A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
Matt Winkelman 
The goal of any free agent on the open market is to maximize their earning potential. This is a balance between guaranteed money and future contracts if that player improves (which is why player opt outs have become so popular). This means that free agents on the fringes of the market are incentivized to push … Read more
With the holidays and the Top 50, writing time is getting scarce, so rather than find topics, I am letting you all do the job. So I asked for your questions, and here are my answers. Corrine (@Ut26) – Who is Harold Arauz? I see we are starting off hard here. The truth is that … Read more
The answer to the big question, is of course that the 2016 Phillies are still bad. They went 63-99 last year, they traded a good player and brought in a lot of meh players and a ton of youth. But this team also went 34-37 over the second half of the year after a disastrous … Read more
So it is still December, and the Phillies didn’t really change their core, but over the last week things got a bit crazy. So let’s just take a step back and figure out where we stand and who is still actually on the team, and could break camp on opening day. Locks: Hitters: Carlos Ruiz, Cameron … Read more
Yesterday we thought that Ken Giles was going to Houston for Vincent Velasquez, Derek Fisher, Brett Oberholtzer, and Thomas Eshelman. Now take out Derek Fisher, send Jonathan Arauz to Houston, and now send former #1 overall pick Mark Appel and short season arm Harold Arauz to Philadelphia. Overall you have a very complicated trade now. … Read more
The Phillies just keep adding pitching depth, this time using money to get another back end starting pitcher. Charlie Morton is paid for what he is, a #4/#5 starter who gets ground balls and has a bit of upside. The Phillies have tons of money, and one year deals are attractive to them as they … Read more
(This post will be updated with thoughts as the draft unfolds) The Rule 5 draft is upon us, and with it comes the chance for great elation and sadness. Coming into the morning the consensus was that the Phillies would take Rays outfielder Tyler Goeddel with the #1 pick and would lose RHP Alberto Tirado … Read more
(Updated 12/10 8:30am) I don’t think the Phillies wanted to trade Ken Giles, I honestly believe that he was part of their future. However, the market decided it had an insatiable appetite for high impact relievers and the Phillies found themselves with one of the best options. Giles at age 25 would have been around … Read more
Today the Phillies outrighted LHP Joely Rodriguez to AAA. Last week they lost Nefi Ogando on waivers to the Marlins. I have been guilty of getting upset about these moves while Severino Gonzalez, Colton Murray, and a host of others take up roster spots. It is understandable to see players come off the roster in … Read more
The Phillies are young, the Phillies are starting to get exciting, and the Phillies have a lot of money to spend. That makes a lot of people gravitate to the youngest big name free agent on the market in Jason Heyward. There is a lot to like about Heyward, he is 26, he has put … Read more