Archive: November, 2011
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
1. Brian Sanches
He spent the first two years of his career with the Phillies, leaving the organization after 2007 to sign with the Nationals, where he played in 2008 before spending the next three seasons with the Marlins. He should have a good opportunity to compete for a spot on the Opening Day roster, as the Phillies' bullpen is largely unsettled after Jonathan Papelbon, Antonio Bastardo, Jose Contreras and Mike Stutes. Sanches has put up solid numbers while averaging 61 innings over the last three seasons -- 2.92 ERA, 7.8 K/9, 4.4 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9 -- but his fastball velocity has dropped steadily and last season sat 87-88 MPH. Still, he has a decent strikeout pitch in his splitter and also mixes in a slider. Although he does not project as anything more than a low-leverage, front-of-the-bullpen guy, he could give Manuel another batter-by-batter match-up option. Last season, he held righties to a .198/.271/.328 line with 34 strikeouts and 11 walks in 116 at-bats, while struggling mightily against lefties. At the very least, he'll give the Phillies some veteran right-handed depth at Triple-A that they did not have last season.
2. Raul Valdes
Daily News staff
The Phillies have signed eight players to minor league contracts with invitations to major league spring training as non-roster players, the team announced.
Several of the signings have been previously reported, including lefthander Pat Misch, infielder Pete Orr and outfielder Scott Podsednik.
The most interesting might be veteran Scott Elarton, who most recently pitched for Triple A Charlotte in 2010 when he went 1-2 with an 8.24 ERA in 16 games.
Daily News staff
The Phillies have released righthander Scott Mathieson to allow him to pursue an opportunity with a professional team in Asia, the team announced in a news release.
Mathieson, who has had two Tommy John surgeries, reportedly has signed with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan's Central League, according to reports. The contract is for $2 million with incentives.
Mathieson, 27, will be given the opportunity to be the team's closer with Yuya Kubo sidelined by injury, according to reports in Japan.
Daily News staff
The Phillies sent catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud to the Toronto Blue Jays as part of the package that netted Roy Halladay. Now, the Phillies reportedly have interest in getting him back.
The Phillies have discussed "possible ways on how to re-acquire catcher Travis D’Araund from the Jays," according to a report in the Toronto Sun.
The odds on that happening are not very likely. Wrote Bob Elliott, "Good luck."
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
My first experience with Fantasy Sports came in middle school, when some friends and I organized a Fantasy Basketball league. This was way back in the 1990's. My family did not have cable television. We did not get the Internet until I was a junior in high school. I grew up in the Poconos. We were just thankful when the electricity didn't go out. This was back when the NBA was still a semi-enjoyable sport. Every Tuesday after basketball practice, the activity bus would drop me off at Lewis' Supermarket, where I'd run inside and grab a copy of the USA Today, which published the previous week's NBA stats. I'd then tally up the fantasy totals in a spiral bound notebook. Yes, mine was an exciting childhood.
Over the next decade, improvements in Internet technology brought fantasy sports to the masses. This had a number of results, not the least of which was the warping of public perception regarding baseball trades. Because Joe Blow is able to swing a deal for Andrew McCutchen with a couple clicks of a button, he starts to assume that Ruben Amaro Jr. can do the same. The majority of Phillies fans know this is not true. But a healthy faction of them do. At least, this is the theory I have developed during my four years of monitoring the Internet and airwaves during baseball's off season and pre-trade-deadline rumor mills.
In the real world, trades are difficult, an observation Ruben Amaro Jr. repeats approximately 1,432 times every calendar year, presumably because he cannot go to the grocery store to buy a loaf of bread without the cashier suggesting that he should deal Domonic Brown and Vance Worley to the Mets for David Wright.
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
A week from today, baseball's annual winter meetings will kick off in Dallas. At the moment, it is hard to envision anything of consequence happening to the Phillies' roster between now and then. With the acquisition of Ty Wigginton last week, the team has the vast majority of its Opening Day roster in place.
The current tally:
13 veterans signed to a guaranteed total of $122 million (Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Placido Polanco, Carlos Ruiz, Shane Victorino, Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Joe Blanton, Jonathan Papelbon, Jose Contreras, Jim Thome, Ty Wigginton, Brian Schneider)
Daily News staff
Well before the Phillies signed Jonathan Papelbon to a $50 million deal, they reached out to former Phillies closer Billy Wagner, the retired reliever told the New York Post.
“It was after the regular season ... just to see if I was even contemplating coming back or had an itch or anything,” Wagner said. “I just told them, ‘No, I do not have an itch.’”
Wagner retired after spending the 2010 season with Atlanta. He was 8-3 with a 1.86 ERA and recorded 59 saves with the Phillies in 2004 and '05 before signing with the Mets in free agency.
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
It is Oct. 1, the final Saturday of Major League Baseball's regular season. The Phillies and Astros both clinched Wild Card spots earlier in the week and are now destined for a one-game playoff in four days. But with two games remaining, the site of that one-game playoff depends on what happens today and tomorrow. The Astros' rotation calls for aces Roger Clemens and Roy Oswalt to close out the regular season, while the Phillies have their two most productive starters ready to go. Houston leads Philadelphia by one game in the standings, which means today and tomorrow will decide which team hosts the one-game playoff.
You are Charlie Manuel or Phil Garner.
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
At the general managers meetings last week, Ruben Amaro Jr. re-iterated the Phillies' desire to re-sign short stop Jimmy Rollins, but also mentioned "contingency plans" should the two sides fail to come together on a deal. Right now, it is difficult to envision what those contingency plans might be. In fact, this might be a year where a team finds better value at the top of the heap rather than the bottom.
Less than a month into the free agent signing period, we have already seen six middle infielders sign contracts, several of them at surprisingly player-friendly terms. The Pirates reportedly have agree to sign short stop Clint Barmes to a two-year, $10.5 million deal.
We had mentioned Barmes as a potential Rollins fill-in, but an Average Annual Value of $5.25 million seems a bit much for a player who has hit just .240/.309/.370 with 20 home runs in 927 plate appearances over the last two seasons. Barmes is a solid defensive short stop and brings above-average power to the position, but he has not come close to replicating his 2008 season, when he hit .290/.322/.468 with 11 home runs in 417 plate appearances for the Rockies.
Daily News staff
Ryne Sandberg will remain the manager at Triple A Lehigh Valley, but the Phillies will be making managerial changes throughout the organization.
Dusty Wathan has been promoted to manager for Double A Reading after spending the last 2 years as the manager for Single A Clearwater.
At Clearwater, Chris Truby takes over as manager, moving up a level from Lakewood, where he managed last year.
