Monthly Archives: July 2013

Draft Signing Day

Other Stuff

As many of you are aware, 5PM today is the last time 2013 draft picks can sign. The Phillies are still negotiating with Ben Wetzler, (5th) and they are not expected to sign Jason Monda (6th), but Jim Callis from BA just broke news on Twitter that 11th Rounder Denton Keys has signed, for an amount (not stated) that will put the Phillies into the bonus pool tax. That’s a 50% tax on every dollar spent over the allotted bonus pool, up to 5% over the pool, after which a 1st-round-draft-pick penalty is assessed, (not happening with a guy like Keys). This year’s bonus pool is floating at the moment until we know if Wetzler signs, and 11-40th rounders get the first $100k without changing the pool. So while we don’t know if Wetzler will sign, we can assume Keys’ bonus is somewhere north of $275k and less than $540k.

I’ll update this thread later with any other news, and link you to the final calculations when it’s complete. You can check out the draft tracker by clicking on the draft link at the top and picking 2013.

Just after 5pm, and Callis is reporting Ben Wetzler is going back to school. Rodney Dangerfield would be proud. As a Phillies fan, not so much. Also Callis is reporting Keys’ bonus to be $350k, which puts the Phillies $73,500 over their allotment, costing them $36,750 in tax.

Looks like 30th Rounder Venn Biter has signed as well. He retweeted a photo of him signing and congrats from his people. Thanks to commenter IHeartDomBrown below for posting that photo.

Continue reading Draft Signing Day →

Lakewood Game Report

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NYPhilsmaniac 19 is at it again, this time at Lakewood. Flat out great job with the report. 

PITCHING:
 
Nic Hanson made his return to Lakewood after a rehab start with GC.  Hanson went six solid innings, but was facing a last-place Rome offense.  Hanson’s fastball was consistently in the high 80’s, topping out at 90 exactly.  His offspeed deliveries varied from 79-82.  I would assume the gun was pretty accurate since the Rome starter regularly lit it up at 95-97 (must have been pretty straight FB’s since we knocked him around).  Hanson was able to mix things up well enough to avoid much damage.
 
1st inning:  A 3-2 line single to left-center followed by a SB, a 6-3 chopper moved the runner to third and he scored on a high sac fly to right-center. a 5-3 ground out ended the inning (nice play by Willie Carmona).
 
2nd inning:  A hard single to left, followed by three easy outs (swinging K, soft fly to RF, easy 4-6 FC
 
3rd inning:  a 1-3 comebacker, a hard hit lineout to RF and a soft liner to LF
 
4th inning:  Line single up the middle, swinging K (84 mph curve), soft lineout to LF, Swinging K on 82 mph changeup
 
5th inning:  1-2 pitch soft line single over 2nd baseman, Sac bunt (1-3), 3 hopper to SS (6-3), bunt single by the leadoff hitter, shallow pop-up caught by Pointer in CF (more on his defense later)
 
6th inning:  Line single into right-center, Hard ground single between short and 3rd, Line shot in left-center gap that Pointer ran down for an out, Flyout to center, Low sinking liner into right-center caught by Pointer Continue reading Lakewood Game Report →

Box Score Recap – 7/11/2013

Box Score Recap

Three Lakewood starters combined for a no-hitter tonight. Jeb Stefan did the heavy lifting – 6 innings, 4BB and 5K. Ramon Oviedo struck out 4 in two innings, and then apparently hurt himself, per @hudsonbelinsky, and Chris Burgess closed it out.

Stefan’s an interesting guy – he’s been in the pen a lot since being drafted last year as a 4th year junior. This year, though, he’s been pretty good in his couple of starts, allowing 16 baserunners and striking out 18 in 21 innings as a starter. He was a BA Top 500 guy in last year’s draft. Belinsky had him sitting 88-90 tonight, with what he called a plus change and a repeatable delivery. BA said last year that he had been touching 94. Worth watching his progress in the rotation.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/11/2013 →

Mid-Season Mailbag

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Here are the answers to your questions.  I really enjoyed answering and researching them. Feel free to ask any more questions or ask for clarification and I will try my best to answer them in the comments.

Ajay says:

Question: If you’re the Phillies GM (position should be opening soon), whom do you trade off the major league roster at the deadline, and which prospect replaces them? Is that prospect the long-term answer at the position?

I would trade Michael Young and Papelbone without question.  I think Asche could step in right now and with his defense at least equal Young’s production, I don’t think he is the long term answer but certainly a competent major leaguer.  As for Papelbon I would have traded him the moment the contract was signed because I don’t think a closer should get paid that much.  I personally would ride the hot hand of all the hard throwing guys until someone broke away from the pack. Continue reading Mid-Season Mailbag →

Box Score Recap – 7/10/2013

Box Score Recap

Not sure what happened yesterday – tried to post the recap thread as I was running out the door, but I guess it didn’t happen. Here’s Wednesday’s games – I included the EL All-Star game at the bottom. Asche and Martin and Gillies doing some work at AAA. A really nice line from Mario Hollands. Again. Guy is eating up the FSL. Too bad he’s 47 years old. Zach Green 2-4 with a BB and another double – his ISO remains over .300. Mark Leiter struck out 6 in his 2 innings of work. Impressive, though he did allow a walk, 2 hits and a run.

And then there’s Larry Greene – 2-4, with 1BB, 1K, 2 doubles and 3 runs scored. He remains warm. Not hot, necessarily, (especially after 2 Oh-Fers in the last three nights and way too many Ks still), but warm – .805 OPS over his last 10. JP Crawford, now…JP Crawford is hot. OPSing 1.001 for the short season. Fire.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/10/2013 →

Box Score Recap 7/9

Box Score Recap

Nice line from Tyler Cloyd, Cesar and Freddy with 3 hits each, Crawford and Sandberg with 2 a piece, and a pro debut from recently-signed Tyler Viza. First stateside HR for Sam Hiciano, and a clunker of an outing from Kenny Giles. No time to get the graphic up right now. Maybe later.

Continue reading Box Score Recap 7/9 →

Hot or Not

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A look at the time period of July 4-10….Plenty of good hitting around the organization this week…I am getting disproportionately excited over JP Crawford considering he has less than 75 professional AB’s…I will “bite”, Steve Susdorf should be given a shot to be a left handed bat off the Phils bench…Maikel Franco just keeps plugging along…Good to  to see Nic Hanson back from his injury and performing well…Brody Colvin is pretty much an unmitigated disaster at this stage… Mario Hollands needs to be promoted to Reading.

Hot Hitters: Steve Susdorf (.500); JP Crawford (.500, 4rs, 2SB); Michael Martinez (.455, 6R); Jon Roof (.450, 8R 2HR 11RBI); Andrew Pullin (.440, 7RBI); Maikel Franco (.438); Derrick Mitchell (.429); Jia Tromp (.429); Willie Carmona (.424, 4RBI); Brock Stassi (.350); Cody Asche (.343, 6R 5RBI 3SB); Honorable Mention: Murphy, Gillies, Lerud, Overbeck, Sandberg, Greene, Galvis, Mora, Hernandez Continue reading Hot or Not →

Around the System–Middle Infield

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A look at where we are at up the middle throughout the organization.  Plenty to talk about at the top level…

Lehigh Valley

Freddy Galvis, 23, Signed as a free agent in 2006; Hitting .265 in 49 AB’s since being sent down to AAA; 1HR 6RBI; 10 games at SS with 1 error (.979); 2 games at 2B without an error; 1 game at 3B without an error.

Cesar Hernandez, 23, SIgned as a free agent in 2006; .313/.379/.418 in 297 AB’s; 2HR 27RBI; 27/33 SB; .315 vs. LH, .312 vs. RH, .274 with RISP; .327 since June 1; 10%bb/18% k rates; 74 games at 2B with 9 errors (.974); 4.50 R/F; 2 games in the OF without an error; Hernandez has been outstanding this year and extremely consistent as well. He is among the league leaders in several offensive categories and his defense has been well above average as well. Continue reading Around the System–Middle Infield →

Lehigh Valley Weekly Report

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Lehigh Valley went 4-5 this week, which ended with a  6-1 victory on Tuesday evening and now stand at 49-45, 4 games behind division leading Pawtucket in the Northern Division of the International League and one game behind Norfolk in the wildcard race.  The ‘Pigs play three more at home this week, before traveling to Syracuse for a short two game series over the weekend prior to the all star break.

‘Pigs Prospects: Cesar Hernandez has been outstanding as of late, hitting over .400 during the past two weeks and continuing to steal bases with a very high success rate.  Notably, Hernandez played a game in CF and has been regularly taking fly balls in the outfield. On the year, Hernandez is hitting .313/.379/.418 with 2HR 27RBI to go along with 27SB.  Hernandez has been extremely solid in the field as well.

Tyson Gillies has hit in 7 of his 8 games since his promotion (7-28) and 16 of his last 19 games if you combine the success he was having in Reading.  Still too early to tell how well the new swing and new maturity? will translate to Lehigh Valley, but there is a glimmer of hope.  On the year, Gillies is hitting a combined .238/.299/.405 between Reading and Lehigh Valley. He has 9HR 26RBI and is 9/14 stealing bases. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →

Box Score Recap – 7/8/2013

Box Score Recap

A couple notes – Seth Rosin worked just 3 innings, as he’s lined up to pitch in the EL All-Star Game. The LV team finished a game from April that Jon Pettibone started. Some funky stats in there.

As for results and a little analysis – Cam Perkins being very Cam Perkins – 3-4 with 2 doubles in game 1 of that double header. Andrew Pullin also being very Cam Perkins with an identical line in game 1 for WIL – he also had a double and 2 singles in the nightcap, while Dylan Cozens stroked his 4th homer of the season in the opener. Mauricio Robles has limited runs in his AAA stint, but his peripherals are not great – 8H, (which is quite good), but 13BB and just 8K in 16.1 AAA innings.

And finally, JP Crawford was 3-5 with a double, his first pro XBH, and then he went storm chasing. Ok not really, but he did tweet this . Wild.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/8/2013 →