Looking for your Mailbag Questions

I have been trying to find things to say about 5 games of minor leagues, but we are still too early to take anything but small sample size observations of things that look slightly different (like Ben Badler’s report that Windle’s velocity was up this season).  So with that I will be taking all of … Read more

Mid-Ranking Mailbag

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

Asking For Your Mailbag Questions

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

Post Thanksgiving Chat

I don’t have some sort of nice chat software to run a live chat, nor can I promise immediate responses.  However, I feel like we as Phillies fans need a bit of group time to talk about things both positive and negative.  So the plan is starting now to run this post as a sort … Read more

Offseason Phillies Prospect Mailbag #1

The World Series over, free agency starts soon, and prospect rankings are upon us.  So what better time than now to answer your questions about the Phillies minor leagues.

Jason Polinsky (@Jay_Poozle) If you could trade Dom for a hypothetical top 100 prospect, would you?

Yes and not even close.  I like Brown’s potential, but even if he turns it around you only have 3 arb years of control left.  I will take my chances on a player with less upside for those 3 years of pre-arb control.  If I thought Brown could guarantee me close to average regular production (~2 WAR) it is a different story, he just has too much risk.

Adam Dembowitz (@adamd243) Gimme all you got on Tommy Joseph.

Joseph has plus raw power and a plus arm and a lot of fringy other things.  I was really encouraged by his brief healthy time in AA this year where he hit .282/.345/.551 over 21 games.  There is a non-zero chance he could be a regular behind the plate, but on top of the much talked about concussions he has missed dev time to other injuries.  His attitude was apparently very poor in the GCL as he dealt with the frustration from the injured wrist.  In a perfect world, Joseph provide fringe average defense behind the plate, hits 15-20 HRs with a half decent walk rate and a .240 batting average, that is a really solid player.  I wouldn’t give him up for nothing, but you can’t really count on anything either.

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Post Season Minor League Mailbag

I have been slowly build mailbag questions for a while waiting until I had enough to answer them all, and here it is.  Like always there great questions here.

Christopher Smith (@shindaga7225): Next prospect to make an impact that has not been placed on 40 man roster ie Franco?

Dan (@Sixers_Fan1243): Chance Nola pitches for Philly next year?

I have to go with Aaron Nola as the answer to the first question.  Jesse Biddle will get his 40 man spot this offseason, but Nola has more impact long term.  In an ideal world Nola has 100% chance to arrive in Philadelphia in 2015.  He was the most advanced starting pitcher in the 2015 draft.  The reason this is not 100% chance is that there is a small chance he won’t be ready, but a slightly larger chance he gets hurt.  Nola is a freak in his delivery it works really well for him, but pitchers get hurt for entirely mysterious reasons.  But if Nola stays healthy next year there is probably a 90%+ chance he ends up in the majors at some point.  If everything goes fairly well I would expect him to debut at some point between the middle of June and the All-Star game.

If you are looking for the sleeper guy, Crawford should be in AA next year and the jump over AAA is always in play.  If Crawford tears it up in AA and shows above average defense, there is a chance he could make the majors in 2015 if there is a major Rollins injury or trade.  It is much more likely he doesn’t get there until 2016, but he is so advanced he could make the majors early and then develop there.

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Post Trade Deadline Mailbag

With the trade deadline passed and the minor league season coming down the home stretch I asked for you to give me some questions to answer.  You guys delivered. Scott Bailey: Do you really think that Ruben wasn’t getting value in his attempts to make trades yesterday? I do, with some caveats.  Amaro is looking … Read more

Let’s do a Mailbag

We are through the July non-waiver trade deadline, we have a month of minor league season left.  There is plenty to ask and talk about, so what better way than taking a lot of questions in and giving some answers. You can submit your questions in a couple of way: In the comments here On … Read more