The Phils road trip ended with the Phils mired at .500 (52-52), in 5th place and 8 games out of first in the SOuthern division.  Still among the league leaders are Matt Maloney who is 8th in wins(9), 1st in innings (118.2), and 4th in strikeouts (108).  Chris Key is climbing up the leader board now with 13 saves ranking 7th.  In the hitting categories, Greg Jacobs is 2nd in hits (110), 5th in doubles (27), 3rd in homers (16), 2nd in RBI’s (65) and 6th in average (.316).  Mike Costanzo is 3rd in runs (67), 2nd in homers (18), 10th in RBI’s (55), and 2nd in strikeouts (123). Jason Hill continues to lead the league in doubles with 30. Jesus Merchan leads the league in batting average at .333 and Javon Moran is 3rd in steals with 24. Continue reading Reading Report →

Ok, here it is. We’ve debated this in other posts, let’s have the final debate here and not carry it into other discussions. I went back and looked at every draft from 1990 to 2004, 15 years worth of drafts, to evaluate who was the “best” and “worst” at drafting pitching over that period. I looked at only the first round (and supplemental first round), because that seemed to be the focus of Conlin’s claims. I didn’t include 2005-2007, because it’s still way too early to know which of those guys is going to pan out/get injured/recover from injury. I didn’t go past 1990 for the sake of time, but we can always re-visit that at some point. So, here are the guys, broken down by team, aligned by division. Note, expansion teams will have a few less entries because of fewer drafts.

Continue reading Track record for drafting pitching →

In his chat on ESPN.com today, he said this

Danny (Philly): Brandon Workman-Phillies or Texas?

Jim Callis: (2:51 PM ET ) The Phillies seem to be lying in the weeds on a number of players, so this could be a case where Workman is going to get over slot but they’re waiting to announce the deal.

You’d have to think the guys we’re “laying in the weeds on” would be Workman, Sampson and Moncrief. Hopefully 2 of the 3 get finished before the deadline.

In case you haven’t read Bill1Chair’s latest nugget of goodness, you can find it here. As Bill often tends to do, he exaggerates and sensationalizes things to try and sound like a voice of authority, when in reality, he really provides very few facts and even less context. Here is the money excerpt from his latest piece, where he basically says taking Kyle Drabek was a mistake;

Drabek became the latest first-round draft pick to join an ill-starred list of can’t-miss righthanders who became damaged goods early in their Phillies careers and never amounted to much.

The list includes Roy Thomas (1971, No. 6 pick overall), Brad Brink (1986, No. 7 overall), Tyler Green (1991, No. 10 overall) and, now, Drabek (2006, No. 18 overall.) It turned out Thomas and Brink were injured before their signings. Green had been shut down in both high school and college. I am tempted to add Brett Myers (1999, No. 12 overall) to the list, but this was the first arm injury of his career and the jury is still out on the long-term implications of history’s longest-running shoulder “strain.” Lefthander Cole Hamels (2002, No. 17 overall) had back issues in the minors, but does a rigorous daily program that has kept him healthy as a major leaguer.

Bill attempts to paint the Phillies as incompetent because we’ve drafted 3 (4 if you count Drabek) guys who had major arm trouble in the low minors, over a 35 year time period. That’s right….4 guys in 35 years, considering the position and the unstable nature of amateur talent, and Bill is convinced the Phillies do no leg work on their draft picks. He somehow tries to sneak Brett Myers into the conversation, even though Myers hasn’t been hurt at all up until this year. Also, if you notice, he’s including Drabek in the same sentence that concludes with “never amounted to much”…do you think he knows that the recovery rate from TJ is high? Wanna see an organization that can’t draft pitching? Check out Pittsburgh over the last 10 years. Jon Van Benschoten, Sean Burnett, Brad Lincoln and Bryan Bullington were all first round picks who would up with major arm problems requiring surgery, and all were picked within a 4-5 year span.

This type of irresponsible journalism isn’t new, especially from Conlin. Every once in a while he spins a good yarn about the incompetence of the Phillies ownership group, but many times, like this instance, he’s way off base. I’d recommend sending him an e-mail, his address is right at the bottom of the article above. Just a warning, you may get a snappy return that does or does not mention his timeshare in the Dominican Republic.

Considering all things, who is the better prospect; Quintin Berry or Greg Golson? State your case below.

Yep. Honestly, I’d actually prefer he just have the surgery now, fix what’s wrong, and then come back stronger and not have to worry about it anymore. Rehabbing does not seem to work, the majority of the time, so have the surgery and just be done with it. Recovery rate is very high, nothing to panic over, probably just better that it happened now rather than later.

The Lynx were supposed to, after limping into the All-Star break, have caught their collective breath, looked in the mirror, dug their heels in, and start afresh and with renewed vigour and determination. Instead, week fifteen saw them lose four in a row and five of seven. It would seem that Ottawa will be lucky to escape last place, never mind making a run at the playoffs. Every phase of the game was bad, even the defence this time, and it left the team frustrated, silent and feeling hopeless despite the positive spin which was being put on the situation by players and management alike and finally a good start by J.A. Happ to end the week.

Continue reading Ottawa Lynx Week Fifteen →

Tip of the cap to reader SQUIRE for pointing out that the Phillies inked Dominican shortstop Carlos Valenzuela, paying him a reported bonus of $200,000. I’ve got a few e-mails out, I’ll see what kind of info I can find on him.

I’ve got that he’s a plus fielder, plus arm strength and accuracy, plus range and some projection in his bat that could see him develop average power. His bat is also more advanced than Galvis, for what that’s worth.

My picks for biggest step forward and biggest step back are Jason Donald and James Happ, with honorable mentions going to Quintin Berry and Greg Golson and dishonorable mention going to Zach Segovia. The suggestions thrown out in yesterday’s discussion were good, but I can’t see listing Cardenas and Carrasco on the step forward side, mainly because they were elite prospects and expected to perform. On the flip side, I can’t mention CJ Henry on the step back side, because I don’t think anyone really expected anything great out of him. Berry and Golson have both taken nice steps forward, but I want to see more patience from Golson and a bit more pop in Berry’s bat before I get too excited. Here’s why I chose the guys I did…

Continue reading Jason Donald and James Happ →

Reading continues its climb up the Southern division standings, now with a record of 50-47, in third place, just 5.5 games out of first, within striking distance.   By way of league leaders, Matt Maloney is 2nd in Innings (110), 5th in homers allowed (12) and 4th in strikouts (98).  Chris Key is 7th in saves (12). Greg Jacobs is 10th in runs (54), 3rd in hits (102), 3rd in doubles (26), 3rd in homers (16), and 2nd in RBI’s (64). Mike Costanzo is 2nd in homers (17), 4th in runs (64), and 2nd in strikouts (114).  Jason Hill leads the league with 29 doubles.  Javon Moran is 3rd in stolen bases (23), and Jesus Merchan continues to lead the league in hitting at .345. 

Continue reading Reading Report →