Monthly Archives: August 2010

Marti Wolever to leave the Phillies?

03. Draft Central

Update –> Former Phillies writer Andy Martino says the Mets have no plans to interview/pursue Wolever this winter.

According to this article, by a CSN reporter I’ve never heard of, Marti Wolever is reportedly thinking about moving on to a new challenge, to one of the Phillies biggest rivals no less. The Phillies scouting network is vast, and surely there are talented people who could come in and replace Wolever, but he’s been at the heart of the Phillies ascension to the upper echelon of MLB teams, finding lots of talent in the draft, talent that has both made it to the majors and also been used in trades. The scouting director relies on his scouts, obviously, but the directive for the type of players to target, and ultimately shaping the team’s drafting philosophy comes from the SD. Losing Wolever would be a loss, one the Phillies could deal with by replacing him with an equally capable guy, but it would leave me a bit uneasy, as its tough to know what to expect from someone you’re not familiar with. This should be an interesting sub-plot to follow as we get closer to the offseason. Here’s to hoping Marti changes his mind and the Phillies throw him a bone to keep him around.

Tyson Gillies Arrested

Gillies, Tyson

UPDATE: The Phillies have released a statement that reads, “The Phillies have confirmed today that Tyson Gillies was arrested on a drug possesion charge arising out of an alleged incident that was alleged to have occurred in June. Because this is an open case, we will not comment further at this time”. 

In what is certainly a new twist to the Tyson Gillies injury saga this year, Gillies was apparantly arrested early this morning by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office on a felony cocaine charge.  According to the St. Petersburg Times, Gillies was released on $2,000 bond at 10:52 this morning, after being arrested at 1:10 a.m.

Gillies was rehabbing his injured hamstring in Clearwater and had appeared in two Rookie League Games last week for the Gulf Coast League Phillies.  Gillies has missed a good portion of the season dealing with the hamstring issues and was recently shut down for the remainder of the season with a trip to Dr. James Andrews expected in order to look at the hamstring.

NOTE: While noting the obvious news worthy nature of this story to Phillies fans, please use respect in commenting.

Update —> James here. Matt Gelb has another article up with more information. So bizarre.

August 20th Discussion

Box Score Recap

Sorry about the lack of a daily posting yesterday. Life keeps getting in the way of my minor league baseball obsession. We’re back and better than ever on this mid August Friday. Only a few more weeks left in the regular minor league season. Last night’s boxes

GCL Phillies won 5-0.
Williamsport won 4-2.
Lakewood lost 8-5.
Clearwater lost 12-2.
Reading lost 15-10.
Lehigh Valley won 5-2.

Lehigh Valley Weekly Report

7. Lehigh Valley

A 2-5 week for Lehigh Valley, who continue to play miserably and are 48-76, in 5th place of the Northern Division of the International League, 25 games behind division leading Scranton.

Leaders– Hitting–Andy Tracy is 2nd in walks (59)and 7th in OBP(.374). Pitching: Brian Mazone leads the league in losses (12), 4th in starts (24), 6th in IP(143) and is 8th in WHIP (1.21); Drew Carpenter is third in losses (10) and 7th in walks (48); Nate Bump is 6th in ERA (3.35); Scott Mathieson is 2nd in saves (22). Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →

Mailbag?

Mailbag

Got a question for me about the draft or my writeup? Have questions about specific prospects? Let’s do a mailbag. Any topic is on the table, just try and ask me specific questions, not just “which players do you like” type queries. Only 2 rules. Don’t post your question here, email it to me at phuturephillies at gmail dot com. Second rule, put “mailbag” in the title of the email. If you can do that, and your question is specific and not ridiculous, I’ll answer it. Go!

August 18th Discussion

Box Score Recap

There were games last night. So we have box scores.

GCL Phillies won 8-3.
A bunch of guys played in the NYPL all star game.
Lakewood lost 4-3.
Clearwater box (game is in a delay, I’m setting this up before the game ends)
Reading won 9-7.

* Brody Colvin was struck on the leg by a line drive and departed in the 3rd. This tweet says he’s fine.

Utley Activated, Dobbs DFA

Transactions

In what can be described as a mild surprise, it is Greg Dobbs and not Domonic Brown losing their spot on the Phils 25 man roster with the activation of Chase Utley.  The fact that Dobbs continues to hit under .190 with next to no success pinch-hitting makes this a decision that is very difficult to argue with.  Brown, hitting .229 with a homer and 11 RBI’s since his call up will continue being used in his role as a pinch hitter and will give the Ibanez/Victorino/Werth combination a break against certain right-handed starters.  Dobbs must clear waivers before deciding whether he will accept this late season assignment to AAA Lehigh Valley.

August 17 Review

Box Score Recap

Just a reminder, use this spot for discussion of last night’s games. Post all draft stuff in the Draft Wrap-Up post. Thanks.

GCL Phillies won 7-6.
Lakewood lost 4-2.
Clearwater lost 9-2 and won 6-4.
Lehigh Valley lost 7-4.

This Utley guy appears to have a decent skill set, but he’s way too old for this level.

2010 Draft Wrap-Up

2010 Draft

As we inch closer to the midnight deadline, it appears the Phillies are done signing picks for the 2010 draft, which means I can write my final wrap-up piece. As you know, I’m a big draft fan, I love the process, I love the buildup, and then I love waiting to see who does and doesn’t sign. If you’re new to the site, you can find all of the stuff I’ve written about the 2010 by following this link. My long draft recap, written right after the draft in June, can be found here and the more philosophical piece I wrote about draft strategy can be found here. That should be a good primer. I’m going to try and not repeat myself too much from the links above, so lets get to it.

Continue reading 2010 Draft Wrap-Up →

2010 Draft Signing Deadline Day

2010 Draft

The deadline to sign draft picks is midnight on Monday night, and the Phillies have some work to do. I figured it would be good to go over what the Phillies have done so far, and what I expect them to do on Monday in terms of tying up a few more signings. As you have probably heard, MLB tries its best to deter teams from spending more than the recommended bonus amount, especially after the first 5 rounds. The Commissioner urges teams to not give more than a $150K bonus to a player after the 5th round, and all bonuses over this amount must be approved by the Commissioner’s office before it is official. Because of this, teams generally wait until the last few days to announce overslot signings, because the Commish won’t approve them. Will the Phillies make any more plays in this draft class? Past history says its a good possibility. Check below for more.

Update 9:38 PM —> According to this article (which provides no source), the Phillies signed Brian Pointer and Jonathan Musser. The article mentions “high 3rd round money” for Pointer, which would be somewhere between $350-450K.

Update –> Jim Callis mentions on Twitter that Pointer got $350K. So if the $300K on Musser is correct, that means $650K so far. Solid.

Update –> 5:08 PM According to Phillies scribe Matt Gelb, Kevin Walter has signed. This is fantastic news. You can find a scouting report on Walter in the link below.

Update –> 9:50 PM Gelb now says the Phillies won’t sign Frazier. Kind of a shame, but with the other signings announced, it makes sense I suppose.

You can find scouting reports for Walter, Pointer and Musser in my Draft Review piece.
Video of Brian Pointer can be found here.

Continue reading 2010 Draft Signing Deadline Day →