One of the most interesting and potentially rewarding part of the offseason is finding former prospects and guys with tools in minor league free agency. Most of these guys will switch orgs to man AA and AAA teams with the hope that they might get a cup of coffee in the majors.
The Phillies have already locked up their biggest names that could have been available in Jim Murphy, Leandro Castro, and Jiwan James. All will be back in the org next year and will all make at least a visit to big league camp. There are some names of interest left, but there is no one who would be a huge loss if they left the org. The full list from Baseball America http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/minor-league-free-agents-2013/.
Philadelphia Phillies
RHP: Gabriel Arias (Hi A), Justin Friend (AAA), Mike MacDougal (AAA), Juan Sosa (AA)
LHP: Bobby Bramhall (AA), Tom Cochran (AAA), Mauricio Robles (AAA), Greg Smith (AAA)
C: John Suomi (AAA), Shawn Williams* (AA)
2B: Matt Tolbert (AA)
3B: Josh Fields (AAA)
SS: Miguel Abreu (AAA), Andres Blanco* (AAA)
OF: Derrick Mitchell (AAA)
Phuture Phillies 
Wishing the D-Mitch truthers well on their journey to the next prospect site.
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He’s better than the chances he ever got, I just can’t understand the Phillies having a quality outfielder like this and not taking advantage of his great Defense……..plays all 3 spots…… Better than most.
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Mauricio Robles is a guy I would like to see back in the organization. Granted he walks way too many hitters but as a starter early in his career his BB/9 sat in the 4.5 range rather than the 6.2 with LV in 2013. He’s still 24 (25 in March) – I’d like to take one more look at him
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come back johnny finland aka Suomi
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Don’t see Tom Cochran coming back. I had the (dis)pleasure of watching him a few times when the Ironpigs visited Scranton. To call him awful would be an understatement – in one of the starts, he had 4 h 5 r allowed (all earned, 3 home runs), 3 BB’s, and 3 K’s, in 3 innings.
I only remember that one because I took a pic of the box score at the time on the MiLB app. I’m pretty sure his other starts were similar.
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I am surprised that Jiwan James came back. I have ranked him just outside my Top30 just for his major league caliber defense in CF. If he could become a base stealer (less likely with his continued injuries) he might have a bench role. Unfortunately he still cannot hit and the rumored power never even hinted in games. I’d like him as the 25th guy on a playoff roster.
Murphy likely had not other options. He’s even less likely make the majors than Rizzotti or Ruf.
Castro is nice to have back but really if they did not use him this year when the OF was a shambles and they were certainly out of it how could he think he has a chance? What else will he do to improve to give himself a better chance?
Tolbert I’d like to have back and maybe Robles. I could have seen Fields if M.Young was traded earlier but with Franco I see no reason to keep him.
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Fields is also going to be 31 next month. If nothing else, he can stay in AAA as a DH, which shouldn’t hurt Franco’s development at all. Either way, with Josh’s age, it probably wouldn’t hurt too much if he wasn’t around (not sure what his splits from last season were – does anybody have a link?), but he’d be a fairly cheap roster filler for the Pigs if the need arose. Murphy is in the same boat.
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