I mentioned it in the other thread, but here’s a good place to discuss the call-ups and other big league items. Enjoy!

The rosters for this year’s Arizona Fall League were supposed to be announced at 2PM EST today, but they very uncoolly made us wait until nearly 2:30. The Phillies are sending Aaron Altherr, Cameron Rupp and Kelly Dugan as position players, plus pitchers Kyle Simon, Mike Nesseth, Austin Wright and Ken Giles, (per Ryan Lawrence – update – Lawrence has a roster that shows Giles – The AFL Website does not include him). The season begins October 8 and runs through the 16th of November.

As discussed last week, the Phils needed to send six guys, but they seem to typically send seven. Only one man from below A Ball is supposed to be allowed to go to the AFL from any organization, so the picks of Giles and Altherr are a little confounding. Perhaps since The Phils are sending 7 guys, they were allowed an extra A Ball player, or maybe the rules have changed and just not been posted on the AFL site. Don’t know. The roster rules also states that any man not on a AA or AAA roster by August 1 counts and an A Baller, and players from any level who are currently on or recently came off the DL cannot be included. Nothing in there has been violated by the Altherr/Giles addition, so I still don’t know. Whatever.

(Update on the rules – After they tweeted Giles as part of the roster, I asked the AFL Twitter account and got a response that two A Ball exceptions are allowed per team. This must be new for 2013, and the roster rules weren’t updated on the website).

Continue reading Arizona Fall League Roster Announcement →

We should expect to see a handful of AAA guys up with the big club next Tuesday. Lehigh Valley has a Monday game, and barring a big push, they won’t make the playoffs – there are 2 teams ahead of them and one tied with them for one wild card spot. Long odds with just a week left.

With as poorly as he’s played, I could see the team leaving Gillies out of the MLB mix, but if he’s been working hard and acting right, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him rewarded with a taste. Cesar Hernandez and Freddy Galvis seem to be locks, as would MiniMart. I would say also every pitcher on the 40-man will be up, so we’ll get Cloyd, (I hastily typed Horst the first time. He’s not coming back this year), Garcia and Valdes back, and probably a couple looks at Mauricio Robles, plus Joe Savery whenever he’s healthy, if he’s not already back in the bigs this week.

Valle and Collier are the only guys left at AA, and I don’t see either of them making the jump. That leaves no third catcher, and I would guess it’s Cam Rupp’s turn. He’s earned a 40-man spot for the off-season anyway, so you may as well use him now. That could cost someone else their spot, but Lannan might be a 60-day candidate, especially if they intend to non-tender him. That’s another debate altogether – off-season roster management should be pretty interesting this year.

Discuss.

Discussing Ken Giles today got me thinking about my assumptions for the Arizona Fall League roster. In total, the Phils need to send six “domestic” guys, (with an exception I’ll mention below), but they seem to typically send seven. Only one man from below A Ball can go to the AFL from any organization. The rule also states that any man not on a AA or AAA roster by August 1 counts and an A Baller.

Continue reading Arizona Fall League Roster Discussion 2013 →

For a minute today, I almost thought Roger Bernadina would be a better option that Casper Wells. But then I remembered that they are both terrible, terrible options.

Discuss.

Subtracting Delmon Young and Laynce Nix recently seems wise. Now we get to see what Dom can do in right and Ruf can do in lef-what’s that? No, that can’t be right. Can it?

Well, ast least we got rid of Michael You’re kidding me? Still?

Discuss.

Yeah, kind of a big deal there – Antonio Bastardo was suspended 50 games for his connection to Biogenesis. Leaves a hole in the big league bullpen for someone, which I will assume is to be filled by Mauricio Robles just because who else at this point.

Discuss.

What’s going to happen? I’m like all kinds of scared.

Discuss.

Last chance for the big club to sway the thinking of their leadership. A strong week might rightfully lead to a buy-a-couple-pieces stance, though a big splash is probably not in the offing, I would guess. A mediocre week might lead to a sell-off of a couple pieces, or a stand-pat position – MYoung and Lannan are moveable, if someone wants them, wouldn’t necessarily harm the team, and might net you a big-league bench OF to fill in now and when Revere returns, replace Laynce Nix and his non-exystance off the Phils bench, and a middle reliever to fill in the gap so you don’t have to call up Phillippe Aumont again. An 0-6 week might lead Rube to hit the reset button, moving guys like Papelbon, Utley, Rollins, Lee, Ruiz, and who knows who else.

If they can’t find a taker for John Lannan before the non-waiver deadline, I would shop Kyle Kendrick. FIP and xFIP at 3.88 and 4.00 respectively, one more year of team control, cheap for the rest of this year, knows how to take a practical joke. (I missed in the original post that Lannan is an arb4 this year. He was a super 2 and so gets 4 years of arb, not 3- adds to his value and changes the complexion of both the Young comparison and the Kendrick point a bit). When Doc comes back, presumably in a couple weeks, it will likely send a competent Jon Pettibone back to AAA. Pettibone’s FIP and xFIP are right around 4.20. That’s fine with me for a fifth starter.

GUYS IT’S ALL-STAR WEEK!!!!!!!!!

Wow. Nine exclamation points. Seems like I’m excited. Pretty sure I’m not, though.

…wait…hang on…Ok, no. I’m not.

Discuss.