The Phils announced this evening that they traded OF John Mayberry Jr to Toronto for High A 3B Gustavo Pierre.  Pierre, 22, is a DOminican native and played for Toronto’s affiliate in Dunedin this season, hitting .263/.285/.390, with 7HR 40 RBI and 8SB.  Most problematic is the 3% walk rate to go along with the 26% k rate.    Pierre has played 104 games at 3B this year and committed 24 errors (.909).  Just last week, Pierre was called up to Toronto’s AA affiliate in New Hampshire to finish out the season and Pierre is likely to start 2015 as Reading’s 3B.

Credit where it is due to Amaro.  Mayberry had no future in Philadelphia and while likely neither does Gustavo Pierre, there should be an appreciation for the fact that Amaro acquired something of value, albeit likely minimal for something that has zero current or future value for the Phils.

When looking at who is likely to progress, the contract status of those on the current 25 man and 40 man roster is critical to evaluating potential next steps, so here it goes:

Catcher: Carlos Ruiz will be back and is scheduled to make $8.5M next season.  Wil Nieves has done a real nice job as a back up and is scheduled to become a free agent at the end of this season. He made $1.125M this year and should probably be in line to get between $1.5–2M next year.  The Phils would be wise to bring him back based on the large question marks surrounding both Tommy Joseph and Cameron Rupp right now.  Going into next season, Joseph will have two options remaining and Rupp will have one option left.

Corner Infield: Ryan Howard’s $25M salary is well documented and as much as I would like to see him move on, I expect him back at 1B, collecting in excess of 450 AB’s next year.  Cody Asche will have a salary right around the major league minimum of $510K and all three options remaining next year.  It will be interesting to see how things play out with Maikel Franco a certainty to be added to the 40 man roster and will be knocking at Asche’s doorstep.  Darin Ruf will go into next season slated to make just above the major league minimum if he sticks and has one option remaining.  Continue reading 2015 Phillies Roster Make Up →

The Phillies announced today that they acquired 19 year old Victor Arano from the Dodgers to complete the Roberto Hernandez deal.  Arano was signed by the Dodgers in 2012 out of the Dominican Republic and has shown promise this year going 4-7 with a 4.08 ERA and 1.25 WHIP in 22 games (15 starts) for Great Lakes, the Dodgers Single A affiliate.  What sticks out even more, with the number of minor leaguers the Phillies have that struggle to throw strikes is a very impressive 2.1/8.7 BB/K ratio for Arano. At least on paper, the Phillies have something to work with here.  I wouldn’t expect him to land with an affiliated team in the organization this weekend, but do expect to see him in Clearwater for the Florida Instructional League.

A final Hot or Not, spanning the last 11 days from August 14th thru present….Two words, Maikel Franco…Wondering if the acquisition of Jesmuel Valentin had a short term effect on Andrew Pullin’s production?Can we implement the additional position of “short fielder” for Willians Astudillo….?Outstanding numbers for Art Charles this week, including a game where he walked five times….Mitch Guellar has regressed to pedestrian numbers once again…Expect to see Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez in Philly this time next week…Very disappointing season for Jan Hernandez.

Hot Hitters: Willians Astudillo (.625, 15-24); Andrew Knapp (.526); Tyler Henson (.421); Chris Serritella (.364, 6R 2HR 9RBI); Maikel Franco (.364, 8HR 4HR 8RBI); Jake Fox (.351, 6R 3HR 7RBI); Carlos Tocci (.333); Aaron Brown (.333); Peter Lavin (.324); Art Charles (.323, 12R 4HR 8RBI); Honorable Mention: Crawford, Quinn, Green Continue reading Hot or Not →

For those of you who don’t follow the comments at all, you can probably ignore this, but it’s been brought to my attention that someone’s been using one of the regular commenter’s handle to make up posts under the other name. So you all know, I’ve identified the guy via the site’s administration pages, and he’s posted in the comments under his own name before, though he’s not what I would call a regular. He used Romus’ name today to comment. While what he said wasn’t necessarily offensive or anything of the like, it’s just in poor taste and shows a lack of respect for the site and for Romus himself.

So, listen up, “guy”. I am being far too nice to right now in not identifying by name. If this happens again, we’ll get your IP blocked from commenting on the site, and just for fun, I’ll comment under your name and say all kinds of dumb things that make everyone here think you don’t know what the heck you’re talking about/are too dumb to be taken seriously/are a terrible person otherwise. And if you gripe about it, we’ll all know that you were the one who started it all.

So drop it, and we’re cool. Or keep it up and see how creative I can get in trying to shame you when you treat part of our community poorly.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

The final conclusion is that put simply, Lehigh Valley is not a good team.   They have little to no timely hitting and their starting pitching has been simply abysmal which has led them to where they are which is at the bottom of the Northern Division of the International League.  Entering the seasons final week plus, the ‘Pigs are 59-73 and in last place, 17 games back.  Lehigh Valley finishes their four game series with Pawtucket tonight, trying to salvage a win before returning home for a 9 game home stand before closing out the season with two on the road against Scranton.

‘Pigs Prospects: Maikel Franco has hit in 3 of his last four games, including a walk off HR last Sunday.  Prior to that, Franco had been in a 3-30 funk, during which he saw his average drop from a season high .251.  Over the last 33 games, Franco is hitting .285 with 6HR and 22RBI.  He is the ‘Pigs leader in HR(12) RBI(64) and 2B(29). Continue reading Lehigh Valley Report →

The Phils announced this evening that they have added 20 year old Jesmuel Valentin as the first of the two “players to be named later” in the Roberto Hernandez deal.  Valentin had been the Dodgers 1st round pick (51 overall) in the 2012 draft and is a Puerto Rico native.  He is currently ranked anywhere between #12 and #18 among Dodgers prospects.

In 2014, Valentin is hitting .282/.352/.433 for Class A Great Lakes, with 7HR 47RBI and 24 SB, to go along with a .976 fielding percentage in 104 games at 2B.  Valentin, the son of former major leaguer Jose Valentin, is likely to report to High A Clearwater, unless the Phils decide to bump up Andrew Pullin (a worthy candidate for promotion) for the final two weeks of the season.  Originally a shortstop, Valentin is considered a plus defender who has swung a good bat this year and shown a good deal of speed.

Second to last edition of Hot or Not for 2015, with a look back at August 5th-15.  I would like to see Kelly Dugan spend the last two weeks in Lehigh Valley…Freddy Galvis, 5 tool player?…Getting excited about Andrew Pullin who has been very consistent since early May…Cameron Perkins has fallen below the Mendoza line, approaching 200 AAA AB’s…Adam Loewen has shown me enough to scare me if the Phils dont give him some sort of opportunity.  He could end up in another organization and have success…I expected to see Dan Child in Reading at some point this year.  Instead, he was just demoted back to the GCL. 

Hot Hitters: (Min 18 AB’s)  Kelly Dugan (.441, 5R 6RBI); Willians Astudillo (.423); Malquin Canelo (.412); Tim Zier (.395, 7R 9RBI); Freddy Galvis (.366, 10R 3HR 8RBI); Carlos Duran (.361, 6R 4SB); Andrew Pullin (.353); Zach Collier (.348, 7R 4HR 6RBI);  Russ Canzler (.342, 6R 2HR 8RBI); Rhys Hoskins (.333, 8R 2HR 6RBI); Brian Pointer (.333); Anthony Phillips (.333).

Not Hot Hitters: Gabrial Lino (.107); Leandro Castro (.114); Cameron Perkins (.121); Carlos Alonso (.120); Emmanuel Marrero (.125); Deivi Gruillon (.125);  Derek Campbell (.138); Angelo Mora (.138); Chris Serritella (.143); Art Charles (.156); Dylan Cozens (.161) Continue reading Hot or Not →

Two weeks until the day that those on the 40 man roster (and a few others) have been waiting for, as the Phillies will be adding players to their roster come September 1.  With the Phils out of contention, the goal of the call ups is different this year.  Unlike most years where the September call ups add a few bats to the bench that will be used late in games or pitchers who will be called upon to eat up innings in blowouts, this September has the potential to be a try out camp of sorts for several.  Taking a look by positional area:

Catcher: Cameron Rupp is likely to be added as a third catcher come September.  He is already on the 40 and every team calls up a third catcher.  He has been awful offensively this year and taken a major step backwards on the prospect chart, but being surrounded by Chooch, et al, can only help him.

Corner Infield: I would be surprised if Maikel Franco were not called up and seeing considerable playing time in September.  Simply no reason not to.

Middle Infield: Expect to see both Cesar Hernandez and Freddy Galvis back in Philly in what will be a very crowded middle infield in September.  Both Galvis and Hernandez are out op options after this year and the Phils will have to keep them on the roster all year next year or risk losing them in waivers, a likely scenario if they try to sneak them through.

Outfield:  I see a slight chance of either Tony Gwynn Jr or Leandro Castro getting a call up, but both would need to be added to the 40 man roster. 

Starting Pitchers: None

Relievers:  This could really be a cast of characters getting added in the mix.  Assuming Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez’s arm hasnt fallen off by September 1st, I would like to see him go up.  For $4M a year, I hate to see him spending too much more time anchoring the Lehigh Valley bullpen next year.  Luis Garcia certainly deserves to go up based on his lights out performance for Lehigh Valley this year , and should be given perhaps a last shot to see if it translates to the bigs. Phillippe Aumont, Hector Neris, Ethan Martin and BJ Rosenberg are all only the 40 man roster as well and potentially could be called up.  I am perfectly satisfied that I have seen more than enough of Aumont in a Phillies uniform for one lifetime.  Martin continues to have the most upside and has pitched well as of late, so if I were to choose one of the three it would be Ethan Martin with Neris, and Rosenberg in back of him.  It is noteworthy that if my records are correct, both Aumont and Rosenberg will be out of options coming into 2015.

Discuss.

Been awhile since the last update so, here it goes….Following a 10 game losing streak, Lehigh Valley has won 9 of their last 13, albeit with a 6-1 trouncing last night,and currently sit at 58-66, and in last place of the Northern Division of the International League, 12 games behind division leading Syracuse.  The ‘Pigs play two more in Columbus before returning home on Friday for a four game series against Buffalo.

‘Pigs League Leaders, Hitting (thru 8/11/14)Maikel Franco is 6th in AB’s (439) and 10th in RBI’s (59); Russ Canzler is 10th in doubles (28) and 7th in slg % (.489); Tyler Henson is 5th in strikeouts (111)

Pitching: Sean O’Sullivan is 9th in losses (9) and 5th in HR allowed (15); Greg Smith is 10th in losses (9), 6th in IP (134.1) and 7th in starts (23); Brad Lincoln has the 8th worst ERA (4.69); Luis Garcia is 3rd in saves (19); Brad Lincoln is 9th in walks allowed (46) Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →