I was able to track down some info on the two guys we signed. Thanks to e-mailer Dave V, who speaks Czech, I was able to find out that infielder Jakub Sládek is a pretty solid athlete, and won “sportsman of the year” as a junior, and also spent time playing for a German team called Regensburg. His Czech team has a rudimentary website, with a link for English translation here….make sure you click the little British flag at the top for English. I was able to find limited stats. In 16 plate appearances, his line was .727/.813/1.091. So it appears he’s the Czech Barry Bonds. But seriously, it appears he is a good athlete, and he’s spent time training with quality teams. He’s only 17 (or 18), so he probably will stay in Europe for another year and finish his schooling before coming to the GCL. Here is an article on Van Steensel, posted here by andyb. He seems to have pitched well in Australia, and the article mentions a mid 80’s fastball, with the Phillies thinking his velocity will spike up as he fills out. He’ll remain in Australia for 2008 and then come to the GCL in 2009.

Thanks again to those who e-mailed and posted info here.

I just wanted to address this, since it’s been mentioned a number of times in comments on various posts. When I post an excerpt of an article from BA, from Kevin Goldstein, from Keith Law, or from any other source, you need to remember 2 things before you even read the article. This is one person’s opinion, or in the case of BA, one site’s opinion. That’s it. It’s an opinion. You take time to learn about who is giving the opinion, and then you figure out how much importance it has to you. Keith Law has scouting experience, he goes and sees almost every player he writes about, and in most cases, he’s been seeing them play in person since they were in high school. He doesn’t have a “bias”, and he doesn’t “hate the Phillies”. These sites are not out to get the Phillies, they have no incentive to downgrade or upgrade Carlos Carrasco’s outlook. They are providing opinions. I like to think I follow the minors closely, but I don’t get to see Josh Outman pitch 30 times a season, and even if I did, I don’t have the extensive scouting background of some of these other guys, and I don’t have baselines for comparison to compare a guy like Josh Outman to a guy like Jake McGee. What I try to do here is post as much information as I can find, try to get as many opinions as I can, and then try and maybe find guys who might be ready to break out, based on their peripheral numbers. I have my gut feelings on certain guys, some of whom will be complete busts, and some of whom will break out. Every player who invests time into following the minors feels the same.

Continue reading Phillies on Top 100 lists →

Truckin’ along with the profile pages, I’ve added one for Matt Spencer. Just a reminder for those who aren’t familiar, if you use the left side of the page, you’ll find links to prospects in alphabetical order by last name. I’m slowly working on building a dedicated profile page for each player, including statistics, videos, scouting reports and more. If you see the small “profile” link under a player’s name, just click it and you’ll be taken right to his profile page. I’m slowly working on getting a page for every legit prospect. If you’d like to view all of the profiles completed, you can click the “Profile Pages” tag under the features category on the left, or by clicking this link.

Completed profiles so far

Dominic Brown
Adrian Cardenas
Drew Carpenter
Carlos Carrasco
Kyle Drabek
Josh Outman
Julian Sampson
Matt Spencer
Joe Savery

Remember, if you have anything to submit for these guys, whether it be a picture, video, a scouting report, an article, or anything else, please post it in the comments section for their individual page and I’ll make the necessary changes. Thanks.

I’ve gotten a few e-mails asking if we couldn’t have provided a better package for Santana than the Mets came up with. In short, no, but it’s not just the prospects. Santana has a no trade clause, and the only way he’ll waive his NTC is if the team trading for him gives him an extension, probably in the 6 years/$150M range. The Phillies, I don’t believe, would even consider paying any player that much, let alone a pitcher. Santana is the best pitcher in baseball, so obviously he’ll help the Mets, but I don’t think it’s panic time yet. Our 1-13 position players stack up and surpass those of the Mets, while they have a pitching advantage. That means it’s going to be a tight race for the East, and Atlanta should be decent, but is a clear third in terms of up and down talent on the 25 man roster. So, onto the prospects..

Continue reading Could we have gotten Santana? →

From the new organizational report at BA, courtesy of Jim Salisbury

Mathieson, who was picked in the 17th round of the 2002 draft and made eight starts in the majors in 2006, had ulnar nerve transposition surgery in September. The operation was a less serious follow-up to the Tommy John surgery that he had a year earlier.

Mathieson, who turns 24 on Feb. 27, will take part in the full pitching program in spring training but likely will open the season in the minors as he eases into competition. Though he has worked as a starter throughout his career, organization leaders have long believed his power arm could work well in relief. He pitched for Canada at the World Baseball Classic in 2006 and could be a sleeper to contribute out of the bullpen in 2008.

Drabek, a first-rounder in 2006 who was considered by some to have the best arm in that draft, was 5-1, 4.33 at low Class A Lakewood when he began having elbow trouble last May. He had Tommy John surgery in July, and according to farm director Steve Noworyta, “is coming along real well. He’s on schedule, if not a little ahead.”

Drabek is expected to spend most of the season rehabbing in Florida. The Phils would like to see him get on the mound for Rookie-level Gulf Coast League games in August, then be ready to go for instructional league following the 2008 season.

“Even though he’s losing a year, we think he’ll make up that time,” Noworyta said of the 20-year-old Drabek. “Sometimes guys don’t realize what they had until it’s taken away from them. His work ethic has been outstanding. We expect him to come back better than ever.”

Definitely good news on all fronts, though I still think Mathieson has starter potential, it’s a good idea to settle him into the majors as a reliever.

I’d like to add a few more player profiles this week. I can either start doing them in alphabetical order, or I can take requests. If you have a particular player you want to see done, let me know. You can find completed profiles by looking to the left side of the page under the player tags…guys with a profile have the small link under their name.

Bisenius is a guy I saw mentioned a bunch in a previous post asking which guys could contribute this year. As we all know, he had a terrible 2007 after a promising 2006. He had a few minor injuries, and his control abandoned him. He still has a hard fastball and slider, and if he can rebound, he could be a nice addition to the Phillies pen, instead of having to resort to re-treads like Antonio Alfonseca and Jose Mesa. Take a look at his key peripherals over the last 4 seasons

2004: 50.1 IP — 2.51 BB/9 — 6.83 K/9 — 0.90 HR/9
2005: 61.0 IP — 5.31 BB/9 — 8.26 K/9 — 0.74 HR/9 — 1.00 GB:FB
2006: 88.2 IP — 3.45 BB/9 — 10.25 K/9 — 0.61 HR/9 — 1.51 GB:FB
2007: 43.0 IP — 6.49 BB/9 — 7.95 K/9 — 1.05 HR/9 — 0.91 GB:FB

Was 2006 a fluke? When I did my Top 30, I looked at these numbers, and because of them I couldn’t justify including him in my list. The fact that he doesn’t get a good amount of ground balls is troubling. His HR rate has never been above average, even in 2006, and his best walk rate was almost 3.5 per 9, not mindblowing stuff from a reliever-exclusive pitching prospect. As I mentioned, he does have good fastball velocity, he does have a good hard slider, but does he have enough to be a valuable reliever? To me, he looks like a 6th inning guy, if he makes it. I’m hoping he does, because as I said, he’s much better than having to dig up old relievers past their sell by date, but I think I’m less optimistic now than I was at this time last year.

What do you think? Will he replicate or better his 2006? Will he struggle again?

Thanks to those who inquired about helping out with the site. I believe our team now includes

andyb; Andy will keep writing on the DSL/VSL prospects
bobev; Bob is our new Lakewood correspondent
clearwaterthreshersnews; Jeff returns as our Clearwater correspondent
bertmurr; Rob comes aboard as our Reading correspondent
gregg; Gregg remains on board and shifts his focus to the Iron Pigs
mikesbphuturephillies; Mike comes on as our dedicated transactions guru

Thanks again, and remember, be kind to our friendly volunteers.

I might still be looking for a Reading correspondant, still waiting to hear back on that one from an interested party, but I am also going to be searching for someone to help with transactions here. Basically, my plan is to create a transactions page at the top of the blog to go with the depth chart and 40 man roster page. Your only task will be to regularly check for transactions, whether it be promotions, releases, new signings, etc etc, and update the transaction log. You’ll be added to the blog as a contributor, but you won’t actually have to write a weekly report. If you would be interested in doing a transaction summary, whether it be once a week, or once a month, you can definitely write something up, but it won’t be required. So if you’re interested, send me an e-mail. Again, I would like this to be something you can keep up with daily, or almost daily, but it shouldn’t be that time consuming.

If you head to the top of the page and click the depth chart link, you’ll see all of the rankings. If you still strongly disagree with the placement on the list, you can leave a comment on the depth chart page and state your case, and maybe others will agree. I’m going to spend some time this week hopefully adding a few more player profiles and working on some other miscellaneous tasks for the site. Today’s question of the day; which Phillies prospect, if any, do you see making the 25 man roster out of spring training?