Open Discussion, 07 March 2011

Spring Training 2011

Here is your new discussion post for the next few days. Discuss prospect performances in spring games, and anything else prospect related. Go!

151 thoughts on “Open Discussion, 07 March 2011”

  2. Nice to see Naughton stroke a walk-off hit yesterday. He had his best year offensively last year–near-.800 OPS. 2 questions:

    1. Behind the plate, is he avg? better than avg?

    2. Is there a chance for a guy like him who might hit .260, take a few walks, and hit 5 HRs, to be a solid backup guy, like a Schneider?

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    1. I’ve never seen Naughton play but in 2008, at Lakewood, he threw out 38% of the base stealers. In 2009, that dropped to 14%. We were all wondering in 2008 was an anomoly or maybe 2009 was, In 2010, @ CLW he threw out 21%. He appears to be solid behind the plate with 7 PBs in 2008 (89 games), 3 PBs in 2009 (81 games) and 2 PBs in a shortened season last year (47 games).

      At 23, he’s still young for a catcher and being from down-under, he might need some more time before we call him organizational filler. I’d like to see him in AA next year. No one is holding their breath that he’ll be replacing Chooch at any time but that .800 OPS in a shortened season is eye opening. Leaves me wanting to see more.

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  3. It was great watching DeFratus, Matheson, and Rizz yesterday on tv. Rizz continues to look good at the plate and I didn’t think he looked that bad defensively although he didn’t really get any plays. Btw, Martinez doesn’t impress me and I suspect they’ll offer him back soon. In light of Dom’s injury, it looks like Mayberry will win a job on the bench and be the back up CF and 4th OF as well as be a right handed option at 1B for the occasional tough lefty. Young looks like he’s winning a job as well and could take a few starts in RF himself. Matheson is throwing the ball well and Stutes has been terrific, yesterday’s homer allowed not withstanding, and Schwim bounced back with a shut out inning yesterday. There’s a chance all four pitchers could get called up at some point this year do to some injury along the way or if Baez gets released. Will Matheson be 1st? Has Stutes made himself 1st?

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  4. I say they have to give Mathieson a shot. He’s starting to get old. I will say though that, though he did not give up any runs yesterday, he threw some awful breaking balls that better hitters would have clobbered. He could, in my opinion, have given up two homeruns yesterday if he were facing the heart of the order of a major league team. That said, he threw some nasty splitters that badly fooled some guys and some of his fastball location was more down in the zone than we have been used to.

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  5. I saw some good potential in the way Math pitched yesterday…no doubt he has big time velocity but location is still an issue. If he works that out then the split he’s been working on will be an effective pitch.

    Justin has me scratching my head right now. I really expected him to shine this spring and make a case for going north with the big club. I’ve yet to see a plus secondary pitch from him.

    My concerns if I should have any shifted to 26 and that situation and to a lesser degree Rollins being able to square up a pitch.

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    1. We haven’t seen a plus secondary pitch, because DeFratus doesn’t have a plus secondary pitch.

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    2. DeFratus is young. He only pitched at AA for like a month last year. Give him a chance to fully develop. Expectations that he’d challenge for a major league job this year were not realistic. The decision is whether to start him at AA or AAA now. My guess now is that he’ll start as the closer at Reading with Matheson the closer in LHV supported by Stutes and Schwimer.

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  6. Agree on 26, I suspect we’ll see the “Utley heading back to Philadelphia for further examination” announcement coming any hour now…

    Bill Conlin had a quick story on Martinez the other day and spoke highly of him and thinks he has a chance to stick on the roster. Matt Gelb just also wrote about how impressive Stutes has been, I believe he has put himself ahead of some folks on the depth chart as a result. He is 24 and had a good amount of college experience so not surprising that he is doing well.

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  7. I’m just not willing to limit Rizz’s potential (best possible scenario) to that of an average DH/1B… I know that the odds are slim that he will ever hit 100% of potential, and that so far, it’s just 1 year… but I personally think .320 Ave 25-30 HR in MLB is the best case scenario, odds of hitting it? 2%… something about him just rings true to me though… call it gut feeling. I’m seriously rooting for him… most likely, he’ll be a starter 2-4 years as a DH or 1b and that will be his career… he’s a long shot, but it’s not out of the realm of possibilities!

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    1. Is that a when or a where? If he puts up comporable numbers this year, he’s gone by the deadline, as to where, i have no idea.

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  9. 1. I like the idea of what Martinez can do, but seems to be too much of a defensive liability to keep on the team.

    2. Matheson has the stuff, just not sure the team has time or spot open to develop in the majors. I see him being a good catch for another team.

    3. Stutes looks like a good live arm during the second half of the season.

    4. Rizzotti looks really out of shape, but cannot argue his production.

    Does anyone have an update on Harold Garcia?

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    1. Rizz is not out of shape guys, that’s his “in shape” shape. Seriously… he was much softer two years ago.

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  10. Went to the Phils-Yankees game today, a miserable 7-1 loss, the main highlight of which (for me) was a couple of nice plays that Freddy Galvis made at short after coming on in the late innings. Agree that Mathieson looked pretty so-so yesterday, but he got a couple of flailing swings on his splitter, which was good. I was telling my dad about all the things that the Rizz can’t do when he belted that long home run, after which I said, “Well, he can do that.” Several people sitting around me offered the opinion that Domonic Brown’s injury was no big deal, since it doesn’t seem like he’s a good hitter anyway. Glad to see that the fan base is as patient and rational as ever.

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    2. Galvis has been one of my favorite Phillies’ prospects for some time now, but I don’t see him as a regular SS in the majors.

      I’m keeping my fingers crossed and hoping Galvis hits enough over the next two or three years to earn a spot as the Phils’ future utility infielder. I’d hate to see a real gold glove go to waste.

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      1. If Utley is out like I suspect(having seen the Phillies go this gradual release of bad new thing fifty five years)
        A giant trade for a kickbutt third baseman might allow Glavis to
        take over short if Rollins doesn’t do well.

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  12. A lot of action over at the Complex this morning that went on until early afternoon. Word was 325 staff and players are now in camp. All of the minor league groups were rotating between the four fields and the indoor and outdoor batting cages working on a wide variety of drills from base running to hitting in the cages . Still no live batting practice or long tossing in infield or outfield drills as every one is still building up arm strength. The catchers were put through a routine blocking balls by catching coordinator Ernie Whitt in one of the bullpens. A unique hitting drill centered on a machine in one of the outdoor batting cages that shot a golf ball toward a player who attempted to react to it by positioning his hands.

    The most interesting workout was a third baseman’s drill which took place after the morning session ended for most of the players except for Altherr, Alonso and Murphy. Infield coordinator Doug Mansolino stood on the infield grass between the third base line and the pitchers mound hitting ground balls to them for half an hour while they took turns at the edge of the infield grass . Needless to say standing that close they faced some hard hit balls off of Manso’s fungo bat. Clearly, Alonso showed the best glove and reaction fielding the grounders going both to his left and right with quickness and soft hands. However they have also been working Alonso as a catcher. Seems like they might not be set on a third baseman for Lakewood and they still are not sure if Altherr is the answer.

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    3. Another thanks. These first hard reports are great, especially on minor leaguers that have not yet played in a full season league. I have big hopes for Altherr. He is going to need lots of reps at 3B so I hope he gets to go to Lakewood. They can still work him in the lineup at DH or even in the OF if they need to work in another 3B.

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  13. Mr. Branch,

    Just wanted to say thanks so much for the eye-witness reports on the minor league fields. Keep them coming!

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  14. As for Galvis, after seeing him in a few games in spring training, he seems to know how to be a good situational hitter. He lays down the bunt to advance runners, hits the sacrifice fly, moves runners over with the productive out. I think it was Chuck Lamar who said that he has to do all the little things. I have only seen him very, very briefly, but i think he has taken this advice seriously.

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  15. If this lineup can pick up from other positions, perhaps there would be room for a developing hitter like Galvis. Heck, W. Valdez gave you .258 BA. If Galvis can give .250….

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  16. I would also love to see Galvis become a decent hitter (ala Ozzie Smith) but Valdez is a career backup and most likely Galvis will be in a similar situation.

    Stutes and Schwimer are not on the 40-man yet so they might have to wait until some roster movement mid-season to get a callup. I’d hate to have the Phils give-up on Mathieson but he probably has a better chance on low quality team that can let him give up some big flies as he learns to locate the splitter better.

    Rizzotti is going to have to shake the ‘horrible’ fielder label and get to ‘adequate’ to worth something in a trade. 1B is such a difficult hitter’s position that Rizzotti is still likely going to need to have a career as a pinch hitter.

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    1. Calling Dr. Frankenstein…calling Dr. Frankenstein…we’d like one Maddy Rizzalvis please.

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  17. Saw reports that Matt Anderson was hitting 99 on the gun the other day.

    I’d definitely like to see him in AAA this year…hopefully he accepts the assignment

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  18. on the Pigs website it says he has no idea. I like a little of that. Ryne Duran used to throw at least one pitch into the stands warming up. That combined with his old type glasses keep anyone from digging in

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  19. by the way, if you really want to start your morning with a queasy stomach, read Bill Conlin’s article which, essentially rips the Phillies minor league system. I don’t hate Conlin the way so many readers of this site do, but this article was really annoying. His point, basically, is that the Phillies are aging (true), they need to replace a lot of players in the next 3-4 years (probably also true), and they have royally screwed up their top draft picks over the last 3 or 4 years (somewhat true). While he mentions Cosart, Singleton and Colvin, he does so in a way that damns the entire system with faint praise. But where’s mention of the depth? Where’s mention of the fact that, right now the team needs relief pitchers and, low and behold, we are just stockpiled with relievers ready to contribute. But, really, it’s like saying that the Cardinals screwed up the 1999 draft, where they had 5 of the first 103 picks and the best player of the 5 was Chris Duncan, yet omitting the fact that some kid named Albert Pujols was picked in the 13th round.

    Very irresponsible journalism if you ask me.

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    2. Conlin is bored and lazy with no news coming out of ST. He’s reviewing a 3-month old article that came out around the same day as the Lee signing.

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    3. What Conlin wrote is an affront to anyone with a little more than a passing interest in minor league ball, and especially to anyone who ever had the pleasure of clicking on this site.

      The real question is how proud of himself is he after writing that? Does he believe he is at the top of the mountain when it comes to prognostication? Does he fail to see that his days of increasing his journalistic stature by peadling to the Phillies detractor mentality are over? The man is a relic.

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    4. Conlin used to bash Jimmy rollins as a short stop with only warning track power. He’s just an ignorate loud mouth with a lap top. It’s a shame he writes crap like that article but I think he does it for attention. He’s pretty much irrelavent these days. You’d think a guy like him would be more responsible in what he writes because a lot of people who don’t pay attention to the phils minors may believe what he says.

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    5. He ignores all the positives — pitching is hardest to find and we’ve got a ton of pitching in the minors. Yes, we have position players on the big team who are aging, but none of them are guys who will be providing more value on the field than their contract $. Therefore, no problem replacing the group of them with roughly equal talent and no more $. Finally, we hopefully turn some of our very talented minor league starting pitching and relief pitching into cheap replacements for Lidge and one of the expensive starters, making the replacement of the guys from the starting lineup even easier economically. When Howard’s contract expires, you can have just about your pick of player with the $ freed up.

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      1. It will be easy to replace the aging vets in a few years because they won’t be worth the value of their contracts? That’s some weird logic. Like saying it’s easy to improve if you are lousy to begin with. Talk about positive spin.

        And Howard’s contract expires in, what, 7 years? That’s quite a wait.

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      2. “pitching is hardest to find ”

        So why was Scott Rolen drafted in 1993 the last 3B prospect the Phils have produced?

        What shortstop prospect since Jimmy Rollins have the Phillies produced?

        Since Chase Utley (2B)?

        What have you seen from any of the Phils current pitching prospects that leads you to believe that they will be another Brett Myers? Forget Cole Hamels, he’s in his own league there. Where do you even see Brett Myers? Perhaps in Kyle Drabek, one of the few 1st round picks the Phils did not throw away, but he’s in Toronto.

        Tell me about what is on the Phils farm now.

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    6. Conlin is just making the obvious point that the Phils’ cheap leadership is destroying the entire fabric of the organization by not spending on the draft. So what if 8 of the top 100 prospects from BA started with the Phils? So what if our rotation has three of the top 15 pitchers in the majors by WAR in 2010? We should just blow it up. Now the Royals – they have a lot of talent at AA and AAA. THAT’S the organization we should emulate.

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      1. You mean an organization that hasn’t had a winning record since 2003? And one in 1994 before that? That talent is a result of drafting in the top 10 for 7 years in a row.

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        1. Let’s not bash the Royals organization. Only two of their top five (top 20 BA overall) are first rounders. Mike Montgomery was a compensation round pick. The Royals have built one of the best farms of the last 30 years and not every team with their position builds talent (i.e. Pittsburgh).

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        2. Mark, I was employing sarcasm. One of the reasons our system is thin at AA and AAA is because we’ve traded away good prospects (hence 8 of the top 100 starting out with the Phils).

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          1. No it’s thin because Dave $$$ Montgomery has tossed the Phillies 1st round pick for the last six or seven years to make the Commissioner’s office happy.

            Those intentionally wasted dollars could have purchased eight Brody Colvins or 15 Jarred Cosarts , or perhaps two or three big bucks “tough signs”.

            And lets not forget the guys they did draft and for a few hundred thousand told them to “enjoy college cause you ain’t gettin’ paid by us”.

            Twins #1 prospect Kyle Gibson.

            Joe Saunders

            Greg Reynolds who became the 2nd overall pick of the 2008 draft before injuring his shoulder.

            Jake Stewart is coming alive at Stanford hitting .354 now in his second season.

            Andrew Susac who is presently batting .447 and slugging .816 in his second season with Oregon State. And Andrew Susac is a catcher.

            There are others too.

            And my favorite.

            In 1997 Scott Boras informed the Phillies of his client’s bonus request before the draft as is common. The Phillies knew that J. D. Drew was going in asking for a multi-year Major League contract at $11 million.

            The Phillies drafted him and then publicly announced through Bill Giles no less that “Kris Benson signed for $2.8 million the year before and that was enough money for J. D. Drew.”

            It was not.

            The Phillies never negotiated. Never moved off the absurd $2.8 million figure and got nothing in the form of Eric Valent the following year.

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  20. Catch and Jr., I wonder how much money Bill Conlin paid MLB to be put in the Hall Of Fame writers section as I have rarely liked his articles. They seem to be always poorly researched and poorly written in my opinion. I believe he is the reason that Steve Carlton stopped talking to the press media.

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  21. I like bill conlin. so far is he wrong about the last four drafts??? Where are the top picks at?? sorry you may hate him because he speaks the truth,. The minor league departments failure to have kids ready to step in is obovious. not one minor league infielder or outfield ready to help. brown is the only one close.with better results we wouldnt have a 160 million dollar payroll. who replaces ibnez next year?????? or polnco or utley or rollins. no one I can see .

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    1. Or they can just trade some of their prospects in one of the deepest systems in all of baseball to fill the gaps.

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    2. A couple years ago he suggested moving Utley to left field as Burrell’s replacement and that not resigning Aaron Rowand was a big mistake because of his ‘heart’. He’s the journalistic equivalent of an overreactive WIP caller (but I repeat myself).

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      1. He’s also the guy who called wip to get them to stop Joe conklin from immatating him on the morning show. Bill can dish out b.s. but hates any type of it going in his direction.

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    3. Yes, he’s wrong about the drafts in focusing only on the first round. It matters not which round the talent is acquired in. We took chances on some high risk/ high reward talent that couldn’t have been signed for later round bonus $. We’ve had more luck in this than most teams, getting Hamels and Drabek as risky picks that paid off for us and Utley as a not really all that risky or costly a pick but one who strangely fell down the first round. Biddle seems to have been another success as last year’s first rounder. They bombed on Hewitt and they bombed on Golson, but that really isn’t an unusual first round failure rate. These weren’t primo first round slots.

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  22. Wow – I didn’t realize the hamate actually gets removed. How many more bones can we do without?

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  23. yea, if I’m not mistaken, don’t the big boys use their system more as a hybrid. Rather than simply plugging in “major league- ready” prospects on the big club, don’t they also use their system as a tool to acquire players when needed? I mean, who was the last ‘prospect’ to help the Yankees? The BoSox? Joba? Ellsbury? I mean, how are the Phils any different than those teams? Where is all of the RedSox minor league talent? Pawtucket? I doubt it.

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    1. Lester, Buchholz, Bard, Pedroia, etc. The Red Sox have benefitted a great deal from home grown talent. But your correct on a larger point. I will note though that even small market teams like the Twins and Rays have dealt prospects to build competitive teams. The Rays built a mass of talent but never developed a shortstop. Rather than building one, they took their excess and traded for Jason Bartlett.

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  24. I really don’t like Conlin either but he is not saying anything we don’t already talk about here amongst ourselves. We know we don’t have a short stop, we know we don’t have RH pop in the OF and we know we don’t have a 3B Prospect. I’m talking sure fire. One of these kids might surprise us and that is all you can hope for.

    But then that is to be expected when you don’t get the high draft picks. We’ve been blessed with good winning playoff baseball around this parts for 4 straight years now. I’ll take that.

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  25. Conlin- as far as the Oswalt projection and the other projections, the article was based on the Baseball America projections for the 2014 starting lineup, not Conlin’s. A close reading of the article reveals that. Article states the supportable position that players will be needed in the next couple of years, and there is little at the AA and AAA level. Most of the most ballyhooed players are just leaving LO-A. Immediate projections would show no sure things at 2B, SS, and 3B and the BA projections have the retention of Utley, Rollins, and Polanco, which are not sure things either. As to the depth of prospects, if one gets past the top layers of prospects, does anyone feel enough of an expert on other teams minor league systems, to know that , if things break the wrong way, that other teams top prospects would not exceed the level of Philly’s depth prospects. Because if it breaks wrong , the level of talent situation may remove a team from the championship contender status.

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    1. Part of writing good news is being timely. Using a projection of our starting rotation put out before we signed Lee is just horrible journalism.

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    2. Conlin also ignored BA’s methodology in which they openly admit that they don’t actually expect what’s published to be the lineup in a given year, but rather a projection based solely on players already in the organization.

      If you look at BA’s Projected 2011 lineup (done in 2008), it has Adrian Cardenas as the RF. The Blanton trade aside, Cardenas hasn’t played an inning in the OF in his career, but at the time, the Phils had a dearth of OF prospects and with Utley entrenched, BA took the liberty of switching positions. Last year it moved Valle to 3B…it’s really intended to show how guys could show up in the majors in a few years without any other personnel changes (trades, free agent signings).

      This was an extraordinarily lazy effort on Conlin’s part. I figured we were about due for a Where to Get Grouper Sandwiches story complete with a reference to a drunk Paul Owens fighting Hugh Alexander in the parking lot of The Beachcomber. That would have actually been preferable.

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  26. Wouldn’t it be great to pick in the top 5 each and every year? Like the Pirates and the Royals. If the Phils had picks in that range every year then you could call the Phils an abomination and that the scouts & GM should be dropped into Tripoli with an “I hate Gaddofi” Teeshirt. But if we did pick in that range year after year, we’d be sad sacks like those teams. We’d have a heck of a lot more to complain about than we don’t have a MLB ready SS or 3B or RH power bat in the minor league system. I’m sure most of us wouldn’t mind a “just in time” prospect pipeline. It’s just not that easy to build.

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    1. Good points and good line about Khaddafy. Quadaffy. Kudooffy. Goofyoffy.
      By any spelling the man is a lunatic.

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  27. 4 guys in the top 100 and a couple hanging around the top 100 screams success at the minor league level. Is this Conlin’s way of trying to get face time on ESPN acting as the Philly contrarian? He probably still slays Mitch Williams for 93.

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    1. Nice….Naylor’s pitching line looked pretty good yesterday. I wonder what he could be. I’ve never seen him pitch live or on tv but he seems like he can come in and miss some bats.

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  29. I’m at the phils game right now
    Just talked to Madson seems
    Like a really friendly guy asked him about the extension talks and he said the phils know what it will take to get it done. Swimmer is a
    Beast at 6’8 and it seems like him zagurski and stutes are close with each other.

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  30. I don’t really hate Conlin – sometimes I agree with what he says. But his article this morning was not the “truth” – it conveyed a false impression of the true state of the Phillies minor league system, which is really great considering where they are picking and how many players they have traded. Are we concerned about the Phillies 3 years from now? Sure we are. But does that mean that the Phillies have done a poor job with their farm system as his article would have an uninformed person conclude? Hell no. To the contrary, the system is both fertile and has provided phenomenal major league talent through trades. That’s the real truth.

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  31. I think the article was misleading. Cliff Lee was not with the organization at the time the article was penned. The rest shows a misunderstanding of how BA’s projected lineups work. If I wrote for Baseball America, those lineups would be an eternal source of frustration the way readers take them out of context.

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    1. Considering Conlin wrote the article today it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that a real journalist would include transactions that happened subsequent to the BA list. Hopefully Cankles Conlin is aware that Lee was signed to a long term deal.

      Hopefully heart disease will claim Conlin from our ranks by 2014.

      What a frickin hack he is.

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      1. RULZ, that’s a tad harsh. He’s a sportswriter, not some monster. Just don’t read him if you don’t like him, but let’s not bump him off.

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        1. I have no time for people like Conlin, Stu Bykofsky, and Andy Rooney, professional curmudgeons all of them. If they want to bitch incessantly, I reserve the right to call them out and root for their inevitable demise.

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  32. Let’s not forget all the talent traded away either. Halladay, Oswalt and Lee trades cost a lot of guys and no one is saying they were bad trades. Those guys were all assets that were dealt for major league pitching. Its true that we need the young guys to continue their progresion this year so they’re in AA an don the doorstep next year. Its not about positions as much as its about value. We’ve all talked about it quite a bit. Having said that, Savery, Hewitt, and Collier all look like potential busts at this point and Carpenter and Mattair, two other high choices, don’t look good either.

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  33. This is rather far down the discussion list, but anyone else see – with these injuries – some upcoming trades for near-major league ready talent? Primarily in the infield.

    Some people have mentioned Chase Utley moving to the outfield since he is aging and apparently always injured. If you did that (and it may be the best move), we’d really be screwed in terms of infield talent. But we do have some trade chips in the minors, and Joe Blanton, so it can be done. Thoughts?

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    1. The problem with Utley is not just the 2nd base position, that is easy enough to get over, but the fact that he hits in the 3 hole. Where can you get a championship level guy to hit in the heart of the order. Blanton, May, and a mid range arm for Matt Kemp?

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      1. I dont think the dodgers have any need for a starting pitcher. That deal isnt fetching Matt Kemp.

        If we do deal prospects I prefer it to be the pitching and not Jon Singleton.

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        1. Its silly to discuss because it won’t happen but it would take Singleton plus Cosart or Colvin to get a guy like Kemp and I wouldn’t do it. As for Utley always getting hurt and the outfield being a better place for him, I just don’t buy any comments like that. Through hard work, he has made himself into a very effective, although still slightly wooden, 2nd baseman. Playing the outfield isn’t that easy for a guy that’s never played it plus Utley has value because he plays 2B. His stats don’t excite me as a LF, they never have. Do you really think that a bad knee allows an outfielder to chase fly balls? The outfielders are not just standing around out there. The only position on the field for a guy that has bad knees who can’t move real well is 1B (or DH). Utley is a terrible 1B plus his stats at 1B would be average at best. Face it please, Utley will play 2B until he retires, like Jeff Kent did.

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            1. Actually, you are both right. Utley is a little wooden in the field at time – he’s not fluid and he’s not graceful. However, he is indisputably a great second baseman because of his speed, instincts, intelligence and utter disregard for his body. Utley is so intelligent that he often breaks to the part of the field where he believes the ball will be hit based on where the pitch is going. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. It has the effect of making his fielding range out of this world. If he can play second, he needs to stay there.

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        2. I accidentally left Cosart/Colvin out. Yeah Blanton and May and Zeid or somebody of his ilk was way too little

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    1. Sub out Santana for Rodriguez or Hernandez and it would be the best top 10 I’ve seen this year. I still like it, but I like Keith Law’s a little better.

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    2. Definitely a solid list, but when I see a few typos/errors in a published forum, it makes me wonder how much time he spent on it. The most glaring error is no mention of Altherr playing 3B.

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  35. It seems that Hulet agrees with me about Cosart; that he doesn’t use his lower body enough and too much of his velocity is generated by arm action alone. I have been concerned for a while that this does not bode well for a long career.

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  36. rulz that is someone dad husband, and you wish him death over a baseball column, you are a low life skum to say that.

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  37. A lot of batting practice took place this morning in camp. Joe Savery impressed me the most on Carlton Field by coming within a foot of taking one out to right and then lining one up the middle and finally going with a pitch and hitting it deep down the left field line. Watched infield on Schmidt Field with Franco on third and Gonzales at SS looking good. Cartwright did a lot of work at second. Ruf, Overbeck, and Savery spent time at first working on a variety of drills . Duffy looked good taking short hop throws at first.

    Catching machine generated popups were difficult to catch in the strong wind blowing in from right on Roberts. On fan just missed getting hit on the head as the wind blew one pop over the fence by the third base dugout . Mark Parent send some high pop ups challenging the catching group of Mitchell, Numata, Chavarin and Davalillo to try to catch them in the wind. Ernie Whitt was working in the adjacent bullpen on blocking drills for the catching group of Valle, Suomi, Diaz and Langley.

    Mike Compton coordinates the minor league camp. He is the one with the air horn and uses it to keep every group moving from station to station on time. He is also a guy with a quick “hi” to us as he scurries from field to field at the Complex to keep the camp running. This morning he again greeted my wife and I as we were watching batting practices on one of the backfields. When the lefthanded batting reserves from the major league camp were standing around the batting cage on Ashburn waiting for their turn to hit Mike comes along and grabs an arm each from Rizzotti and Naughton and raises them in the air and with obvious pride said these are the guys who won the game for us on Sunday. We clapped in appreciation. Not sure what Naughton and Rizzotti thought of all this. But you could see all the work, hopes and aspirations of the minor league managers, coaches and coordinators were rewarded on Sunday in the win against the Rays when Rizzotti hit that long home run to right to tie it and Naughton stroked the line drive walk off single to right to win it. It was good to see Mike Compton’s joy in celebrating this victory.

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      2. The games start on Monday with the Blue Jays. The AAA and AA at Carpenter Complex and A+ and A at the Englebert Complex in Dunedin.

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    2. Is there a list posted of all of the participants in the minor league camp, even if no workgroups yet?

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    3. Rickey,

      We have to get a Phuture Phillies hat and tee-short for you and your wife. You are a great asset to this site. I enjoy your missives during Spring Training and also during the year.

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    4. great stuff. Personal observations cannot be replaced.

      So, BR – of the prospects and castoffs – who are the impressive players? Respond if you have time. Inquiring minds want to know.

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      1. Have not seen a lot of live batting practice from the minor league camp but Savery and Valle stood out. I have seen more of the likely minor league guys in BP who are in the major league camp. The ball seems to jump off the bat of Carlos Rivero. Brandon Moss has shown a lot of pop from the left side. Very impressed with Cesar Hernandez who showed pop from the left side with his triple in a game against the Blue Jays B team. Erik Kratz can hit it a long way. Interesting to note Larish, Martinez and Rizzotti have all homered in Grapefruit League games.

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    5. Great stuff, thanks. I’ll be there next weekend myself, I can’t wait. I had heard that Savery was one of the best hitters at the Instructionals so I’m not surprised he’s doing well in BP. Game action with offspeed stuff might be different. Overbeck working at 1B?

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  38. Thank you ricky for information really enjoy reading it , helps us with the things we never get to see ourselfs.

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  40. Has anyone seen something from Ben Badler regarding NL East international signing reviews? I think it was slated to come out over the last few days. I’d be curious if we could officially find out how many other signings the Phils made that we might not have heard about.

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    1. Not much info in there–it focused only on six-figure signings so it was limited to Franklyn Vargas, Miguel Nunez, Angel Chavarin, and Maikel Franco, with a little blurb thrown in about Marek Minarik from the Czech Republic ($35K bonus). It wasn’t a comprehensive list of signings.

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  41. By the way, since it affects all Phillies things, here is the recent report from the Phillies’ website on Utley’s condition. Basically, it sounds like things are not progressing quickly and it does not appear that the cortisone shot has yet improved things. Among other things, Utley seems to have “runners’ knee” which, while not permanently debilitating, is painful and has an indeterminate cure period.

    Here’s the link. The runner’s knee part I had to look up on the internet – but that’s what they are talking about. http://zozone.mlblogs.com/

    Honestly, I have been thinking about the club’s hitters, their age, their increasing injuries, their inconsistency and their lack of production. I think the team is probably going to have to go out during the season and obtain some hitting. Ultimately, I think the way to do that is to hope that Blanton plays well and try to getting hitting from a team desperate for pitching and, surely, some team will need pitching and will probably need it badly.

    There is a silver lining, however. As the Giants showed last year, when you have truly great pitching, improving your hitting even a little bit is not always expensive and it can really help the team. The Phillies may need to be as resourceful during the year as the Giants were last year. The Giants GM (Sabean, right?) won them a WS title – he came up HUGE.

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    1. I hate to be negative here, but, while some low cost (in terms of prospects and salary) deals to bolster the offense may be in order, the Utley situation, combined with the team’s overall age profile, arguably points in the other direction – at least with regard to any deals that take on a lot of salary and/or require us to give up prospects. That is, I think we may be entering a rebuilding people. Without Utley, or with a severely hobbled Utley, I think this team at best has maybe a 50% chance for the post season this year absent a big move. Would boosting that to (say) 70% be worth further mortgaging the future? I say no. And next year it just gets worse (add Brown, but the rest of the team gets older, maybe subtract Oswalt, with both the closer and the set up man hitting free agency), along with possibly having to replace Rollins).

      And, while I don’t blame management for this, it really brings into question (in retrospect) the team’s apparent strategy of paying a high price (in salary mainly, secondarily in terms of prospects) to try to wring a few more post season appearances from the current core.

      The Giant’s example would be a good one except it’s an anomaly.

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      1. I’m not going to complain about trying to win as much as possible with Utley around. You can develop, buy, trade for players all you want. But you can rarely find a player of his talent.

        I wouldn’t say losing Utley would doom the 2011 season though. Only the Braves are built to win now and they have holes in their lineup too.

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        1. Doomed is too strong a word, but Utley was a 5+ WAR player in a down year last year; the Phillies were hoping for a rebound year. At this point, the possible replacements are thin – and the best ones probably out of reach.

          5 wins is a lot. It’s true that last year they would have still beaten the Braves with 5 fewer wins, but by only a single game. 50% chance of making the playoffs seems reasonable in that context.

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          2. Blanton is probably worth two more wins over the season than Kendrick.

            Lee and a full season of Oswalt offset most of the loss of Werth and Utley, even if the latter were to miss the whole season.

            I’m not comfortable with a potential loss of Utley, but the Phils should not make any crazy moves like trading Blanton, giving up top prospects for Michael Young, etc.

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  42. Today’s report on Utley does not seem encouraging , cortisone shot has not worked and it appears they don’t know what to do next . WIP is reporting that Charlie Kerfield , Phils scout is looking at Michael Young .

    I love Utley but suggested when free agency started that they consider trading him due to his wear and tear for a power hitting right fielder and a left handed relief pitcher.. Then sign Beltre to play third move Polanco to play 2nd

    At that time most readers thought it was a crazy idea .
    What is Utley’s trade value now ???

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    1. What’s Beltre’s trade value with his contract? No way he plays up to the level of that contract, even for one year. I’m sure Michael Young for Blanton has been discussed for awhile but Young will only be happy if he’s playing and Blanton is a big trading chip for them so if that deal somehow goes through, I’d immediately assume that Utley will need surgery. Utley is a tough SOB and I’d be surprised if he doesn’t give it a go to see how bad it hurts during the course of a game before he agrees to surgery.

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    2. 1. Any trade would’ve involved giving Utley a physical which may have revealed the knee problem.

      2. Signing Beltre at 6 years/$96 million is still a bad idea.

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    3. Beltre produces in contract years—we would likely be stuck with a bad contract. Utley will prove way more valuable over the next 3 years than Beltre and the mythical right field power hitter.

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  43. Re: Utley–I said this last year, and I feel it all the more after watching four games of Spring Training played against a backdrop of no-news-is-bad-news about the best second baseman in the game: Out of all the players we’ve given up in trades over the years, the one I really wish we hadn’t given up is Jason Donald. Not that he would ever replace Utley’s production, but it would sure be nice to have a young, cheap middle infielder with minor league options and a little pop in his bat.

    Speaking of second thoughts (on both sides), wonder if Seattle would take a package of Aumont, Gillies and Ramirez for overpaid but useful Chone Figgins?

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    1. Regardless, there’s no way the Phils could pick up his contract without moving Blanton’s.

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  44. Before panicking about the possible loss of utley, we have to remember how terribly we suffered from injuries last year. Utley missed two months of the season, and a bunch of other key players went down. Manuel maintains a positivie attitude to injuries. He believes that someone will step up and indeed, injuries provide opportunities to see what you have in guys coming off the bench and guys in triple A. Last year we discovered Wilson Valdez, maybe this year we discover Josh Barfield, who was hitting close to .300 in the minor leagues last year and was showing signs of getting back what he had in his rookie season.

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    1. Agreed. While I’m concerned with the offense this year and next, this team will be carried by their pitching this season. Barring injury to one of the big four, and even with a less than threatening offense, this team still wins 90+ and makes the playoffs. Even with a suspect Utley, I have doubts that the offense will be any ‘worse’ than last season’s

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      1. But it was awful last year, and in the offseason all we did to improve our offense was let Jayson Werth go. Which, now that I say it, doesn’t seem like an improvement at all.

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        1. The Phillies offense can improve a great deal if they don’t give Wilson Valdez 363 plate appearances again. I don’t get it. I hear all this talk about what a great find Valdez was when he had a .306 OBP, 4 home runs and led the team in double plays. Utley’s injury will hurt. But if the Phillies don’t have a better 2B than Wilson Valdez on Opening Day I will truly start kicking and screaming.

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          1. Valdez was a master defensively and saved a number of games as well as throwing in some key hits out of the 8 hole. He is the best utility guy we have had in a long time.

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            1. You want an amazing stat? Wilson Valdez came to the plate 83 times last season with a runner on first and less than two outs. He had 20 double plays and 19 hits in those situations. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

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            2. He was a tick below MLB average defensively at second base and only slightly above MLB average at short, according to UZR/150. He was a long way from qualifying as a “master” defensively. He’s fine as a utility guy, but I agree with Alan. I’d hate to see him on the field as much this year as he was last year.

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        2. “Awful?” They were second in the NL in runs.

          While having injuries happen to six out of eight offensive starters, having a seventh starter slowed down by surgery to repair an injury from the previous season and having their top bench hitter get injured as well.

          Utley’s injury won’t make him miss the whole season. It’s also the type of injury that just takes time and rest for him to heal, so don’t be too shocked if there’s no good news for awhile.

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          1. Agreed that people tend to overstate the team’s offensive struggles last year. They weren’t awful, but they were awfully inconsistent. They scored 7 runs or more in 53 games (compared to just 46 games in 2009 and 42 games in 2008). But they also scored 1 run or fewer in 35 games (compared to 21 games in 2009 and 16 games in 2008). They were second in the NL in runs scored, but it was a feast-or-famine year.

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    2. With the Phils’ rotation, the team is fully capable of playing .500 ball in games where they score only two or three runs. They are also capable of playing .900 ball in games in which they score four runs or more, something the Phils did 87 times in 2010.

      On an historic note, the Dodgers with Koufax, Drysdale & Company managed three pennants and two WS wins with an anemic offense (and a mediocre defense). Even without Utley, the Phils have enough offense to win with their pitching staff.

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  45. Not to go too far into the major league discussion but … in response to this “we’ll win 90 games even with one hand tied behind our back” argument–I direct your attention to the 2008 Detroit Tigers. After big offseason acquisitions, everyone basically ceded them the American league, then Granderson was hit by a pitch in Spring Training and broke his hand, the team started the season 0-7, and things went down from there. I remember when foolish pessimism was the Phillies fan’s defining trait, but now I think the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction.

    By the way, the pitcher who broke Granderson’s hand was Travis Blackley, a Phillies Rule 5 pick, so there’s the prospect connection.

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  46. Talk about BUZZKILL this whole Utley situation is creating to much doom and gloom in what should otherwise be happy times. The big question is can Rollins step up and have a career FA year?

    I think we can survive every where else but if we don’t have our lead off guy getting on it will be a long scary season.

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  47. Its important to remember last year we had Kendrick and 1/2 a year of Moyer and half a year of Oswalt. This year in those two rotation spots we have Oswalt and Lee all year, that’s a significant difference, if healthy.

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  48. Question is ..can this offense score 4 runs a game without Werth and Utley in the lineup ? Even with the 4 aces you still need some runs

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  49. I must have missed the reports that state that Utley is gone for the season. We are still 3 weeks away from opening day and already the team is doomed? Is there something in the water around Philly that requires everything to become a crisis?

    Tendinidis in the knee is an injury that simply needs rest to heal so it might mean he misses the start of the season or he plays sporatically in April.. I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t play at least 125 games in 2011.

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    1. He rested all winter. Now a second opinion! What is going on. Team medical staff saying what they are told? I smelled a dead fish from the beginning.

      Hopefully the second opinion will help.

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      1. Come on, you really think Utley rested? He overtrained and surprise! got an overtraining injury.

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  50. Well, the more I think about it, the more trading for a third base/outfield guy makes sense. The Phillies have the unusual advantage of having a guy (Polanco) who can actually play second base quite well. Michael Young is expensive and he’s on the decline. But, if he’s willing to be a little flexible, he, or someone like him, would be very useful on this team. Amaro is not going to let one injury ruin the whole team – if it becomes urgent, he will do something.

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    1. I believe they should be looking for a younger guy. A foundation guy no matter what it takes. I never thought of a combo 3rd and outfield. That would add flex
      they need. Too bad Dobbs couldn’t hit or catch or……

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      1. I don’t think it makes any sense to make a trade now. I think you wait and let things play themselves out. LA Phils Fan has it right we rely on the pitching through the first half of the season and see what type of run production we can get out of this line-up.

        I’m not willing to bet on it but Utley’s prognosis could change for the better. If that is the case Valdez and Barfield are suitable. Should we find out that Utley is gone for the season then you consider a big picture type of move.

        It won’t be easy the payroll won’t allow for it.

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  51. J.C. Ramirez, Stutes, Schwimer, DeFratus, and Bastardo all pitching today, and the game’s televised in rainy Philly. Beautiful.

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  52. Don’t have the game on television, but it looks like Philly pitching is demolishing the Yankees today. Roy Halladay six scoreless innings and they’re in the bottom of the 8th already. That’s why we love Halladay.

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    1. Nine up, nine down for Ramirez, Stutes, and Schwimer. Ramirez’ fastball looked good with movement, breaking stuff was inconsistent.

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    2. Roy Halladay threw 25 pitches in six scoreless innings. 25 pitches???!!!!!

      For comparison’s sake, the record for the least number of pitches in a complete game is 58.

      I know it’s spring training, but it was ridiculous.

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        1. Yeah. They clearly weren’t tracking pitch-by-pitch at points. There’s no way Stutes gets a three pitch inning when one of the pitchers is Nick Swisher.

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      1. Yep. Although they did throw though to 2B. It was a strikeout on a down and in pitch that the catcher had to dig out to make a throw. I think Rickey’s SB record is safe for now.

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  56. Barfield was yelling “look at me , look at me”. Seriously he is at a great age production wise.

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