Lehigh Valley Weekly Report

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The ‘Pigs have been struggling a bit winning just 4 of their last 10 games, but still in the lead of the Northern Division of the International League at 54-42, one game ahead of second place Scranton.  Lehigh Valley finishes up their eight game road trip on Thursday in Durham before returning home for an eight game home stand beginning Friday against Columbus and Norfolk. The ‘Pigs return home with the best home record in the league (33-12).

Leaders:Kevin Frandsen is leading the league in AB’s (354), 2nd in hits (105), leads the league in doubles (31) and is 10th in avg. (.297); Cody Overbeck is 8th in doubles (23); Tyler Cloyd leads the league in ERA (1.96), is 2nd in WHIP (0.99) is tied for the league lead in wins (9); Pat Misch is 2nd in the league in losses (6), 2nd in HR allowed (15), Scott Elarton has the 3rd worst ERA (5.21) and 5th worst WHIP (1.59); Phillippe Aumont is 5th in saves (11), Tom Cochran is 10th in walks (43)

Probables: Tonight: Elarton; Wednesday: Misch; Thursday: Rosenberg, Friday: Cochran

Notes: Domonic Brown was activated from the DL yesterday and went 1-3.  Brown has missed a total of 30 games this year so far with a variety of ailments.

—Derrick Mitchell has now missed 6 weeks with his fractured wrist.

–Over the last 23 games, the bullpen has a very high 4.58 ERA and the opposition is hitting .275 against them.

—Tyler  Cloyd has now gone at least 6 innings in 17 of his 18 starts (went 5.2IP in the other).

—Pat Misch has thrown well in his last two starts, going 7 innings in each and giving up just 3 ER while striking out 13.

—Scott Elarton has not won since Mid May and is 0-6 with a 7.86 ERA in his last 10 starts. I would think his days may be numbered.

—JC Ramirez has been really struggling. In his last 4 outings, his ERA is above 13, and he has allowed 12 hits over 4.2 innings. He also walked four during that same time period.

Transactions: Last Friday, the Phils called up LHP Joe Savery. On Monday, the ‘Pigs activated Domonic Brown from the disabled list.

41 thoughts on “Lehigh Valley Weekly Report”

  1. The good thing is JC hammers the zone all day and the bad thing is he hammers the zone all day. He throws a heavy ball and if he could hit corners and keep it down he would be ok. Right now he is just a thrower.

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    1. Ramirez has a good arm and some potential (he has plus velocity but no plus pitches), but right now, he’s not a particularly good pitcher and, unlike Aumont for example, it’s not a matter of command or approach. He needs to develop a better repertoire of pitches. He’s got a way to go, but if he can develop one above average breaking pitch, he could stick as a 7th inning reliever. Hardly the pitcher we envisioned when the team traded Cliff Lee.

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  2. Gregg now with PP gone but not forgotten could you please move and pin this year’s draft up to the top. The rest of the site and updates is great. The balance is different now. Pin the draft to the top – or monthly have a post about who signed who didn’t. why. where each signed draftee is assigned. Thanks.

    This would also be great for last year’s draft and the one before go back 3 years. Would be great.

    Thank gregg

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    1. Stop being lazy and just do searches yourself. You act like the guy has nothing better to do.

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    4. You had this comment yesterday an someone told you that the 2012 draft was added at the top of the page, why did you completely ignore that person?

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      1. I think he wants the lengthy paragraph analysis break-down on EVERY signee. As was done in the past.Just ain’t going to happen. Be happy with what we have.

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      2. The draft tab at the top doesn’t ‘drop down’ when you try to access it on your phone. It appears as if it’s hasn’t been updated since the 2010 draft. Maybe that is what he sees.

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  3. It is time to move Tyler Cloyd up to Philly. May I ask who decides the Phillies top 20 prospects and why Cloyd has never made the list. I know he doesn’t throw in the upper 90’s, but he seems to know how to pitch. He is a better overall pitcher than those others listed as “top prospects”.

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    1. “It is time to move Tyler Cloyd up to Philly” — Halladay, Lee, Hamels, Worley, Blanton. Which one of these is Cloyd starting ahead of?

      “May I ask who decides the Phillies top 20 prospects and why Cloyd has never made the list” — Several websites (BA, MilB, etc) create ‘top x’ lists. These are often based on scouting reports, first-hand reports, and studing advanced stats, especially in relation to past results. They normally don’t just look at someone’s W-L and ERA without any reference of context and conclude a player would likely be successful.

      “I know he doesn’t throw in the upper 90′s, but he seems to know how to pitch” — Possible, but knowing how to pitch doesn’t always translate into MLB success.

      “He is a better overall pitcher than those others listed as “top prospects” — I’d imagine he might be more successful than Biddle/May if you had him start a MLB tomorrow, but that doesn’t make him a ‘better prospect’ or even a ‘better overall pitcher’

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      1. Hey, you forgot PhuturePhillies.com as one of the “whos” that rank the top 20 prospects.

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    2. Cloyd will get his shot in spring training 2013 for the open rotation spot left by Joe Blanton.

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    1. Sanches has already been demoted. Savery is hanging on by his teeth. Rosenberg struggled in relief, but has shown a good arm and flashes enough pitches where they think he might have success as a starter again (or, alternatively, his work as a starter might help his confidence, command and stamina in the pen) – but he’s not quite ready for the majors again and needs at least a little more time in the minors and perhaps more than that. Friend just got promoted to AAA, does not have truly great stuff and has not yet proven himself worthy of a chance in the majors.

      There you go, questions answered.

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    2. Friend just got to AAA. Rosenberg is getting converted back to a starter, possibly because we might be losing 1-2 at this trade deadline.

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      1. If we lose two starters (Hamels/ Blanton) Cloyd would go up and Kendrick would move into the rotation, the only reason I think Rosenberg is being used in the AAA Rotation is to get him more high level experience quicker, not a whole lot more than that. I can’t see him being a big league starter, possibly a swingman in the ‘pen

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        1. He is being used as a starter because the Phils believe he projects as a starter in the big leagues. We’ll see if they’re right.

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        2. Cloyd would certainly get a shot and probably first crack due to his performance in AAA, but Rosenberg has a lot higher upside and if I had to bet money on which of those two guys has a better ML career, it would be Rosenberg by a fair margin.

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  5. Brown 3-5 today. All singles. Two ground balls and a line drive deflected by an infielder, but still good to see.

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    1. He also played right field, which I can’t remember him doing since the trade for Hunter Pence. Ahem.

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      1. I was at the game, Brown had a great game, he made all the plays in Right but you could tell he is at about 90% on his knee, he ran very gingerly to balls today. Seems like he will be ML Ready by the all-star break (excellent timing). Also I wouldn’t be surprised to see Elarton let go this week.

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        1. The Ironpigs have 25 men currently on their roster, and according to the rules once Brian Sanches physically arrives in Durham a corresponding move must be made. Elarton would be that player probs.

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    2. I didn’t see his groundout to the pitcher in the first, but his 2nd AB (Lineout to CF) was hit right on the nose.

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      1. does his swing still look more compact? does it appear like the adjustments they had him work on are sticking?

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        1. Yes, he is driving the ball up the middle, I haven’t seen him make poor contact in the last two days for LHV, he nearly missed a homer yesterday. Finally he is used to lowering his hands, his stance seems way more compact than it used to be

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  6. What’s this I’m hearing about the new compensation rules? If Cole Hamels gets a qualifying offer from the Phillies and signs elsewhere, all the Phillies get is a sandwich pick at the end of the first round. The signing team loses their first round pick if their pick is outside the top 10, else they lose their second round pick. Only 1 pick? That’s it?

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      1. Not from what I’m reading, the phillies only get 1 pick, that’s it. Can somebody confirm this?

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    4. Ben Nicholson-Smith:
      A few months from now, when the season ends and players file for free agency, teams, agents and players will navigate a new system for determining free agent compensation. Here’s a brief primer on compensation under the sport’s new collective bargaining agreement:

      Type A and Type B designations have been eliminated. Instead, teams will have to make players a qualifying offer to be eligible for draft pick compensation.
      The qualifying offer, which will be determined by averaging the top 125 player salaries from the previous year, is expected to fall in the $12-13MM range for the coming offseason. All qualifying offers are for the same duration (one year) and the same amount ($12-13MM).
      Teams will have until five days after the World Series to make qualifying offers and the players will have seven days to accept.
      Once a team makes a qualifying offer, the player has two choices: he can accept the one-year deal or decline in it search of other offers. If he declines the offer and signs elsewhere, his new team will have to surrender a top draft pick (the selection doesn’t go to the player’s former team).
      Teams that sign free agents who turned down qualifying offers will surrender their first round picks. However, the forfeited picks don’t go to other MLB teams. Instead, the first round simply becomes condensed.
      The first ten selections in the draft are protected. Teams with protected picks will surrender their second-highest selections.
      The player’s former team will receive its compensatory selection at the end of the first round. Teams now obtain one compensatory selection, instead of two.
      If teams don’t make a qualifying offer, the player can sign uninhibited.
      Only players who have been with their clubs for the entire season will be eligible for compensation.

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      1. I just read what I believe to be the relevant portions of the CBA and think that the descriptions of free agent compensation and penalties for lost/signed free agents set forth above is accurate.

        I think about this new system and I wonder whether it is fair. I don’t think it is on a number of grounds. It seems to punish the teams that sign free agents (loss of first round draft pick) or obtain players about to become free agents (inability to get FA compensation is player is traded for mid-year) without fairly compensating teams that lose free agents (supplemental pick regardless of how elite player is). I suppose it is designed to encourage those teams who would get a pick to be more active in bidding for the player because the compensation received would not be that good (supplemental pick).

        The issue will be how one can best exploit the system. I think the really active market will be for tweener free agents who are good players but are not so good that the team is willing to risk paying the player $12.5 million or so (average salary of top 125 players). This is what is likely to happen to Shane Victorino. There will be others – in fact, I think the rate of non-tenders will be fairly high.

        But, yeah, the compensation to be received by the Phillies for another team signing Cole Hamels appears to be fairly non-descript by comparison to the old system.

        If you want to read it for yourself, here’s a link to the CBA.

        Click to access cba_english.pdf

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        1. I lot of people are saying that this hurts teams with small payrolls since they can’t afford to give a qualifying offer for fear of the player accepting. If that’s the case, these teams will likely trade the player just to get whatever they can.

          It doesn’t really hurt the big market teams at all. Sure they only get 1 pick instead of 2, but they can afford to give qualifying offers to borderline players like Shane Victorino.

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          1. But what will they get back in a trade? If the Pirates want Victorino for the stretch run, they will have to trade us something for him but they will get nothing if/when he signs with another team in the offseason. Hence they probably would not be willing to part with much in order to get Victorino. That gives the Phils less of an incentive to trade him.

            I think the trade market for guys in the last year of their contracts will be significantly limited.

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        2. I was thinking how the Phils could “game” the system. Hamels is going to be a big prize as a FA. He also can be very useful to a team trying to go all the way to the WS. The Phils should make their best effort to sign him. If he won’t sign, then trade him but the best available package. You can throw in Blanton and Victorino and Pierre to juice up the package. They must finish with one of the ten worst records. This maximizes value of their own pick. They get the package plus a top 10 draft pick.

          If they lose Hamels to FA with no trade, they get a Sandwich pick and they sign someone else possibly Grienke. But…. They must finish with one of the ten worst records. They lose the sandwich pick for signing Greinke. They’d have Grienke and their top 10 pick. If they finished at #11, They’d lose their #11 pick and only have the package in the above top scenario and Greinke with the 2nd scenario.

          If they sign Hamels then do their best and win the division and the WS. It’s okay to also win the division and the WS in either of the other two scenarios just don’t finish short of that goal on outside the 10 worst records. Like in the movie Major Leagues. “I guess we have to win the whole f..n thing.”

          Caveat: most of this is tongue in cheek but a team like the Phillies should think this way. If you’re bad, make sure your really bad. If you’re good be very good. Anything in the middle sucks.

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  7. I believe there is one team the Rangers that would give up the most to get Cole. I don’t see Shane bringing much if anything in return either but as someone suggested a Cole/Vic package to the Rangers might land Olt, Martin and Perez…

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