A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
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
The Glendale Desert Dogs and the Phillies on the roster have now played 17 games. RHP Wen Hui Pan has yet to appear in a game and IF Otto Kemp is currently second in the league in OPS. All of that really sort of pales in relation to the return of Andrew Painter to the … Read more
Buddy Kennedy, Kody Clemens, Rafael Marchan, Kolby Allard, Tyler Gilbert, Cal Stevenson, Freddy Tarnok, Jose Ruiz, Rodolfo Castro, Tyler Phillips, Yunior Marte What those 11 players have in common is that they have no more remaining minor league options and no firm grip on a roster spot. The Phillies currently have 43 players occupying 40 … Read more
The minor league season is over, but there was some news and notes over the last week plus. Arizona Fall League The Phillies are sending 9 players to the Arizona Fall League this year. None of them are Andrew Painter, which is disappointing to some, but is not unsurprising given where he is in his … Read more
Some Awards I Made Up Hitter of the Year: Otto Kemp, IF This could easily be Keaton Anthony, Justin Crawford, Aidan Miller, or Eduardo Tait, but I went Kemp and his .285/.392/.489 line. Kemp played at 3 different levels (4 if you include rehabbing in Clearwater) and was often the best hitter on each team. … Read more