Monthly Archives: July 2013

Box Score Recap – 7/26/2013

Box Score Recap

With all the MAG excitement, let’s not forget that there was a full slate of oh who am I kidding. Big splash for RAJ in the Int’l market. Huge. Paired with what looks like a likely $1m amateur FA in a couple weeks, and the handful of $500k plus signings in the last couple years, and perhaps the team has finally turned the corner on big International spending.

Ok, some results, in verse, because it’s a lovely Saturday out there or whatever –

Kelly Dugan with a bomb, Aaron Altherr, too;

Andrew Knapp’s first in the pros and Mikey F. hit two.

Mario looked pretty good, Nick Hernandez, not;

Herlis, Wilmer, Nitty Ferd, and J.P.C. stay hot.

Yacksel Rios got a start, Braden Shull done broke my heart;

Denton Keys and Tyler V., and two, times, two, for, Big, Sir, Art.

– Yes, I rhymed “too” with “two”. Deal with it. Also , yes: “Mikey”. And I hope you catch the drift of my pacing at the end. It slows down, like a breath between every word. Calming, I hope. Have a nice weekend. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/26/2013 →

Phillies Sign Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez

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Cuban pitcher with plus fastball and at least 3 other pitches.  He has a #2/#3 upside but will need a little bit of seasoning in the minors before getting to the majors.  Deal is supposedly for more than $50 million with escalators that could make it worth other $60 million.

Regardless of buying or selling this is a great allocation of financial resources, and even if he is more of a #4 he should be worth to close to the value of the contract.  This deal makes one of Kendrick, Lannan, Pettibone,Martin,  Morgan, and Biddle expendable either at the deadline or in the off-season.

Details to come later.

Box Score Recap – 7/25/2013

Box Score Recap

In February, had I asked you to fill in the blanks on the following sentence: “By July 25, Larry Greene will have twice as many ____ as ____.”, how many of you would have said stolen bases and homeruns, respectively? Be honest.

The story of the night, clearly, is Austin Wright. A fine line for him – 1 R on 4H, (1HR), 3BB and 10K. Jason Guarente at The Reading Eagle has some insight as to what helped Wright on Wednesday. If Wright can have success with a three-pitch mix, he’s got a much better chance to stick as a starter. We’ll see how his newest offering holds up.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/25/2013 →

Steve Susdorf to the Majors

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The Phillies place Domonic Brown on the 7 day DL for a concussion.  They have called up Steve Susdorf to take his place.  Susdorf is a great story, he is average to below in all tools except a plus hit tool.  He will make solid contact in almost every at bat.  His major league stay might be brief and his impact little, but he certainly deserves his moment.  He is likely a better option than most of the OFs on the roster waiting for him.

Box Score Recap – 7/24/2013

Box Score Recap

Not a lot of excitement. A fair line from Mitch Gueller in a 6 inning CG, and a nice spot start from Chris Nichols highlight a WIL doubleheader split. Cody Asche 2-4 with a double. Tyler Cloyd pitched a real nice game, spoiled in the 8th by the bullpen and 3 passed balls from Steve Lerud. Jose Pujols went deep, his third of the year. And be sure to cue up the circus music when you read Ethan Stewart’s line. How he managed to get out of that without giving up a half dozen runs defies all logic.

And finally, Kyle Simon allowed all three base runners he inherited to score – that probably ties a record. Unless someone, sometime, was called upon to pitch in the middle of an inning, had to stay in to field a position, and then was called back to pitch again in the middle of another inning. Or the same inning, I suppose. There’s a research project for all of you. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/24/2013 →

Hot or Not

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A look back at the week of July 18-24. Quick thoughts…when your team is struggling offensively as much as the Phillies, dont you find a way to get Cody Asche into the major league lineup? He won’t fix things, but will at the very least add some energy. (Ruf to LF, Brown to RF, Young to 1B, Asche to 3B)…Cameron Perkins has really struggled since coming off the DL with his broken wrist…Ethan Martin has been pitching extremely well over the past two months and may be positioned for a September call up…I am getting pretty excited about Kenny Giles again.

Hot Hitters: Cody Asche (.429); Cesar Hernandez (.390); Gabrial Lino (.364, 4R 2HR 5RBI); Matt Tolbert (.364); Angelo Mora (.350); Albert Cartwright (.346, 7R, 2SB); Maikel Franco (.333); Jiwan James (.333); Honorable Mention: Greene, Cozens, Dugan, Morelos Continue reading Hot or Not →

Box Score Recap – 7/23/2013

Box Score Recap

Very nice line from Ethan Martin -2H, 3BB, 6K in 6 scoreless innings, threw 65 of his 100 pitches for strikes. That’s what he needs to do, more or less, every time out for the rest of the year to prove to me that he’s a viable candidate to be a starter. The couple walks I can live with. A couple more hits, a couple runs? Fine. But if the strike rate is in the mid 60s, it means he’s not living outside the zone, which is all but an impossibility for a starting pitcher. That’s what I’ll continue to look for.

3-5, 2 HR for Cody Ashce. I would love to see him up in the bigs in a couple days, platooning with Kevin Frandsen or not. If the team moves Michael Young, hopefully that’s the play, though Freddy Galvis playing every day at 3B might be the club’s preferred option.

Elsewhere, Kelly Dugan 2-3 with a double, (off Top 50 guy Noah Syndergaard). Jesse Biddle couldn’t get out of the first inning. Brody Colvin came in with the bases loaded and allowed 1 runner to score, but then worked a solid 4.1 innings. Chris Serritella with a ninth inning, 2 out, full count HR to send the game into extras after Colt Murray couldn’t hold the 1-1 tie in the ninth. A fine start from Shane Martin to lead Williamsport to victory. And Jesus Chavez, strike-throwing lefty, continues to torch the VSL. I would expect him stateside next year after 66 K and just 6 BB in 66 IP so far. Any way you do the math, that’s pretty good stuff. 

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/23/2013 →

Lehigh Valley Weekly Report

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Its been a rough two weeks for Lehigh Valley, even with an 8-1 win last night, as they have gone 3-7 since the last report and now sit at 52-52, and in 3rd place of the Northern Division of the International League, 5.5 games behind division leading Pawtucket and 2 games behind Norfolk in the race for the wild card. Lehigh Valley is in the midst of an eight game road trip during which they play two more in Rochester, followed by a four game series in Pawtucket.

‘Pigs Prospects: Cody Asche has hit safely in 20 of his last 27 games and is hitting .359 during that time frame. Taking it back a bit further, Asche has hit in 38 of his last 49 games (.324). After having a fairly miserable time hitting left handed pitching during the first two months of the season, Asche has been a solid .294 since May 26th.  He continues to show the occasional pop, good base running and very good defense. On the year, Asche is at .292/.352/.451 with 12HR and 60RBI, to go along with 11SB. Extremely solid. I really hope to see him in Philly before the end of the year. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →

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

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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 →