New Minor League Workout Groups

Again from Baseball Betsy’s blog

Some Thoughts:

– Joseph is clearly ahead of Rupp and Valle

– Franco drops back a group with the return of Asche as does Altherr with the return of James, Mitchell, and Gillies Continue reading New Minor League Workout Groups →

2013 40-Man Roster Decisions

In the prospect cycle, being eligible for the Rule V draft and necessitating a 40 man roster spot is a big point.  A good season earning you a spot on the 40 man can really jump your value (Zach Collier) and a bad season can leave you behind those who do have a roster spot.  Here are the guys who will need a 40 man spot at the end of the year and where they project to play (just a reminder anyone signed/drafted under age 19 has a 2009 cut off otherwise it is 2010).  This is less about predicting who is a lock for a spot but highlighting the guys who need to have big years in 2013, this is only those that will be newly eligible, see the December discussions on last years eligible prospects.  (predicted opening day team in the parenthesis)

C – Tommy Joseph (Lehigh Valley)

C – Cameron Rupp (Reading)

1B/RF – Kelly Dugan (Clearwater)

CF – Aaron Altherr (Clearwater)

RHP – Brody Colvin (Reading) Continue reading 2013 40-Man Roster Decisions →

First Round of “Re-Assignments”

The Phillies made their first round of Spring Training cuts today with the following players re-assigned to minor league camp: Pitchers: Adam Morgan, JC Ramirez, Kyle Simon, Joe Savery; Infielders: Michael Martinez and Cody Asche, Catcher: Tommy Joseph and Outfielder: Joe Mather. Joining that group on Monday at the minor league complex will be Pitchers Jonathan Pettibone and Ethan Martin, along with outfielder Zach Collier.  None of these moves were unexpected, although I am slightly surprised Savery’s demotion came so early.

Of the above group, the most impressive in limited action this Spring were Morgan, Joseph, and Asche.

Two Weeks In…

So, a full two weeks of Spring Training games have been played and to start the chatter, here is where I believe things would stand if the season started tomorrow:

Catchers(2): Kratz, Quintero. Ruiz serving his suspension

Infield(6): Howard, Utley, Rollins, Young, Frandsen, Galvis

Outfield: Brown, Revere, Mayberry, Nix, Young.  If Young is not ready for the start of the season, I see Pete Orr making the team, as he can play both the INF and OF and can run.  Ruf simply is too much of a defensive liability at this stage to make the team. He needs to play 50-60 consecutive games in LF in Lehigh Valley. Continue reading Two Weeks In… →

General Discussion – Week of March 4, 2013 COLE HAMELS PROBABLY DOMINATED THE DOM REP TODAY Edition

Yeah, just so you know, I haven’t watched the Phillies versus Dom Rep yet. NO SPOILERS. I’m sure Cole Hamels set down those clowns in like no time, prolly went 6 innings of no hit ball. BOOM HAMELS! *checks Twitter* OH MY GOD HE’S GONE OFF THE RAILS AND WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Discuss.

Minor League Workout Groups

From Baseball Betsy’s site, the minor league workout groups have been posted.

http://baseballbetsy.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/20130303-171146.jpg Continue reading Minor League Workout Groups →

How we stack up: The Construction of a Farm System

There has been a lot of talk about the talent in the Phillies system and how it stacks up against other teams.  So I decided to take a look at two things, where does the talent come from, and what kind of talent is it.  For this exercise I purely used my Baseball America Prospect Handbook to have the same set of evaluators on each team.  For teams, I have used a sample size of 10, the five teams in the NL East and BA’s Top 5 farm systems.  I have adjusted for trades so these lists are slightly different than how they appear in the handbook.  I looked at the data to see if there were any trends that showed how to build a good farm system that the Phillies might be missing on. Continue reading How we stack up: The Construction of a Farm System →

Spring Training: What to watch for?

Let me start off this post by saying that we have a month of spring training left so there is a lot of change to come and all spring training events are small sample size due to the variability of each encounter because the primary objective is to ready oneself for the season.

Spring Training is the time for snap judgments and irrationality, but here are some tips to think about as we go through another month of Spring Training

Context Matters:

Looking at pure stat lines tells you very little.  For example Joseph and Brown hit home runs off a pitcher who has never pitched above hi-A and Asche’s opposite field double should have been caught.  That being said, don’t discount any event, everything is information, the context is an important part of that, don’t leave it out.  To gather the most context, watch/listen to the game (if possible), read play-by-play, read the recaps, and when in doubt just ask, someone probably caught it. Continue reading Spring Training: What to watch for? →

General Discussion – Week of February 25. Who Gets Cut First? Edition

I don’t mean cut, like Ethan Martin sent to minor league camp, but like which Minor League FA or “other” gets released. I will go ahead and guess that it’s Aaron Cook.