is….Oscar Villareal. The 29 year old right handed reliver is best known for the several years he spent in the Arizona organization, including years of moderate to good production in the mid to late innings for the Diamondbacks. He is coming off of Tommy John surgery, but is a nice “depth” signing to add into the bullpen mix. He last pitched in the majors in 2008 for the Astros, going 1-3 with a 5.02 ERA in 35 appearances, and spent last season recovering from his surgery. Villareal has thrown over 75 innings in relief three separate seasons, with his ERA below 4.25 in each of those years.
Reader Top 30; #23
Jon Pettibone wins the runoff for #21, so he takes that spot with Yohan Flande sliding in at #22. There were a number of write in votes for #21, including Julio Rodriguez, John Mayberry Jr, Austin Hyatt, Michael Schwimer, and Jesus Sanchez. Rodriguez and Mayberry were written in before I believe, so I’ll go ahead and add those two guys to the voting this round. If you want to vote for someone not on the ballot, please vote other, and then in the comments type “OTHER – and your player here” so I can record it. Thanks.
Signings, Next Round
With just 16 days until pitchers and catchers report to Clearwater, the Phillies continue to fill their holes on the minor league rosters with players who are minor league veterans and most who have had a cup of coffee at the major league level. Lehigh Valley should be welcoming back 33 year old Left handed starter Brian Mazone for his third season in Allentown. Mazone was probably the IronPigs steadiest starter in 2008, going 9-12 with a 4.10 ERA in his 164.2 IP. After a brief stint in the Dodgers organization at the beginning of last season he rejoined the IronPigs mid season and was 2-6 with a 3.50 ERA in his 11 starts late in the year. Mazone brings experience and a consistent left handed arm to join lefty Joe Savery in the Lehigh Valley rotation. Continue reading Signings, Next Round
Reader Top 30; runoff for #21/22
The voting for #21 was separated by only 1 vote, and as I mentioned, I want to speed up this process a bit because spring training is closing in and we still have stuff to cover here, including my top 30, figuring out assignments for 2010 and a bunch of other stuff. So we’ll do a run-off for #21 between Jon Pettibone and Yohan Flande. The loser becomes #22, and then we add 2 new names for #23. Check below for the poll
Reader Top 30; #21
Joe Savery edges out the voting for #20 by a very slim margin, just ahead of both Yohan Flande and Jon Pettibone. Another runoff could have been in order, but I’m just going to go with Savery here since he’s leading, and then the vote can go on as scheduled for #21. The voting between Flande and Pettibone should be interesting, and Leandro Castro was close behind. Kelly Dugan and Julio Rodriguez each got a write-in vote that I saw, Dugan gets the edge because he was the first name listed. So check below for the next round.
Brody Colvin arrested
Check it here. Sounds like he got into a bar fight. Hopefully the people within the organization get him some help in terms of anger management. They could also give him Cole Hamels’ phone number, he might be able to lend some insight. This is probably nothing to get too concerned about, hes a kid, and kids make mistakes. But its worth mentioning nonetheless.
Reader Top 30; #20
We’re going to move things along a bit more quickly now that we’re getting closer to spring training, so we’ll do one poll a day. Mike Stutes edges out the pack for #19. I just very briefly scanned the comments, and Drew Carpenter was the only write in vote I saw, so I’ll add him to this round. Check below for more
Four Phillies scouting reports from BA
This content is free to view, so I’ll link it here. BA profiles Aaron Altherr, Harold Garcia, Troy Hanzawa and Anthony Hewitt on their “32nd player team” which is a list of guys who just missed the cut for the annual Top 30’s, and then missed the cut for #31, which they also include if you buy their book directly from BA. Altherr is the most interesting guy on the list, and a guy I’m interested to see in 2010, though I suspect he’s going to go through plenty of growing pains.
SONAR takes on 3B prospects
The third installment of the SONAR position by position breakdown focuses on the hot corner, looking at the best 3B prospects in the game and how they fared with my newly created metric. if you’re new to the whole SONAR concept, I recommend you start here, then check out the report for first base and second base. Third base has its difficulties, just like the up the middle positions, because the defensive value dropoff from 3B to the positions further down the defensive spectrum is steep, especially the drop from 3B to 1B, which is a common transition for some slow footed sluggers. Check below the fold and we’ll dig right in
Phils Sign Bocock to Minor League Deal
The Phils signed 24 year old SS Brian Bocock, out of the Giants organization to a minor league deal today. Bocock spent last season primarily with Class A Advanced San Jose and hit .241/.303/.339 in 430 AB’s with 3 HR and 48 RBI. He was originally a 9th round pick of the Giants in the 2006 draft and saw some time in the majors in 2008 with the injury depleted Giants. He hit .143 in his 77major league at bats. Bocock provides depth at best for the Phils affiliates as they have lost Miguel Cairo, Jason Donald, JJ Furmaniak and Brad Harmon, among others from the ranks of the middle infield.
