The Phillies submitted transactions that will prepare them for the upcoming minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft.  Players on the Phillies 40-man roster, players on the Lehigh Valley roster, and players who haven’t reached Rule 5 eligibility are exempt.

Teams are permitted to place 38 players on their active/reserve lists for their AAA affiliate.  These transactions probably won’t show up in the affiliate’s transaction log nor the roster on their home page.  Thirty-two transactions occurred on November 20th. Continue reading Minor League Discussion: Week of December 3, 2018 →

Tuesday was the deadline for roster expansion to 40 players prior to the Rule 5 Draft.  The Phillies selected the contracts of 3 players to add to their 40-man roster – Edgar Garcia, Adonis Medina, and Arquimedes Gamboa.  Their 40-man stands at 38 players.  The rumored release of Justin Bour has not found its way to the transaction logs and he is still on their roster. Continue reading Minor League Discussion: Week of November 26, 2018 →

The Hot Stove Season continues.  The MLBPA Executive Board Meets in Dallas this week. Of more importance to baseball fans, 8:00 PM Friday is the deadline for teams to tender contracts to unsigned players on their 40-man rosters, including arbitration-eligible players.  Non-tendered players become free agents.  Tendered players who are arbitration eligible who do not accept the tender proceed to the arbitration process in February. Continue reading Open Discussion: Week of November 26, 2018 →

Tuesday is the deadline for roster expansion to 40 players prior to the Rule 5 Draft.  The Phillies 40-man roster stands at 34 players.  This deadline can effect up to 6 minor league players exposed to the Rule 5 Draft.  Adonis Medina is probably the only lock.  Other pitchers who may have worked their way into the conversation are Luke Leftwich, Tyler Viza, Seth McGarry, Edgar Garcia, Tom Eshelman, and maybe Alejandro Requena.  Among position players, maybe catchers Austin Bossart, Edgar Cabral, and Deivi Grullon will get consideration.  I don’t think Arquimedes Gamboa is likely to need protection.  A dark horse could be Jose Pujols. Continue reading Minor League Discussion: Week of November 19, 2018 →

The Hot Stove Season continues.  Tuesday is the deadline for organizations to expand and submit their 40-man rosters prior to the Rule 5 Draft.

This does not mean that a 40-man roster can’t change before the Rule 5 Draft.  Free agent signings and some types of player trades will require that players be added to a team’s 40-man roster.  So, in some cases where there isn’t an empty spot on a 40-man roster, a player might find himself designated for assignment. Continue reading Open Discussion: Week of November 19, 2018 →

It looks like some roster movement may have occurred.  These transactions haven’t been announced, so they aren’t official.  Yet.  And, we can be assured that there will be more. But, it looks like the following assignments have/will occur among the full season teams –

• Deivi Grullon, Adam Haseley, and Jan Hernandez to Lehigh Valley;
• Trevor Bettencourt, Ismael Cabrera, J.D. Hammer, Mauricio Llovera, Adonis Medina, Sixto Sanchez, Edgar Cabral, Henri Lartigue, Arquimedes Gamboa, Harold Garcia, Raul Rivas, Luke Williams, Grenny Cumana, and Mickey Moniak to Reading;
•  Rodolfo Duran, Nick Maton, and Jake Scheiner to Clearwater; and
• Colton Eastman, Tyler Fallwell, Abrahan Gutierrez, Rafael Marchan, Alec Bohm, Luis Garcia, Stoney O’Brien, and Malvin Matos to Lakewood.

Continue reading Minor League Discussion: Week of November 12, 2018 →

The Hot Stove Season continues.  The player’s deadline to accept or reject their team’s qualifying offers is Monday.  Any who haven’t yet acted have until 5:00 PM EST.

The GM meetings were held last week in Carlsbad, CA.  The biggest early news was a Bob Nightengale article in USA Today that suggested (okay, he was adamant) that the Phillies would announce the signing of Bryce Harper during the baseball meeting in Las Vegas next month.  And then, a half-dozen other sports writers wrote articles stating that a half-dozen other ball clubs were in on Harper.  In any event, the Phillies were able to get meetings with whomever they wanted, and also spoke with everyone who asked to meet with them.

I think the only thing we can be sure of is that the Phillies will be active.

The owners’ meetings are this week in Atlanta, GA.  I don’t expect any trade talk, but I’m sure that they will be talking about things like the DH and pace of play.  Expect the commissioner to receive an extension.

This is the Phuture Phillies Open Discussion for Phillies and other baseball topics. Continue reading Open Discussion: Week of November 12, 2018 →

The Hot Stove Season officially began Friday at 5:00 PM when the deadline for teams to  extend qualifying passed.  All free agents are now free to bargain with all teams interested in them.  “Let the fun begin!”

This is the Phuture Phillies Open Discussion for Phillies and other baseball topics. Continue reading Open Discussion: Week of November 5, 2018 →

Congratulations to the Red Sox!  Now we can start the hot stove league.  With the end of the world series, a whole bunch of major leaguers can declare free agency.  On Monday morning at 9:00 AM any player with 6 or more years of Major League service who has not executed a contract for next season shall become a free agent.

A five day “quiet period” begins, prohibiting teams other than the player’s former team from negotiating.  The Phillies have four such free agents – Wilson Ramos, Asdrubel Cabrera, Aaron Loup, and Jose Bautista.

By the end of the week, 21 minor leaguers can become free agents – Dean Anna, Harold Arauz, Pedro Beato, Malquin Canelo, Ranfi Casimiro, Collin Cowgill, Ryan Goins, Zach Green, Gabriel Lino, Kevin Martir, Matt McBride, Heiker Meneses, Joey Meneses, Will Middlebrooks, Logan Moore, Danny Ortiz, Trevor Plouffe (who has already declared free agency), Nick Rickles, Alberto Tirado, Jiandido Tromp, and Jesmuel Valentin.

The Phillies completed their search for Joe Jordan’s replacement when they hired Josh Bonifay as their Director of Player Development.  I’ll have to begin camping out at the Complex to meet him.  I expect he’ll be down during one of the off-season clinics they hold during the off-season.

This is the Phuture Phillies Open Discussion for Phillies and other baseball topics. Continue reading Open Discussion: Week of October 29, 2018 →

This is the Phuture Phillies Open Discussion for Phillies and other baseball topics. Continue reading Open Discussion: Week of October 22, 2018 →