The Phils have added Justin DeFratus, Freddy Galvis, Harold Garcia, Cesar Hernandez, and Matt Rizzotti to the 40 man roster, thus protecting them from potential exposure in the Rule 5 draft.
Notably left off: Joe Savery, D’Arby Myers and Chris Kissock.
Continue reading 40 man roster decisions; Spring Training Invites
The Mesa Solar Sox Fall season came to its conclusion yesterday with a 3-1 loss, dropping them to 13-17 on the Fall League season. A look at Phils prospects who played this week:
Matt Rizzotti was 1-9 this week with 4 walks, 5 strikeouts, an RBI and an error. Rizzotti finished the Fall league season with 63 AB’s and hitting .333/500/.365 with 0HR and 12 RBI. He struck out 15 times, walked 22 times and hit .409 with RISP. The downside was his 3 errors at first base and the fact that he only had 2 extra base hits (no homers) during his time in Arizona. Continue reading Arizona Fall League Final Report
The off-season news keeps on coming in what has been a busy week, with former Phillie second baseman Mickey Morandini set to become the coach of the Low A Short Season Williamsport Crosscutters, according to Jim Peters of the Northwest Indiana Times. Morandini had been the head baseball coach at Valpariso High School in Indiana, where he lives with his family. Morandini commented to Peters that “part of the reason I didn’t do it earlier was that I wanted to see my children grow up and coach them…I have done that almost the last 8 years. The Phillies contacted me almost every year since I retired. I told them that eventually I wanted to get back in it. I am not getting any younger, so I figured this was a good time to do it.
Morandini who is a Pennsylvania native, is now 44 and has been out of professional baseball (other than spending some time instructing at Phils Spring Training) since retiring in 2000 after spending 11 seasons in the major leagues. A thank you goes out to Mandy Housenick of the Allentown Morning Call for sending this information our way.
The Phillies have signed 1B/3B Jeff Larish to a minor league deal, with 3B at Lehigh Valley his likely landing spot. Larish, 28, was a 5th round selection of the Tigers in the 2005 draft. After spending 5 years in the Tigers organization, Larish was claimed off of waivers late last season by Oakland. He has 245 major league at bats, including 67 last year with a .224/.308/.380 line to go along with 8 HR and 32 RBI.
Last year in AAA, Larish hit .284/.377/.533 with 20 HR and 74 RBI. Larish should be an upgrade over Cody Ransom, both offensively and defensively in Lehigh Valley.
According to Jeff Schuler of The Morning Call, Pitcher Nate Bump, 1B/OF Tagg Bozied and OF Rich Thompson have re-signed with the Phils organization for the 2011 season. Bump is expected to rejoin the rotation in Lehigh Valley in 2011 after a very good first half of 2010. Bump struggled with his health in the seasons second half, but should be 100% healthy entering 2011. Bump, 34, is a local guy from Towanda, PA who has 113 major league appearances to his credit in the Marlins organization. In 2010 Bump went 8-4 with a 3.35 ERA in 20 starts and was named to the International League All Star Team.
Rich Thompson, a personal favorite of mine because of how he plays, returns to the Lehigh Valley outfield for a 4th season after resigning this week. Last season Thompson hit .284/.339/.382 with 5 HR and 45 RBI’s in 476 AB’s. Thompson, 31, was very impressive on the base paths stealing 41 bases in 45 attempts.
Bozied, 31, returns after having a phenomenal 2010 at the plate in Reading, hitting .315/.402/.631 in 355 AB’s with 27 HR and 92 RBI’s.
The Phillies have hired Hall of Fame Second Baseman Ryne Sandberg as the Manager of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, their AAA affiliate. Sandberg who decided not to return to the Cubs organization after losing out on the Cubs job managed AAA Iowa City to a 82-62 record last season and was named Manager of the Year in the Pacific Coast League. Continue reading Ryne Sandberg Named Lehigh Valley Manager
The Arizona Fall League season comes to a close next week with the last games being played on Thursday, before the Championship Game next Saturday. Look for the final report on the Fall League next weekend.
Matt Rizzotti played 1B on Thursday and Saturday and went a combined 2-4, with a run scored, an rbi, 5 walks, a strikeout and made his second error. Strange line for a cleanup hitter: .370/.521/.407 in 54 AB’s with 0HR 11 RBI and 2 extra base hits. He has walked 18 times and struck out just 10. Continue reading Winter League Update
The Phillies announced the signing of catcher Erik Kratz late yesterday. Kratz, 30, from Telford, PA, was a 2002 draft pick of the Toronto BlueJays and spent the last two seasons in the Pirates organization at AAA Indianapolis. Kratz made his major league debut last season for the Pirates, seeing action in 9 games. For Indianapolis last season Kratz hit .274/.380/.496 with 9HR and 41 RBI and threw out 21% of baserunners attempting to steal on him. In his minor league career, he has thrown out 31% of baserunners. Kratz should be an upgrade over Paul Hoover who struggled last season for Lehigh Valley. Continue reading Phils Sign Erik Kratz, Eddie Bonine
Signings have begun trickling in with the news that the Phillies have resigned 2B Fidel Hernandez as well as Catcher Torre Langley. In addition, the Phils have signed Free Agent Pete Orr, who has over 500 major league plate appearances and can play 2b, SS, 3B and the corner OF if necessary. Orr spent last season in the Nationals organization playing for (AAA) Syracuse, where the 31 year old hit .264/.326/.436 with 12 HR and 35 RBI’s, to go along with 25 stolen bases. Orr will almost assuredly open the season in Lehigh Valley as either their starting 2B or 3B. Continue reading Minor League (Re)Signings, AFL Update
Baseball America came out with the list of the minor league free agents in each organization and the highlights of the Phils list are as follows:
1B: Andy Tracy; 2B: Melvin Dorta; SS: Ozzie Chavez, 3B: Neil Sellers, Cody Ransom; OF: Rich Thompson, Mike Spidale, Kevin Mahar, Timo Perez; C: Joel Naughton, Kevin Nelson, John Suomi; SP: Brandon Duckworth, Ty Taubenheim, Brian Mazone; RP: Jason Anderson, Alex Concepcion, Oscar Villarreal, Ehren Wasserman, Kyle Carr.
Some names that may interest the Phils organization to fill their holes that will be created who have major league experience: P Chuck James, OF Endy Chavez, P Yusmeiro Petit, P Tony Pena, Jr., P Dana Eveland, 3B Dallas McPherson, P Brett Tomko, P Jason Hirsch, C JR House, 3B Mike Cervenak, OF Jacque Jones, INF D’Angelo Jiminez, P CHarlie Haeger, P CLaudio Vargas, OF Brett Carroll, 1B Brad Eldred, 3B Andy Marte, P Jason Grilli, C Clint Sammons.
Phuture Phillies 