Monthly Archives: November 2013

Drafts Revisted: 2007

2007 Draft

I have debated writing draft retrospectives for a while but the question has always been, where do I begin?  I have debated going all the way back to the Jimmy Rollins draft but those drafts were incredibly thin and become rather boring after a while.  Seeing the 2007 draft as the first draft James covered for this site it seemed as good a place as any to start.  Obviously I am not going to touch on every player here, but there are some highlights at low lights a plenty in the 2007 draft.

Round 1 Pick 19 – Joe Savery – LHP – Rice

Savery at the time was the ultimate boom bust pick.  In his freshman year Savery was the top freshman in the country and one of the most dominating pitchers in college baseball.  His next two seasons were marred by injuries but when on he flashed at least three plus pitches on a workhorse frame.  The problem is the velocity never came back and the secondary stuff regressed.  By the time Savery reached AAA he was little more than a minor league innings eater.  Savery then spent a year trying to hit, before he returned the mound with renewed velocity and a usable slider.  Since then Savery has started to salvage and put together a career as a fringe LH reliever.  2014 Outlook: LHV and Philly Continue reading Drafts Revisted: 2007 →

General Discussion – Week of 11-11-2013 – “I’m The GM? Rad!” Edition

Weekly Discussion

(Note – as I typed this, the Phillies signed Marlon Byrd. I’m not changing it. I don’t even acknowledge Marlon Byrd.)

So because all of you were clamoring for it, (I’m sure you were in secret), I’ll float my off-season plan here.

First, and foremost – Break the bank for Masahiro Tanaka, (Amaro seemed to nod in that direction yesterday, but of course it may have just been general talk about Japanese players and not a nod toward Tanaka himself). I know some of this will come down to budget, but any posting fee would be somewhat mitigated by merch sales and who knows how much mitigated by TV deal leverage. Plus I bet Morimoto names a dish after Amaro if he signs Tanaka – maybe his “Yasai Ramen” could become the “NiceSign Ruben”. I would eat that. Continue reading General Discussion – Week of 11-11-2013 – “I’m The GM? Rad!” Edition →

40 Man Roster Decisions – Part 2 – Pitchers

Other Stuff

After discussing who is on the roster, it is now time to discuss who might be on the roster going forward.  Pitching is a lot easier for a team to stash on a roster than it is to stash position players because bullpen arms can be regulated and coached without the need for constant in game work.  For the most part teams are looking for players who can provide a solid fastball and command out of the bullpen.  The Phillies have a couple of player who may be able to fill those roles, but more interestingly they have a couple of players who could provide rotation depth to the rate team.

Seth Rosin – RHP – Acquired from San Francisco for Hunter Pence

Seth Rosin is a big pitcher, and he generates good downward plane on his pitches.  Out of the rotation Rosin will show a plus fastball, a slider with good potnetial, and an average changeup.  Rosin will pound the zone with all of his pitches and has improved his walk rate every year.  Rosin wore down towards the end of the year as he passed his previous high in innings.  If he sticks in the rotation Rosin profiles as a back of the rotation starter, however if put back in the bullpen he could be an asset in 2014.  This potential bullpen use could make him attractive to a team in the Rule V draft.  MW: Protect Phillies: No Add Continue reading 40 Man Roster Decisions – Part 2 – Pitchers →

40 Man Roster Decisions – Part 1 – On the Roster

Aumont, Phillippe, Collier, Zach, Gillies, Tyson, Phillies Chatter, Savery, Joe, Valle, Sebastian

One of the first big moves of the offseason is the reshuffling of the 40 man roster.  The Phillies have already made their first round of cuts but they still have some work remaining to get down to enough to protect newly Rule V eligible players as well as sign free agents.  We are going to kick off this series by looking at the players already on the 40 man roster who may be on the bubble.  I have deemed players with established major league roles as safe and won’t discuss them here (this includes De Fratus, Diekman, Pettibone, Asche, Galvis, and Hernandez), I am including players who either are on the fringes or are pure minor leaguers.  I am going to give my opinion on what the Phillies should and give my guess at what they will do.

When it comes to players already on the 40-man roster, removing them subjects them to the waiver process.  This gives each team the option of claiming them, if claimed a player most only then be placed on his team’s 40 man roster.  If you are looking to keep some of these players in the org the big thing to look at is number of options years left.  A player with multiple options and some talent is likely to get claimed purely for a look, other, more fungible players can be snuck through waivers a bit easier. (*All ages are for Opening Day 2014) Continue reading 40 Man Roster Decisions – Part 1 – On the Roster →

Site Improvements

Other Stuff

Hi all,

While there is some down time in the prospect world I will be doing some improvements to the site.  Some of them are in the testing phase such as the Twitter feeds of writers and reorganization of the pages at top under player profiles.  As for the profiles, I am working on good ways of linking them out to news posts, and I have further 18 that are in draft form and will be up over the coming weeks.  Additionally all the existing profiles will get a quick update.

If there are any improvements to your reading experience that you would like to see, just post them here and I will take them under advisement based on what I have time for and what the WordPress site will allow me to do.

If you feel that any players are missing from the profiles let me know, they may be in the works or they may have just fallen through the cracks.

Thank you to everyone who stops by, whether they post or not.

Matt

AFL Update – 11-8-2013

Other Stuff

I’m short on time today and so I’ll leave the analysis to you all.

A note that Your Peoria Javelinas will be on MLB Network tomorrow night at 8pm EST, as they visit Surprise. The game’s being televised as they test the MLB replay system for next year. I’ve been watching parts of the games this week, and I’m hopeful we’ll get to see some of our guys on that big stage. Cam Rupp has played in two straight, so if he’s off today, he could be back tomorrow, and both outfielders have been playing plenty. Giles and Wright both have been off a couple days, so they’re in the mix if they don’t throw tonight, but I would guess we won’t see Nesseth or Simon, as they both threw yesterday and have been spread out to at least two days between outings all season.

Here’s the link for the Phils’ Off-Season League stats. Freddy Galvis is tearing it up. He’s got four multi-hit games and five XBH in his last six contests.

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

Continue reading AFL Update – 11-8-2013 →

Roman Quinn Rupture Achilles

Other Stuff

First reported here by Murray but we now have confirmation from Jim Salisbury http://www.csnphilly.com/baseball-philadelphia-phillies/good-news-bad-news-2-phillies-prospects?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Quinn ruptured is achilles doing sprints near his Florida home. He has already had surgery to repair it, the Phillies are also looking into having him get surgery on his wrist which has been healing slowly since it was broken by a pitch in June. It took Ryan Howard 10 months to return to the field so Quinn could see action towards the end of next year, but odds are he will be highly limited and without the aid of his speed for much longer. This is a severe blow to the Phillies farm system as a whole.

In better news Tommy Joseph is headed to the Dominican to play winter ball. He will be behind the plate for Estrellas de Oriente.

Phillies Minor League Free Agents

Other Stuff

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)

General Discussion – Week of 11-4-2013

Weekly Discussion

A bunch of QOs have been announced, options are being declined and accepted all over the place. Soon we’ll have Full Blown Free Agency, Non-Tenders and the Winter Meetings. The Hot Stove is about to be turned up to high, and I for one look forward to making Jiffy Pop with the overwhelmed steam pouring out of Ruben Amaro’s ears.

Hey, remember when people used to make Jiffy Pop on the stove? That’s what I was referencing there. Do they still make that kind?

Discuss.

Baseball America Top 10 Phillies Prospects

Other Stuff

First go read the free version here http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/2014-philadelphia-phillies-top-10-prospects/, and then if you give BA money go read the scouting reports here http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/2014-philadelphia-phillies-top-10-prospects-with-scouting-reports/, and if you give them money read the chat transcript here http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/2014-philadelphia-phillies-top-10-prospects-chat-with-josh-norris/.

For those lazy the Top 10 are:

  1. Maikel Franco
  2. Jesse Biddle
  3. JP Crawford
  4. Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez
  5. Roman Quinn
  6. Carlos Tocci
  7. Ethan Martin
  8. Cesar Hernandez
  9. Aaron Altherr
  10. Severino Gonzalez

Rather than give a word for word recap of all of these reports I am going to give my reactions and quick thoughts. Continue reading Baseball America Top 10 Phillies Prospects →