Why are Phillies giving Darin Ruf a chance?

Yesterday Corrine Landry forwarded this tweet to me. .@brookob can't seem to figure out why the Phillies won't give Darin Ruf a chance? http://t.co/29q6sdtGEt — Philadelphia Inquirer Sports (@phillysport) April 7, 2015 The premise of the article coupled with all the comments bashing Amaro seemed to confusing to me, because I can’t figure out why the … Read more

Lakewood BlueClaws set Pitching Rotation

The BlueClaws have announced that they will going with a 6 man rotation to start the season.  Right now their rotation will be RHP Ricardo Pinto, LHP Josh Taylor, RHP Tyler Viza, RHP Ranfi Casimiro, RHP Chris Oliver, and LHP Elniery Garcia.  Viza and Casimiro return to Lakewood after up and down years (both probably … Read more

2015 IronPigs Preview/Guide

The goal of this series to give a quick one stop look at each affiliate with a guide to the overall feel of each team as well as a quick look at all players, not just the prospects on the team.  These rosters will be changing throughout the year so keep up to date on … Read more

Preseason Prediction Survey

Rather than do a bunch of interviews this spring where I ask everyone to repeat things they already have said in various forms, I decided instead to reach out to a bunch of people within the Phillies writing community as well as those watching and covering the system for various sites.  The contributors were: Phillies Minor Thoughts: … Read more

Major and Minor League Rosters

Today is roster day, this thread will have all the rosters as they are released.  There will be full writeups and previews for all minor league teams this week. *Player is on DL Philadelphia Phillies: Starting Pitchers: Chad Billingsley*, David Buchanan, Cole Hamels, Aaron Harang, Jonathan Pettibone*, Jerome Williams, Cliff Lee* Relief Pitchers: Justin De Fratus, Jake … Read more

Looking at Positives In Scouting

Today Todd Zolecki published a very interesting interview with Phillies president Pat Gillick.  There were a lot of very interesting answers because Gillick has an incredible baseball mind, but the quotes that stuck with me involve the draft and scouting philosophy. Question: You have new amateur scouting director in Johnny Almaraz. What do you think … Read more

Phillies Spend 7th Most on International Talent in 2014

As they kick off their 2014 International Reviews, Baseball America has released their figures on club spending on non-Cuban international signings.  The time period here covers the both the second half of the 2013-2014 spending period and the first half of the 2014-2015 spending period.  The Phillies spent the 7th most among major league clubs … Read more