Daily Archives: July 23, 2013

Prospect Spotlight: Maikel Franco

Franco, Maikel

I am not a scout nor do I pretend to be.  I have not seen Franco in person this year because I live in Wisconsin which is a long distance from Clearwater and Reading.  These opinions are formed on video (game feeds and scouting video), reports, and people I have talked.

Since his breakout I have been wanting to discuss Franco, but I wanted to have fully formed opinions before I threw water on some people’s fires.  I don’t think I disagree with Franco’s ceiling so much as I think the polish is not where you want it yet.  Additionally I think we often ignore faults in players in an effort to recognize their gifts, it is a defense mechanism to avoid thinking about the amount of failure along the journey to the majors.  All that being said Maikel Franco is my #2 prospect in the Phillies system and a great prospect and scouting story. Continue reading Prospect Spotlight: Maikel Franco →

Around the System, OF, Lower Half

Other Stuff

Lakewood

Larry Greene, Jr, 20, Phils 1st round pick in 2011 draft; .234/.329/.317 in 278 AB’s; 2HR 23RBI; 5/9 SB; .131 vs. LH, .278 vs. RH, .229 with RISP; .275 since June 1; 13%bb/34% k rates. 77 games in the OF with 9 errors (.927); 2 OF assists; The good news is Greene has shown great improvement over the last two months, renewing hope that using a #1 pick on him wouldnt rank up there in the realm of Jeff Jacksonesque failures. The bad news: VERY pedestrian power and speed numbers combined with difficulties in the field and .131 against lefties. 

Brian Pointer, 21, Phils 28th round pick in 2010 draft; .228/.346/.357 in 311 AB’s; 5HR 39RBI; 21SB; .177 vs. LH, .241 vs. RH, .276 with RISP; .225 since June 1; 11%bb/26% k rates; 85 games in the OF with 4 errors (.974); 5 OF assists, I have been infatuated with Pointer’s skill set since I saw him in Spring Training in 2011 and am pretty consistently disappointed by his line. The guy has skills. He needs to hit lefties and strike out less and probably has one more year to learn to do those things. Continue reading Around the System, OF, Lower Half →

General Discussion – Week of 7-22-2013 – Pre-Deadline Edition

Weekly Discussion

Last chance for the big club to sway the thinking of their leadership. A strong week might rightfully lead to a buy-a-couple-pieces stance, though a big splash is probably not in the offing, I would guess. A mediocre week might lead to a sell-off of a couple pieces, or a stand-pat position – MYoung and Lannan are moveable, if someone wants them, wouldn’t necessarily harm the team, and might net you a big-league bench OF to fill in now and when Revere returns, replace Laynce Nix and his non-exystance off the Phils bench, and a middle reliever to fill in the gap so you don’t have to call up Phillippe Aumont again. An 0-6 week might lead Rube to hit the reset button, moving guys like Papelbon, Utley, Rollins, Lee, Ruiz, and who knows who else.

If they can’t find a taker for John Lannan before the non-waiver deadline, I would shop Kyle Kendrick. FIP and xFIP at 3.88 and 4.00 respectively, one more year of team control, cheap for the rest of this year, knows how to take a practical joke. (I missed in the original post that Lannan is an arb4 this year. He was a super 2 and so gets 4 years of arb, not 3- adds to his value and changes the complexion of both the Young comparison and the Kendrick point a bit). When Doc comes back, presumably in a couple weeks, it will likely send a competent Jon Pettibone back to AAA. Pettibone’s FIP and xFIP are right around 4.20. That’s fine with me for a fifth starter.