A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
Teams in competition windows are usually in the business of reducing their amount of minor league talent. It is the cost of obtaining players from other teams, and with team record and spending tied to how teams acquire amateur talent the pipeline is squeezed as well. The really obvious answer to this problem has always … Read more
Just over a day after indicating that they were done making moves, outside of maybe a swing #5 starter/bullpen arm, the Phillies made a big swing. The big pieces are obviously left handed starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo going from the Marlins to the Phillies, and shortstop prospect Starlyn Caba going from the Phillies to the … Read more
I bet if you gave the Phillies front office truth serum their offseason plan would have involved flipping Alec Bohm, Ranger Suarez, and some non top prospects in a series of move that kept the team fairly still from a talent side, but remade the skillset and timeline of the team. They would have ideally … Read more
The winter meetings ends with the Rule 5 draft and while there was a big trade in baseball, the minor moves still occurred. The day started with the Phillies expected to lose as many as 4 players and in the end they lost the one they expected to lose. Major League Phase Minnesota Twins select … Read more
The Rule 5 draft is the highlight (or really in reality, last) thing of the Winter Meetings, occurring on Wednesday, December 11. Teams must set their 40 man and AAA protection rosters by 6pm EDT on Tuesday, November 19. This makes it a movement day for 40 man rosters across the sport, so it will … Read more
The word “window” is used in sports to describe a period of time in which a team is competitive, hopefully for a championship. The implication of a window is that it is open and then it closes, and in sports terms that means a rebuild, and restarting the cycle again. In most sports, a window … Read more
As I mentioned on Monday with the positional rankings, I am trying a fun little ranking experiment. The first thing I do is positional rankings, and I can already see from your results for that poll that you have also created tiered clumps, which is something I find helpful when I then have to think … Read more
The baseball offseason kicked off in earnest on Monday, especially on the minor league side. Teams needed to clear up their 40 man roster and minor league free agents became eligible at the end of the day. That leads to a flurry of claims, trades, additions, and saying good bye. The Cuts Phillies outright RHP … Read more
The major league season is over, free agency is about to begin, and prospect rankings have already arrived at both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus. I have started my own writing, but I am not as proactive as either of those sites (nor do I have a book that I have to make a deadline … Read more
In 2020 and 2021 the Phillies tried desperately to avoid the luxury tax. It came with increased penalties on qualifying offer free agents and money out of John Middleton and other owner’s pockets for not much gain. In 2022, that changed with Dave Dombrowski getting Middleton to jump over the tax line and take the … Read more