLaw especially since he’s been on the Cosart bandwagon all year.
LikeLike
This is funny to look back on:
LikeLike
“I’m NOT going to hold that against KLaw” is what that was supposed to say.
LikeLike
From Link on Schlitter trade:
“This was a good trade. If Eyre gives us anything at all this is a good move. We can’t not trade a fringe prospect because he MIGHT be a league average reliever in 5 years.” -NEPP
Exactly. Eyre helped win us a WS and get back to another…great trade of a fringe guy that is lucky to see the Majors on a terrible team.
LikeLike
DanDan, how many times have you seen Cosart pitch? How many times have you seen Alvarez? How many times have you seen Pineda?
LikeLike
Not to turn this into a Law bashing thread, but this chat transcript from last year shows up first when searching Google for “Dominic Brown” AND “Keith Law”:
D.Brown (Clearwater,FL):
Who’s better me or Fernando Martinez?
Keith Law (12:56 PM):
Martinez.
http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/chat/_/id/26467/26467
LikeLike
What was the date of that? Remember that D Brown has really shot to the top of the lists in the last year and a half. Observations change. People change. People grow. Prospects improve. Others decline. At the time he said that, FMart probably was the better of the two and everyone on this board was probably saying MTaylor was the best outfield spec in the system.
LikeLike
That chat was pretty early in the year. The first comment was about the mocks drafts not even being done yet
LikeLike
instead of anthony hewitt, the phillies could’ve had lonnie chisenthall, daniel schlereth, jake odorizzi or casey kelly. instead of zach collier, they could’ve had mike montgomery…
its not just hindsight, because i would’ve taken any of those guys and i’m sure most of you would’ve too. sorry to rain on the keith law love parade, but thats all i can think about when i see names like that…
moving on…when law says singleton didn’t make the list because of sample size, that implies he’d be a top 25 prospect with more at bats. that would give us three in the top 25 by the end of the year. i’d think you could make a similar argument for brody colvin, except colvin DID have the glowing scouting reports that singleton lacked. anthony gose’s maturation has to make him a top 50 prospect. i’d think gose, singleton, brown, colvin and cosart give us five legit top 50 prospects.
don’t forget- law had juan ramirez as the phillies #2 prospect and 101 overall going into this year.
LikeLike
its official, Utley & Polanco to the 15 Day DL…Dobbs & Bocock brought up……so now we have Happ, Madson, Ruiz, Utley, Polanco, Bastardo all on the DL….this is looking like the Mets from last year….just can never stay healthy…..
LikeLike
Utley and Polanco both have been placed on the 15day DL.
Crap!
Dobbs and Brian Bocock have been recalled
LikeLike
Utley & Polanco to the DL. Bocock and Dobbs recalled.
LikeLike
Can someone explain why Harold Garcia isn’t ready?
LikeLike
Could be the first time 2 guys hitting below .180 were ever recalled at the same time.
LikeLike
What would Garcia be ready for? A move to Reading?
LikeLike
oops thought he was already there
LikeLike
Gotta love his 31 game hitting streak though
LikeLike
they have Valdez and Castro on the team with Rollins back already. I can understand bringing up Dobbs, but why Bocock?? He is another no-hit mid infielder to go along with Valdez and Castro. Should have brought up someone with a bit of pop instead even if its for a bench role/pinch hitting.
LikeLike
why not ransom? Dobbs has been God awful.
Good to see Brown and Cosart on the list. We all know Singleton is not far behind. There is 3 toolsheds all starting to put it together. So, the philosophy is good. Hopefully, Collier, Hewitt and/or James can mature as well.
LikeLike
I doubt the Phillies will decide to ride out this string of injuries. So, what prospects would it take and who would you be willing to give up for a package of, say, Jeremy Guthrie and Ty Winnington from the Orioles?
http://www.csnphilly.com/06/28/10/Phillies-Orioles-Shaping-up-as-Trade-Par/landing.html?blockID=262407&feedID=704
LikeLike
this line-up just seems like it will NEVER get a chance to play together for an extended period of time…….2010 appears as it will be the “what if” season…I dont want to say the player’s name, but Amaro did say that if that certain deal he made in the winter gave the Phils bad karma going forward, he would take the blame for that bad karma….I was really surprised he said that since Amaro is usually as tight-lipped about anything of substance when it comes to the media/fans…..right then I took that as a public declaration(as so much as we will get from him) that he screwed up with that trade and he now knows it……all these injuries arent because these players were beating themselves up other the deal, but baseball players are very superstitious and if Amaro publicly says that, could it be also in the players’ heads???
LikeLike
I can only imagine what todays lineup is going to look like…
Rollins
Valdez
Werth
Howard
Victorino
Ibanez
Schnieder
Castro
could be worse. If we want to keep pace Jimmy needs to come alive ASAP.
LikeLike
I thought we were crazy injured last year but this year takes the cake.
LikeLike
Why was Cody Ransom not called up? Anyone have any idea?
LikeLike
The Phils are going to ride it out with Vadez and Castro, and need a backup player (Bocock).
LikeLike
Bocock over Ransom is because he is better defensively, can play multiple positions and will probably never see the field.
He is simply short-term injury insurance.
As for the comments about Schlittler, are we really now regretting trading a guy who has pitched all of 2/3rds of an inning in the Major Leagues for a guy who was a key component of a WS championship team?
If Schlittler was still with the Phillies, he would still be in the minors since he wouldn’t have a spot in the Phillies pen…
LikeLike
No but we could’ve easily won the WS without Eyre. He helped don’t get me wrong but is it really worth it?
LikeLike
Bocock because he’s the better fielder and hopefully Polanco won’t be out for long. Ransom is not a good fielder. I assume Dobbs and Castro will platoon at 3B with Valdez getting 2B. Not exactly a championship team…
LikeLike
“No but we could’ve easily won the WS without Eyre. He helped don’t get me wrong but is it really worth it?”
Yes. Yes it is. Schlitter did a decent job in AAA, but wasn’t exactly mowing people down. Trading a middle reliever who hopefully might help us win a World Series later is worth getting a middle reliever who did help us win a World Series.
LikeLike
With Castro and Valdez playing regular at 2B and 3B , then they need a backup Middle Infielder who is a fielder you could put in late in a game if needed and they would not blow the game defensively. Cody Ransom is not considered a good defensive option at SS, or even at 3B.
Trade maybe.
Murphy’s list of available 2B-3B, did not include Pedro Feliz who is very available, as Chris Johnson has taken 3b as a regular.
Maybe they trade for Feliz and Brett Myers from Astros in lieu of Jeremy Guthrie and Ty Wigginton as in Salisbury’s article. Then Myers to rotation, Feliz takes 3B, and they can pick up Akinori Iwamura from the Pirates for a song, and it’s no worries, mate.
LikeLike
I can’t believe people are STILL complaining about trading Schlitter. Look at Eyre’s numbers. He most certainly helped bring the championship to the Phils. There is no question.
LikeLike
Yes but Schlitter has a future, much more so than Eyre.
LikeLike
Bocock=Brumlett
LikeLike
Why wasn’t Cody Ransom called up is my question as well? I kind of wanted them to call up at least one guy who doesn’t seem to be utterly punchless at the plate.
LikeLike
Cause maybe Ransom’s costly errors time and time again for the Pigs were a red flag?
LikeLike
Dobbs holding down the 2 hole. 😐
LikeLike
Baxter, don’t you think you’re overvaluing Gose? There is NO CHANCE, he’s a top 50 prospect. Though I’m a fan and he’s made great strides this year, I just can’t see him being close to top 50. I’m not sure he’s top 100. He’s shown little power and not a great OB %.
I’m hopeful for continued improvement, but think you overvalue him greatly.
LikeLike
Stupid phillies. They should have poopy running things. How dare they make a trade that helped them for two years, one WS win and another WS appearance. They forgot to look forward ro the need of a rookie setup guy. I generally don’t respond to him, but this is pretty ridiculous. One of the current strengths of our system is bullpen arms. Who cares about the future of Schlitter when we have the memories that Eyee was a big part of?
LikeLike
Tom, you are exactly right. You shouldn’t have even responded to that nonsense.
LikeLike
man it would be really nice if dom brown could play some infield
LikeLike
Queue Bocock with a walkoff HR. 🙂
LikeLike
So wondering what happened to my innocuous comment following DiamondDerby’s 7:09 comment? Deleted? Yeah, it was about the major league club, but in a thread that was … about the major league club, and relevant to the topic of the thread (i.e., performance of players replacing the injured Phillies).
LikeLike
Dom Brown with his first AAA homerun. Two run shot. Only hitting .444 so far
LikeLike
Poopy (could you please, please change that silly name?) – of course Eyre doesn’t have a future. It was a trade that was designed to help the Phils win a WS and they DID win a WS. So you really can’t go back now, two years later, and complain that Eyre has no future while singing the praises of a pitcher that is average, at best, and who would have no place on the current team. In fact, the Schlitter trade is precisely the type of trade a team like the Phils should make when trying to win a championship. I mean, really, has this team every missed Brian Schlitter? Are they likely to do so in the future? Those answers seem self-apparent, no?
LikeLike
Ransom has a bad knee right now – but could be swapped for Bocock later in the week if he shows to be healthy
LikeLike
I always thought Brown would be a good major league ball player. However im starting to believe he could be a super star.
LikeLike
Hank Blalock is designated. Any fill in interest?
LikeLike
Ugh. Bocock is as awful a hitter as I have ever, ever seen in AAA. He’s so overmatched at the plate that he seems barely capable of BUNTING sufficiently. He’s so awful that if I ran a team, I’d seriously consider just making Andy Tracy my shortstop. He can’t possibly be worse on defense than Bocock is on offense.
LikeLike
They did talk about Ransom over Bocock on the Phils broadcast and they said we could see Ransom at some time. They stressed his recent injury.
LikeLike
Bocock is the Lenape Indian name for “place holder.”
LikeLike