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

Being Positive About the Future

Lets be honest, its been a rough month to be a Phillies fan.  We built a delusion of getting a big payoff at the deadline in the form of prospects with names we didn’t recognize that we could dream on.  Cliff Lee has been a shell of himself with an injured elbow that makes us … Read more

Trade Deadline Recap

Ruben Amaro came into the deadline looking to acquire prospects for A.J. Burnett, Antonio Bastardo, and Marlon Byrd.  In the end this year, no one traded prospects for major leaguers.  Outside of Addison Russell and Jake Thompson, every named prospect has seen their stock plummet this year.  For the Phillies trades for under control talent … Read more

When Should the Phillies Promote Maikel Franco?

Philadelphia Phillies infield prospect Maikel Franco clubbed another home run Wednesday afternoon, adding to a red hot month of July, where the Dominican Republic native is hitting .344/.366/.604 for a .971 OPS. He’s hit three homers over his past ten games and four in July, almost half of his season total of nine homers on … Read more

Minor League W-L Records are Irrelevent

There has been much made of the Phillies farm system based on this graph.   This graph shows the Phillies as the worst minor league system in baseball based on W-L percentage.  It has been used to rank the farm system, bash the front office, and destroy all hope of a better tomorrow.  Here are … Read more

Misjudging Prospect Value

We are now in trade speculation season, and everyone has become a prospect expert based on the names floated around in the media.  The problem is that all prospects are treated fairly equally unless they have name recognition.  What this does is erase the large differences in ceiling and profile among the group.  In reality, … Read more

MLB.com Midseason Rankings

MLB.com has released their new team Top 20s and Top 100 prospects.  They have included players in the majors (with prospect eligibility) and 2014 draftees.  The ranking is compiled by Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis.  The full list can be found here. J.P. Crawford (Overall #36, Shortstop #6) Aaron Nola (Overall #48) Maikel Franco (Overall … Read more

Nefi Ogando and Power Arm Potential

The Phillies 2014 trade deadline must be entirely different than their 2013 deadline for the sake of the rebuild. General Manager Ruben Amaro and company made minor moves last season and refused to shakeup the core. One player they did move was veteran infielder John McDonald, who was dealt for minor league pitcher Nefi Ogando … Read more