Here is where we can discuss the Rule 5 draft tomorrow. Will any Phillies prospects (Savery, Myers, E Garcia, Brummett, Kennelly) be taken? Will the Phillies take anyone? I’m sure they will. Here are the guys that interest me. My assumption is we’d take another possible bullpen piece, as there won’t be much room on the roster to carry a position player who won’t really get a chance to play.

Wynn Pelzer, RHP (BAL)
Aneury Rodriguez, RHP (TAM)
Michael Dubee, RHP (PIT)
Josh Wall, RHP (LAD)
Zech Zinicola, RHP (WAS)
Dylan Axelrod, RHP (CHW)
Yohan Pino, RHP (CLE)

Full list of eligible guys here.

Sorry I’m a tad late on this.

The Phillies selected David Herndon, a righthanded pitcher from the Angels. Herndon was a 5th round pick in the 2006 draft. He’s a control specialist, as he’s posted a ridiculous 1.40 BB/9 rate in his minor league career. His 5.20 K/9 rate is not so hot, but he couples that with a career 60.4% GB rate. So you can see why the Phillies were interested. He doesn’t walk anyone and rolls up tons of groundballs. He was ranked 28th in the Angels system last year, and as high as 11th in 2007 according to Baseball America.

Update: I found a video clip of him. Click here.

I like the pick. Check below the fold for more

Continue reading Rule 5 Wrapup →

BA has an article today on guys to monitor in the Rule 5 draft, and two Phillies show up; Edgar Garcia and Harold Garcia. They note Garcia’s prior successes and his struggles in 2009 partly due to Visa issues. Harold Garcia draws a Chone Figgins comp, which seems like a stretch, but they note his speed as a big asset.
I find it unlikely we’d lose Harold Garcia, though Edgar seems like a possibility for a team willing to stash him at the back of a bullpen for a season. We’ll see.

The Rule 5 draft will take place next month at the winter meetings, and its almost that time to look at who needs to be protected, who might be available, and everything else involved. The Phillies, by virtue of another excellent regular season, will be picking at the back end of the first round unless they pull off a trade and move up. Check below the fold for more…

Continue reading Looking ahead to the Rule 5 draft →

Head over to mlb.com and you can watch the Rule 5 draft for free. According to the Phillies scribes, they don’t expect the Phillies to take anyone. The Phillies will pick 21st due to 40 man rosters loaded to capacity ahead of them. I’ll post the picks made, including anyone the Phillies take, or any Phillies prospects that get taken.

[Update 1] Phillies take Robert Mosebach, RHP from the Angels. Here are his numbers. I’ll look for more later, he’s a starter with awful peripherals, but is still young. He also served up 56% groundballs in 2008, so that’s something.

[Update 2] Phillies take 2B Kyle Haines from the Giants and Javis Dias from the Padres in the AAA phase. The Phillies also lost John Suomi to Kansas City, Brett Harker and Ronald Hill to the Marlins in the minor league phase.

[Update 3] Scott Lauber says the Phillies liked the reports they got on him in Arizona and plan to use him as a reliever in the spring.

Check below for the results…

Continue reading Phillies take Robert Mosebach in Rule 5 Draft →

The Rule 5 draft commences tomorrow as the capper to the Winter Meetings, and if history is an indication, the Phillies will likely be a part of the festivities. Baseball America has its take on the names generating the most interest here, as well as a list of all available guys here. The Phillies will be near the end of the line, so unless they trade up, the best talents will probably be off the board, but there are a few intriguing names that might be there. Before I look at the individual names, we have to address the state of the roster to determine the likelihood of a player sticking…

Continue reading Rule 5 Draft is tommorrow →

As you know, the Rule 5 draft is next month, and the Phillies have had some success in that area, notably Shane Victorino in recent years. I believe the deadline to set 40 man rosters, ie, protect players, is sometime at the end of November. Here’s how things look right now

* The 40 man on the Phillies site doesn’t appear updated. 38 players on the 40 man roster, 2 open slots. This includes Burrell, Tad Iguchi and Jamie Moyer, who I believe have already filed for free agency, as well as Rudy Seanez, who isn’t coming back. Scott Eyre is also a FA and listed. So we’re at like 33, but its likely Eyre is coming back, as is Moyer. Burrell is less certain.

* The prospects currently protected; Bisenius, Carpenter, Happ, Mathieson, Jaramillo, Marson, Harman, and Golson.

* The rules, in terms of number of years a player can play before being placed on the 40 man relates to year drafted and age when drafted. 18 year olds (so basically prep players) must be placed on the 40 man after their 5th season, 19 year olds or older (college guys, essentially), must be placed on after their 4th season. I believe that’s accurate, based on what I’ve found before. So for the sake of the Phillies, we’re looking at guys who were drafted/signed out of high school or Latin America and debuted in 2004, and college guys drafted in 2005. By my count, that means

Carlos Carrasco, RHP (signed in 2003, debuted in 2004, which is when his contract started)
Brett Harker, RHP (5th rd, 2005, College of Charleston)
Jeremy Slayden, OF (8th rd, 2005, Georgia Tech)
Clay Harris, INF (9th rd, 2005, LSU)
Pat Overholt, RHP (22nd rd, Santa Clara)

Its pretty obvious why the Phillies sent Slayden and Overholt to Arizona. If they perform well, they are likely to be protected, if they struggle against better prospects, they might be left unprotected, depending on the number of spots needed for trades and the like. Its obvious Carrasco will be protected, the others, I’m not so sure.

The Phillies took two players in the major league phase of the Rule 5 draft

Travis Blackley, LHP (From San Francisco)
Lincoln Holdzkom, RHP (From Boston)

Both players have to remain on the MLB roster

AAA Phase

Luke Appert, OF (From Oakland)
Neil Sellers, 2B (From Houston)

These players must remain on the 3A roster all season

The Phillies lost Scott Mitchinson to Oakland. A’s fans coming here for info on Scott, I actually ranked him as our 26th best prospect a few weeks ago. You can read it here.

*Update*

The Phillies think Blackley can compete for the 5th spot in the rotation. Mercy me….

Detailed thoughts below the fold

Continue reading Phillies select two players in Rule 5 draft →

If the Phillies select a player, and I’m sure they will, I’ll have the full scoop here. If I here any more info before tomorrow, you’ll see it in this post. Until then, I have some other stuff to attend to, so let’s discuss the Rule 5 draft here, and also continue the discussion about trading prospects for elite talent in the previous thread. Good stuff so far on both sides of the argument.

Update from BA on Lubanski

• Royals outfielder Chris Lubanski to the Marlins with the fourth overall selection. Lubanski, the fifth overall pick in 2003, was touted for his speed and developing power early in his career. He’s still just 22, and a lot of teams have him on their Rule 5 radar for that reason more than anything else, but the fact is that Lubanski isn’t a plus runner anymore as he’s grown into his frame. He’s not even above-average. “This is a fringe-average runner for me,” said one AL scouting director. And Lubanski didn’t do himself any favors in the Arizona Fall League, often making weak contact and wound up hitting .200/.266/.412 in 85 at-bats.

We know Pat Gillick loves the Rule 5 draft, and he’s likely got his eye on someone. Baseball America gave a brief list of potential selections here. Baseball Prospectus also gave some interesting names here. Just going off of the names given in these lists, as I haven’t had time to dig yet and maybe uncover other targets, here are my favorite guys I’d like to see the Phillies grab

Continue reading Rule 5 draft, potential targets →