A look at the time period of May 1 thru May 7. Some quick notes….How is Cesar Hernandez not in Philly. He is mashing in the minors and has shown he can hit major league pitching. I simply can’t comprehend why they are choosing to not put their best 25 players in Philadelphia…And on that note, on to Luis Garcia, who has yet to allow an earned run pitching in AAA and has converted 9 of 10 save opportunities over two year. Can he not do what SHawn Camp and Jeff Manship do?…When does JP Crawford get moved up? My thought is there is zero reason to rush and I would let him get another 100-150 AB’s in Lakewood…Perci Garner’s start this week opened some eyes. It will be interesting to see how he follows up….I would think the day is coming sooner rather than later where Brody Colvin is no longer with the organization. He $600K plus bonus is the reason he is currently around…Finally, for the first time in “Hot or Not” history, there were no “not hot” hitters, meaning that no hitter in the Phils organization during the time period discussed hit under .200 in a minimum of 12 AB’s. Kind of remarkable.
Hot Hitters: Min 12 AB’s; Cesar Hernandez (.524, 5R 2HR 6RBI); JP Crawford (.433, 5R 1HR 5RBI, SB); Tommy Joseph (.375); Matt Tolbert (.368); Tyler Henson (.347, 5R 3HR 9RBI); Aaron Altherr (.346, HR, 7RBI, SB); Willians Astudillo (.345, 5R 1HR 8RBI); Dylan Cozens (.333); Andrew Pullin (.320, 2HR); Honorable Mention: Duran, Franco, Lavin
Not Hot Hitters: None
Hot Starters: Perci Garner (6IP 2H 0ER 2BB 9K); David Buchanan (6IP 7H 1ER 1BB 6K); Colin Kleven (6IP 6H 1ER 0BB 2K); Jesse Biddle (7IP 3H 2ER 3BB 6K)
Not Hot Starters: Miguel Nunez (4.2IP 9H 8ER 1BB 1K); Mark Leiter (2 starts, 5IP 9H 9ER 2BB 5K); Mike Nesseth (2IP 4H 5ER 3BB 1K); Brody Colvin (4IP 6H 5ER 2BB 0K); Ranfi Casimiro (5IP 9H 5ER 1BB 4K); Alejandro Arteaga (5.2IP 6H 6ER); Hoby Milner (2 starts, 12.1IP 15H 9ER 6BB 8K)
Hot Relievers: Cesar Jiminez (4IP 3H 0ER 0BB 3K); Ryan O’Sullivan (4IP 3H 0ER 0BB 0K); Tyler Knigge (4.2IP 2H 0ER 1BB 4K); Seth Rosin (3.1IP 1H 0ER 0BB 3K); Luis Garcia (3.2IP 4H 0ER 0BB 3K, 3SV); Jordan Guth (3IP 1H 0ER 0BB 1K); Honorable Mention: DeFratus
Not Hot Relievers: Brad Lincoln(1.2IP 5H 4ER 1BB 2K); Tyler Buckley (1.1IP 4H 3ER 1BB 0K); Neifi Ogando (3IP 3H 4ER 2BB 2K); Phillippe Aumont (2IP 2H 3ER 2BB 1K); Jeremy Horst (1.2IP 3H 2ER 0BB 1K); Shane Martin (2.1IP 2H 2ER 1BB 2K); Steven Inch (0.1IP 1H 1ER)
Phuture Phillies 
You know, I’m not so sure I would have ended the Cesar Hernandez centerfield experiment. Revere has been awful and Gwynn is not a long term solution or a even a medium term solution. Believe me, I am sure they would like him to be in the majors for his offensive ability (which is not exceptional but better than Nix and Galvis), but if he can’t play a utility role and is limited to second base where their best position player resides, what’s the point?
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Agree, however on Luis Garcia. It’s a crime for him to be in AAA while Camp is in the majors. Manship is fine as a long reliever/mop up man – they need someone to give them “innings” in games where they are behind and he’s perfectly suited for that role, which you don’t want to give to a viable prospect.
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One hopeful and bright piece of news….Ruf is playing tonight at Clearwater…weather permitting.
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Making Ruf’s rehab start officially official…he has played in a handful of XST games.
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It is pretty funny after last year that the philly fan base is clamoring for Luis Garcia, but the guy has earned it, and I agree. This has been an organziational issue for quite some time now. The best and most talented players are always left in the minors while others get to be on the big league team because they have “veteran presence” or whatever the hell it is that they believe matters.
Truthfully, Cesar and Garcia in the majors would probably not make the team win any more games, but as this communite is a site that enjoys seeing guys come through the system and thrive, I agree that in a merit based system, they would be in the majors.
Along the same lines, Tyler Henson would be no worse than Jayson Nix in a backup IF role. They just love crappy free agents who nobody else wants just because they have a history of playing in the majors.
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Frandsen wasn’t too crappy.
Mini Mart, Lance, Bruntlett, etc on the other hand………….
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Cesar Hernandez isn’t in Philly because he can only play 2b and he’s not taking Utley’s place so he is not with the big club. Seems pretty self explanatory. In addition, I expect that once Ruf completes his rehab he will replace either Galvis or Nix since they are basically the same player and neither of them are hitting anything which means that you have to keep the other guy to backup ss/3b.
I agree that Garcia should probably be called back up to the pen but every year we go through this same process where some AAAA player is killing it in the minors and needs to replace player x on the big club who isn’t.
Guess I just don’t get all the angst over replacing one AAAA player with another since neither player has much impact on the overall results for the big club.
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I would add that they are clearly trying to increase Hernandez’ positional versatility, and that is better done in the minors. As a bonus, he is playing every day, which he wouldn’t in the majors, which hopefully will also aid his development as a hitter.
One can, I suppose, despite all that make a case for placing him on the major league roster – if one argues that having both Galvis and Nix is redundant, and that Hernandez is a better hitter that either of them. IMO the really marginal advantage there – maybe you have a chance to win one more game over the course of the season – is outweighed by the long term benefit of increasing Hernandez positional versatility & maybe his offensive value as well.
Agree of disagree with that, it isn’t a mystery. Heck, even the team’s worst moves – cough, Delmon Young, cough – have reasons behind them, even if they aren’t always GOOD reasons.
And as for “shown he can hit major league pitching,” yes, he’s shown he can hit major league pitching … but at a well below major league average level, at least thus far. Yes, better than Nix or Galvis, but not THAT much better on a career basis.
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And as for Tyler Henson, he last played shortstop in 2008. Nor has he played much second base. You can certainly make the argument that having both Galvis and Nix is redundant – and, given that there aren’t developmental reasons for keeping Hanson in the minors, he may have a stronger case than Hernandez to be called up.
But again it’s no mystery. Nix’ advantage is that he can play SS and 2B. Galvis advantage is that he is younger, has more upside, has more positional flexibility, and plays better defense.
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Galvis has no upside at this point. He’s had so many professional at-bats that any significant improvement would come as a shock to me.
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Hanson is best in LF then RF and a butcher at 3B.
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See we got our wish and Garcia was called up to replace Camp and he managed to replace Camp’s production. AAAA player out, AAAA player in.
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