Phillies Organization Depth Chart: July 2009

Note! For a Post-Cliff Lee Trade Organization Depth Chart and Payroll Analysis, the post is here

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.

July 1, 2009