Similar to the pitching prospect post from a few days ago. This time, exclude Adrian Cardenas from your list. Give your top 3 and why you think they are in the position they are. I’ll give my top 3 pitchers and hitters tomorrow at some point.

Also a note. I really enjoy the discourse back and forth in the comments section. I think we’ve had something like 1600 comments since the blog started, which is awesome, in my opinion. However, try to remember that you can’t edit your comment after you’ve submitted it, so think before you write, and try to remain civil, that’s all I ask.

Reading, continues their inconistent season mired in 4th place in the Southern division 10.5 games out of first with a record of 42-43. Greg Jacobs is putting MVP numbers up with 44 runs(10th in league), 86 hits (4th), 21 doubles (8th), 13 homers (4th), 52 RBI’s (3rd), and a .316 batting average(9th).  Jesus Merchan continues to lead the league with a .357 batting average. Mike Costanzo is 6th in the league in runs(53), first in homers(15), and 2nd in strikouts(103).  Jason Hill is 2nd in the league with 24 doubles, and Javon Moran 4th in stolen bases with 18. Matt Maloney continues his solid season leading the league in innings (100.1), 6th in wins (7), and 4th in strikeouts (88). Continue reading Reading Report →

Happy Holidays folks. Just two quick notes. Matt Spencer has finally signed, and it appears Joe Savery is very close to signing. Good news all around. Now, we need to get Julian Sampson and Brandon Workman signed and we can call it a draft.

Thanks to a loyal reader of this here blog, I’ve been fortunate enough to have been put in contact with D’Arby and just spoke to him for a few minutes. My cell phone reception is awful in my new apartment, but I’ll be getting in touch with him again soon to do a Q/A for the blog. He mentioned that he’s enjoying hitting leadoff, getting to see lots of pitches and work counts in his favor, and that the whole pro experience has been great so far. So, if you have a question you’d like me to include in the Q/A for D’Arby, send me an e-mail and put “QUESTION FOR D’ARBY” in the title of the e-mail, and I’ll try to touch on as many points as I can. He really seems to have his head on straight when it comes to playing the game, and he’s loving every minute of it. Couple that attitude with his baseball tools, and I think he’s going to turn into a pretty special player.

As of this writing, he’s hitting .362/.413/.431 with 14 runs scored.

After Carlos Carrasco, who do you feel are our top 3 pitching prospects? Exclude Kendrick from your list, because barring an injury, he’ll lose his rookie eligibility this year. You can include Happ, because I’m less certain he’ll lose his status. Give your answer in the comments, you can leave it as anonymous if you want, and feel free to give your thoughts on why you chose who you did. I’ll give my answer on Thursday.

The latest minor leaguer to get the tap and head into the firestorm is Anderson Garcia, who will replace JA Happ on the 25 man roster. Garcia, acquired on waivers from Baltimore, via the Mets, will be making his Phillies debut sometime soon, and likely will be thrown into the fire that is the Phillies 2007 season. Garcia has had a nice run this year at Reading and Ottawa, and is striking out lots of guys. If he can limit the walks, he might be useful.

Geoff Geary has also been optioned to Ottawa. Let this be a reminder as to how important strikeouts are, especially to relievers. Geary does not have a putaway pitch. When balls are hit at someone, or he gets good defense behind him, he’s capable of being a useful reliever, as was evident last year. However, when those line drives fall in, and you’re still not striking anyone out, you get the 2007 version of Geoff Geary. As “unimportant” as strikeouts are for batters, they are vitally important for pitchers, especially relievers.

The Phillies are running out of minor leaguers to baptize by fire. Matt Maloney has to be next, and I’m sure they are toying with the idea of rushing Carrasco up. I pray to all things holy that it doesn’t happen, and Gillick doesn’t do something stupid, like trade the farm for a Jeff Weaver type. Ok, I removed my finger from the panic button…back to your regularly scheduled programming.

It’s a pretty gloomy Friday morning here, but morale is high after the Phillies top drawer win last night. I’ve kind of been slacking a bit here, but others have helped pick up the slack, and once things slow down at work, I’ll have more time to write. I’m planning a few player profiles and some other things as well, so that should be interesting. If you have any suggestions, please let me know and I’ll see what I can do. In fact, I’ll do a little mailbag type deal if you’d want to. Send me questions to the e-mail addy provided on the right, and put “Mailbag” in the title. I’ll answer as many as I can over the weekend and post them Monday. Now, on to the business…

Continue reading Friday morning thoughts →

We are twelve weeks into the 2007 season and the Ottawa Lynx, despite some promising signs last week, continued their slide deeper into last place in the Northern Division with another losing road trip. Ottawa are dangerously close to the point of no return. This team, who won the IL Northern Division title last season, can’t get a foot forward and put together a long winning streak which might, and I say might, get them back in contention for a playoff spot. This is the month to make up ground and by slipping further behind, the month of July might become critical for the Lynx. Instead of fighting for a playoff spot, Ottawa are struggling to merely hang on.

Continue reading Ottawa Lynx Report Week Twelve →

Slow day at work today.  Google can be a wonderful thing.  The Phillies media guide is apparently available for free on the MLB web site.  Check out the link on this page for minor league players.  Media Guide Link.  The interesting prospect info is on the part 2 link.  There are bios of all Phillies minor leaguers, including the Latin American signings.  Most interesting thing learned?  The Phillies are now active scouting in Mexico.  Sebastien Valle, the Phillies 17-year-old catcher in the DSL this year was signed out of Mexico last October, several months after his 16th birthday.

Pitching is the most sought after commodity in baseball and every team has learned that you can never have enough of it. Good pitching is hard to come by, especially in this day of small parks, tightly wound baseballs, more frequent arm injuries and hitters swinging for the fences. The recent first year player draft was certainly proof of that with young, strong arms being drafted often and in the first rounds. As arm injuries seem to be more and more frequent, pitch counts have grown to be considered paramount in trying to prevent arm, injury and shoulder mishaps. There is also the obvious learning curve for young pitchers moving up through the minor leagues and the progressively tougher competition.

Continue reading Triple A-Last Stop Before The Show? (Part Two) The Pitchers →