It seems that John Mayberry lost the coin toss, as he was optioned to AAA Lehigh Valley with the activation of Shane Victorino from the DL.  The Phillies options appeared to be A) Optioning Mayberry; B) Placing Gload on the DL with his hip issue; C) Optioning Francisco or D) Subjecting Martinez to Waivers and offering him back to Washington.  Mayberry was hitting .231 with 3 HR and 12 RBI to go along with 4 stolen bases.  He had started 12 games in a row, and 16 of the last 17 for the Phils, playing a solid CF in Victorino’s absence. Continue reading Mayberry Optioned →

SOme late breaking news this afternoon out of Lehigh Valley, as Kevin Frandsen, who has been outstanding as of late, has been placed on the restricted list because of a violation of the Major League baseball drug policy. First baseman Tagg Bozied has been activated to take Frandsen’s place on the Lehigh Valley roster.

Because of his recent performance, speculation was growing that Frandsen may be called up sometime soon to help the Phils middle infield offensively, however, this certainly quashes that speculation.  As details develop we will post them here…

The Phillies have placed SP Roy Oswalt on the disabled list with a back problem and have called up Scott Mathieson, 27, to take Oswalt’s place on the roster.  In his nine appearances this year, Mathieson is 0-0 with a 4.61 ERA with one save in 13.2 innings of work.  Mathieson has had some control issues walking 10 thus far, while striking out 15. Continue reading Mathieson Called Up, Oswalt to the DL →

The parade to the disabled list continues in Philadelphia, with Joe Blanton being placed on the 15 day disabled list with a “right elbow impingement”. On the bright side, tomorrow which was Blanton’s day to pitch, is also Vance Worley’s day in Lehigh Valley.  Worley has been called up to make the start against the Mets tomorrow.  Worley,23,  has been impressive for the ‘Pigs in his four starts this year, going 2-2 with a 2.78 ERA.  In 22.2 innings, Worley has allowed 19 hits, walked 6 and struck out 25, and holds a WHIP of 1.10.  The Phils are not losing a whole heck of a lot with Worley in the rotation rather than Blanton, however the myriad of injuries and resulting lack of depth now becomes quite a concern.

The Phillies placed closer Jose Contreras on the DL with a flexor pronator strain and have called up RHP Mike Stutes, from AAA Lehigh Valley.  Stutes, 24, was an 11th round pick by the Phillies in the 2008 draft out of Oregon State and had been very impressive during Spring Training.  In his 7 appearances thus far this season for Lehigh Valley, Stutes was 2-1 with a 1.80 ERA and a save in his 10 innings of work. Stutes walked 4 and struck out an impressive 14 batters and comes up with a WHIP of 1.30.

From the Lehigh Valley perspective, this thins out the back end of the bullpen with Zagurski and Stutes in Philly to go along with the early struggles of Scott Mathieson. Look for Michael Schwimer, Jason Grilli and Juan Perez to pick up the slack in the short term.

The Phils placed LHP JC Romero on the 15 disabled list with a calf strain and called up LHP Mike Zagurski from AAA Lehigh Valley. Zagurski, 28, was the Phils 12th round selection in the 2005 draft and has spent parts of two seasons with the big club.  In the early going for Lehigh Valley, Zagurski has appeared in three games, without allowing an earned run in 3.2 innings. He has walked one, struck out 7 and earned one save. 

Called up to take Zagurski’s spot in the Lehigh Valley ‘pen is RHP Chance Chapman. Chapman, 27, was the Phils 8th round pick of the 2007 draft. In 29 appearances for Reading last year, Chapman was 2-3 with a 5.36 ERA in 50.1 IP.  He walked 22, struck out 27 and had a WHIP of 1.45. Chapman has been impressive in the early going this year, with three scoreless appearances, allowing just a lone hit in 3.2 innings.

The Phils released former #1 draft pick Matt Anderson who was attempting a comeback and had been preliminarily assigned to Lehigh Valley.  Anderson last pitched in 2008, and although still throwing very hard, had little to no command and was hit around hard in Spring Training.  This leaves the current Lehigh Valley staff at:

Starters: Vance Worley, Nate Bump, Drew Naylor, Ryan Feirabend, Eddie Bonine, Brian Bass

Relievers: Scott Mathieson, Mike Stutes, Michael Schwimer, Mike Zagurski, Jason Grilli, Drew Carpenter, Dan Meyer and Juan Perez.

Two pitchers from this group will need to be either let go or placed on the DL with presumably turf toe, an injury that seems to go around the Lehigh Valley locker room when roster space is needed.

The Phils opened up a spot on their 40 man roster today by outrighting 1B Matt Rizzotti to the minors.  He first had to clear waivers, which he successfully did.

A number of cuts were made yesterday throughout the minor league system as the Phillies try to finalize minor league rosters as the season approaches next week.  Among those cut were pitchers: Brad Blanks, Justin Beal, Mike Bolsenbroeck, Heitor Correa, Matt Hutchison and Eric Massingham, catcher Marco Davillo, infielders Matt McConnell and Adam Buschini, along with outfielder Drew Rundle.

The most notable of the cuts were Buschini, a high 2009 draft pick, Correa (who had a good deal of success in 2009 in Lakewood), and Massingham (who had a fairly prominent role as a relief pitcher on the 2010 Lakewood championship team).

The Phillies have signed 28 year old Infielder Kevin Frandsen to a Minor League contract and have said that he will start the season in AAA Lehigh Valley. Frandsen has major league experience at third, shortstop, first base and both corner outfield positions. Frandsen was originally a 12th round draft pick of the Giants in the 2004 draft, and most recently played for the Angels where he hit .250/.294/.319 in 173 plate appearances last season.

In Frandsen’s last full minor league season in 2009, he played every infield position and hit .295/.352/.438 with 13 HR and 55 RBI in 427 AB’s with AAA Fresno.

I wrote a couple of posts outlining most of our minor league free agent signings and other acquisitions this off-season for another site–I’ll copy them (and extend them a bit) here.  There aren’t a lot of Jason Werth-type players on these lists, but some decent AAA insurance here and there, and a couple of players who might surprise if they get healthy or find their confidence. The post is organized by position players first, then pitchers.

Continue reading Quick Summary of Off-season Minor League Acquisitions →