Category Archives: 01. Site Features

Who’s Going Up

Other Stuff

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.

General Discussion – Week of 8-14-14 – Aaron Brown Promotion Edition

Weekly Discussion

Per a couple different sources on Twitter, notably Steven Falk (@smfalk) who detailed them all, WIL’s Aaron Brown has been promoted to Lakewood, along with Jesen Therrien and Nick Rodesky (from GCL). Dan Child has been sent from LKW to GCL, reliever Aaron Baker was sent from LKW to CLR, and Sam Hiciano was put on the DL.

The big club is off today. Sounds like Ruben Amaro did the Ice Bucket Thing for ALS but it’s only on Facebook. Not enough reason to get me to sign into my Facebook. Someone let me know if he falls on the ice. That would do it.

Discuss

Box Score Recap – 8/13/2014

Box Score Recap

Maikel Franco was 2-5 with his 11th home run – he’s cooled off a little bit in July, OPSing just .723 even aided by the spike from last night. If he finishes in that neighborhood for the month, he’ll likely not quite make it to .700 for the year, but after the two horrific months he had earlier, even an average August after that monster of a July would be a good sign in my book. Aaron Nola put up easily his worst start since his debut – 3R on 6 H 3HR 1BB 2K in 4IP. Kelly Dugan was 4-8 with a triple and Aaron Altherr was 3-6 with a home run (13) plus a walk and his tenth steal. Altherr’s got four homers in his last six games, and Dugan’s OPSing 1.038 in August. Dugan especially should be an Arizona Fall League candidate. Colt Murray got roughed up in his inning – he gave up two inherited runs and four of his own – they were his first earned runs since July 4, so credit where it’s due, that was a heck of a streak – around 17 IP.

Roman Quinn hit his fifth home run of the year, and Brian Pointer was 2-5. JPC did not play. Hopefully he’s back in action tonight, as Jim Peyton doesn’t indicate it was more than a night off in his game report, (which includes GCL notes as well – so don’t miss it). For Lakewood, Pullin, Astudillo (back in left field again) and Walding all had multi-hit games. Walding hit his sixth home run. Cozens and Knapp were also both on base twice with a single and a walk a piece. Jia Tromp had three hits as WIL was swept in their double header. Austin Davis allowed three hits and struck out three in 2.1 scoreless IP for GCL. He’s got 22:6 K:BB in 23.1 IP. Pretty good. Would be better if he were doing it against reasonable competition for a college junior, but I’m not going to complain too much about nice numbers. We’ll see where they place him in the spring. LKW would be the easy guess, but CLR would not be out of the question if he performs well in camp.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/13/2014 →

GCL, FSL, and Biddle; August 13, 2014

Game Reports, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I attended my first GCL game in several weeks today.  Denton Keys pitched a solid 5 innings against the GCL Pirates.  He scattered 5 hits, 2 walks, and a hit batter allowing 2 runs, only one of them earned.  The defense was a little shaky all day.  The 3 errors charged were a little generous.  A couple more could have been charged.

Austin Davis and undrafted free agent Kyle Bogese combined to pitch the final 4 innings.  Davis allowed 3 hits in 2.1 innings but was aided by a pick off and a caught stealing.  Bogese got the win with 1.2 innings of no-hit ball.  Each reliever recorded 3 strikes out.  The Phillies won 3-2. Continue reading GCL, FSL, and Biddle; August 13, 2014 →

Around the System–Relief Pitchers, LV, Reading and Clearwater

Around the System

Lehigh Valley

Phillippe Aumont, 25, Acquired from Seattle in 2009; 31 games, 2-1 with a 3.47 ERA; 49.1IP 42H 33BB 58K; 1.52 WHIP; 1.41 GO/AO; .236 opp avg; 6.0BB/10.6K per 9; .210 vs. LHH, .258 vs. RHH. Aumont has pitched fairly well for Lehigh Valley, albeit with the continued high walk rate.  He has failed miserably in his multiple opportunities with the Phillies this year and last, leaving his future in the organization a real question mark.

Luis Garcia, 27, Signed as a free agent in 2013; 33 games, 2-0 with an 0.71ERA; 19 saves; 38IP 27H 12BB 37K; 1.03 WHIP; 1.70 GO/AO; .199 opp avg; 2.8BB/8.9K per 9; .203 vs. LHH, .194 vs. RHH, .125 opp avg over last 30 days.  The  minor league line simply cant get better.  Garcia has been consistently dominant at the minor league level and has not been able to translate to major league success in multiple chances. Continue reading Around the System–Relief Pitchers, LV, Reading and Clearwater →

Box Score Recap – 8/12/2014

Box Score Recap

Freddy Galvis went deep for Lehigh Valley. He’s stroking it right now, with three homers and five doubles and an OPS of 1.102 over the last ten days. Wish they had regular playing time for him in the bigs right now. Willians Astudillo played both games of Lakewood’s double header in left field, while Larry Greene didn’t see the field at all. He hasn’t played since Saturday. Haven’t heard about him nursing an injury, but perhaps he is.

Reading was rained out, which means Aaron Nola’s start was delayed until tonight, which means I’ll get a look at him next week in Bowie. Solid. Too bad it likely won’t be against anyone good, unless the O’s decide to jump Dylan Bundy up to AA for his next start and it happens to line up. That could happen. Bundy’s in line to start tonight for Frederick, (he was supposed to go last night but they also had rain), and he was good last time, so if they’re happy with his progress and want to see him at AA next, we may get a real interesting match-up in Bowie. I’ll cross my fingers.

On another note, MiLB player pages have been updated, and while they look great and modern, they have gotten rid of the unique to MiLB.com full “Last Ten” stat pack, truncating it to exclude doubles and triples, CS, OBP, SLG and OPS. Anyone who agrees with me that this is dumb should send an email to, I guess, webmaster@milb.com. I suggested they add Last Ten as a function of the Game Log menu and told them they’re going to lose traffic from people who can get the same statistical info and more at places like FanGraphs or MLBFarm.com (which FYI – does have a game log and a Last Ten Days (not games) subtotal, which includes BABIP and a couple other useful things, and spray charts and stuff, but the page is very plain looking and less user friendly).

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/12/2014 →

Lehigh Valley Weekly Report

Other Stuff

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 →

Box Score Recap – 8/11/2014

Box Score Recap

Jesse Biddle was back on the hill for CLR – he walked five in five innings, though he allowed just three hits and one run and struck out four. Not nearly as hopeful as last time with those five walks. We’ll see what they do with him now. REA has a DH Saturday, so if they wanted to, they could push him into that spot and hopefully save the bullpen some innings. Looks like a good chance of rain tonight in Harrisburg , so they very well might need the extra bullets Saturday. Whether they rush Biddle for that…doubt it. But if they like what they saw last night, then why not? We shall see. Also, if it rains out tonight in Harrisburg, I will be quite happy. Looks like my only chance to see Nola in DC next week. I know you’re all very concerned with my plight.

Nice job from the LV bullpen – Manship, Martin and Garcia threw a shutout, striking out nine. Wonder if they’re going to stretch out Manship. Kinda seems like a necessity, even with O’Sullivan coming back. Maybe they’ll rob AA of Adam Loewen instead. After a good outing turned bad in his last inning last time out, Brandon Leibrandt dominated Lowell on Monday night, striking out ten, allowing just two hits, one of them a home run, two walks and one earned run in seven innings. His second straight double-digit K performance. You’d have to think there’s a spot for him in CLR next spring if he earns it. Whether they’d move him up to LKW for a couple weeks right now remains to be seen. I kinda doubt it, but just kinda.

GCL has been on a tear lately, winning nine straight and now sitting a half game out of first place in the division behind Yankees1. Only the division winner makes the playoffs. Jose Pujols, Gus Martinez and Luis Encarnacion had three hits a piece from the bottom half of the lineup. And for those of you following him, Julsan Kamara hasn’t played in the last ten days in the DSL, but he is not currently on the DL. The rosters in DSL have a large limit of 35, so stashing someone who’s hurt up is not necessarily an issue if there’s no one worth putting in his spot. Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/11/2014 →

General Discussion – Week of 8-11-14 – West Coast Swing

Weekly Discussion

At home today for the wrap-around with the Mets at 1:05, then two late-nighters at Anaheim starting tomorrow, an off day, then three at San Francisco. At least both weekend games are 4:15 EST. Back home next Monday with Seattle in town. No King Felix, but Hisashi Iwakuma looks like he’s lined up for Monday the 18th, if you’re inclined to head out for a good visiting pitcher. He’s having a really fine year.

Discuss.

Box Score Recap – 8/10/2014

Box Score Recap

Aaron Altherr went deep (12), his third in four games. I hear he’s using a piano leg as a bat. Kyle Simon would like you to take Paul Anka’s advice and “Just Don’t Look” at his line.

Tyler Viza struck out seven en route to his fifteenth loss of the year. Seven is the important number, there. Nice. Andrew Pullin 3-3 with three doubles, and Dylan Cozens had two hits including a two-bagger. He’s got 42 XBH in around 480 PAs. Not bad.

Mitch Gueller has some seriously bad road splits, but he’s getting it done at home. Not sure the remedy for that. Cord Sandberg has hit in nine straight, (h/t Phillies Insider), Jia Tromp was 2-4 plus a walk, and Rhys Hoskins is really turning it on this month, OPSing 1.167 in nine August contests.

Lots of great info in Jay Floyd’s (@phoulballz) latest interview with Joe Jordan – click through to read it. Jordan talks Morgan/Watson, JP and Quinn, upper level outfielders, Viza and Rios, many more, plus Jay gets a couple Lakewood names confirmed for instructs from Greg Legg. And one more – BPro’s Ten Pack has scouting on Jan Hernandez, and at least his part of the article is not behind their paywall, so go check it out.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/10/2014 →