Long time no talk.  I blame that totally on myself, but I have been extremely busy in Arizona.  To make up for this atrocity I have decided to offer a special feature.  All the Phillies on the team (Scott Mathieson, Steve Susdorf, Dominic Brown, Tuffy Gosewisch, Troy Hanzawa, Edgar Garcia, Mike Cisco, and myself) have agreed to answer questions from the loyal Phillie phaithful.  If you send your questions to x, and include who the question is for, I will write down our answers and post it.  Feel free to ask any and all questions as nothing is off limits.  I am not going to promise I will use all of the questions, but I will do the best I can.  I hope this makes up for my lack of writing.

Baseball America came out with their top 20 prospects in the New York Penn League and three Phils prospects made the list.  At #4 is Catcher Sebastian Valle, #11 is 3B Anthony Hewitt and at #16 is OF Leandro Castro. Baseball America does have scouting reports attached to each player, however, that is reserved for their pay site.

Feel free to discuss.

I’m going to write more about Drabek when I do my Top 30, but thats not for a while, and I was thinking about what should happen with Drabek next year, so I wanted to throw this out there. Everyone knows at this point that an elite starter is worth more than an elite reliever when you’re talking about value. And I think its pretty much a given that Drabek’s long term future is as a starting pitcher. But for 2010, I think it makes a world of sense to use Drabek in the ML pen from Day 1. Check below for my reasoning…

Continue reading Kyle Drabek’s role in 2010 →

Congratulations to the Lakewood BlueClaws, who last night won the South Atlantic League championship with their 5-1 win over Greenville, winning their series 3-1.  Korey Noles got the win for Lakewood, throwing 7 strong innings, giving up just a lone run, while Austin Hyatt threw 2 shutout innings in relief, striking out 3.  As was the course this year, Anthony Gose got things going offensively for Lakewood with 3 stolen bases on the night, which led to two runs.  A fantastic job by the whole Lakewood organization, GM Geoff Brown and Manager Dusty Wathan.

Just figured I’d pass along this quick note.

Jason Knapp will undergo arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies.

Knapp, considered by some to be the key to the Cliff Lee trade earlier this season, was injured at the time of the trade. The Indians pulled the trigger anyways, feeling Knapp would not need surgery after looking at his medical records. However, the right-hander had not had an MRI with Philadelphia, which showed the loose bodies. He should be recovered in plenty of time for spring training; the Indians do not plan to file a grievance against the Phillies.

A couple of items over the last several days.  Andy Tracy and Sergio Escalona were both called up by the Phils to fill in some of the voids left by injury and lack of production.  Tracy, a 35 year old power hitting first baseman, was among the IL league leaders in several categories, including HR, RBI, R and BB. Escalona, has been used as a situational lefty in both Reading and Lehigh Valley and will be picking up some of the innings left out there by the injury depleted Phillies bullpen. 

To make room on the 40 man roster, Lehigh Valley starter Rodrigo Lopez was released.  Lopez, 34, was fairly effective this year in Lehigh Valley and provided the Phils with a couple of decent starts.  Just not enough room for the veteran righty.

Lakewood won Game One of their series behind a very nice outing from Matthew Way. Way went 7 innings and gave up just a run on 7 hits, while striking out 7.  Anthony Gose had a big day offensively with 3 hits, while Travis D’Arnaud, Travis Mattair and Brian Gump had two hits apiece.  Lakewood did leave 13 men on base, but still managed the victory with Santo Hernandez earning the save. Look for Trevor May on the hill tomorrow night as Lakewood attempts to close out the series.

A rough outing for Mike Stues in Game One of the Reading series, as the RPHILS lost 9-4 in Game One of their Best of Five tilt against Akron.  Stutes went 5.1 innings, giving up 6 runs (3 earned) on 9 hits.  AFter the Phils scored two early runs, Akron starter Josh Tomlin retired 17 straight batters as the Aeroes built their lead. This game also featured the return of Michael Taylor who has missed several weeks with an oblique injury.  Taylor was 0-4 with 3 strikeouts.  Yohan Flande gets the call tonight for Reading.

Playoff series begin for both Reading and Lakewood this evening with Mike Stutes throwing for Reading, while Matthew Way gets the nod for the BlueClaws.  The Reading series is best of five, while the Lakewood series is best of three.

Lakewood suffered a bit of a blow with Justin DeFratus being placed on the DL with the ever popular oblique injury. 

I am a little bit suprised that the Phils have not added another player or two to the roster of the big club as injuries and lack of bench production continue to be problematic for the Phils.  While the potential possibilities certainly are not game changers, adding Andy Tracy a power hitting left handed bat seems to make some sense.  With Greg Dobbs out another week to 10 days and Matt Stairs not having had a hit since the all star break, the addition of someone like Tracy who gives you a quality at bat seems to be a no brainer. Additionally, with the injuries in the ‘pen, the addition of Mathieson and/or Escalona seems to make some sense.  That still may happen when the Reading season concludes.  The addition of either Mathieson or Tracy would mean a corresponding 40 man roster move would be needed.

Both Kyle Kendrick and John Mayberry, Jr. have been called up by the Phillies and will be in Houston today when the Phils play the Astros.  The timing is somewhat odd, as Kendrick had been scheduled to start today in Lehigh Valley and was in Allentown yesterday.  With Shane Victorino being a bit banged up, Mayberry gives the Phils another outfield bat and has been swinging it relatively well for the ‘Pigs recently hitting .303 over his last 10 games. Kendrick has pitched extremely well lately, going 3-0 with a 2.14 ERA in his last 3 starts for Lehigh Valley.

Andy Tracy, originally part of the Lehigh Valley starting lineup on Sunday against Buffalo was a late scratch.  No reason was given why.  Tracy, who is in a race with Shelly Duncan of the Yankees organization for the International League lead in RBI’s (95), may be able to give the Phils a bit of punch as a lefty off the bench with Greg Dobbs still on the DL, and Matt Stairs hitless since the all star break.

A couple of quick talking points to get the day started:

–The struggles of Vance Worley continue in Reading during the second half of the season with another very rocky outing last night in the 12-6 Reading loss.  Worley went 5 innings and gave up 10 runs (5 earned) on 11 hits, including 3 homers.  Since the all star break, Worley is 1-6 with a 7.61 ERA in 9 starts. 

–Huge games for both Travis D’Arnaud and Jim Murphy who had 4 hits apiece in the 9-3 Lakewood victory last night.  After a slow start to the season, D’Arnaud had hit .304 with 5 HR 32 RBI and 7SB since the all-star break.  It will be interesting to see where the Phils decide to start him next year.

–Six shutout innings from Phils 12th round pick Nicholas Hernandez (8-1) who gave up just 2 hits and struck out 8 in the 4-1 Williamsport win last night.  Hernandez lowered his ERA to an impressive 2.70 in his 15 starts.

According to the Jeff Schuler of the Morning Call, Catcher Paul Hoover will be recalled Thursday by the Phillies to fill the role as third catcher for the month of September. Hoover, 33, has played more of a role in Lehigh Valley then originally expected with the trade of Lou Marson, and has been solid, hitting .253 with 1 HR and 28 RBI in 73 games this year. Hoover has thrown out 23% of runners trying to steal on him this year. As is typical in September, especially of the #3 catcher, expect extremely limited playing time (if at all for Hoover).

The Phils will need to make a corresponding 40 man roster move to make room for Hoover.

Update (from phuturephillies)–> Joel Naughton was designated for assignment. This seems like a risky move.

Update: Lehigh Valley relief pitcher Steven Register was also removed from the 40 man and designated for assigment today.  This move was necessary because of the activation of Antonio Bastardo from the 60 day DL.  Bastardo was assigned to Reading (AA).  Register will now have to clear waivers prior to returning to the Lehigh Valley bullpen.