Well, since the Phillies suck right now (no dancing around that), it’s a good time to forget about right now and talk about the future. I’ve put together this Phillies organizational depth chart that shows who we have under our control for the next 3 seasons (2010-2012).
A couple rules, here they are:
- No assumptions. Once a players’ contract is up they are taken off the chart. If a player has a club or player option for a season, they stay on the chart, because they are a possibility. An asterisk signifies a club option, two signify a player option, three signify a mutual option.
- No players lower than single-A will be considered.
- Only players I see as possible starter-caliber players will be on the chart. If there is no one signed, and no viable minor league option, the space will simply be left blank.
- I only put players in a year where they are a potential option. For instance, one of our top prospects, Jason Knapp, doesn’t show up until 2012 because that is the absolute earliest he could make the majors.
- For now, I am excluding relief pitchers because usually, MLB relief pitchers are starters in the minors and I don’t want to get into predicting who will be a starter and reliever.
- Players will only be included at multiple positions if the team has tried them there, or at least talked about it. Right now, the only player showing at multiple positions is Jason Donald (SS/3B).
I think that covers it, but let me know if there are any questions. As players are traded, minor leaguers emerge, and contracts are signed, I will keep this updated and post when there are changes.
Not eligible but on radar
- Trevor May, RHP, 19
- Jonathan Pettibone, RHP, 18
- Jarred Cosart, RHP, 19
- Colby Shreve, RHP, 21
- Anthony Hewitt, 3B/OF, 19
- Sebastian Valle, C, 18
- Domingo Santana, OF, 16
Need to show improvement to make list
- Drew Naylor, RHP, 23
- Mike Stutes, RHP, 22
- Edgar Garcia, RHP, 21
- Travis Mattair, 3B, 20
- Drew Carpenter, RHP, 24
- Mike Cisco, RHP, 22
Quick Observations
- We’ve got a ton of promising young arms, but no sure things. Drabek has the best stuff, but has only 1/2 season of health under his belt. Carrasco has stalled in AAA. Of the 7 young pitchers (Happ and Bastardo included) we need at least 2 of them of be long-term quality starters.
- We are deep at catcher and outfield long-term, but weak on the infield and will likely need to look outside the organization for a 3B and 1B (if we don’t re-sign Howard).
- I think that it is very important for the Phillies to spend a lot of money on the draft and the international market like they did last year. When you look at this, you can see that we can spare an outfield prospect or a pitcher without seriously hurting ourselves long-term. The more areas we can say that, the easier it will be to improve our team.
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July 1, 2009
Buy NFL football tickets and get the latest on the Philadelphia Eagles game schedule, and other sports tickets online.
Guys (and any ladies) free agency started at 12:01 and I think by the end of July we will get to see a few things:
- What will happen with Andre Miller?
- How the Sixers final roster (main rotational players at least) will shape up.
- How the entire NBA will look and where the balance of power will lie. This is important to note for us to see how the competition will have grown or decreased in our division and conference. How good you are is always relative to the competition.
I will update this post ongoing as I hear anything Sixers related or major league wide. You guys are always on top of things as well, if you find something leave a link in the comments and I will add it to the post and give you credit.
Also this is the general post to use for your thoughts and ideas for what the Sixers should be doing in free agency.
Free Agency
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July 1, 2009
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The Phillies are finally done their disastrous 4-11 interleague run and head to Atlanta. Last season, they had a disastrous 3-9 interleague run and then, headed to Atlanta, where they promptly swept the Braves (and then lost 4 straight right after). Hopefully we can repeat history with the former, not the latter.
Luckily for us, almost the entire NL East has been playing this way, here are our division rivals records during our 4-11 swoon…
New York: 5-10
Atlanta: 5-10
Florida: 9-6
Washington: 6-9
Only Florida has made up significant ground, and they now sit in 2nd place, 2 1/2 games back. The important thing for the Phillies to realize at this point is that they are still very much in charge of their own destiny, and we aren’t even half way through the season. There is a ton of baseball left.
2009: 39-34
2008: 42-31
2007: 38-35
I’m not going to do the whole good news / bad news thing, just bullet point what’s been on my mind…
- Even though Amaro is frantically searching for pitching, it’s our hitting that has been the cause of our June slump. In June, we have hit .247 as a team. The biggest slumpers this month have been Rollins (.176), Ruiz (.185) and Howard (.237).
- Our starters on the other hand, have been solid with the exception of the 5-spot. Happ (3.00 ERA), Hamels (3.31) and Blanton (3.34) were all great, and Moyer (4.80) was at least improved. This is still not a rotation that will go deep into the playoffs, but we don’t have to worry about that just yet.
- So who gets the start on Thursday? I’m fine with either Carpenter or Carrasco. On on hand, I’d like to put some pressure on Carrasco and see how he reacts. He pitched so-so in Reading and then was lights out once he got promoted to AAA, maybe the same thing could happen with a major league call-up. On the other hand, Carpenter has been amazing since going back down to AAA after his spot start. He has a 1.50 ERA in 8 starts and has gone 7+ innings while giving up 1 run or less in 5 of those. I couldn’t really disagree with either decision, but if I had to make the decision, I think I’d put Carrasco in there and see what he’s made of. Either way, we need one of these guys to step up the way Kendrick did 2 years ago.
- Amaro said that Drabek would remain in the minors the rest of the year. This is absolutely the right decision. He just had Tommy John surgery and we need to take our time with him.
- On Rollins - I think he will come around eventually and end the year around .250-.260, but I wonder what his long term future with the team is. He is signed through next year, but there is a team option for $8.5 million for 2011. You have to wonder, if Jimmy can’t turn this thing around, and with Jason Donald as a good replacement, whether or not his time with the Phils is running out. Hard to imagine this team without Jimmy.
- On Romero - he’s an idiot. Nothing quite exonerates you of steroid use than displaying “roid rage.” Akin to congress talking about how steroids can cause ones emotions to fluctuate wildly followed by Mark McGwire strongly saying he’s not there to talk about the past and then bursting into tears. Curse out the fan all you want, you obviously can’t hit him.
- Mayberry needs to be kept up on the team when Ibanez gets back. Paul Bako, Eric Bruntlett and Jack Taschner should not be on a major league roster.
- I’m working on an organizational depth chart, like I did for the outfield in my Michael Taylor article. I want to start thinking more like the Phillies should be thinking and looking both at the present and the future of the club. Look for that later this week.
Pitching Match-Ups: Phillies at Atlanta Braves
Tuesday: Blanton vs. Derek Lowe (7-6, 4.53 ERA)
Wednesday: Hamels vs. Jair Jurrjens (5-6, 2.93 ERA)
Thursday: TBD vs. Javier Vasquez (5-7, 3.04 ERA)
Prediction
The Phillies catch some bad luck and will meet the Braves 3 toughest starters. However, unlike any team I’ve ever followed, the Phillies seems to follow a similar pattern year after year, so I’m sticking with what they did last year in this situation and say they beat the Braves 2 out of 3. Hopefully Rollins’ days off will clear his head and get him motivated and the right handed pitchers will get Howard on track. [...]
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June 30, 2009
Editor’s Note: Bill Conlin wrote a piece on this subject a week or so ago. I don’t read Conlin, so if I am repeating anything he said, I apologize.
As the Phillies miraculously sit 2 1/2 games ahead of the Mets in NL East despite playing some of the worst baseball we have seen from them in several years, GM Ruben Amaro is all over the map looking for starting pitching and relief pitching to help our depleted staff. Obviously, any trade for a starter these days is going to take some of your better prospects. RHP Kyle Drabek and OF Dominic Brown appear to be the only untouchables at this point but I would implore Mr. Amaro to add Michael Taylor to that list. Here’s why:
1. Taylor has a chance to be a unique, and special player
Taylor’s size (6′6”, 250 lbs) would make you think that he is a stereotypical power hitter. However, his numbers indicate that he is a far better hitter than that. He’s ranks first, second or third in the Eastern League in 9 offensive categories. If you extrapolate out Taylor’s number over a 162 game season (he has played 71), they look like this:
Sure, the power numbers are there (32 HR, 125 RBI) but look at some of the others. How many guys with that run production can you think of that hit .340, with 30 SB, 9 3B and under 100 strikeouts? The answer? None. There has never been a player in baseball history that hit .340 with 30 HR, 125 RBI, 30 SB and 5 3B while striking out less than 100 times. Yes, that’s the majors and this is AA, obviously that is a huge factor. But you can still see that Taylor is unique in that, much like Albert Pujols, his power does not deter from his overall efficiency or his speed on the basepaths. He won’t be Pujols, no one will, but Pujols-lite isn’t something you’d turn away.
2. Our outfield is set-up perfectly right now
By this I mean that if we play our cards right, we won’t have a hole in, or have to overspend on, our outfield for many years. If we were to trade Werth this year or in the off-season, our outfield set-up would look like this for immediate future.
Right there you are looking at a seamless transition moving forward and that 2012 outfield is going to come pretty cheap, giving us room to spend our money in other areas. It might be tough to keep Brown in the minors until 2012 if he keeps progressing the way he has, but that will be a good problem to have. By 2011-12, it’s possible we’d have a bunch of young, cheap players on the team (Donald, Marson, Carrasco, Drabek, Brown, Taylor) giving us a chance to spend some money and continue to be very competitive after this current “3-year window” is closed.
3. Werth can net you a high-quality player
I love Jayson Werth and have nothing against him. But he’s 30, and I don’t forsee us re-signing him after the 2010 season. He’s a 5-tool player who has shown he can be productive (on pace for 34 HR, 97 RBI this season) in a full time role. Any team that need a starting outfield upgrade would be interested in trading for him. From the Phillies perspective, you can deal him, save some money short term and long term, and theoretically not lose production (perhaps even increase production) by bringing Taylor up, all while adding a key piece (starter or high-quality reliever) to your team. I would probably wait until after this season to make such a move, as that would be a lot of pressure to put on Taylor mid-season.
Final Thoughts
Obviously there is no guarantee that Michael Taylor will continue the growth and production he has shown the last 2 years, but in the MLB, young, cheap, productive players are the greatest asset an organization can have. Considering we won a World Series with a team full of homegrown players, we know this better than most teams. Taylor has shown nothing that would indicate that he will be anything different than Rollins, Utley and Howard once he reaches the majors. Meanwhile, we have a piece in Jayson Werth that could simultaneously improve our team while saving us money to use in other places. The Phillies have a chance to build a long-term contender past their current 3-year window, and as someone who doesn’t ever want to see a return to the doldrums of 1994-2006, I believe they should do everything they can to make smart decisions that will keep that window open. [...]
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June 29, 2009
Look I don’t bull shit you - I was on the Ty Lawson train from day one and when Pete and I saw Holiday drop we were almost certain the Sixers would select him because he was projected as a lottery talent and if you subscribe to the draft tiers model you aren’t suppose to pass on a player like that no matter what.
Luckily for us this was a PG heavy draft and the higher rated guy that dropped could eventually be a good point guard in a couple years. When they did I was disappointed and very deflated. I was geared up for my new-old logo Ty Lawson Sixers jersey. The first Sixers jersey and player I was excited about since Iverson. And honestly had they picked Lawson that would have swayed me to re-up my partial season tickets. Right now I don’t plan to. Pete wasn’t excited but no where near as down as I was.
Let me be clear the pick was fine. You are suppose to take the highest rank player on your board they did. Had they taken B.J. Mullens or something ridiculous like that I might have punched a hole in Pete’s flat screen. Where I question not really the Sixers but in general is why was he the highest ranked player on the board?
The Sixers will do their PR thing and hype the kid up. That’s their job. You can head over to Depressed Fan for a much more optimistic opinion and view of the Holiday if you want, Brian does a great job. I can save you the time and quickly tell you what you will hear from pretty much everyone in terms of the positives of Holiday dropping to us at pick 17… [...]
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June 26, 2009
Today is the day. Tons of action in terms of trades has already happened with the Big Shaq to to Cleveland deal finally happening. I expect much more throughout the day before the draft and/or during the draft.
Use this spot as the official 2009 NBA Draft post to discuss any and anything draft related. Post new deals or rumors in the comments. Trades you think the Sixers should, talk about players, scenarios everything all day and during the draft. Pete and I are watching the game together and will chime in all day and during the draft. We might even add each pick to this post with a short comment to keep things entertaining.
Also if you haven’t already go take part in the Friendly NBA Mock Draft Contest (deadline is 5pm).
Let’s hope the Sixers make some productive and savvy noise today.
I will start it off with this scenario that Pete and I have been pondering as of late… [...]
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June 25, 2009
Results:
1. Jurnee, 85 points
T-2. Marc K, 79 points
T-2. Pete, 79 points
T-2. Dannie, 79 points
5. DeepSixerSuede, 76 points
6. Eric, 76 points
7. Guest, 75 points
8. Dan, 64 points
9. Stu, 62 points
10. Jesse G, 60 points
11. Bball, 50 points
Excellent work by Jurnee, who won by getting a bunch of mid-to-late round picks exactly right: Terrance Williams, Gerald Henderson, Earl Clark, Austin Daye, James Johnson, Omri Casspi and DeMarre Carroll.
Dannie and I were planning on putting up our mock drafts (how we think the draft will actually go, unlike our previous mocks) and having a contest to see whose was the closest. Instead of just including us though, we figured we might as well let everyone in and see who the best draft prognosticator is among the ReclinerGM readers.
Here’s how it will work:
- Draft slot, not team, is what matters, so draft day trades don’t change the equation
- 6 pts for an exact pick, 4 pts for 1 off, 3 pts for 2 off, 2 points for 3 off, 1 point for 4 off
- Tie breaker is most exact picks
You can submit your mock draft 1 of 2 ways:
- In the comments field of this post - I’ll post the draft order in the comments field so you can just copy and paste and put your picks in.
- Email us at reclinergm@gmail.com.
Pete’s Mock Draft
Dannie’s Mock Draft
Good luck! [...]
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June 24, 2009
The clock is ticking. Word is there are no more workouts coming so the Sixers brass should be in the tank finalizing their draft board and closely monitoring and engaging in trade talk. It’s on you now. Who would you pick? If you’re still unsure check out the 2009 Sixers Draft Analysis post and comments.
Also, if there is a player likely to be available with the 17th pick who is not on this list that you want don’t vote, leave a comment and I will add their name so you can select them.
When you make your pick let’s us know why in the comments.
Of the players likely available at pick 17, Who Should the Sixers Draft with There Pick?
- Ty Lawson (63.0%, 67 Votes)
- Brandon Jennings (13.0%, 14 Votes)
- Eric Maynor (9.0%, 10 Votes)
- Wayne Ellington (5.0%, 5 Votes)
- Terence Wiliams (4.0%, 4 Votes)
- Gerald Henderson (4.0%, 4 Votes)
- Jeff Teague (3.0%, 3 Votes)
- Darren Collison (0.0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 107
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June 24, 2009
Those games (particularly the Saturday night game) were so painful to watch that I’m not going to re-live the pain by writing about them. If you want a good recap of the series, Todd Zolecki has a good one here. I really wouldn’t have much to add to what he said.
Now we head to Tampa Bay, and I really don’t see things looking up. David Price vs. Jamie Moyer doesn’t exactly scream comeback game. The other pitching match-ups are a little better, and I think we will halt the streak during the series, but will lose 2 out of 3.
Despite how annoyed I am right now, I’ll try to put a positive spin on this…
5 Reasons not to panic:
- This is the same exact thing that we did last year during interleague play, and we ended up winning the World Series.
- The Mets, Braves and Marlins aren’t playing much better.
- We will get healthy soon enough, with Ibanez, Howard, Lidge and Eyre all rejoining the team relatively soon. This is not the product that we are going to finish the season with.
- We will make a move. Might be big, might be small, but will likely improve the current team.
- We now have 9 games on the road, apparently the only place we play well.
But, I can’t sugar coat it all…
5 Reasons to panic
- Jimmy Rollins might be in for 2003 Pat Burrell-esque season, a colossal disappointment thus far.
- Madson hasn’t cut it as a closer, and we don’t know what will happen when Lidge gets back.
- We are historically bad at home right now.
- Having these types of losses over and over have to hurt the psyche of this team.
- If we can’t trade for a pitcher, we aren’t going very far.
That’s all I got for now. This week it’s more likely I’ll be watching Season 2 of Dexter and Season 5 of Entourage onDemand than the Phillies games. I’ll be following them, but need a break for my mental health this week. Feel free to put any thoughts below. [...]
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June 22, 2009
The draft is in 3 days away and all the workouts for the Sixers are likely done. It’s time to take a hard look at the situation, the options and ultimately the pick.
What We Already Know
Before the season ended everyone knew the Sixers weaknesses and player needs.
Three point shooting needed to be addressed in the form of a proven distance shooter - at the very least. Stefanski got that done before we all thought was possible by trading Reggie Evans for Jason Kapono. We know have one of the best catch and shoot three point shooters in NBA history. That alone should get us out of the basement in terms of three point shooting. With that said I am not delusional to think three point shooting is now a strength. Kapono alone can only take so many shots. In order for that to happen 4 other players who are expected to play moderate-to- heavy minutes need to get better:
- Andre Iguodala
- Thaddeus Young
- Louis Williams
- Willie Green
Stefanski said some guys (I really don’t think Iguodala is part “some guys”) will again work with Mark Price this summer on their shooting. That should provide a little improvement to start the season just like it did last year when we saw Thad flat out on fire. But that hot shooting tapered off. Why? Because the shooting coach wasn’t there everyday to help maintain all the proper mechanics, continue to train the right muscle memory necessary to shoot the ball well consistently and provide corrective training when guys hit slumps. That’s why it’s vitally important that Eddie Jordan bring a shooting coach on staff full-time. He had one in Washington and it’s even more important to have one here. Furthermore it’s an investment in the development of a specific skill lnot only necessary to win basketball games but to support he offensive system he will implement.
Point guard and shooting guard are player needs. I think we all agreed we need a point guard as well as a true shooting guard with three point range and consistency. The priority again I think we all agree is point guard. Our thoughts were confirmed in the off-season when Stefanski and crew said they will draft a guard, either a point guard or shooting guard whichever position had the more talented player. Their draft workouts also confirmed that idea as well. To date the Sixers have personally worked out: [...]
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June 21, 2009
