The Phillies signed pitcher Brian Bass, most recently a Pirate, to a Minor League contract with an invite to Spring Training. Bass a 6’2 RHP was the 6th round pick of the Royals in the 2000 MLB draft and spent most of the 2010 season with Indianapolis (AAA), in the Pittsburgh organization, In 41 games, Bass was 4-4 with a 3.26 ERA in his 69 innings of work. Bass allowed 74 hits, walked 23 and struck out 53 for a WHIP of 1.40. Matt Gelb of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that he will enter Spring Training as a starting pitcher. Bass last was a starter for an extended period in the 2007 season. Bass has thrown 101 games at the major league level, including 4 last year for the Pirates accruing an ERA of 12.27.
Werth signs with Nationals, Phillies receive draft picks
As you’ve heard, Jayson Werth has signed an eleventy billion year deal for three trillion dollars with the Nationals. The Nats first round pick, #6, is protected, as the top 15 draft picks are every year, so the Phillies will receive the Nats 2nd round pick. Werth was the highest rated available free agent this winter, so the Phillies will receive the first compensation pick of the sandwich round, which this year will be pick #34. So the Phillies will pick #30 and then #34. The 2nd round pick is tougher to determine because a number of compensation picks will be doled out this winter.
Brown returns home from Winter Ball
The plan has changed rather abruptly for Phils top prospect Domonic Brown. Brown was supposed to be spending much of the next three weeks getting the at bats he missed out on riding the Phils bench during the seasons final months. However, after a 2-29 start in his 9 games with Escogido, Brown has returned home reports Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Gelb reported that Phils GM Ruben Amaro stated that Brown was feeling tired and sluggish and as such he was pulled out of the Dominican League. This will obviously lead to additional speculation as to the expected role Brown will be in at the beginning of the 2011 season.
While Brown should certainly contribute in a major way to the 2011 Phillies, the plan as to the manner and timeframe of that contribution could be swaying a bit.
Discussion topic: Opening assignments?
I was thinking about this today. There will likely be some interesting 2011 assignments, some of which will certainly be determined by spring training performance. Here are the guys I’m thinking about now, but feel free to mention any others that you find intriguing.
Josh Zeid – AA maybe?
Cameron Rupp – A? A+?
Phillippe Aumont – AA?
Trevor May – A+?
Justin De Fratus – AAA?
JC Ramirez – AA?
Domingo Santana – SS? A?
Lets hear it.
MILB.COM Organizational All Stars
Milb.com published their list of the Phillies Organizational All Stars last evening, with some notable comments by Chuck LaMar, which I have attached after each listing. Check out the full article at http://www.milb.com .
C Sebastian Valle-“He had a good year and improved in all facets of the game…His receiving, his throwing and his ability to see the whole field and his power is unquestioned. He has improved immensely and definitely a Major League prospect for us.” Honorable Mentions” Joel Naughton, Tim Kennelly Continue reading MILB.COM Organizational All Stars
Winter League Update
A Thanksgiving hiatus for those of us here at Phuture Phillies but we are back at it with updates from the WInter Leagues.
Domonic Brown has gotten off to a slow start in the Dominican, hitting .053 in his first 19 AB’s with 2 RBI’s and 6 strikeouts. This is his first consistent game action since July.
Freddy Galvis is still below the Mendoza line in the Venezulan League, at .188/.291/.229 with 48 AB’s under his belt. The 21 year old SS is making contact with just 5 strikeouts in his 54 plate appearances.
Harold Garcia has taken it up a notch and stands at .294/.368/.324 with 3 RBI’s in 21 games in the Venezuelan League.
Cesar Hernandez, newly added to the 40 man roster is hitting .320/.393/.320 in his first 9 games in Venezuela.
Antonio Bastardo continues his early domination in the Dominican, not allowing an earned run or hot in his first 5 appearances, while striking out 6.
Yohan FLande has made 4 starts in the DOminican and is 1-1 with 4.91 ERA in 18.1 innings of work. He has allowed 22 hits, and walked 5 for a high WHIP of 1.47.
Julio Rodriguez has made 6 starts and is 2-1 with an impressive 3.10 ERA in 29 innings. Opponents are hitting .250 against him and he has struck out 18.
Scheduling updates
Hi everyone. I wanted to give a quick update as to my thought process going forward. The Rule 5 draft is December 9th, and my plan is to start the Reader Top 30 the next day. We’ll do one per day or so during the week. Factor in Christmas and stuff, and we’ll finish sometime in the middle of January. After we finish the Reader Top 30, I’ll unveil my top 30, in detail, and thanks to a suggestion in the comments, I’ll go one spot at a time. With each writeup, I’ll also include a poll question about the prospect, which should hopefully fuel more discussion. In the meantime, I plan on writing a few pieces, and I need to start collecting the data to plug into my spreadsheets to calculate the SONAR scores for 2010. So, look for more articles from me in the coming weeks/months, as well as the start of the Reader Top 30 and then a new approach to my Top 30. As always, thanks for reading!
40 man roster decisions; Spring Training Invites
The Phils have added Justin DeFratus, Freddy Galvis, Harold Garcia, Cesar Hernandez, and Matt Rizzotti to the 40 man roster, thus protecting them from potential exposure in the Rule 5 draft.
Notably left off: Joe Savery, D’Arby Myers and Chris Kissock.
Continue reading 40 man roster decisions; Spring Training Invites
Arizona Fall League Final Report
The Mesa Solar Sox Fall season came to its conclusion yesterday with a 3-1 loss, dropping them to 13-17 on the Fall League season. A look at Phils prospects who played this week:
Matt Rizzotti was 1-9 this week with 4 walks, 5 strikeouts, an RBI and an error. Rizzotti finished the Fall league season with 63 AB’s and hitting .333/500/.365 with 0HR and 12 RBI. He struck out 15 times, walked 22 times and hit .409 with RISP. The downside was his 3 errors at first base and the fact that he only had 2 extra base hits (no homers) during his time in Arizona. Continue reading Arizona Fall League Final Report
Morandini Named Williamsport Manager
The off-season news keeps on coming in what has been a busy week, with former Phillie second baseman Mickey Morandini set to become the coach of the Low A Short Season Williamsport Crosscutters, according to Jim Peters of the Northwest Indiana Times. Morandini had been the head baseball coach at Valpariso High School in Indiana, where he lives with his family. Morandini commented to Peters that “part of the reason I didn’t do it earlier was that I wanted to see my children grow up and coach them…I have done that almost the last 8 years. The Phillies contacted me almost every year since I retired. I told them that eventually I wanted to get back in it. I am not getting any younger, so I figured this was a good time to do it.
Morandini who is a Pennsylvania native, is now 44 and has been out of professional baseball (other than spending some time instructing at Phils Spring Training) since retiring in 2000 after spending 11 seasons in the major leagues. A thank you goes out to Mandy Housenick of the Allentown Morning Call for sending this information our way.
