“Every New Beginning….

Other Stuff

Comes from some other beginning’s end”. SemiSonic. So, in 2007, James gave me an opportunity to write for Phuture Phillies during a difficult personal time period and with that opportunity came over seven years of feeling “like a kid in a candy store”.  I had the opportunity to write about a passion and be in an environment (at the ballpark)that is one of my personal nirvana’s.  I met great people, learned a ton about the industry (media, baseball and management), and perhaps most importantly made lifelong friends.  To James, my heartfelt thanks.  When James left the site over two years ago, I did my best to keep up the site and did so with the goal of keeping the site aligned with James vision.  The day to day work in keeping up a site like this with a very demanding “real life” career is simply overwhelming.  So, with that said, I will be moving over to what I consider to be the best baseball resource in the Delaware Valley at Philly Baseball Insider (http://www.phillybaseballblog.com).  I expect to contribute there fairly regularly and appreciate the opportunity to continue my passion working for (with) a friend who is a regular writer for local newspapers and a huge baseball enthusiast.  I expect my participation to be limited until Spring Training, but expect to hit the ground running with pitchers and catchers….

Thanks to all those who have contributed to Phuture Phillies over the years.

Until next time…

 

2015 Reader Top 30

Prospect Rankings

polling booth

So, I’ve gone through our archives and found that Matt ran the Reader Top 30 last year.  I’ve gone through the files and think I’ve figured out how to run a poll.  If you want me to moderate a poll this year, let me know in the survey below.  I propose two modifications.

First, I want to start a little earlier.  Last year the poll ran into the first few days of spring training.  I will be covering spring training and would like to finish the poll articles before it starts.  I also need to work around my schedule in December and January.  A convenient start time for me would be sometime in the next three weeks.

Second, I would like to propose that you submit a personal Top 30 early in the polling process.  I‘m curious how a weighted vote would compare to the day by day survey (30 points for #1, 29 for #2, … 1 for #30).  I’ll set up an e-mail account to receive those submissions.  I would hope to get enough submissions to make a comparison between the two processes relevant.

So, please cast a vote below.  This will also be a nice test to see if I can set up a poll correctly.  (As you can see above, I have figured out how to insert a picture.)  This poll will be active for one week.

Open Discussion: Week of December 1, 2014

Weekly Discussion

In the Dominican Winter League.  Nefi Ogando made his debut for Aguilas Cibaenas.  He pitched a 2-hit, scoreless inning.  Luis Garcia made his debut in the same game for Estrellas de Oriente.  He allowed a hit, walk, and unearned run in his one inning.  Hector Neris had 2 more scoreless outings this past week.

In the Venezuelan Winter League, Ethan Martin was roughed up in his second appearance on the 24th, but came back with a scoreless effort in his next outing.  He pitched a total of 4 innings and allowed 3 earned runs on 5 hits, 4 walks, and struck out four.

The ABL seems to be taking its toll on most of our guys.  Dylan Cozens (.204) was 2 for 10 with 3 Ks this week and was relegated to pinch runner in Sunday’s game.  Brian Pointer (.207) was 0-12 with 4 Ks.  Mitch Walding (.218) was a productive 3-14 with a home run, walk, K, and 7 RBIs.  Chace Numata (.271) was 3-15 with 3 runs scored, 1 RBI, 2 Ks, 2 SB.

Off season stats for all Phillies players can be viewed at: http://mlb.mlb.com/milb/stats/org.jsp?id=phi

With the signing of Yasmany Tomas by Arizona, the list of available free agent outfielders has become less appealing.  If the Phillies are to upgrade, they’ll have to do it from among these players –

Left Fielders – Melky Cabrera (30), Mike Carp (29), Endy Chavez (37), Tyler Colvin (29),
Nelson Cruz (34), Chris Denorfia (34), Cole Gillespie (30), Jonny Gomes (34), Tony Gwynn Jr. (32), Scott Hairston (35), Reed Johnson (38), Jason Kubel (33), Ryan Ludwick (36), Nyjer Morgan (34), Mike Morse (33), Delmon Young (29)

Center Fielders – Emilio Bonifacio (30), Ezequiel Carrera (28), Endy Chavez (37), Nyjer Morgan (34), Colby Rasmus (28)

Right Fielders – Nori Aoki (33), Endy Chavez (37), Tyler Colvin (29), Nelson Cruz (34),
Chris Denorfia (34), Scott Hairston (35), Torii Hunter (39), Nick Markakis (31),
Alex Rios (34), Nate Schierholtz (31), Ichiro Suzuki (41)

On the pitching front, none of the top FA pitchers has signed.  But Oakland has been shopping Jeff Samardzija.  The Mets have been reported as actively trying to trade Bartolo Colon, Dillon Gee or Jon Niese.  Maybe the Mets are trying to exploit the market between the Phillies’ asking price for Cole Hamels and what teams are willing to trade.

Ruben Amaro’s Page on Baseball Reference Punk’d

Other Stuff

If you haven’t seen this yet, you should check out the Baseball Reference  page for RAJ.

Apparently, somebody at Beerleaguer sponsored his page and the following ad appears in a yellow panel across the screen.

“RAJ’s friends at Beerleaguer sponsor(s) this page.

BRef wanted $15 to sponsor this page, but in Ruben’s honor I ponied up $75 on a three year deal with a vesting option. 2015 can’t come soon enough!”

If you use an ad blocker, disable it before going to the page.  Here’s the link.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/amaroru02.shtml

D’backs Sign Tomas

Transactions

As you may have heard, Yasmany Tomas has reached an agreement with the Arizona Diamondbacks on a 6 year, $68.5M contract.  The Trade Rumors link is below.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/11/diamondbacks-to-sign-yasmany-tomas.html

I’m sure you need a place to vent about the Phillies’ inabity to sign Tomas, so here it is.  But, really, after we’ve heard so much about Tomas breaking the $100M barrier for a Cuban signee, and with all the teams who were supposedly “in” on him (SanDiego, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Arizona, San Francisco, and some “mystery” teams) doesn’t it seem odd that he only got a little over $11M/year?

Let the bashing begin.

Phils Sign Chris Nelson to Minor League Deal

Other Stuff

The flow of minor league free agents continue to move in as the Phillies announced they have signed 29 year old journeyman infielder Chris Nelson to a minor league deal. Nelson, 29, was a first round draft pick by the Rockies (9th overall) in the 2004 draft.  Nelson spent most of 2014 playing at the AAA level split between the Reds and Padres organizations, finishing with a .279/.355/.389 line in 319 AAA at bats, to go along with 6HR and 59RBI.

Over the last three seasons, Nelson has accrued 629 major league at bats (Yanks, Angels, Padres, Rockies), during which he has hit a respectable .269.  Nelson has spent most of his time at 3B, but can play 2B and SS in a pinch as well.  I would expect to see Nelson playing all around the infield in Lehigh Valley come April.

Open Discussion: Week of November 24, 2014

Weekly Discussion, , , ,

We haven’t had an open discussion posted since November 3rd.  I’ll try to fill this void until …

First, here’s the link to Phillies Offseason League stats –

http://mlb.mlb.com/milb/stats/org.jsp?id=phi

Check out pitchers Hector Neris, Elvis Arajo, and Manny Chavez. All have sub 1.00 ERAs, and WHIPs around .100.  Their SSS includes at least 9 appearances and 8.2 IP. Araujo and Chavez also have nice K/9 and K/BB numbers.

Willians Astudillo opened with a 3-run HR in 1-4 debut in VWL. Freddy Galvis is hitting below .300 for first time since 2011. He’s also striking out at a much higher rate that in previous VWL seasons.

With the rumors that Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez having agreed to sign with the Boston Red Sox swirling around, what if any impact will that have on the Phillies’ off season trade market? Is SF now in on a SP? Is Boston still a likely trade partner for Hamels?  Discuss.

 

Phillies Add 3 Pitchers to 40 Man Roster

Transactions

With less than 3 hours remaining before the deadline to add players to the 40-man roster, the Phillies have added 3 pitchers.

Beat writers Todd Zolecki and Jim Salisbury announced over Twitter that the Phillies have added LHP Jesse Biddle and Adam Morgan and RHP Nefi Ogando to the 40-Man Roster.  They are now protected from Rule 5 Draft in December.

This leaves 2 empty slots on the Phillies 40-man roster.  Their site only shows 37 players.  For some reason they haven’t added Jerome Williams, who signed a $2.5M extension on October 21st.

AFL – Roman Quinn

8. Arizona Fall League

Roman Quinn was drafted in the second round in 2011 out of Port St. Joe HS in Port St. Joe, FL. The multi-sport athlete signed over-slot on August 15, 2011 and began his pro career the following summer in Williamsport. A right-handed hitting centerfielder in high school who had begun learning to switch hit in his senior year, Quinn continued the conversion at the plate while learning to play shortstop as a professional.

Quinn played well enough in 2012 to warrant a promotion to full season A ball in Lakewood at the start of the 2013 season. He missed the second half of the season when he broke his wrist. While recuperating in the off season, Quinn suffered an Achilles injury that caused him to miss 6 weeks of the 2014 season with Clearwater. When he returned, he still retained the speed that had him rated the fastest player in Baseball America’s top 200 in the 2011 draft.

The rapid progress of the Phillies’ #16 pick in the 2013 draft, J.P. Crawford, forced the Phillies to make a decision that would enable them to get both players on the field at the same time. As a result, Quinn returned to his natural position, center field, when Crawford was promoted to Clearwater in mid-June. Continue reading AFL – Roman Quinn →

AFL – Logan Moore

8. Arizona Fall League

Logan Moore was a 9th round JUCO pick in 2011 out of Northeastern Junior College in Colorado. He worked his way through the organization and split time between Clearwater and Reading during the 2014 regular season. I watched him make the FSL All Star team in 2013 with a sub .200 batting average on the strength of his over 40% rate of throwing out would be base stealers. He finished that season with a .185 BA and a 41.2% CS rate. Moore’s offense increased in 2014 and he was sent up to Reading when a spat of catcher injuries hit the organization. After a 4 game stint at the end of April at AA, he returned to Clearwater until he was promoted for good at the end of May. Moore’s passed balls and errors declined but so did his CS rate. His 2014 numbers – Continue reading AFL – Logan Moore →