General discussion, week of 5-28-2012

Weekly Discussion

Here’s the place for all your non-prospect-related chatter for the week. Call it the “OMG ROY HALLADAY’S SHOULDER” post.

71 thoughts on “General discussion, week of 5-28-2012”

  1. Guess a comment on the Halladay thing is in order. If you believe Worley will return relatively shortly, then a call-up of one of the more veteran pitchers might do it. Then if they do not excel you can release them after a couple of starts and move some guys up through the organization. Suppose that is the best to hope for, other than Halladay not needing to go on DL. Think that’s a long shot.

    I also think this thread is about minor league prospect related stuff, that doesn’t fit into other threads. Just seen the transactions, and Gus Gonzales was bounced out from Lakewood Infield and the added player was Alejandro Villalobos. Looks like there are difficulties for last season’s draftees before they start playing officially. Projecting at Williamsport, assuming they put the 3 new signees at 2B, SS, 3B (Quinn, Tyler Greene, Walding) They also now have Carlos Valenzuela, Taylor Black, Gus Gonzalez also as candidates. I say this may mean they start the more veteran players at Williamsport and last season’s draftees will start in GCL. Not to mention other younger players currently on the Lakewood and Clearwater rosters.
    They already have younger players also playing at GCL level, and that may signal a shift away from HS to College position players in the upcoming draft, in what has been described on the internet as one of the worst upcoming draft crop of position players in decades, or so. I am starting to get irked about last season’s draft before they start to get significant official playing time.

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    1. I actually thought Villalobos should have been at LWood from the start. He looked good in spring training. I’m not too concerned where the kids all play as long as they play every day.

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    2. Marfis, give the kids some slack before you complain about them. The lack of position players in this draft is why they drafted so many last year.

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      1. Don’t think I’m complaining about them, per se. It looks like circumstance might prevent these guys from getting the proper start. Looks like nobody at Lakewood has hit much at 2B, SS, 3B et. al. I think it suggests they might rush the draftees up there ala Tyler Greene (again) and they don’t hit much also, or they may bump some of the guys bumped from Lakewood to Williamsport, which would bump the bulk of the draftees to GCL. I believe if guys go through Instructional League, minor league Spring Training , and Extended Spring Training they should be able to start off in Williamsport, if they are top talents. And it seems to me , most of the other guys they brought to XST would be in GCL also. So, you might have a full boat in GCL, and then they should forgo HS players in the draft, in favor of what is said to be a sub-standard College Draft Class this draft. Just something to occupy the Watchtowers over.

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        1. The best prospects will play at the highest level that their development demands. If they are all ready for Williamsport that means TGreene, Walding and Quinn get most of the at bats, probably with either Carlos Valenzuela or Gustavo Gonzaelz filling in. If all three of the high draftees are ready for Williamsport, that is where they should play. It is less about finding everyone SS at bats. If someone gets bumped down to GCL it is because the Phillies feel they are not ready for Williamsport.

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  3. Well I can’t wait for the draft and short season to begin so we can get the debuts for LGJ, Quinn, Walding, Shull, etc,.

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  4. The Phillies need a spark plug to propel the team into the second half. The Halladay situation is a microcosm (Polanco, Utley, and Howard) of the team as a whole this year. This includes bringing an impact-full bat into the lineup. With all that said, this is my opinion on where the team should be this year:

    1. Call up Tyler Cloyd – young pitcher who is kicking butt right now and bring some energy to the team. I believe his control is still suspect, but the time is now. This is a long season and Halladay should be given enough time to rest up for the second half. I would have considered trading Blanton, but cannot now due to Worley / Halladay health questions.

    2. Based on what is known in media land, it appears that Utley will return sooner that Howard. Again, given the length of the season, I would be all for Howard coming back after the all-star break – if not at all this year with an Achilles injury. Put Utley at 1st base and let Galvis play at second base.

    3. I like Juan Pierre, but – Call up Domonic Brown after his batting average comes up. He is the missing piece in this lineup. Can you imagine where the lineup will be after he gets 300 ABs at the major league level? I always liked Mayberry – but the time is now for Brown.

    4. Trade for Kevin Youkoulis. He can be had for mid-grade prospects and you have another option for 3rd base next year. Youkoulis can bat the 2-hole and generate the kind of ABs this lineup desperately needs – walks and hits for power. You may need to trade Polanco with the payroll scenario.

    Second Half Lineup – Assuming Howard does not come back.
    1. Rollins – SS
    2. Youkoulis – 3B
    3. Utley – 1B
    4. Ruiz – C
    5. Pence – RF
    6. Brown – LF
    7. Victorino – CF
    8. Galvis – 2B

    Charlie will need to be creative in getting time for Nix, Wigginton, Pierre, Thome, and Polanco (if kept on the team).

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      1. Agreed. I like a few of them, teeter on the edge with some, and then am completely lost when Youkoulis is brought up.

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    1. I would like to see them try to swing a deal for Mike Olt given the fact that Beltre is going to block the position. If Brown could get hot maybe flip Victorino for him allowing Texas the ability to move Josh out of Center.

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        1. I’d disagree with that. They have a solid 1-5. Maybe a bullpen piece or two but their rotation is a strength.

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          1. either way i’m excited that the draft is coming up need to do some good drafting to put our system back on the map also so that the major league team has a future and we don revert back to the phillies back in the 90’s where we couldn’t draft at all but wade and pat should help in that department. like look at this slide show just to see how bad we drafted before 1996.http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1193681-2012-mlb-draft-grading-the-philadelphia-phillies-last-25-first-round-picks

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        1. When he gets his residency papers in another country AND MLB approves it. Probably before the July international signing period so he would not be subject to the new limits (not sure how that applies here)

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          1. if we can sign him and all go’s well with Soler and Greene our future offence would be deadly with two power threats not even at first base the future would look great

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  7. I think that if Halladay were to go on the DL, Dave Bush would get the call. He has major league experience and would be able to fill in for Halladay similar to when Rodrigo Lopez came up a few years ago. Personally, I would like to see Tyler Cloyd get a shot because I enjoy seeing guys who never got to play in the majors before get a chance. Hopefully Halladay is fine though.

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    1. I don’t think anybody will, Salisbury’s article made it seem like he was relatively close. If he can get read by next tuesday, we should be good.

      I think the move they would make is a long man in the bullpen is what the article said.

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      1. I think they will call up Bush to be a long man and option Savery or Valdes, before the 6/1 opt out Bush has.

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        1. Valdes has 10 Ks in 7 innings. He’s given up one walk, five hits and no runs. Highly unlikely he’s getting optioned any time soon.

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  8. How many times has it been said. you draft best availabe . you dont reach for players,it leads to the collins, hewitt, dugan types, reaching for a postion , or power bat or lefthand pitcher when the best athles might be a ss or 2b men, best player available is the way to go always

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    1. I agree on drafting BPA, but I don’t think Hewitt and Dugan were drafted to fill needs. The Phils probably thought they were the best players available given the money they were willing to spend on those picks. Had they been drafting for need then they would have taken some infielders.

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  9. I just saw that former prospect Bill Rice signed with the Orioles and was assigned to the SAL. I will be rooting for him to succeed. He had good numbers last year so hopefully he does well again.

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    1. Just try to enjoy Pence’s home runs and push Singleton into the depths of your mind until he debuts for the Astros and lights it up.

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      1. Going against my own advice- Santana has a 1.1200 OPS in his last 10 games. With 4 HRs.

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      2. And the Astros are a still a sub .500 team with Singleton. If Singleton could have played left field he probably still would be with the Phillies as Ryan Howard is our 1B when he gets back.

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        1. It was a myth saying he couldnt play left field. Just the organization trying to justify trading him. The Astros are actually spelling him in LF on occasion. Its going to hurt seeing Singleton being the next Votto in 4 years and Howard trying to keep his OBP over .300. As for Pence, he hasnt warranted the package given up for him including his salary.

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          1. I think that you have to wait on Singleton’s development as The Texas League is a very offensive league where the ball carries very well before you call him the next Joey Votto. Will he be good-yes but I think you are underselling Ryan Howard badly.

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  12. I expect the Phil’s will promote Bush to take Doc’s next few starts. That will require a move on the 40 man so I expect Orr to be released at that time. I don’t know what other moves they could make.

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      1. Doubt they release Orr for that reason. At this point they can 60 day DL Howard, Utley, Herndon, DeFratus, Stutes, or Mini Mart.

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        1. Defratus already is on 60 day dl. Does putting someone on the 60’day dl add 60 days or does it backdate the 60’days to the beginning? They wouldn’t put Utley or Howard 60 days away now, they hope they’ll both be back before then. Orr has been passed so he doesn’t have much value at this point.

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          2. Backdated, and I agree Orr has minimal value but they won’t release him if they don’t have to.

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  14. the top 20 international is interesting the phillies should go after a few of those guy so real potential

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    1. New rules now under latest CBA….looking at a draft or capping the bonus outlay. Either way, benefits a team like the Phillies who rarely over-spend in the Latin market.

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      1. great lets go after them i looked at the rangers farm system and that is what they do they sign good international players and that’s why they have a good farm system the Phillies should do this more they started with Carlos Tocci though right.

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  16. Brown is playing CF to be groomed as a potential replacement to Victorino next year.

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  17. Tonight’s Pigs game is on Comcast network. Brown is holding his hands much lower than he was in ST. Maybe that’s why he’s off to a slow start.

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    1. Aumont’s back. The curve looked good and he threw it for strikes but the fastball was erratic. Not surprising after all that time on the DL.

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  19. Domonic Brown – 2 for 5, 2 runs scored, and stolen base tonight. Let the countdown back to the majors begin.

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    2. I love that Dom has started to hit over the last week or so. I’m hoping that he has an excellent June and is ready to go July 1st for the 2nd half.

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  20. I continue to be impresssed with the little things that Galvis does. Runner on third when he fielded a weak groung ball. He kept running towards home to home for a bit to keep the run from scoring THEN threw to first. A simple play but effective.

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    1. It was a great play. The Mets announcers were impressed too. I saw it on SNY. If the runner had gone on contact, Galvis would have nailed him at the plate with time for a beer and a hot dog. Is Galvis old enought to drink?

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  21. I hated the Pence trade at the time, and it seems to be looking even worse now. While I think Pence is a decent player, I feel the Phillies gave up way too much in order to acquire him. The loss of Jonathan Singleton especially hurts the farms depth for impact bats, and it looks like he could crack the majors in some form within the next 2 years or so.

    By the way, what do you guys think Pence and/or Victorino could fetch in a trade for us right now? Could we maybe get some top prospects back for either of them? Shane’s contract is up at the end of the year, and Pence I think has 1-2 years left of RFA.

    Even if the Phillies stay in contention all season, I want to see some guys traded for impact prospects if it’s possible.

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    2. If the Phillies believed that he couldn’t play LF then where was Singleton going to play? If the National League were to adopt the DH then the loss of Singleton may have mattered some but the Phillies aren’t going to sit Howard anytime soon when healthy.

      There is zero chance that Pence or Victorino get traded while the Phillies are even remotely in contention.

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  22. Sadly I have to agree. The Phillies or should we say RAJ is in no man’s land right now and backed into a corner and the questions are more than the answers with Doc’s health now at issue. Cole continues to cement his price tag with every passing start.

    I have to believe he wants 6/$140 (CC type deal) so if they are not going to give him that what do you do…

    Me personally I give it to him and hope I can find some cheap over achievers for LF CF and 3B.

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    1. I’m not sure what the phillies do at this point. They really have 3 options:
      Option 1 let it fall apart and rebuild through the draft
      Option 2 Accept medicrity
      Option 3 Spend Spend Spend, well in excess of the salary cap and hope to bring in another 2 star offensive talents under the age of 28.

      If I had to guess, Phillies will either go option 2 or 3. With the negotiations for their TV contract coming up, the phillies need to field a competitive team in order to max it out and at this point I think it’s 50/50 which direction they will go. Jorge Solider (spelling) is starting to look quite appealing right now. Potential CF/RF/LF all-star who could be in AA next year. Thing is, that solves for the future and nothing for now and our minor league system is so far from being able to fill team requirements over the next 5 years. (unless they get 2-3 star position players out of last years draft)

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      1. Or you can blow it up. Trade Vic, Cole, and Pence for prospects. There’s no help from the minors for the next few years so you either continue the slow demise into mediocrity by holding onto these guys and letting them walk or trade for some near major league ready talent.

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      2. only thing is, when is Jorge Soler going to be come singable and a free agent cause i love his potential

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        1. also the phillies like i said earlier need to absolutely get involved in the international market more there is a lot of guys with potential that any one can sign and they need to invest like with Carlos Tocci we also need to get Gustavo Cabrera those two being sign would greatly improve our farm system instantly. and no more trades we should just stick with who we have draft well like what we’ve been doing but not trade away all of our prospects.with out our prospects we have no future

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  23. Just to show how hard it is to draft, this is a weak college draft, but how many of those kids coming out of high school were drafted, and didnt sign, and four years later they are weak player. so now the draft shifts to high school kids, who in four years might be the same, as this years college players.I stop gambling but if i still did, my money is on the phillies going toolsy again and college relief ptichers if available.Pence hits 20 or more homeruns, drives in 90 or more and has a cannon, how much better y think singleton is going to be, pence is a hustle type player, and if singleton comes up and becomes a good player, if he is the next votto then you can talk, but right now , all your doing is projecting aa double aa player. how many guys like dom brown killed double aa and didnt do anything after that, so wait and see.

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  24. but the phillies have done well in the draft over the past few years so they must know something and that’s why they’ve drafted good and i”m sure they will continue that especially with the edition of Ed Wade..

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  25. Here’s a mystery that maybe someone could shed some light on, Chad Qualls. According to FanGraphs, his average fastball velocity is actually a tick higher than his career average (93.4 vs. 92.5). Meanwhile, his average slider velocity is down a tick (85.7 vs. 86.8) creating a differential between the two pitches of 7.7 as opposed to 5.9 over his career. Nevertheless, he is not having a good year at all. His 2012 ERA is about a run higher than his career ERA, he has allowed more hits than innings pitched and has been removed from the setup role. I guess the issue is the same as it is in real estate; location, location and location.

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