This morning at The Good Phight Dan Cormican wrote about some players who could get the call to the big leagues this September, so I am not going to rehash a list of minor leaguers and their chances. Instead lets build on that and talk about the Phillies 40 man roster and what kind of space exists on the roster, what space can be opened up, and then from there everyone can make their guesses and assumptions about who can get called up.
Currently the Roster stands at 39 players:
60 Day DL:
On the List: Mike Adams
Candidates: Cliff Lee
Lee and Adams are going to wash each other out as it seems like Adams should be ready to go inside of a week, so no space available.
The three names that fans may think are missing are Jonathan Pettibone, Tommy Joseph, and Kelly Dugan. All three players are out for the season and are on minor league disabled lists. In order for them to be put on the 60 Day DL they would need to be called up, but on 15 day and then 60 day DL. This would cause the Phillies to pay them a major league salary and they would also start to accumulate major league service time. Additionally if they are still injured into next season they would continue to accumulate major league service time as the Phillies would not have a way of getting them off the major league DL without invoking a grievance.
In the Minor Leagues:
On the List: Kelly Dugan, Phillippe Aumont, Luis Garcia, Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez, Ethan Martin, Hector Neris, Jonathan Pettibone, B.J. Rosenberg, Tommy Joseph, Cameron Rupp, Aaron Altherr
On the Bubble: Phillippe Aumont, B.J. Rosenberg
Aumont and Rosenberg both have big stuff but problems using it. Aumont will be out of options next spring, but the Phillies may be able to get a team to bite on a trade this winter for a low level guy rather than put him through waivers. Rosenberg, if injured, would be a prime candidate to lose his spot this September.
In the Major Leagues:
On the Bubble: Cesar Jimenez, Andres Blanco, John Mayberry Jr
The Phillies have shown no problem with send Jimenez up and down, but with a lack of starting pitching depth, his ability to multiple innings is valuable to a bullpen that has a lot of young arms with high innings counts. Blanco is a bit redundant if both Cesar Hernandez and Freddy Galvis are on the roster, but it will come down to how much rest the Phillies want to give Utley and Rollins. Mayberry is everyone’s whipping boy, but the Phillies still have team control after this year, and and OF that isn’t too deep. That isn’t to say that none of these guys will get waived, but they will need to be replaced by similar skill sets.
What that Leaves us with:
So right now there is one definite open spot on the roster and the possibility of as many as 6, but more likely there only 1-2 spots barring any trades. This will limit the number of guys off the 40 man roster that we may see this September.