The end of an era. Goodnight, sweet prince.

The Phils annouced four additonal roster moves this morning, none especially surprising.  Optioned were RP Michael Schwimer along with RP Phillipe Aumont.  Re-Assigned were pitchers Jeremy Horst and David Purcey.  All should play pivotal roles in Lehigh Valley this year and I would expect major league time this year from at least two of the four above.

The minor league numbers game has resulted in several early releases from Minor League camp. Included among those released this weekend were OF Brian Gump, SS Alan Schoenberger, P Ryan Feireabend and P Jesus Pirela. More news as it rolls in….

The Phillies released LHP Dontrelle Willis this morning after three extrmemly unimpressive Spring outings. Willis, 31, was projected to be the seocnd lefty out of the bullpen for the Phils.  This opens the door wide open for Rich Dubee favorite Jacob Diekman, who has had an impressive Spring thus far. Diekman, struggled initially at Reading during this first part of 2011, but came on very strong towards the end of last season.

I wanted to write up a quick post here as the minor league season approaches. I hope each and every one of you here will read this and take it to heart.

When I started this site, I had no idea what it would turn in to. In the 5+ years this site has been around, its grown exponentially. Along with this growth, there have been challenged. I’ve changed jobs and have less time to write. I’ve brought in a bunch of really great resources who have helped me provide great content year round. We’ve gone from a handful of comments a day to…well, a lot more. People have contributed lots of great stuff here, both in the comments, via email, and in the way of guest posts. As I mentioned, I’m a very busy person, and I’m only one person. I do not have hours a day to police the comments section of posts. I don’t have time to yell at every person being offensive and disruptive. For the most part, and considering the internet message board medium as a whole, we have far fewer problems here than elsewhere. For those of you who have been here for a while, you know that my request of you is to simply ignore the people trying to inflame the discussions and get a rise out of you. The post tacked to the top of the site features a link to the FAQ and rules. You can find it by clicking here. I welcome any and all opinions, but I require civility at all times. At all times. If you continually buck the rules and insult others, you won’t be long for this place.

Now that I got that out of the way, here are the ways you can help this site improve in 2012:

* Go to games, make notes on our prospects, and send these reports to my via email. I will post them as “First Hand Scouting Reports” and everyone will be very grateful for what you give us.
* Take video.

Per Matt Gelb.

This was a fairly predictable move, as Ramirez never developed a reliable third pitch, and his second pitch is inconsistent as well. The hope is that he can add a bit to his fastball now that he doesn’t have to pace himself, and sit in the 93-95 range. He’ll need to improve his slider to have any kind of high leverage reliever upside. I’d guess he will go back to Reading to start 2012.

Matt Gelb is reporting that Freddy Galvis will make his first start at 2B today.  With the concern about Chase Utley’s health growing, while the Phillies may suggest this to be coincidence, I am not a big believer in coincidence.  Galvis, 22, has played parts of 5 seasons in the minor leagues, spanning 526 games during that time period.  Known for his outstanding glove at SS, Galvis has not played an inning at 2B during a regular season minor league game.

While the Phils interest certainly may be to gain the ability to use Galvis at multiple positions with Jimmy Rollins returning for the next several seasons, this will raise an eyebrow or two. Galvis is off to a good start this Spring, hitting .357 in his 14 AB’s.  Stay tuned.

Per Matt Gelb.

This is close to the death blow for his prospect status. He lost nearly an entire year last year to an ACL injury, and microfracture surgery will likely wipe out his entire 2012. I left Garcia out of my top 30 prospects list, largely because I needed to see a healthy, productive year from him before I was convinced that he was more than a cup of coffee guy. This obviously sets him back even more. Microfracture surgery is tough to come back from (especially since it is the same knee as the blown ACL) though he is only 25 and its not impossible. That said, he turns 26 in October and will have likely logged a total of about 300 AB at the AA level in the past 2+ years. A tough break, and I hope for the best for him, but you can probably remove him from your lists at this point.

After a very long Winter that included a labor intensive job change, perhaps my favorite day of the year comes tomorrow with the first pitch of Sprong Training, this year being thrown by Austin Hyatt.  I expect to be back reporting regularly on the Lehigh Valley IronPigs and was hoping for some constructive commentary of what you, the reader, would like to see more of.  While I have certainly become a fan of team over the last several years (much easier with Ryne Sandberg leading the way), they key for this site continues to be the analysis of the production and growth of the minor league prospects and that is how most reports will be written, with general team overviews, and then specifics about the perspective Phuture Phillies.  Any thoughts and comments are appreciated as we attempt to give you the thorough coverage you expect. 

It is with much sadness that the Phillies announced the end of the WIlson Valdez era today as he was traded to the CInncinati Reds for LHP Jeremy Horst.  Horst, a 26 year old reliever pitched predominately for Louisville, the AAA Affiliate of the Reds last season, going 1-4 with a 2.81 ERA in 36 games, while holding the opponents to a .219 batting average. Horst was originally drafted by the Reds in the 21st round of the 2007 draft and pitched in 12 games for Cinncinati last season going 0-0 with a 2.93 ERA.