General Discussion – Week of 8-4-14 – Waivers Edition

Weekly Discussion

I’ll post a bit of news here – Phils have signed Panamanian SS Jonathan Arauz for $600k, per Jim Salisbury and other media reporting. Arauz joins SS Arquimedes Gamboa, ($900k) SS/CF Daniel Brito ($650k) and C Lenin Rodriguez ($300k) as six figure signings from the International Amateur market. Including P Jhon Nunez, who got $90k, the club has now spent $2.54M on five known signings. With a budget of $3.22M, and lots of other guys sure to be signed for dollar amounts over $10k, (under $10k is a freebie, essentially), this is probably the last of the high dollar signings. I was a little surprised to even see this many, but more power to the club for getting some nice looking guys for fairly reasonable dollars. We’ll see how many of them make their way stateside for instructs this fall.

Back home, the first round of revocable waivers were discovered, with Howard, Burnett, Bastardo, Kendrick and Roberto Hernandez reported earlier by Ken Rosenthal. Teams can claim the players and their contracts, or the Phillies can negotiate trades if they don’t want to let the player walk. I would imagine they’d let Howard go if someone wanted him, and insist on a return for the rest, or pull back the waiver. Once cleared, the men in question can be traded just like they would have been in July, with no-trade clauses and options in place.

Discuss.

Hot or Not

Other Stuff

A look back over the last 10 days…..Roman Quinn is putting up some eye opening numbers on the basepaths…An awkening from the dead for Zach Collier….Dylan Cozens has emerged as a “must watch” and is as exciting a prospect as there is in the organization…What has happened to Cameron Rupp? He looks totally lost at the plate…Cord Sandberg stays on the Not Hot list….Aaron Nola continues throwing well for CLearwater, the transition to Reading should be interesting in the short term…Colin Kleven is quitely bouncing back over the last month, pitching very well…As one of the very few high schoolers the Phils decided to spend money on, Sam McWIlliams has gotten out of the gate very slowly.

Hot Hitters:(16 AB min) Roman Quinn (.389; 8RS, 1HR 5RBI, 6sb)Tim Zier (.375, 4RBI); Willians Astudillo (.371); Andy Knapp (.355); Jim Murphy (.350, 5RBI); Zach Collier (.333, 7R 3HR 6RBI 2SB); Clete Thomas (.333); Jake Fox (.325, 4R 1HR 9RBI); William Cuicas (.318, 5R); Dylan Cozens (.316, 1HR 7RBI, 2SB); Maikel Franco (.306, 6R 3HR 8RBI, SB)

Not Hot Hitters: Cameron Rupp (.000, 0-17); Albert Cartwright (.034, 1-29); Angelo Mora (.050); Koyie Hill (.059); Derek Campbell (.087);  Anthony Phillips (.115); Trey Williams(.115); Deivi Gruillon (.143); Aaron Altherr (.146); Cord Sandberg (.148); Wilmer Oberto (.158); Art Charles (.161); Brock Stassi (.162); Aaron Brown (.167) Continue reading Hot or Not →

Box Score Recap – 8/3/2014

Box Score Recap

Zach Collier hit his third home run in two days. Roman Quinn was 1-3 with a walk and a steal.  His OPS is above .700. Boss. A fine line from Colin Kleven – 4H 3BB and 7K in 6 scoreless IP. Three hits for Zach Green, Dylan Cozens stole his 19th base, and Carlos Tocci hit his second professional home run. Matt Imhof went six, allowing three runs on six hits, no walks, and struck out seven.

Jia Tromp hit his 11th home run of the year, and second in as many days. He’s two shy of the WIL team record, and tied with Hunter Lockwood for second in the league – the leader Rowan Wick (14) was promoted a couple weeks ago. Mitch Gueller threw five scoreless innings for the Cutters, allowing just three hits, no walks, and striking out four. Nice work.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/3/2014 →

Box Score Recap – 8/2/2014

Box Score Recap

Hector Neris was added to the Phillies active roster this morning. As I mentioned yesterday, he’s been on a pretty nice streak since early/mid-July. He would have needed to be added to the 40-man this off-season to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft in December, so this will be a nice tryout. If he succeeds, great, if not, he has options, or he can be waived and every team will have a shot at him that way instead of via Rule 5.

MAG earned his first AAA save in LV’s win. Cam Perkins had two hits there – he’s hit safely in five straight, including two multi-hit games. Maybe he’s turning the corner. Kelly Dugan 1-3 plus two walks and scored three times. Zach Collier was 3-5 with two home runs (4) and Jake Fox was 2-4 with a walk, a double and a homer (15). Roman Quinn 2-4 plus a walk and a steal (21) and JPC was 3-5 with a double and a steal (4). Quinn’s recent base-stealing is super encouraging.

Jia Tromp with his tenth home run of the year, and David Whitehead pitched well for WIL – 1R 0ER 4H 0BB 5K in 6IP. And 21-year-old RHP Edubray Ramos, a Cardinals signee in 2010, who started the year in the VSL after a three year layoff from MLB affiliated pro ball, has worked 7.2 nearly perfect innings for Williamsport thus far – he’s hit one man and struck out seven. That’s it.

Nice game from Julsan Kamara out in the Dom Rep – 2-3 with a double a triple and a walk. And Ranger Suarez put up another gem, going eight scoreless innings and allowing no walks, just three hits and striking out four. 78:1 K:BB on the year now.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/2/2014 →

Around the System, Starting Pitching, Top Half

Other Stuff

A look at starting pitching throughout the upper levels of the organization.  You will learn quickly that July was an awful month for starting pitching across the board.  Next up, a look at starting pitching in Lakewood, WIlliamsport and GCL.

Lehigh Valley

Sean O’Sullivan, 26, Signed as a free agent in 2014; 20 starts; 4-9 with a 4.77ERA; 117IP 126H 38BB 69K; 15HR allowed; 0.88 GO/AO; .279 opp avg; 1.40 WHIP; 2.7BB/5.3K per 9; .307 vs. LHH; .255 vs. RHH; 1-3 with a 6.14ERA in 5 July starts; Pedestrian numbers for O’Sullivan, who is an innings eater.

Brad Lincoln, 29, Acquired from Toronto in 2013; 21 games (16 starts); 5-7 with a 4.73ERA; 91.1IP 88H 37BB 80K; 0.80 GO/AO;.251 opp. avg; 1.37 WHIP; 3.6BB/7.9K per 9; .276 vs. LHH, .231 vs. RHH, .284 with RISP; 1-4 with a 6.04ERA in 5 July starts; Has pitched very well at times this year but had a very difficult July.

David Buchanan, 25, Phils 7th round pick in 2010; 12 starts for Lehigh Valley; 6-2 with a 3.95 ERA; 57IP 67H 21BB 46K; 0.97 GO/AO; .300 opp. avg; 1.54WHIP; 3.3BB/7.3K per 9; .320 vs. LHH, .285 vs. RHH; .234 with RISP; The results are good, the splits are not, but Buchanan is poised for a call up, most likely for the remainder of the season to take Cliff Lee’s rotation spot. Continue reading Around the System, Starting Pitching, Top Half →

Nola Promoted to Reading

Other Stuff

Gas up the car.  Aaron Nola has been promoted to Reading for what looks to be his final three starts of the 2014 season.  Nola has pitched extremely well for CLearwater after being drafted by the Phillies 7th overall, in the first round of the 2014 draft.  Nola has thrown in 7 games (6 starts), and has gone 2-3 with a 3.16ERA and an outstanding 0.92 WHIP.  In 31.1 innings, Nola has walked just 5, while striking out 30 holding opponents to a .214 batting average.

Expect Nola, 21, to remain on a 80 pitch count throughout the rest of the season.

Leiter Struggles Against Mets; August 1, 2014

Game Reports, , , , , , ,

The Threshers 3 game winning streak came to an end when they returned home Friday night. Mark Leiter was coming off 2 solid starts where he had allowed only 2 runs in 16 innings, one his complete game shutout of Charlotte on July 20th. Leiter battled with control issues as the Threshers lost the first game of an 8-game home stand, 8-3. Continue reading Leiter Struggles Against Mets; August 1, 2014 →

Box Score Recap – 8/1/2014

Box Score Recap

LV reliever Hector Neris hasn’t allowed a run since July 8. He’s pitched 13 scoreless since then, allowing just six hits, two walks and struck out eight. Impressive run. Kelly Dugan was 2-6 with two doubles in Reading’s double header. Brian Pointer hit his second home run of the week, and his 11th on the year. Roman Quinn’s nine-game hit streak was ended, but he did manage a walk and his 20th steal.

Sam Hiciano (9) and Mitch Walding (4) went deep for Lakewood. Hiciano also had a double and drew a walk in his four trips to the plate. Dylan Cozens has two hits, including a double. He’s had two hits in six of his last ten games. Real nice. WIL managed just three hits.

ICYMI – I wrote up a handful of guys who had good numbers in July over at CrashburnAlley.com. Franco, Nola, Quinn, Tocci, MAG, Mecias, Cozens and Encarnacion. I hope you’ll check it out.

Also, this is not my work, but here’s an article from Philly.com on Matt Imhof.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 8/1/2014 →

Box Score Recap – 7/31/2014

Box Score Recap

David Buchanan with a strong outing in what’s likely to be his last before a recall to Philly to take over Cliff Lee’s spot in the rotation – he went 7.1 innings, allowing one run on seven hits, one walk, and striking out five. Aaron Altherr was 2-4 with his ninth home run of the year, and MAG worked a clean ninth, including two Ks, for his fifth save of the year. Roman Quinn and Brian Pointer were each 2-4 with a walk. Quinn’s two hits were a double and his fourth home run. Andy Knapp had four hits, Willians Astudillo three, and Cozens and Canelo two a piece, as Yacksel Rios threw about 65% of his pitches for strikes en route to another good start – 2R 1ER 6H 2BB 4K in 5IP.

WIL was swept in a double header – they managed just one hit in the seven-inning opener, then lost in 13 in the nightcap. Drew Anderson continues to rehab in the GCL – a fair but not great outing there. Five DSL guys had multi-hit games, including Edwin Rodriguez, and every VSL starter had at least one hit, including three from our man Jesus Alastre.

Hmm…little dry today. Light on the jokes. I blame flexor pronator strains. Jerks.

Continue reading Box Score Recap – 7/31/2014 →

General Discussion – Day of 8-1-14 – So, So…So So Sad Edition

Weekly Discussion

Well, with over 250 comments on the thread form yesterday, I’ll give you all a fresh one today to talk about your feelings. No trades (which doesn’t have to make you sad on its face) and Cliff Lee down with an injury again (which does). Frown.

Hmm…a frown, is by definition, “sad on its face”. I guess. Or I’m trying too hard to be clever for this early on a Friday.

Discuss.