Daily Archives: December 18, 2013

Phillies Designate Sebastian Valle for Assignment and Clears Waivers (Updated)

Transactions

To make room on the 40 man roster for Roberto Hernandez the Phillies have designated Sebastian Valle for assignment.  Valle was once a top prospect in the Phillies system and was ranked #3 on a very weak Top 30 after the 2011 season.

Valle is a good defender but he hasn’t had a walk rate above 5.6% and strikeout rate below 20.8% over the past 4 seasons.  Valle is still young at age 23, but he has been passed on the depth chart by Rupp and Joseph.  Valle has one minor league option remaining so another team may take a flyer on him to see if they can find value.  For the Phillies he has little value or playing time and they likely tried trading him before this move.

Update (12/20):

The Phillies have announced that Sebastian Valle has cleared waivers and outrighted to AAA (this in no way reflects his final placement because of weird roster stuff).  Valle will remain in the organization for 2014 and will be a minor league free agent due to service time.  Valle will likely go to AA with Tommy Joseph in 2014, and given his good stats in the Mexican Winter League, he may still be a backup yet.

Shane Watson to have Shoulder Surgery

Other Stuff

As many of you know Shane Watson has been battling shoulder soreness all year.  PhoulBallz Jay Floyd is now reporting that Watson’s latest setback and lack of progress will force him to have shoulder surgery (http://www.phoulballz.com/2013/12/watson-to-undergo-shoulder-surgery.html).  Watson recently had a set back, he had previously pitched in the Fall Instructional Leagues.

The surgery will be performed in January to correct inflammation in an enlarged capsule.  The recovery time expects to be about 3 months.  This means that he will get a late start to spring training, and it should set back his debut, but this should not set his season back too much.  This is not good news, but at very least it is not a torn capsule, a procedure which has a tendency to immediately end careers.

General Discussion – Week of 12-16-2013

Weekly Discussion

Here’s a fresh general discussion sheet for you. Sorry for the delay this week. As a thanks for waiting, here’s a gift:

Gift

 

 

 

Those aren’t my hands.

Discuss.