is….Oscar Villareal. The 29 year old right handed reliver is best known for the several years he spent in the Arizona organization, including years of moderate to good production in the mid to late innings for the Diamondbacks.  He is coming off of Tommy John surgery, but is a nice “depth” signing to add into the bullpen mix.  He last pitched in the majors in 2008 for the Astros, going 1-3 with a 5.02 ERA in 35 appearances, and spent last season recovering from his surgery.  Villareal has thrown over 75 innings in relief three separate seasons, with his ERA below 4.25 in each of those years.

With just 16 days until pitchers and catchers report to Clearwater, the Phillies continue to fill their holes on the minor league rosters with players who are minor league veterans and most who have had a cup of coffee at the major league level. Lehigh Valley should be welcoming back 33 year old Left handed starter Brian Mazone for his third season in Allentown.  Mazone was probably the IronPigs steadiest starter in 2008, going 9-12 with a 4.10 ERA in his 164.2 IP.  After a brief stint in the Dodgers organization at the beginning of last season he rejoined the IronPigs mid season and was 2-6 with a 3.50 ERA in his 11 starts late in the year.  Mazone brings experience and a consistent left handed arm to join lefty Joe Savery in the Lehigh Valley rotation. Continue reading Signings, Next Round →

The Phils signed 24 year old SS Brian Bocock, out of the Giants organization to a minor league deal today.  Bocock spent last season primarily with Class A Advanced San Jose and hit .241/.303/.339 in 430 AB’s with 3 HR and 48 RBI.   He was originally a 9th round pick of the Giants in the 2006 draft and saw some time in the majors in 2008 with the injury depleted Giants.  He hit .143 in his 77major league at bats.  Bocock provides depth at best for the Phils affiliates as they have lost Miguel Cairo, Jason Donald, JJ Furmaniak and Brad Harmon, among others from the ranks of the middle infield.

The minor league signings keep coming with the Phils inking 3B Brandon Pinckney and P Jordan Meaker to minor league deals. Pinckney,28, can play all over the diamond, but played primarily 3B last season for Norfolk, the AAA affiliate of the Orioles.  He hit .291/.309/.358 with a homer and 21 RBI’s in 267 AAA at bats last season. Meaker, 24,  is a big (6’6, 220) righty, who played college ball at Dallas Baptist University. He was drafted by the Diamondbacks in the 20th round of the 2008 draft. Last season in Low A Ball, Meaker was 4-1 with a 5.67 ERA in 29 games (3 starts). He walked 37 and struck out 40 in his 60 innings of work, with a WHIP of 1.76

Its a mad world. The Rangers have DFA’ed former Phillies prospect Greg Golson to clear space on their 40 man roster.

The club needed to clear a spot on the 40-man roster in order to make room for the newly-signed Khalil Greene. Golson, 24, appeared in one game with the Rangers last season, but spent the majority of the season with Triple-A Oklahoma City, batting .258/.299/.344 with two home runs, 40 RBI and 20 stolen bases. The former first-round pick is a tremendous athlete, but catching on as a fifth outfielder in the majors is probably the best-case scenario for him.

This prompted me to go back to last November, when the deal was made, and see what I said.

So while he may have been useful as a defensive replacement/pinch runner, Mayberry offers similar upside, but as a position player in a platoon in left field, with real usable power, and perhaps even more down the line.

Bottom line, I think Rube is 1 for 1, and I’m pretty happy about this deal. Best of luck to Greg Golson, and welcome aboard John Mayberry.

Sounds about right. Would be kind of funny if the Phillies put in a claim on him and bring him back.

The Phils have signed soon to be 34 year old Brandon Duckworth to a minor league deal, with Lehigh Valley sure to be his 2009 landing spot.  Duckworth, a righty, came up through the Phils organization going 15-18 in his three seasons with the big club (2001-03). Since that time, he spent two years with the Astros, followed by the last four in the Royals organization. Last year was the first year since 2001 that Duckworth did not appear in a major league game, pitching solely for Omaha, the Royals AAA affiliate, going 3-6 with a 5.31 ERA in 20 games, 19 of those starts. He walked 37 and struck out 67 in his 105 innings and will provide some depth for the big club in the event of injury.  He should land a job in the Lehigh Valley rotation which currently projects as:  1.  Kyle Kendrick or Andrew Carpenter (the other with the big club) 2. Joe Savery 3. Ryan Vogelsong 4. Brandon Duckworth and 5. Mike Stutes. The most compelling aspect of the Duckworth signing should be whether or not the Duck Pond moves from its 2001-03 Philadelphia location, up the turnpike to Allentown.

Time to take a look at the latest of the Winter Roster moves as the minor league rosters continue to take shape.  A number of players were released by the Phils organization, including: Robert Roth, Dan Brauer, Esmelvin Jiminez, Brandan Akashian, Phil Aviola, Francisco Murillo, Cory Wine, Vlad De Los Santos, David Hissey and TJ Warren. I am mildly surprised at Roth, otherwise no big surprises for me here. 

A number of minor leaguers were re-signed.  Next to their names is where I project them to be next year.  P John Ennis (Lehigh Valley), P Jake Woods (Lehigh Valley), P Jason Mackintosh (Reading), C  Kevin Nelson (Reading), OF Mike Spidale (Reading), OF/!B Brian Stavisky (Reading), OF Kevin Mahar (Reading/Lehigh Valley), OF Javis Diaz (Clearwater), 2B Fidel Hernandez (Reading) and P Santos Hernandez (Clearwater). Continue reading Roster Juggling →

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.

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…

Continue reading Analysis of the Roy Halladay trade →

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.