A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
Matt Winkelman 
Much of writing about prospects is about hope and optimism for the future. However, it can also be about failure and what that means and what the paths out of it are. It is no secret that the Phillies system is down compared to where it was a few years ago. Some of that has … Read more
We want baseball development to be clean and linear, but it is messy and all over the place. A pitcher may only be a good secondary pitch away from becoming a major league starter, but that may be a totally different grip that a coach might introduce. A teenager could still be waiting on achieving … Read more
Not every prospect that will set foot on a major league field will be an impact player. The drafts under Johnny Almaraz have done a very good job of finding players who look like major league contributors regardless of the round they were drafted in. Pitchers like Kyle Dohy and Zach Warren may have been … Read more
The Phillies farm system has certainly taken its beatings over the past few years. Some of it has been good, like the graduations of Rhys Hoskins, Jorge Alfaro, Nick Pivetta, Nick Williams, Scott Kingery, J.P. Crawford, Seranthony Dominguez, and others. Some has been bad, like the injuries to Sixto Sanchez, the stagnation of high picks, … Read more
The Phillies offseason goals clearly revolve around the final signing location of Manny Machado and Bryce Harper. As much as the Phillies talk about it being a success if they don’t sign one of the two superstars, the truth is that it is very hard road to respectability without signing either. What the Phillies have … Read more
This morning was the Rule 5 draft and the end of the Winter Meetings. The Phillies had a full roster in terms of paths for a Rule 5 player reaching the major league roster, so them taking a layer for themselves was unlikely. It would be a big win if the Phillies could turn that … Read more
The winter meetings are almost over, which means our anxiety over rumors will go back to just normal jittery and not Twitter whiplash. It also means that tomorrow morning will be the Rule 5 draft. The Phillies have long been active in the draft, with some high profile successes. With a major league team loaded … Read more
The Phillies made their first move of what should be a busy offseason by trading former first round pick and many time top prospect J.P. Crawford along with Carlos Santana to the Seattle Mariners for SS Jean Segura, RHP Juan Nicasio, and LHP James Pazos. For all of turmoil that got the deal to this … Read more
We are starting to enter the season of ordered lists of prospects. I have started on mine and have had a few run past me, and there is something very evident, the Phillies system is kind of dull. It isn’t surprising that they will likely be in the middle 10 of prospect lists this offseason. … Read more
Last night was the deadline for teams to add prospects to their 40 man rosters to protect them from the Rule 5 draft. As expected, the Phillies added RHP Adonis Medina, RHP Edgar Garcia, and SS Arquimedes Gamboa. The additions bring their roster to 38, though it is functionally 37 with Justin Bour reportedly put … Read more