A Critical Look at the Phillies Organization and Minor League Baseball
The bullpen was far from the Phillies’ biggest problems during the 2015 season. It was no large on talent and often was forced into using inferior pitchers due to a pitiful starting rotation. But with the departures of Jake Diekman and Jonathan Papelbon (and to a much lesser extent Justin De Fratus) the bullpen was … Read more
The Rule 5 draft has become on one of the most trendy things to talk about with regards to talent acquisition. It is easy to see why as it is essentially a free source of talent and to top that off, 2015 showed unprecedented success for Rule 5 picks. In the past however, getting a … Read more
In the middle of the minor league season, the Phillies devastated the Lakewood BlueClaws rotation. The Phillies’ lowest full season club had been sporting a 6 man rotation that was fairly standard and had led them to decent success. But within a span of weeks the Phillies promoted their top pitcher, Ricardo Pinto, to Clearwater … Read more
There is a school of thought that says the road to contention for a team is linear with the team advancing little by little each year until success is assured. This theory been debunked by many teams over the year who seemingly leap to contention from nowhere. Now this doesn’t mean the Phillies can jump … Read more
The deadline to add players to the 40 man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft. The Phillies faced 3 easy decisions, 2 tough decisions, and a host of mostly irrelevant decisions. In the end they made all of those decisions. They added Jimmy Cordero, Edubray Ramos, and Roman Quinn to their 40 … Read more
Yesterday we kicked off the Rule 5 protection preview with pitchers. Today we tackle hitters which are a lot less interesting top to bottom, but include a top prospect who can’t seem to stay healthy. This should be the last class of hitters for the Phillies that is empty, with a considerable number of players … Read more
After the success of Odubel Herrera (and many other 2015 Rule 5 picks) it is hard to not get excited about having the #1 pick in the Rule 5 draft this year. However, first thing is first for the Phillies who have to protect their own before figuring out who is available to be selected. … Read more
#Braves signed C/1B Willians Astudillo to minors deal. Won FSL batting title (.314) in #Phillies system in 2015. (Hat tip: @Galindosky07) — Matt Eddy (@MattEddyBA) November 16, 2015 There are so many players in baseball that there are bound to be statistical anomalies. Willians Astudillo was one of those players. If you were grading raw … Read more
No one will fault a Phillies fan for losing track of prospects during the rebuild. There have a lot more arriving than leaving between signings, trades, and the draft. The most common outcome for any baseball player is failure, so it is not surprising with so many shiny new things coming in, that we lose … Read more
I hate this trade. There I have said it, it is an absolute gut punch. From a baseball perspective it really is not that horrible, prospects like Sam McWilliams rarely turn out. The Phillies took an 8th round pick and turned him into a major league starting pitcher, that is actually pretty good. McWilliams is … Read more