A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
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
The definition of a reliever has changed rapidly recently. Starting pitchers are throwing less, while pitchers overall get more dominant. There has been a velocity spike across all of baseball, throwing in the mid 90s does not make you a major league prospect anymore. To make a major league bullpen, a pitcher has to show … Read more
Starting pitchers are many things in the minor leagues. They can be legitimate starting pitching prospects. They can be future relievers who are still working on getting everything to work before their flaws force them to the bullpen. They can be pitchers with fringe stuff hoping to be at the right place, at the right … Read more
Lumping players together as outfielders loses some of the nuance of what makes up a diverse group of players. In the outfield there is room for elite defenders, slow mashers, no power speedsters, and guys who just hit. If you can do multiple things well, you can make yourself into a decent prospect. If you … Read more
Not all minor leaguers are what we commonly call prospects, not all major leaguers were considered prospects, there are plenty of players on the fringes who make a major league debut without ever appearing on a prospect list. There are other prospects that are so far away or risky that ranking them on a prospect … Read more
While the big league players take the main field, the minor leaguers have arrived in camp. Thanks to Baseball Betsy and Jim Peyton we have the first set of workout groups. This early in the process, the list serves two functions for me; it is a check to see if all players are back from last … 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