Choose Your Own Adventure: The Dynamics of Trading Papelbon

Every time someone talks about the Phillies moving on in their rebuild, they bring up the Phillies $13 million closer, Jonathan Papelbon.  Papelbon looks good this spring; his fastball is close to its velocity from last year (91-93),  and his secondaries look sharp (and sequenced).  Yet it appears the trade talk has calmed down, and while the … Read more

Spring Training Roster Battles: 3/19/15

It is just over two weeks until opening day so it is time once again to look at the spring training roster battles.  The first version from two weeks ago is here. Locks: Hitters: Carlos Ruiz, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Freddy Galvis, Cody Asche, Odubel Herrera, Ben Revere, Domonic Brown, Grady Sizemore, Darin Ruf, Cameron … Read more

Positional Overview: Starting Pitchers (Upper Minors)

Depth Chart: Age Likely 2015 Level Top 50 Cole Hamels 31 MLB Cliff Lee 36 MLB (60 Day DL) Aaron Harang 36 MLB Chad Billingsley 30 MLB (DL) Jerome Williams 33 MLB David Buchanan 25 MLB Kevin Slowey 30 MLB Adam Morgan 25 AAA 45 Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez 28 AAA 33 Jonathan Pettibone 24 AAA … Read more

Weekend Recap: Eflin, Lively, Morgan, Biddle, and the kids

It was a big weekend for the Phillies prospects both at the major league level and the minor league level.  This weekend saw the start of minor league games, including games against Canada and Puerto Rico.  Lets jump into the reports by many sources. Friday: The first two pitchers for the major league club were LHPs … Read more

Five Phillies in MinorLeagueBall Top 175

John Sickels has released a list of his top 175 prospects in baseball.  The full list is here.  There are 5 Phillies on the list with J.P. Crawford #24, Maikel Franco #32, Aaron Nola #45, Ben Lively #142, and Jesse Biddle #146.  There aren’t any writeups here, but you can find John’s thoughts on the … Read more