A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
Matt Winkelman 
The more you dig into baseball, the more baseball you find underneath. While the majors may be the pinnacle, there is much along the way and parallel to the straight path. During the winter in Venezuela the main league is Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional (LVBP), but beneath it is Liga Paralela de Beisbol. The … Read more
Baseball Prospectus published their organization rankings today. The Phillies came in at #20 overall up from #25 a year ago. I feel like it is a bit low, but a lot of that has to do with Baseball Prospectus ranking J.P. Crawford at #36 overall, which is considerably lower in talent than where I think … Read more
With another name emerging on the market and the impending signing of Yoan Moncada, I thought it was time for a few thoughts on the available players and everything around the international signing rules. The Rules Themselves: They are really dumb. I am not going to argue against players getting money because owners are rich … Read more
As I alluded to in the comments of the Top 50 and in the numbers breakdown, relief pitchers were undervalued in the ranking process. On a singular level, relievers are extremely volatile. They can have good value (both Chapman and Kimbrel have eclipsed 3 wins in a season), but their value is limited to a … Read more
Baseball Prospectus continued the stream of rankings with their annual top 101 prospects in baseball. The list was previously released in the BP Annual but they have put it up on the site free to read. The Phillies have 3 prospects in the rankings with shortstop J.P. Crawford at #36, right handed pitcher Aaron Nola … Read more
A couple of reports yesterday gave some major hints at who will be in major league camp for the Phillies. The big name according to Jim Salisbury who will not be in camp is 2014 first round pick Aaron Nola. The initial reaction is that the dumb Phillies are holding down prospects because they want to … Read more
I asked for your questions and you all delivered. so lets just jump into your questions Draft: Dalton: Hey Matt, any idea on the Phillies outlook will be on this years amature draft? College or high school more? As much as it may look like it, I don’t think the 2014 draft was some change in … Read more
Now that they are done ranking all teams, Baseball America has gone back and updated their Top 10s for all teams with their new acquisitions. They did not update the writeups, but all prospects should appear in the book under some team. J.P. Crawford Aaron Nola Maikel Franco Zach Eflin Tom Windle Ben Lively Roman … Read more
Not every prospect is a future star, but that doesn’t mean they should be ignored. Many useful prospects can fly under the radar because they lack the flash of better prospects. By capping the rankings at 50 I had to leave many of these players off of my list. This is not the best prospects … Read more
Ranking season came all at once, and now we are in a little break before the season starts. I also find myself traveling this week, so it is a perfect time for a mailbag. I am going to try setting this up as a regular feature, but for now this is going to be more … Read more