Monthly Archives: March 2014

Phils Make First Cuts

Other Stuff

Some surprising news coming out of the Carpenter Complex tonight with Mike Stutes among the first group of cuts by the Phils, as he was optioned to minor league camp.  Stutes, who has battled injuries over the past two seasons struggled mightily in his early Spring Training appearances, giving up 7 earned runs in 3IP.  Also on the list of cuts are RP Luis Garcia, OF Kelly Dugan, OF Aaron Altherr, OF Leandro Castro and C Sebastian Valle.  No major surprises except for how quickly Stutes was sent back to minor league camp.

In other news at the minor league facility today, OF Anthony Hewitt came up lame (hamstring) while running out a grounder and was in a considerable amount of pain leaving the field.

Baseball America’s 2013 International Review

Other Stuff

Today Baseball America posted their review of the Phillies International spending during the 2013 calendar year (encompassing both the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 signing periods).  During that time, the Phillies signed 35 players, 4 of them for bonuses greater than $100,000.  The full article is here, but here are some highlights.

In April the Phillies signed 18 year old catcher Jose Gonzalez for $300,000.  Gonzalez had Tommy John surgery shortly after signing and did not play last summer.  The Phillies big signing was Luis Encarnacion for $1,000,000 in August.  Encarnacion was one of the best bats in the J2 crop and was widely expected to cost about $1,300,000 (Encarnacion does share a trainer with Gonzalez).  Encarnacion is in camp and should start in the GCL. Continue reading Baseball America’s 2013 International Review →

First Workout Groups of the Year

Spring Training 2014

Baseball Betsy posted the first posted workout groups of the year up on her site.

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Continue reading First Workout Groups of the Year →

General Discussion – Week of 3-3-2014 – First Cut Edition

Weekly Discussion

Last year we had a nice little discussion about who would be the first person let go from camp. Let’s do that again – FYI, I discount Joe Savery as he was technically gone prior to camp opening. He might have been my guess if he was still around, and he was clearly Amaro’s pick. 

You can pick guys sent back to minor league camp,  or guys who you think will be DFAed/Released/whatever method you’d like to use. I personally think the first guy back to MiLB camp will be Zach Collier and the first DFA/cut will be Jeremy Horst. Collier needs the reps he’ll get in MiLB camp and he is not making the big club ahead of guys like Gwynn and Thomas. Horst is the least useful pitcher on the 40-man and easiest to see sneaking through waivers, IMO.

Discuss.

Phillies 2014 Top 30 Prospects

** My Top 30 Prospects

Sitting down to write the Phillies Top 30 Prospect list is one of the most interesting parts of the offseason.  The ranking process poses questions about how we evaluate different profiles and try to replicate the kind of characteristics that major league clubs value.  That being said, I find the final order to be the least important part of the process.  I find the write-ups and other details to be the much more informative.  I felt much more comfortable approaching the list this year, and I feel that I have learned a lot from talking to people and examining what I value.

My Ranking Philosophy:

Overall this ranking is the order that I would value these players if I were running the Phillies.  This evaluation is what I think their major league profile projects to be, coupled with their risk of obtaining that.  In general I lean towards high impact talent, because the impact of a single all-star is more valuable than a collection of lower impact talent.  You can’t go pure ceiling though.  I tried to balance the player’s upside with their floor, as well as how their profile fits into a major league role.  With current budgets and the influx of money, roster spots are becoming the limited commodity and players that fit well onto rosters have more value than limited use players. Continue reading Phillies 2014 Top 30 Prospects →

They’re here!

Spring Training 2014

The kids are back in town!  According to Larry Shenk, about 50 minor leaguers have been working out at the Carpenter Complex for the past few weeks, and the rest of the 170 invited to minor league spring training reported this past Friday.  I caught most of the workouts held on Saturday and Sunday.

I need to explain that it is near impossible to keep track of particular players.  The organization hasn’t broken the players out into their respective groups, nor have they provided rosters yet.  The kids are wearing light gray T-shirts with their uniform pants.  The white lettering on their backs is difficult to make out from a distance.  The outfielders are usually in the outfield when they aren’t taking batting practice.  So I’m really not 100% sure who is or isn’t here.  It has been easier identifying the pitchers, infielders, and catchers. Continue reading They’re here! →