Todd Zolecki has reported the Phillies first roster moves. Left-hander Jesse Biddle, right-hander Ethan Martin, left-hander Adam Morgan, and outfielder Aaron Altherr have been optioned to the minor league camp. Right-hander Sean O’Sullivan and catcher John Hester have been reassigned to the minor league camp.
All these moves would be characterized as expected, but I am mildly surprised that O’Sullivan as a healthy starter would have been reassigned this early.
The Phillies made their first roster cut this morning when they released outfielder Xavier Paul, as reported by Steve Adams at MLB Trade Rumors. Paul hit the Phillies first home run this spring, and had one of the eight they hit so far in March.
The Phillies have an 8-5 Grapefruit League record. They have a .615 winning percentage. If we could project this into late July, they would be 64-40 with a 6-7 game lead in the division. That would make them buyers rather than sellers as they approached the trading deadline. Continue reading Open Discussion: Week of March 16th
Finally. We’ve reached the intrasquad games. No more batting practice off coaches. No more pitching machines. No more wondering what the pitchers are doing on the hidden mounds. Well, they’ll still do that stuff in the morning. But today, live pitching to live hitters during a live game with real umpires.
I was almost lured over to the game on Robin Roberts Field where a young Phillies team played the 18 and under team from Puerto Rico. Saturday, aa young Phillies team shut out the Canadian team in St. Pete. Today, a more age appropriate team faced the amateur team. Most of the guys who beat the team from Canada were over on Ashburn Field. There would be 40 players and about 25 pitchers making up the 4 teams playing on Schmidt and Ashburn Fields. My plan was to focus on the pitchers on those 2 fields. Continue reading 2015 MiLB Spring Training: March 15th
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