Lehigh Valley Weekly Report

7. Lehigh Valley

Another slow start for Lehigh Valley, this time at 3-5, tied for 4th place and 2.5 games behind division leading Syracuse. Still a little early to be looking at league leaders. Look for the feature to begin next week.  See below for notes on propects, transactions, and probable starters.

Monday–The ‘Pigs opened a short two game series in Pawtucket Monday evening and Andrew Carpenter (0-1) was hit hard in his first start of the year, lasting just 3.1 innings and giving up 5 runs on 6 hits in the 6-5 Lehigh Valley loss.  He walked 3 and didnt strike out a batter. Carpenter threw 75 pitches, just 41 for strikes. An RBI triple by John Mayberry gave the ‘Pigs the early lead, but that was quickly answered by Pawtucket who didnt look back. An RBI double by Chris Duffy cut the lead to 6-2, and then a three run ninth made the game close.  John Mayberry led the ‘Pigs at the plate with a 3-4 effort, including a triple and 2 RBI’s. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report →

Roster Shuffling

Other Stuff

With Wilson Valdez being called up to Philadelphia, Lehigh Valley was short an infielder, and called up 28 year old Melvin Dorta from Reading. Dorta has started slowly hitting just .176 thus far on the year, but is a career .269 hitter at the AAA level, spanning three seasons.  Filling Dorta’s role in Reading will be Keoni DeRenne.  Also, activated from the disabled list in Reading is Brian Stavisky, who takes over the roster spot of Quintin Berry as Berry recovers from his infection.

Box Score Roundup; 4/14

Box Score Recap

Before we get to the box scores, two quick notes on “prospects” on the big league team. I got a good look at Antonio Bastardo tonight, and really he’s the same guy he’s always been. He struggled with his command and lost the strike zone a number of times, but also flashed solid fastball velo, hitting 93 a few times and sitting 91-92. He didn’t control it particularly well, but when its around the zone its tough to hit because of the velocity. He didn’t throw many changeups, instead going with his slider. It was inconsistent, but when he snapped off a good one, it was an unhittable pitch. He still lacks consistency with it. David Herndon, on the other hand, looked excellent, and this was probably his best appearance I’ve seen from him. His fastball had excellent life, sitting 90-93, and he kept it out of the middle of the plate. He really didn’t need his secondary offerings, as his fastball was sinking and moving and he disposed of the three Nats hitters he faced with great ease. That’s 4 scoreless appearances for him. Because Kendrick has options, he will surely go to AAA when Blanton returns. Bastardo might make way for Romero, again because he has options. The decision on what to do when Lidge comes back will be tougher, but I have to think the Phillies would want to work out a deal with Los Angeles for Herndon’s rights, allowing them to keep him on the 40 man but take him off the 25 man and option him down. He certainly won’t clear waivers at this point, and the Angels would almost definitely take him back. Now, onto the box scores…

Continue reading Box Score Roundup; 4/14 →

Rollins to DL, Valdez Called Up

Other Stuff

As expected, Jimmy Rollins was placed on the 15 day DL today with what is being described as a calf strain.  It was estimated that Rollins would miss anywhere from 2-4 weeks with the injury. Wilson Valdez was called up from Lehigh Valley to take Rollins spot on the active roster.  Valdez did have to be moved onto the 40 man roster, and the Phils now stand at the full compliment of 40. The 32 year old Valdez has spent parts of 4 seasons in the majors and is a career .222 hitter in the majors in 369 plate appearances.  Valdez, a career .299 hitter in AAA, saw some time with the Mets last season when Jose Reyes went down with his myriad of injuries.  He plays primarily SS, but can play 2B as well. Valdez started off the season very hot for Lehigh Valley hitting .455 in his 22 at bats.  Look for additional Minor League transactions today here if they become available.

Box Score Roundup; April 13th

Box Score Recap

It wasn’t a banner evening down on the farm tonight, as you’ll see with the box scores. But one thing I wanted to address, before it becomes a topic for discussion. Don’t worry about any slow starters in the first week, two weeks or three weeks. Some guys start slow, some guys start fast. It’s not really worth being overly concerned about anyone until at least May. Tyson Gillies was drawing rave reviews from scouts like 3 weeks ago, he didn’t forget how to play the game in 3 weeks. Things will turn around. Now, onto the lines

Continue reading Box Score Roundup; April 13th →

Implications of Rollins possibly hitting the DL

Galvis, Freddy

I received a number of e-mails today asking me if I thought the Phillies would entertain the idea of Freddy Galvis coming up from AA to play SS should Rollins go on the DL. My immediate reaction was “no chance”, and even after I started to actually think about it more, and wonder if it was plausible, my response is still the same; no chance. Galvis turned 20 in November, and though he reached AA last year, his career batting line in the minors is .235/.284/.288. Yes, his glove is big league ready. Yes, he wouldn’t be expected to carry the slack for Rollins offensively. But he’s not ready to hit major league pitching, and despite his solid start at Reading, I don’t know many people who thought he was even ready to hit AA pitching, let alone MLB pitching. While its likely that he’d be very good defensively, the Phillies signed Juan Castro because they believed he could legitimately hold down SS if something happened to Rollins. Galvis doesn’t have to be placed on the 40 man roster till after the 2010 season. Calling him up now adds him to the 40 man, and it would burn up his first option year. It just doesn’t make sense.

Bocock would seem like the most logical choice to fill the bench MI spot. Galvis is where he belongs right now, getting regular AB’s and trying to adjust to AA pitching.

Quintin Berry to the DL

Other Stuff

The recent questions about the lack of playing time for Quintin Berry have been answered as the Reading OF has been placed on the DL with an infection.  No immediate information as to who will replace him on the Reading roster, but I would suspect it will be either Brian Stavisky, who is currently on the DL or Steve Susdorf, who is currently down in CLearwater.

Box Score Roundup; April 12th

Box Score Recap

Welcome to the box score roundup. My goal is to publish just a bare bones recap of the night’s action every night and then have that serve as the springboard for discussion during the following day. As always, I ask that you keep the discussion on the site prospect relevant, but I’ll basically just create one of these per day, you can use it to talk about the previous night’s action, and then if side conversations break off relating to prospects, so be it. Gregg is going to put up new posts during the day if something newsworthy breaks, as he did today with the BJ Rosenberg to the DL post. I’ll write posts during the week if something major happens and I want to give my spin on it, and as I mentioned last night in my weekly notes column, I’m hoping to have a long piece once a week. We should have affiliate reports for the 4 full season affiliates throughout the year, hopefully Jeff pops in from Clearwater every once in a while, and lots of other stuff. But for now, let’s get to the box scores, check below…

Continue reading Box Score Roundup; April 12th →

Rosenberg to DL

Other Stuff

As speculated, something wasn’t right with Reading reliever BJ ROsenberg, and it was specifically his right lat.  Rosenberg has been hit hard in both outings this season, and his last three if the exhibition against the “Pigs is included. He was placed on the DL today with a right lat strain according to Reading Phillies Media Relations Director Tommy Viola.  Schwimer and Stutes should be seeing most if not all save situations for the time being I would think.

Sunday/Monday notes column, 1st edition

Weekly Notes Column

My goal is for this post to become a recurring weekly feature, where I kind of work on a longer piece and post it sometime Sunday night/Monday morning, kind of just going over some things I’ve noticed, some trends I might see developing, and things to watch for as we progress through another minor league season. As the draft gets closer, I might throw some draft tidbits in there, and just basically a bunch of other stuff. I know that my output here has been sporadic, sometimes its a whole lot, sometimes its not much, and I want this to serve as my weekly reminder to make time for the site and stay involved. Gregg and everyone else do a fantastic job here, and I’m eternally grateful, but just as a parent sometimes gets jealousy of the bond with the nanny/caretaker, I sometimes feel like I need to be a responsible parent to the baby I’ve created here. So lets get started…

Continue reading Sunday/Monday notes column, 1st edition →