Less than 12 hours after deciding to pass on pro baseball for now, Jiwan James changed his mind and signed with the Phillies. The article talks about James going back and forth, including attending an orientation session at Florida, but ultimately deciding to sign. The Phillies had contacted James on draft day and offered him the money if they took him in the 6th round, but he said he wouldn’t sign for that. Within the article linked above, it mentions the Phillies visiting him and upping their offer. My guess? Between $250,000 and $350,000, around 3rd-4th round money. We’ll know eventually, as Baseball America normally gets all the bonus amounts right. This leaves Julian Sampson as our prized prep prospect, as the Phillies already came to terms with 30th round pick Jacob Diekman, a live armed JuCo lefty. Mark Adzick is 99% committed to Wake Forest, leaving Sampson as our main target. I’m not sure how the signing of James will affect the latter, time will tell, but for now, this is quite an exciting development.

Want the skinny on James? Check out the writeup on PhilliesDraft.com

Diekman, the team’s 30th round pick, looks likely to sign.

The Phillies took him as the 18th pick in the draft’s 30th round. He was the 923rd player selected overall.

Immediately after the draft, Diekman planned to continue to play for the Bruins this summer. He said the Phillies had indicated they planned to watch his progress and could make an offer later.

At that point, Diekman also said he planned to stay in school and head to Lincoln and the University of Nebraska for the fall semester.

But “later,” became now, in a hurry.

“The Phillies made a really good offer now and I don’t want to wait the whole summer,” Diekman said.

Diekman said he decided to “take” the offer from the Phillies when it came.

“They said they want me in their organization so they can work with me,” Diekman said. “I guess they have a left-handed pitching coach and he thinks he can really improve me.

“They really want me now.”

Diekman said initially he’ll be headed to Florida and the developmental league.

Thanks to e-mailer Allan for the heads up on the link. Diekman is only 20, and has a great pitcher’s frame. He was pitching at Cloud County CC, and I don’t really have much info on him, but the Phillies must like what they see.

If you check at the top of the blog next to the “Prospect Tracker”, you’ll see a chronological list of all the Phillies draft picks from the 2007 draft, their position, height/weight, DOB, and any articles I tracked down about them. I only was able to update the first 15 or so picks, but I’ll get to the rest later. So far, only Kirk Bacsu, our 32nd round pick, has officially signed, and my guess is, no bonus. As I find more, I’ll update. If you find them before me, just post them on the Draftees Page and I’ll update. Thanks.

Last week I posted my mock draft, lots of stuff happened between then and yesterday, but just for giggles, let’s see how I did, and how I did compared with blog reader kgengler

Continue reading First Round Mock…How’d I do? →

I’ve had my say, reviewing day 1 and day 2, as well as some overall thoughts. Now I want to know what YOU think of our draft. I’ve set up a simple poll over at polldaddy.com, just click the link and register your vote. Also, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Click here to vote.

I want to make a disclaimer statement right here. I’m going to say some really harsh things about the Phillies “braintrust”, ownership group, and anyone else associated with the draft in the next 2,000 or so words. If you love Bill Giles, David Montgomery, Pat Gillick, and all of the folks associated with said people, you may want to just click away from this review and assume “he wasn’t a fan” and move on. I don’t want to lose readers because I compare Pat Gillick to a piece of petrified wood, but I have to let out some frustration, and it’s better to do it in print than to go kick a stray dog in the alley behind my apartment. So, now that you’ve been warned, let’s get to it. Also, this is going to be a really long entry, if I misspell a few words, you’ll have to deal with it, I don’t have the energy to spell check something this long!

Continue reading 2007 Draft Review, Day 2 →

Well, if you feel like me right now, you’re worn out. The first day of the draft is one of the most exciting days of the year for me, and this year was no exception. This draft had potential for a bunch of exciting moments, as Boras guys dropped, college guys saw their stock jump a bit, and guys on my “wish list” quickly started flying off the board. Not surprisingly, there were plenty of highs and plenty of lows. Tomorrow, I’ll compare my mock draft to the actual results, but for now, I just want to review the Phillies draft choices and give my take on what has transpired. If you’re ready, let’s go. Click the player’s name for a profile/video when available.

Continue reading 2007 Draft Review, Day 1 →

Today is the second day of the draft, and will cover up to 45 rounds worth of picks, though it’s thought that a lot of teams will drop out before the end of the 50th round, mainly because the draft and follow option is no longer an option. I will be gone for most of the day today, as I’m moving into a new apartment, but I’ll check back in tonight and give my thoughts on how things transpired. Feel free to share any information you have on any of the guys taken in the comments section, and it will be passed along in my recap of day 2.

Here is a compilation of the remaining players from BA’s Top 200. The list is long, so read below the fold.

Continue reading The best of the rest →

I called my friend on the drive home, and waited for a minute or two till it got to the Phillies. When she told me we took Mattair, I almost swerved off the road. That takes most of the sting out of our previous pick for me.

Profile.

I’ll have a full writeup on all of our picks later this evening. Time to catch my breath.