The Phillies claimed Rule 5 draftee Tim Lahey off waivers. Lahey had been waived by the Cubs after being taken first in the Rule 5 draft. This was BA’s assessment of Lahey back in December

Lahey was a catcher at Princeton, then converted to the mound when the Twins drafted him. He has a short, catcher-like arm action, but he throws strikes with his 90-92 mph fastball, one that has touched 95 according to Cubs officials, and the delivery adds some deception. A 20th-round pick in 2004 by the Twins, Lahey also throws a solid-average slider and a changeup. The Cubs see room for improvement, since Lahey is still relatively new to pitching.

“He’s got real good sink with a ground ball ratio of almost 3-to-1 and the makings of a pretty good slider,” Cubs farm director Oneri Fleita said. “It’s amazing—I think he has 178, 179 innings and has less than a hit per inning pitched. That’s pretty good for a guy who just got converted. We’re excited to see him.

So, here’s how this works, to my knowledge. The Rule 5 process still applies. Lahey must go straight onto the 25 man roster and must remain there all season. The Phillies were able to get JD Durbin through waivers and to AAA, so thats one less obstacle. If Lahey can’t stick, he will be placed on waivers. If no one claims him, he has to be offered back to Minnesota. If Minnesota refuses to take him back for $25K, we can outright him to AAA. I don’t really see how he will fit into the team, but then again, any new warm body is probably better than a bunch of the old warm bodies, so stay tuned.

Update: Thanks to reader BC for providing the latest from Scott Lauber. Blackley was not taken back by the Giants, and thus, is now Phillies property. This is a positive development.

Rotoworld sums up the situation as it stands

Rule-5 pick Travis Blackley was released by the Phillies.
The Philadelphia Daily News reports that he’s cleared waivers, and as a two-time Rule 5 pick, Blackley has two choices: accepting an assignment to the Triple-A affiliate of either the Phillies or the Giants (if they buy him back), or becoming a free agent. The Giants would have to pay the Phillies $25,000 to get Blackley righ

So there ya go. Hopefully he’d realize that he has a shot to pitch in the big leagues, possibly in a pennant chase, if he stays in Philly.

As you know by now, Andrew Carpenter turned in a gem of a performance yesterday, and everyone is raving. Scott Lauber with the recap

In their final Grapefruit League game at Bright House Field, the Phillies brought Carpenter over from the minor-league complex to relieve Brett Myers. He tossed four scoreless innings against the Yankees in an outing that featured several highlights. Take your pick:

– Sixth inning: He walked Bobby Abreu with one out, then got Alex Rodriguez to ground into a double play.

– Seventh inning: He struck out the side, including Jason Giambi and Jorge Posada.

– Ninth inning: After loading the bases with no outs, he struck out Nick Green, got Jose Molina to foul out to the catcher and caught Chris Woodward looking at strike three.

The last time a young Phillies pitcher looked so good against the Yankees in spring training, Cole Hamels was striking out Tony Clark, Derek Jeter and A-Rod in 2004. That wasn’t enough to get Hamels, then a Class A pitcher, a spot on the roster, and Carpenter’s performance today won’t win him a job, either. But Charlie Manuel and pitching coach Rich Dubee were effusive in their postgame praise of Carpenter, and if he gets off to a good start at Class AA Reading, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him get called up to Philly.

Here’s the thing. Just like folks were getting excited over Carrasco’s great outings earlier, this has to be taken in context with Carpenter’s pro career and his scouting report. I ranked him #9 on my Top 30, and I think that still fits. He doesn’t have the raw stuff of Outman, Savery or Carrasco, but he does have the best control out of the group. He’s likely to be the first one of the group called up because he has the most polish, but he might still be behind JA Happ on the depth chart.

These performances are great to see in spring training, but they are just that, spring training performances. Carpenter wasn’t pitching for a roster spot, there was no pressure on him, and he pitched well. If he carries that over with him to Reading and pitches in the same fashion, he’ll be just fine.

Just a very brief update today, as there is still some quality interaction going on in yesterday’s Blackley post. Most of the prospect action from now until the end of ST will be in the minor league games, which again are fairly meaningless. I’ve again fallen behind, but my focus is going to be on more player profiles, and just doing some general touching up around here to try and get things set for the season. If a major development were to occur, I’ll share my thoughts, but we’re just going with open ended stuff from now until the start of the minor league season.

Today’s topic of the day; which Phillies pitching prospect will log the most innings at the major league level this season?

Hat tip to commenter “John” for this. According to Scott Lauber, Blackley’s locker has been cleared out, meaning he has been offered back to the Giants. If the Giants don’t take him back, I believe he can be re-assigned to minor league camp. So, it looks like he’s not making the team right now in either scenario. Lauber also mentions that Knotts and Darensbourg were also re-assigned, again not shocking news, leaving the Phillies with 11 pitchers.

The Phillies have only 11 healthy pitchers left in camp (starters Brett Myers, Cole Hamels, Jamie Moyer, Kyle Kendrick and Adam Eaton; relievers Tom Gordon, J.C. Romero, Ryan Madson, Chad Durbin, Clay Condrey and J.D. Durbin). So, for now, J.D. Durbin appears to have a spot on the team, even though he has allowed eight homers in 15-1/3 innings and has a 12.33 ERA this spring. And unless the Phillies acquire a pitcher via trade or through waivers, something GM Pat Gillick has said is a possibility, it appears they will carry only 11 pitchers until Lidge is activated, probably April 5.

That would mean they’ll keep 14 position players. Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Pedro Feliz, Eric Bruntlett, Greg Dobbs, Pat Burrell, Shane Victorino, Geoff Jenkins, Jayson Werth, So Taguchi, Carlos Ruiz and Chris Coste seem to have jobs locked up. So, the final spot would go to either Chris Snelling or Wes Helms. Snelling is out of minor-league options and would have to clear waivers to go to triple-A. If the Phillies can’t trade Helms, and it’s looking unlikely, he either has to stay on the roster or be released. The only other position player in camp is INF Ray Olmedo, and I’m betting he’ll wind up at triple-A Lehigh Valley.

If we’re able to trade Helms for an arm, that probably means curtains for either JD Durbin or Condrey, but based on The Real Deal’s spring performance, he’d likely be the one to go. After his trainwreck of a spring, he might pass through waivers. When Lidge is activated, that means Snelling will have to clear waivers, which is doubtful. Maybe he’ll be “injured”, and we can stash him on the DL.

I hate to keep harping on this, but we spent $100,000 this winter on 2 major league Rule 5 selections, and it now appears both are gone. In Holdzkom’s case, we didn’t get 25K back, because he was eligible for free agency. If the Giants take Blackley back, we will receive 25K in return, but will still be out $75,000 on Rule 5 picks. What are the odds that $75,000 could have been used to sign Brandon Workman last summer, or could be taken away from the draft allotment this summer? Lots of bad “small” moves eventually add up.

Jason Donald is the talk of the town after belting two home runs in the Phillies 15-7 win over Toronto. The home runs came off one time fireballing prospect Brandon League and journeyman John Parrish, not exactly Eckersley and Koufax, but still, a really good performance. Donald isn’t making the team out of spring training, but if he continues to rake, he’ll show the Phillies that he is more than just the utility player they are projecting him to be. It seems that he’s a lock to start at Reading alongside Brad Harman, in what should be an interesting double play combo.

Continue reading Jason Donald’s big day and other notes →

While many of us have been handicapping the chances of one of the young guys making the team, based on info passed on by Jayson Stark, it looks like maybe none of them will make the team. Stark says

Teams that have spoken with the Phillies say they’re frantically searching for two relievers to add to their middle-innings mix. But they have so little to trade — aside from Wes Helms, who has attracted just about zero interest — they’re likely to just see what’s out there on the waiver wire or the out-of-options bargain bin. Nevertheless, they’ll almost certainly do something. One baseball man reports that when he asked a member of the Phillies’ organization this week whom the 11th and 12th pitchers figured to be, he was told: “They’re not here yet.”

Emphasis added by me. So. The bullpen locks are Lidge, Gordon, Romero, Madson and probably Chad Durbin, considering his contract. That means the two spots they are referencing are currently being battled for by JD Durbin, Blackley, Rosario, and Condrey. There’s no question that dumping Helms to make room for a new reliever would be beneficial, but only if the reliever was actually good. The ramifications for the minor league side of this is, none of the 4 guys above can be optioned down. Blackley would have to be returned to the Giants unless a deal could be brokered, a deal that might involve Helms. Rosario, Durbin and Condrey would all have to pass through waivers. Rosario would probably be claimed by a team like Baltimore with zero playoff aspirations. Durbin has been waived/claimed about 343 times in the last year. Condrey cleared waivers both times last season and was allowed to be optioned up and down because of it.

I posted this elsewhere, but its my simple defense for Clay Condrey.

Last season he ranked #4 among Phillies relievers in WXRL

Romero — 2.220
Myers — 1.647
Madson — 1.643
Condrey — 1.640

I made a case for him last year, and I’ll make the same case for him now. He got absolutely bombed in 5 outings, and all of them came in lopsided games.

5/19 v TOR — 0.2 IP — 6 ER — 3 H — 3 BB — 0 K
5/27 v ATL — 0.0 IP — 3 ER — 4 H — 1 BB — 0 K
6/1 v SFG — 2.0 IP — 5 ER — 4 H — 2 BB — 1 K
8/22 v LAD — 2.2 IP — 5 ER — 9 H — 0 BB — 0 K
9/17 v STL — 0.0 IP — 4 ER — 4 H — 0 BB — 0 K

In those games, he was either brought in when we were way behind (TOR, SFG, LAD) or way ahead (ATL, STL) and in the LA and SFG games, he was basically just used as the whipping boy to avoid having to use another reliever.

5G: 5.1 IP — 23 ER — 24 H — 6 BB — 1 K
34G: 44.2 IP — 5 ER — 37 H — 10 BB — 26 K

His ERA in the 5 outings was 40.59 with a WHIP of 5.90. I think that would skew anyone’s numbers.

His ERA in the 34 other games was 1.02, with a WHIP of 1.06.

If the Phillies are going to find 2 relievers from outside the organization in the waiver bin, the odds of both of them being better than Condrey aren’t very good. I have a bad feeling about all of this.

As my #1 fan pointed out in the comments of another post, a Philly.com article today mentions Mach’s absence from minor league camp, with Steve Noworyta mentioning that he’s expected back at some point. I’m still not holding my breath, and it still doesn’t change my criticisms of the pick at the time, and whats transpired since. Just passing along the info.

I’ve been meaning to post this, but keep forgetting. If you’re curious about the results of the minor league spring training games, you can see them on the Reading Phillies website, by clicking here. These games are almost completely meaningless, basically just for guys to get their work in. Its still nice to see a good outing from Joe Savery (1 ER in 5 IP) and Travis d’Arnaud chipping in with 2 doubles.