A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
Matt Winkelman 
This all starts with a question. If everyone is aware of a problem, knows the solution to the problem, and has a plan to fix it, is it really a problem? The answer is probably still yes, but the problem is a lot smaller than it really appears. If your pipes are leaking and you called … Read more
I promise I won’t do this for everyone involved in the trade as it isn’t fair to anyone involved, including Jerad Eickhoff, because they have earned their shot at the major leagues. The Past: Eickhoff was the 4th pitcher in the 8 player trade that sent Cole Hamels and Jake Diekman to Texas. He was … Read more
So yesterday the Phillies acquired Darnell Sweeney, we don’t need to go into how. Today Sweeney will join the Phillies in Miami, bypassing Lehigh Valley and going right to the majors. The Past: Sweeney was a raw, athletic shortstop when the Dodgers took him in the 13th round of the 2012 draft and gave him … Read more
I will the writers better than I at The Good Phight (Liz Roscher 1.0, Liz Roscher 2.0, and John Stolnis) and Crashburn Alley (Adam Dembowitz and Bill Baer) be more sentimental about Chase because I am not sure I could make it through writing it. Chase Utley is a Hall of Famer for me and … Read more
This is not how any of us wanted Aaron Altherr to make his return to the major leagues, as the team loses Maikel Franco. This is also not Altherr’s actual major league debut, as he got to quickly do that last year. However, this is his first real chance Altherr is going to get to … Read more
Fangraphs’ Kiley McDaniel did a reevaluation of sorts for the state of the minor leagues right now. There isn’t a ton new for Phillies fans since it doesn’t go very deep, but it is an interesting look at pop up guys and other things going on. Crawford at #3: Not much new here, J.P. Crawford comes … Read more
Last night, Joely Rodriguez but up yet another solid line for a Reading pitching staff that seems near unbeatable as he went 7 innings, while allowing 4 hits (1 a solo HR), the 1 run, 1 walk, and 5 strikeouts. It was the 5th straight solid start for the 23 year old left hander after … Read more
Much like the draft, the first evaluation point for a trade, is a shortly after everyone has played games and it is just double check that you got what was advertised. With the Hamels trade dominating the news around the deadline, the other trade returns got overshadowed. The goal is loop back around to the … Read more
I debated whether this qualified enough to warrant a post since there really is not much to this. But on Twitter yesterday fellow (now former) writer Chris LaBarge mentioned that Zach Eflin was throwing a curveball almost exclusively as opposed to his slider. @Matt_Winkelman not seeing many 2 seam or slider. Working on 4 seam, … Read more
I like mailbags because you all ask a lot of interesting questions. Some are things that I often talk about on Twitter, but the longer form here gives more space, and others are things I would never write a full piece on, but are great things to talk about. But enough about me, and more … Read more