A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
Matt Winkelman 
Ever since J.P. Crawford broke onto the scene Freddy Galvis’ days at shortstop were numbered. After the Phillies traded Jimmy Rollins in the winter of 2014, Galvis held down the Phillies’ shortstop job. His reputation was for a good glove and not much bat. Galvis’ glove was inconsistent in 2015, but in 2016 and 2017 … Read more
This morning was the Rule 5 draft. As was indicated all week after the Phillies waived Cam Perkins and Engelb Vielma, the Phillies made their selection at #3. They selected Twins former 1st round pick, RHP Nick Burdi. Burdi is a hard throwing reliever with high upside. However, after missing most of 2016 to injury, … Read more
The Winter Meetings end with the Rule 5 draft. The draft is rarely impactful, with probably the best recent player being the Phillies own Odubel Herrera. The next year the Phillies took Tyler Goeddel with the first pick and he completely flamed out. Meanwhile, the Phillies have protected a high percentage of players leading to … Read more
The minor league season may have wrapped up two months ago, but it is never too late to take a look around at the events of the 2017 season in the Phillies’ system. The 2016 Lakewood BlueClaws went on a late season run fueled by elite pitching to reach the South Atlantic League championship series. … Read more
The last week has given us a lot of baseball stories revolving around baseball outside of the United States and it has led me to some thoughts on the whole things. So pardon the rambling. Yesterday the Phillies added 4 Latin American pitchers to their 40 man roster (3 Dominican RHPs and a Venezuelan LHP). … Read more
I wrote earlier today about the players the Phillies could protect and how they could protect them. Here is what the Phillies actually did: Added to 40 man: Seranthony Dominguez, Franklyn Kilome, Jose Taveras, Ranger Suarez Claimed on Waivers: Engelb Vielma Outrighted: Elniery Garcia Designated For Assignment: Mark Appel, Alberto Tirado I don’t have anything to add about the … Read more
By 8 pm Eastern today baseball teams must make the additions to their rosters to protect players from the Rule 5 draft. Since the Phillies started their rebuild, their 40 man roster has become a precious resource as each year a new wave of prospects forces uncomfortable protection decisions. Last year, with an uncertain CBA, … Read more
First I want to apologize for going a bit nuts last week about the Phillies not protecting Carlos Tocci from minor league free agency. It turns out that Tocci (and Jiandido Tromp and Harold Arauz) are not free agents because baseball’s contract rules are incredibly confusing. Both will be Rule 5 eligible if not added … Read more
The minor league season may have wrapped up two months ago, but it is never too late to take a look around at the events of the 2017 season in the Phillies’ system. The Phillies rebuild so far has involved a lot of trades at the top of the system. There have been homegrown players … Read more
It is ranking season. Baseball America kicked things off with their Phillies Top 10 today. Here is Ben Badler’s List: J.P. Crawford Sixto Sanchez Scott Kingery Adonis Medina Adam Haseley JoJo Romero Jhailyn Ortiz Jorge Alfaro Mickey Moniak Franklyn Kilome Before talking order, here is Ben’s midseason list (with the Top 100 rank from BA … Read more