Interview with Marek Minařík

* Interviews

Thanks to JKEARSE for another short interview with an under the radar Phillies prospect.

On May 7th, 2010 the Phillies signed a tall, sixteen year old righty out of the Czech Republic. Marek Minařík, now seventeen years old, was courted by multiple teams after an appearance at the MLB European Academy Tryouts in Prague. Not much is known about the right hander, but he did play in an Australian league along with ex-Phillies prospect Todd Van Steensel and current Phils prospect Josh Warner, posting a 2.18 ERA in just under 21 innings, along with a 1-0 record and 16 strikeouts. Minařík is an interesting prospect because there is still time for him to grow height wise and can already hit 91 MPH on his fastball. Thanks to Marek for his time!

Check below for the interview

Continue reading Interview with Marek Minařík →

2011 Reader Top 30, #3

2011 Reader Top 30

Moving on, with Jon Singleton comfortably taking the number 2 spot. I’m not going to add another name to the ballot at this point, since its not really necessary. If you want to write in someone, vote OTHER, and then put your vote in the comments. Here we go.

1. Domonic Brown, OF
2. Jon Singleton, 1B/OF
3.

Phillies sign Cliff Lee

Transactions

I’m breaking from tradition. We deserve it, especially after I spent a year quelling all of the Cliff Lee talk on this site.

Phillies traded Lee on December 14th, 2009 for 3 prospects. They then signed Roy Halladay.
1 Year later, they re-signed Lee to a 5 year deal. We essentially rented him out for a year, received 3 prospects, plus the best pitcher in baseball, and then we got him back.

Beyond amazing.

Discuss!

Baseball America Top 10

Top Prospect Lists
  1. Domonic Brown
  2. Jonathan Singleton
  3. Brody Colvin
  4. Jarred Cosart
  5. Trevor May
  6. Sebastian Valle
  7. Jiwan James
  8. Jesse Biddle
  9. Domingo Santana
  10. Aaron Altherr

Let the debate begin!

2011 Reader Top 30, #2

2011 Reader Top 30

In less than surprising news, Domonic Brown took the #1 spot in a rout, so we’ll move on to #2 now and things should get more interesting now. Just a few reminders. If you want to write in someone not listed in the poll, vote for OTHER, and then give your choice in the comment section. Lets just get right to it.

1. Domonic Brown, OF
2.

2011 Reader Top 30, #1

2011 Reader Top 30

We may as well start this one now, since I don’t envision it even being close. For those of you new to the site, here’s how it works. We start with #1 and work our way to #30. Once a player wins the vote for a spot, you can’t vote for him again. Obviously. Most votes will be open for 2 days before a new one is opened up. In the event that the voting for a spot is within a few votes, a run-off will be done, the winner gets the first spot, the runner up gets the 2nd spot, and we move on down the line. Its easy, you’ll get the hang of it. Also, if you decide to vote “Other”, make sure you include who you are voting for in the comments section of the post.

So, here we go.

1.

Phillies take utility man Mike Martinez in the Rule 5 draft

Rule 5 Draft

I was going to do a bigger writeup on him, but I’ll save the words. As you can see from his track record, he has a limited offensive skill set. His batting average has fluctuated wildly, he doesn’t draw many walks, strikes out a fair amount, and hes capable of swiping a few bases. His greatest strength is his ability to play all over the field. With Wilson Valdez making the league minimum in 2011, it would seem Martinez will be in camp to compete for the 25th spot on the roster. The Phillies will, almost assuredly, go with 13 position players and 12 pitchers. So…

C (2) Ruiz, Schneider
INF (5) Howard, Utley, Rollins, Polanco, Valdez
OF (4) Ibanez, Victorino, Francisco, Gload

SP (5) Halladay, Hamels, Oswalt, Worley, Blanton
RP (6) Lidge, Madson, Contreras, Reyes, Baez, Bastardo

That’s 22 of 25 spots. If Brown makes the team, or if another OF is brought in, that is 5, and will leave one spot open for a utility infielder. Last year, Dobbs would have been the extra infielder. So Martinez could fill that role. Who knows. The roster is still wide open, 3 spots are uncertain. We’ll see what happens.

Hardball Times Top 10 Prospects

Top Prospect Lists

The Harball Times published its Phillies Top 10 today–usually a good source of major league info, but the inclusion of Villar on this list makes detracts from credibility on the minors side (as does the inclusion of Worley as a Top 10).  There are brief writeups on each guy on the site.

  1. Domonic Brown
  2. Jonathan Singleton
  3. Jarred Cosart
  4. Trevor May
  5. Brody Colvin
  6. Vance Worley
  7. Sebastian Valle
  8. J.C. Ramirez
  9. Jesse Biddle
  10. Domingo Santana

(Note:  THT corrected the list and removed Jonathan Villar–everyone slotted up one and Santana was added.)

Rule 5 draft discussion

Rule 5 Draft

Here is where we can discuss the Rule 5 draft tomorrow. Will any Phillies prospects (Savery, Myers, E Garcia, Brummett, Kennelly) be taken? Will the Phillies take anyone? I’m sure they will. Here are the guys that interest me. My assumption is we’d take another possible bullpen piece, as there won’t be much room on the roster to carry a position player who won’t really get a chance to play.

Wynn Pelzer, RHP (BAL)
Aneury Rodriguez, RHP (TAM)
Michael Dubee, RHP (PIT)
Josh Wall, RHP (LAD)
Zech Zinicola, RHP (WAS)
Dylan Axelrod, RHP (CHW)
Yohan Pino, RHP (CLE)

Full list of eligible guys here.

Phillies release Jesus Sanchez and Yohan Flande

Transactions

Per Matt Gelb on the twitter.

I would imagine this is to clear space in case they see someone they like in the Rule 5 draft.

I have no issues with letting Flande go, but I think Sanchez had some potential as a reliever. Maybe they can bring him back on a minor league deal. I’m sure they’ll try to, actually.