Since Kyle Drabek was voted the #1 prospect in the Reader Top 30, and we started on #2, we’re just going to re-start from the top. I’ll wait a day and let everyone get all of the Halladay talk out of their system, then we’ll get going and move on. Also, thanks to all the Blue Jays fans who found my site through google (Travis D’Arnaud was a very popular search term yesterday) and checked out what was written on the guys you’re getting. Thanks to everyone else who visits regularly and who posted links to my stuff on other sites yesterday. We fell about 900 hits short of breaking the single day record for the site yesterday, but for mid December, I can’t complain. So check back tomorrow for the re-start of the Reader Top 30.
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Taking a step back, our Top 10 now
I just had a brief thought, and I don’t want to add it to my earlier opus, so I’m going to put it here. After losing the prospects we lost, these are the 10 names I put down as our Top 10 of whats left
Domonic Brown, Trevor May, Anthony Gose, Juan Ramirez, Tyson Gillies, Phillippe Aumont, Brody Colvin, Jarred Cosart, Jon Singleton, Sebastian Valle. Arrange them any way you want.
Now compare them to our Top 10 prospects, per Baseball America in their 2006 handbook, which was published before the 2006 season. So in essence, 4 seasons ago.
Cole Hamels, Gio Gonzalez, Greg Golson, Michael Bourn, Scott Mathieson, Dan Haigwood, Welinson Baez, Mike Costanzo, Brad Harman, Jason Jaramillo
Amaro traded away 7 prospects. And what we have left is still miles better than what we had four years ago without anything resembling the Cliff Lee or Roy Halladay deal in terms of a prospect exodus. I think when you look at it through this lens, and you remember that there are still at least 15 legitimate prospects in the system, it helps take some of the sting out of this. And our system is certainly not empty, we just lost a lot off the top.
Analysis of the Roy Halladay trade
Wow. I think that was probably everyone’s first reaction when the news broke yesterday. The Halladay rumors have been buzzing for over a year, and it finally came to fruition. This deal, as I mentioned in the comments of the other post, is very complex on a number of levels, and is going to require a lot of different angles to be addressed. So I’m going to attempt to do that, looking at it from both the player and salary standpoint, and why it does or doesn’t make sense. I’m sure everyone already has their mind made up, so you can probably skip over my analysis and just post your “We got Halladay, who cares what we gave up” or “This is the worst trade ever” comments and then sit back and watch the reaction. But if you’re bored, give my take a read and see what you think. Check below the fold for more…
Phillies acquire Roy Halladay?
The latest rumors are starting to fly, indicating something may happen soon. The regulars here know my stance on discussing the big league club, but prospects will be involved, so feel free to discuss it, but please do it here, not in other posts. Off topic comments in other posts will be deleted by myself, gregg, or PhillyFriar, so please don’t make us do extra work. Thanks.
Update –> Heyman is reporting the deal is agreed to.
Im going to be out for a little while. I’ll have an in depth analysis of this when I get back. But continue the discussion here in my absence.
Reader Top 30; #2
We kicked off the Reader Top 30 on Friday, and as I close down the voting, Kyle Drabek ends up taking the top spot, with a total of 260 votes, with Domonic Brown coming in 2nd at 219 and Michael Taylor coming in 3rd with 94 votes. It should make for an interesting debate at #2, so we won’t waste any time in getting there. I’m going to add one player into the mix, though I doubt we’ll need him this round. Check below the fold for the poll…
Reader Top 30; #1
Ahhh, its that time of year again. The time where you, the loyal and faithful reader, begins to select the community version of our Top 30 prospects. Last season was a success, we had over 200+ votes per day, and it sparked lots of great conversation. As I mentioned a few days ago, we’ll take this moderately slow, since there isn’t a whole lot to discuss right now outside of the Rule 5 selections and the endless debate about who we should or shouldn’t trade for. Any comments of that sort will be deleted from these posts. If you’re new here, check out last year’s process by clicking the Reader Top 30 link. The basic premise is simple. Each day, 7 candidates get put into a poll, you the view votes, and the prospect with the most votes wins that day’s voting. He’s then eliminated from all subsequent votes. We move on until we get to 30. Its fun. Check below the fold for more…
Rule 5 Wrapup
Sorry I’m a tad late on this.
The Phillies selected David Herndon, a righthanded pitcher from the Angels. Herndon was a 5th round pick in the 2006 draft. He’s a control specialist, as he’s posted a ridiculous 1.40 BB/9 rate in his minor league career. His 5.20 K/9 rate is not so hot, but he couples that with a career 60.4% GB rate. So you can see why the Phillies were interested. He doesn’t walk anyone and rolls up tons of groundballs. He was ranked 28th in the Angels system last year, and as high as 11th in 2007 according to Baseball America.
Update: I found a video clip of him. Click here.
I like the pick. Check below the fold for more
Programming note
Sorry for the lack of updates, I’ve been kind of short on time. I’m going to attempt to have something up on Thursday dealing with the Rule 5 draft, whether it be the Phillies taking someone or losing someone in the process. I’m also beginning to work on my top 30 prospects list, but it won’t be published for a while. Since we have plenty of time and not a whole lot to discuss, other than boring trade rumors/fantasies, I’m going to start the Reader Top 30, maybe on Friday, or maybe next Monday. There won’t be a firm time table, like one day per vote, especially with the holidays coming up, but it should spark some good debate, and in the depths of winter, good debate about interesting topics is always welcome.
So, look for Rule 5 stuff on Thursday, then maybe the first day of voting on the Reader Top 30, and we’ll go from there.
Rule 5 nuggets
BA has an article today on guys to monitor in the Rule 5 draft, and two Phillies show up; Edgar Garcia and Harold Garcia. They note Garcia’s prior successes and his struggles in 2009 partly due to Visa issues. Harold Garcia draws a Chone Figgins comp, which seems like a stretch, but they note his speed as a big asset.
I find it unlikely we’d lose Harold Garcia, though Edgar seems like a possibility for a team willing to stash him at the back of a bullpen for a season. We’ll see.
Prospect Tiers; Pitchers
Today is the second part to the prospect tiers which I brought up the other day. To understand the reasoning, check that post. I’m only going to break the pitchers down into RHP and LHP, simply because its tough to know which guys the organization will move from starter to reliever in any given season. I’ll make some editorial comments on guys I think should be converted, but I’m just going to address them as what they are, and then comment on the upside/downside relative to a role change in their future. So, lets get going.
Phuture Phillies 