AFL Update – 11-1-2013

Other Stuff

So we’re about half way through the AFL season, and we’ve finally got our first Phillies’ AFL home run. Cameron Rupp “went yard” (as the kids say) on Tuesday. He’s been the healthiest position player thus far, with Kelly Dugan gone with turf toe, Aaron Altherr missing a lot of time with a hand injury, and Cam Perkins now possibly shelved after taking a fastball (“only” 89mph) to the helmet, per a Twitter report from @JoshOrensteinTM from Trackman.dk.

As for hurlers, Ken Giles has gotten nine outs and allowed 12 baserunners in his last three outings. Mike Nesseth got lit up yesterday, while Kyle Simon had another good outing earlier in the week before giving up a run yesterday. Austin Wright also with a mixed bag of a week – a bad outing last Friday, followed up with a clean inning with two Ks yesterday.

Here’s the link for the Phils’ Off-Season League stats. Cesar Hernandez has gone deep twice now, and is OPSing near .850. Jesus Manuel Chavez seems to be getting use, at least sometimes, as a lefty specialist. He’s faced a couple more LHB than RHB and he’s been used for less than an inning a handful of times. In total, he’s struck out seven and walked just one in 7.2IP.

http://mlb.mlb.com/milb/stats/org.jsp?id=phi

11-1-13 AFL Stats

14 thoughts on “AFL Update – 11-1-2013”

  1. Giles’ control seems to have gone off which has definitely been his problem in the past. The good news is that outside of the one awful outing, he’s only given up 2 hits in 6 innings. Also, Rupp sure looks like a guy going to spring training to win a job in Philly.

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      1. He’s only their future in as far as he’s a fairly young, cost-controlled back-up catcher. He has value. No one is counting on him being a superstar.

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        1. Well, who is our alternative superstar catcher? Don’t expect better than average from Ruiz, if he resigns with us. Let’s face it, we aren’t going to have a superstar catcher in the near future.

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            1. Because Navarro is a backup catcher with mediocre numbers who is worse than Ruiz and Rupp coming off of a career year.

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          2. Don’t discount Joseph, yet, and Knapp is probably not far from the bigs if he plays good enough defense. Whether either of those guys can become even a league average starter behind the plate is a big question. But a fairly young (24-25 yr old) and approaching league average catcher to replace Ruiz in 2 years with Rupp as the perennial backup could be a good combo for a while.

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            1. I assume they can sign Ruiz for 2 years with vesting options beyond that, btw. That’s far from a given, I know, but I think he’ll come back.

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          3. You don’t need a superstar catcher to be a great team. 2007-2011 was with Ruiz. He has never been a superstar.

            If I was to pick a single player as the Phillies’ future, it would probably be Franco. Although I’d rather pick a core; Franco, Biddle, Morgan, Crawford, Quinn, etc.

            No single player makes a team.

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            2. I didn’t say you didn’t need ANY stars. But just because we don’t have one at catcher doesn’t mean anything. Most teams in baseball don’t have superstar catchers. Honestly, I’d rather have a star just about anywhere else, because Catchers play less than most position players, degrade faster than all other players, and are the biggest risk for injury. Give me a SS or CF star any day of the week with a solid-average catcher (preferably with good or better defense and game calling).

              Morgan could be done. Franco may never become anything. Maybe we don’t have a single minor leaguer who will have success in the majors. Prospects are tricky like that. But the possibility to succeed is there. We’re certainly no Cardinals or Rangers, but we’ve got plenty to build upon in our system. And that’s without players like Altherr who have the tools, but are still a crapshoot. If one of our tool sheds, of which we have a very good amount, has the light flick on for them, then suddenly our future looks much brighter. Imagine if Cord Sandberg comes out next year hitting .350 with 20 HR and 25 SB while playing average or better CF. Is it likely? Not really. But he’s got the tools to do it, and who knows what will happen with players like that.

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            3. Agree on the C position. I really do not want to be paying $10M for that spot due to the injury risk. (Though have Yadier would be pretty awesome!) Get the D and game calling as mentioned and pay for hitting elsewhere. (Although my criteria does make Logan Moore seem a starting caliber Catcher.)

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  2. Due to injury risk and roster management, having a quality option controlled C in AAA is quite valuable.
    From an asset strategy, keeping Kratz in majors and Rupp in minors makes sense. If necessary, I think Kratz has one more option available. Of course Phillies should resign Ruiz, just hope he is not that expensive.

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