Not much but the headline here. Marti Wolever announced that first round pick Aaron Nola, RHP from LSU, has signed. No word on his signing bonus as compared to slot. I imagine that will be reported sometime in the next couple hours. Also no word on where he will start. I guess Lakewood, but it could be Williamsport or even Clearwater.
Update – Reports indicate Nola signed for the full slot value for the #7 overall pick, $3,300,900. At the press conference announcing the pick, Ruben Amaro said Nola would likely start in Clearwater, but did not rule out the possibility of him starting even higher. Starting even an advanced college starter at AA is very unusual. Just for example, Stephen Strasburg started at AA the spring after he was drafted, and Gerrit Cole started at A+ his follow-up spring as well, while Michael Wacha made it to AA after 7 starts at lower levels the summer he was drafted.
We’ve been told from day one that Nola is supposed to be a fast riser, so an aggressive placement would fit that narrative pretty well, but all the way to AA right after the draft still seems pretty unlikely. Won’t be long until we find out, I suspect. There’s not much holding him back, save the conditioning to pitch every fifth day instead of every seventh, and possibly an innings limit that they’d like to slow play in case there’s playoff baseball in Reading this year and they’d like him to be able to participate.
In all, I’m happy with the pick. I would have preferred an upside arm, and only time will tell if the FO lives to regret drafting a low-ceiling, help-us-soon kind of guy into an organization that appears to need far more help than one man would ever be able to provide.
Phuture Phillies 
Didn’t Wolever previously indicate he would be going to Clearwater (A+) ?
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And Amaro said it might be Clearwater or higher. Someone sounds like they’re rushing development in order to sell a few tickets.
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Amazing. I thought no college player would ever sign with the Phillies ever again.
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If that were true, this would be an epically bad draft.
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Relatedly — •The Phillies have agreed to a $550K bonus with fourth-rounder Chris Oliver, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (via Twitter). That represents a $83K overage as against the $467K pool assigned to the 112th pick. MLB.com’s Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo pegged Oliver as the 48th-rated draft prospect, while Baseball America rated the University of Arkansas righty as the 66th best player available.
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Why in the world would a college guy not sign with the Phils? Because of wetzler? Ridiculous, one has nothing to do with the other
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You’re right, though I was assuming Riggs’ comment was sarcasm.
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How about Rollins, after 5 more hits, to his ometown A’s for Michael Ynoa, and Chase to the Giants for Kyle Crick?
Add Nola to that duo and someday you could have a decent staff.
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BP seems to view Crick as a future high leverage reliever. Just saw an article yesterday about it http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=23831
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Perfect….Ruben can be duped once again!
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I checked on Crick in Giants’ AA team He was a 1st round draft choice.
His problem is his awful control/command. Sorry, no thanks. No need to struggle to get strikes from our pitchers…a sure sign that failure is written in their future.
Go elsewhere, pls.
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As a fan of both the A’s and the Phillies, I’m pretty sure I would do the deal (but I have so many biases involved, my assessment is clearly skewed). If the A’s had Rollins last year, I believe they would have at least made the World Series.
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I was reading a Philly paper today that was asking if J Roll was H O F .He did say after he brakes the record he’d think about dropping the 10 5 rule.They can trade everybody but cooch , Utley, Hamels, and some of the bullpen .oops ASHE , Revere, Hernadez, you have to keep some of the younger guys.
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Crick has no control and no Secondary pitches to speak of.
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what is wrong with phillies. Why would they demote Grullon for Knapp. Grullon has more upside in his left pinkie toe than Knapp.
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absolutely not the point. Knapps bat is way more advanced. Knapp needs to move quick we need advanced bats quick
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Grullon is very young he Will have better success with his on age group. His def is more advanced then his bat.
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Think Nola and Chris Oliver feel like hanging around a bit and pitching against the Cubs this weekend? I’m just kidding, but you get the point–please get here soon, fellas.
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Im glad they are being aggressive with him. There is no point to letting him sit in the sally league where he will dominate. He needs to face legit left handed batters. I have no doubt Nola will dominate right handed hitters with his arm action, but his secondary offerings will need to play to get lefties out. Hopefully he is in Reading by late this season and is with Biddle in the rotation by mid 2015.
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Didnt Nola get compared to Mike Leake but better and didnt Mike Leake skip the minors altogether or am I mistaken
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Oh yeah, that’s a good example. Though Leake didn’t pitch the summer of his draft, he did pitch in the AFL that year. He essentially made the Reds out of big league camp the following spring, sitting on a AAA roster without throwing a pitch until they needed a fifth starter in early April. I could see Nola making the club out of camp next year, I suppose, depending which arms are moved between now and then and the injury situation, plus his results in the minors this year and in camp next year.
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Mike Leake has been basically a league average pitcher so I’m not sure he’s the comparison the Phillies are hoping for.
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