A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
Bunts are bad. They hurt your pitchers, they destroy your offense, and they drive your fanbase insane when Ryne Sandberg calls for them every time a man gets on base. But what if bunts are good? The Phillies certainly think so, at least in a different way this spring, as they work on the squeeze … Read more
The Phillies made the first of their cuts from the #5 starter competition this weekend. They sent soft tossing lefty, Brett Oberholtzer to the bullpen. Oberholtzer is out of minor league options, so the Phillies needed to keep him in the majors to keep him in the org, and he has pitched well to earn … Read more
Both the Ruben Amaro and Matt Klentak lead front offices acquired a lot of pitching in the past few seasons through trades, signings, drafting, and waiver claims. Much of that pitching was in the high minors at the time of acquisition, and was poised to be part of the wave of players that the organization … Read more
Ken Giles is really really good, he might even be underrated nationally. He is also the crux of some arguments about the strategy of the Phillies and their aims and goals for the 2016 season. For some, the trade was part of a larger set of moves that were tanking, or intentionally making the team less competitive … Read more
As I mentioned earlier this week, projections for the Phillies in 2016 have been bleak. It is not just a couple of spots on the roster that look poor, the whole roster is projected to be horrible. By Fangraph’s projections, the only two players expected to be above average are Maikel Franco (2.7 WAR) and … Read more
Most projection systems have been not kind to the Phillies this offseason. It is not too surprising, the Phillies were bad in 2015 and most of their players were young and inexperienced. Projection systems in general tend to be conservative in their prognostications, they also are not always the greatest at recognizing breakouts and changes … Read more
Understanding sample sizes is a basic part of baseball statistics. It is easy to be influenced by a singular events and use them to create narrative. I find early in a player’s career that small sample sizes give us an interesting look at adjustments occurring during development. The danger of looking at these slight shifts … Read more
There are a lot of reasons to be optimistic about the 2016 Phillies. Their defense is going to be better, their starting pitching is going to be better, they are are going to get a full year of Maikel Franco, and then there are the prospects on the way. The bullpen is going to be … Read more
There has been a lot of talk about rebuilding a baseball team. Because baseball is a copycat league the natural inclination of many people is to look to the successful teams for how they were built, and right now those teams are the Cubs, Astros, Mets, and Royals. The Royals are far enough removed from … Read more
With Domonic Brown’s time with the Phillies coming to an end there is a giant hole in the player-to-be-hated-because-he-disappoints-me category. With the purge of veterans and a new starting rotation that does not induce instant vomiting, the Phillies might actually be interesting and exciting. Enter Cody Asche. He was a “top” prospect in a bad … Read more