Lee "In Shock"

I think I would feel better about losing Lee if everything I heard about there being no chance he would resign with the Phils were true. What the Phils are saying, take it for what its worth, is that it was a baseball decision and they only traded Lee because they gave up 7 of their top 10 prospects. Lee's words after the jump.

“My initial reaction was shock and disbelief.  Initially, I was disappointed because making it to the World Series was a lot of fun, and I was looking forward to making a third run at it.
At first I didn’t believe it, because I thought that we were working out an extension with the Phillies and I thought that I was going to spend the rest of my career there…This goes to show this is a business, and you never know what’s going to happen until you have a full no-trade clause.”
Why do you think it an extension didn’t work out?
“There was not enough dialogue. (Also) They had an opportunity to get the best pitcher in baseball, and I can’t blame them for choosing Roy Halladay over me…I was under the impression they would keep me for a long time.
I’m going to be as positive as I can, and go over there and try to make it to the World Series with those guys…it’s a new chapter. I’ve got to go to the Mariners and make the best of it. I’m going to go in with an open mind and do everything I can.” (martino)

These prospects the Phillies got in return for Lee may very well turn out to be good players but the Phils could have received 2 first round picks if Lee walked in 2010. Drafting above slot this summer could also have helped quickly replenish the system. Players want to come to Philly - high school and college kids will to. Damn - how good would a Halladay-Lee-Hamels-Blanton-Happ rotation have looked.

I'll stop bitching about losing Lee soon enough but not quite yet.
Here are the before and after top 10's

Top 10 Before Top 10 After
1. Domonic Brown, of 1. Domonic Brown, of

2. Kyle Drabek, rhp* 2. Trevor May, rhp

3. Michael Taylor, of* 3. Anthony Gose, of

4. Travis D'Arnaud, c* 4. Sebastian Valle, c

5. Trevor May, rhp 5. Phillippe Aumont, rhp**

6. Anthony Gose, of 6. Jarred Cosart, rhp

7. Sebastian Valle, c 7. Antonio Bastardo, lhp

8. Jarred Cosart, rhp 8. Tyson Gillies, of**

9. Antonio Bastardo, lhp 9. Domingo Santana, of

10. Domingo Santana, of 10. Scott Mathieson, rhp


Read More

On the Pharm

Thanks to CSNPHILLY for breaking down the new prospects received in the Blockbuster. Read it here

Phillipe Aumont, who was the 11th pick in the 2007 draft, is similar in style to Jason Knapp, whom the Phillies traded to Cleveland in July as part of the previous Lee deal. He’s long and lanky and brings it in the low-to-mid 90s. He’s not anywhere as polished as Drabek and, like Knapp, is nowhere near ready to pitch in the upper levels of the minor leagues let alone the Major Leagues.

Though drafted as a starter, the Mariners moved Aumont to the bullpen in 2009, his first full season in pro ball. Aumont, who will turn 20 next month, was 2-6 with a 3.88 ERA in a combined 44 appearances at High Desert of the Class-A California League and West Tennessee of the Double-A Southern League.

He had 16 saves, only four of them coming in the Southern League. He had a 5.09 ERA in 17 2/3 innings at West Tenn.

Tyson Gillies, is legally deaf and wears a hearing aid in each ear, led the Cal League with 44 steals. He finished second in hits [170], OBP [.430], runs scored [104] and triples [14]. He was third in hitting [.341] and also led the league after getting thrown out trying to steal 19 times.

Gillies relies on his speed, no doubt, but how he fares outside of the offensive-minded Cal League will be more telling. The Eastern League, where he will likely be playing in 2010, is a grinding league.

Juan Ramirez, turned 21 in August and also spent the entire season in the Cal League, going 8-10 with a 5.12 ERA in 28 games [27 starts]. Like Gillies, a truer indication of how he’ll fare will come in 2010 in the Eastern League. The Cal League shreds young pitchers and it is rare that any one can step in and succeed at the high altitudes and bandbox ballparks.

He also has some control issues – he hit 17 batters in 2009 and uncorked 14 wild pitches. Like Aumont, though, he has a lively low-to-mid 90s fastball that occasionally creeps into the upper 90s. Ramirez simply needs to figure out how to control it.


There you go, these are your new phils of the future.

Also - (philled in) with some good stuff on the prospects.

Read More

Minor League Report

A quick update on how some Phils prospects are faring down on the farm.

AAA
Drew Carpenter 6 IP 2 R 6 K's (last night), improves to 9-2 for the Pigs with a 2.72 ERA
John Mayberry 1-2 2 BB's, SB (last night), .248 avg
Michael Taylor 0-5, K (last night).243 3 HR, 11 RBI at Lehigh Valley after hitting .333 with 15 HRs at Reading.

AA
Pedro Martinez 6 IP 3 R 11 K's (last night) Next stop most likely Philly
Dominic (Domonic?) Brown 2-4 2 R, 2 RBI's, 2B, HR, .286
Scott Mathieson (remember him?) 2 IPs, 0 R (last night)

AA-Kyle Drabek is 7-1, 3.42 ERA. The hefty lefty (Mike Zagurski) is 2-3 with a 3.76, Vance Worley is 7-8 with a 5.11.

AAA-Joe Savery (recently promoted) is 1-0, 6 IPs, 1 R, after going 12-4 at Reading.
Read More

3 Phils among Top 30 prospects

OF Michael Taylor (20), OF Dominic Brown (24) SP Kyle Drabek (26) are among MLB.com's top 50 prospects. It is pretty incredible how the Phillies acquired Cliff Lee without giving any of these players. Tampa leads the way with 5 players among the top 50. The Texas Rangers have 4 and along with the Phillies, the O's, Marlins, Indians (in part thanks to the Phillies) and the BoSox all have 3. Except for Philly and the Sox, the rest of those teams have been pretty bad for the better part of the last 5 years or so. Carlos Carrasco and Lou Marson were on the preseason top 50 but have dropped off. Jason Knapp is #39


1 Jason Heyward ATL OF
2 Madison Bumgarner SF LHP
3 Mike Stanton FLA OF
4 Justin Smoak TEX 1B
5 Buster Posey SF C
6 Neftali Feliz TEX RHP
7 Chris Tillman BAL RHP
8 Brian Matusz BAL LHP
9 Jarrod Parker ARI RHP
10 Tim Beckham TB SS
11 Alcides Escobar MIL SS
12 Jesus Montero NYY C
13 Matt LaPorta CLE 1B
14 Wade Davis TB RHP
15 Freddie Freeman ATL 1B
16 Jake Arrieta BAL RHP
17 Jeremy Hellickson TB RHP
18 Yonder Alonso CIN 1B
19 Brett Wallace OAK 3B
20 Michael Taylor PHI OF
21 Carlos Santana CLE C
22 Desmond Jennings TB OF
23 Austin Jackson NYY OF
24 Dominic Brown PHI OF
25 Logan Morrison FLA 1B
26 Kyle Drabek PHI RHP
27 Jason Castro HOU C
28 Pedro Alvarez PIT 3B
29 Mike Moustakas KC SS/3B
30 Eric Hosmer KC 1B
31 Josh Vitters CHI 3B
32 Lars Anderson BOS 1B
33 Tim Alderson PIT RHP
34 Ben Revere MIN OF
35 Christian Friedrich COL LHP
36 Aaron Hicks MIN OF
37 Casey Kelly BOS RHP/SS
38 Martin Perez TEX LHP
39 Jason Knapp CLE RHP
40 Matt Dominguez FLA 3B
41 Michael Bowden BOS RHP
42 Peter Bourjos LAA OF
43 Pedro Borbon TEX OF
44 Mat Latos SD RHP
45 Jhoulys Chacin COL RHP
46 Jennry Mejia NYM RHP
47 Derek Norris WAS C
48 Jaff Decker SD OF
49 Matt Moore TB LHP
50 Angel Villalona SF 1B



.
Read More

Drabek, Flande Throw Well at Future's Game

Reading Phillies pitchers Kyle Drabek (US) and Yohan Flande (World) each pitched a scoreless inning Sunday in the All-Star Futures Game in St. Louis.

Drabek recorded a perfect second inning, after 4 hours of rain delay, needing just 10 pitches to retire three batters, including a strikeout. Flande allowed a pair of singles in his scoreless inning and struck out two. The World defeated the U.S. 7-5

Drabek's outs included a strikeout of Luis Durango, a career .335 hitter with two minor-league batting titles from the Padres organization, and a routine fly ball by Alcides Escobar, Milwaukee's highly regarded triple-A shortstop.

I would love to see Drabek called up, '08 David Price style. He could be a pretty nasty secret weapon out of the bullpen. His workload will probably scare the Phillies out of using him as a starter in September but he probably could do that too if needed, due to his Tommy John'd arm. Before I start getting called a hypocrite, let me say that I would move him right back to the rotation after the season ends.
Read More

R-Phils All-Stars

4 Reading Phillies will play in the Eastern League All-Star game in Trenton on July 15th. The Phillies are 3B Neil Sellers, OF Michael Taylor, SP Vance Worley and SP Joe Savery

Savery leads the EL with 10 wins and ranks 4th with 84.2 IP. Overall he’s 10-1 with a 3.08 ERA. He’s allowed 70 H, 29 R, 29 ER, 39 BB and struck out 58. The Phillies first-round draft pick from Rice University in 2007 (19th overall), has won 10 straight decisions and has not lost since April 16.

Sellers .300 average leads EL third baseman. His 8 HR and 44 RBI are T-1st at his position. His .834 OPS is 2nd. He’s played every game this season. Sellers was acquired by the Phillies in the Minor League phase of the Rule 5 Draft from Houston.

Taylor leads the league in hitting with a.348 average, is T-3rd with 14 HR and second with 56 RBI. He’s first in hits (94), 5th in OBP (.414), second in slugging (.596) and 2nd in OPS (1.009). He’s also stolen 14 bases and notched six outfield assists while playing both left and right field. Taylor was the Phillies 5th round draft choice in 2007 out of Stanford University.

Worley began this season in the EL after being drafted in 2008. The last Phillies Minor Leaguer to do that was Pat Burrell, drafted in 1998 and in Reading for Opening Day 1999. The last pitcher to do so was Randy Wolf, drafted in 1997 and in Reading for Opening Day 1998. Worley is 2nd in the EL with 89.1 IP. He’s 5-4 with a 3.63 ERA. He’s allowed 76 H, 40 R, 36 ER, 29 BB and struck out 61. Worley was the Phillies 3rd round pick last year out of Long Beach State University.

The way that the Phillies are playing - Bring them all the hell up.

Thanks to pbase.com for the Ryan Howard Reading Phils pic...
.
Read More

Who's Next?

It might happen this week, Phillies fans. We may actually get to see Carlos Carrasco pitch in the big leagues. Shocking, I know, but definitely a possibility. With Antonio Bastardo being placed on the 15-day DL with a shoulder strain, the Phils are likely to call up either Carrasco or Andrew Carpenter to take his place through the All-Star break. Carpenter does have limited big league experience, he pitched on May 16th of this season for the Phillies against the Nationals, going 4.1 innings and giving up 5 runs on 8 hits. Carrasco has been one of the Phils most highly publicized minor leaguers over the past few years, but as he has struggled this year questions have begun to surface as to what role he would fill with the club. Here are his stats on the year:

2009 Season
4-7, 4.92 ERA, 15 GS, 86.0 IP, 95 H, 54 R, 47 ER, 25 BB, 84 SO, .271 AVG

Not terrible – not good either. Here are Carpenter’s:

2009 Season
7 -1, 2.75 ERA, 14 GS, 88.1 IP, 82H, 32 R, 27 ER, 26 BB, 61 K, .251 AVG

Better - most notably in the ERA department. He’s my choice.

I have been itching to see Carrasco get a shot with the Fightins for a long time now and would enjoy seeing him get the chance to prove himself, but Carpenter appears to give the Phils the best shot at winning, an elusive feat for the club lately. I don’t expect either to set the world on fire for the next two weeks, but I do expect them to give the team a chance to win. I’ve been down on the Phils lately, and maybe one of these two will be the shot in the arm the team needs to get going again. Stranger things have happened, right? Ex: Kyle Kendrick winning 11 games in 2008. Discuss.

Who would you like to see start in place of Bastardo?

Go Phils! Read More

Savery improves to 8-1 in AA

2007 1st round draft pick Joe Savery pitched 6 shutout innings in Monday mornings 5-2 win over the Harrisburg Senators. Savery improved to 8-1 on the season. Going into this season Savery had been a major dissapointment after saying that he wanted to contibute to the '08 Phillies and have a starting job by '09. Savery was 9-10 in Single A Clearwater last year and was only bumped up to Reading because he was a former 1st round pick. He seems to have put it together this year and is pitching the way the Phillies hoped when they drafted him 19th overall. He is another guy to keep an eye on.

A good article by Marcus Hayes in todays Philly Daily News.

Read More

Recap

Mets 6 Phillies 5: The Phillies hit 4 home runs off of Johan Santana but the bullpen could not hold a 4-3 lead, on the way to a 6-5 loss. The Phillies are now 1-5 aginst the Mets and 0-3 at Tax payer Field. Before the game, the Phillies announced that they put Closer Brad Lidge on the 15 day DL. Ryan Madsen will take over closer responsibilities while Lidge is out. Phils called up AA catcher Paul Bako.

Magic 108 Lakers 104: The Orlando Magic won game 3 of the NBA Finals Tuesday. Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis each scored 21 to pace the Magic. Orlando shot an NBA Finals record 75% from the field in the Second Quarter on their way to their first ever NBA Finals Win. Kobe had a chance to tie the game late in the 4th but had the ball stolen from him. In 76ers news: The 76ers acquired sharp-shooter Jason Kapono from the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Reggie Evans. Jason Kapono struggled mightily in the Raptors system because he is not capable of creating his own shot but the Sixers hope he will fit in to Eddie Jordans motion offense where he will be able to run off screens, catch and shoot. I play better defense then this guy though.

Penguins 2 Red Wings 1: The Pittsburgh Penguins jumped out to a 2-0 lead and held off a late Wings barrage to lock up the series at 3 heading to Game 7 on Friday night. Nothing better than a Game 7. Might break out the good beer for this one.

Minors: Kyle Drabek gave up 2 runs in 5 innings but also walked 5 in a 5-4 Win over Trenton. Drabek moves to 2-0 at Reading. Carlos Carrasco gave up 6 runs in 3 innings in a 7-4 loss to Louisville, to drop to 1-7 for the Iron Pigs.

Amateur Draft: The Phillies drafted outfielder/1B Kelly Dugan and outfielder Kyrell Hudson with their 2nd and 3rd round picks. Both figure to be future bums in the eyes of Sec202. The Phillies forfeited their first round pick when they signed Raul Ibanez. Dugan has signed with Pepperdine and Hudson has signed on with Oregon State to play baseball and football. Both will have to decide to either forgo college or sign with the Phillies. The draft resumes today at noon. The Phillies next pick is in the fourth rd 137, overall. Read More

Are the Phillies Good Enought to Make the Playoffs?

With the 2009 season under way and the Phillies at the top of the NL East will the defending Champs repeat, or even make the playoffs with what they have right now? For one the offense is there, and I think for the next couple of years the Phils will be at the top in offensive categories. We all know that they can hit. Jimmy Rollins is off to a slow start and let’s hope that he will come around cause he is a key part to the top of that batting order. Is Jayson Werth an everyday player? I know he started out hot, but does he have what it takes to make that transition into an everyday player? He really struggles against righties and that could be a problem down the stretch, especially if the Phils are in a pennant race. If he continues to struggle against righties do the Phils have to go out and get an extra outfielder perhaps?

Now for the terrible starting pitching. We have the absolute worst starting pitching in baseball. Outside of Hamels and Myers the Phils’ staff is awful. They are 2nd in the NL in earned runs allowed, and 2nd to last in team ERA in front of the lowly Nationals with a team ERA of 5.34. Lets face the facts - Moyer is old and coming to the end of his career. You cannot count on him to pitch 200+ innings this year and you would be stupid to think that he will not land on the DL at some point this year. Joe Blanton has done nothing for the Phils this year - yea he pitched good enough last year to win or keep the Phils in games, big deal. Chan Ho Park needs to retire or go to the pen. He is not a #5 starter. Then there is this untouchable prospect that has a 6.62 ERA and doesn’t have a win yet in the minors. This guy needs to be traded immediately before he gets any worse, he hasn't proven anything in his years as a Phillie.

If the Phils are gonna make it back to the postseason they are going to have to acquire another right handed bat and a front of the rotation pitcher. The Phillies have a lot of trade bait to acquire a big name pitcher with Donald down in the minors, who by the way has zero chance at making it with this team since Utley and Rollins hold it down up the middle. Trade that bum Carrasco, and also see if there are any takers for the other bum Kendrick.

Read More