Phillies trade away Golson
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Phillies trade away Golson
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
More news. It's coming fast and furious today.
The Phillies have traded outfield prospect Greg Golson to the Texas Rangers for outfielder John Mayberry. I haven't had a chance to touch base with GM Ruben Amaro -- as luck would have it, the move was announced after our conference call with him today -- but it appears to be a swap of projects. Mayberry is a power-hitter type, the son of former major leaguer John Mayberry Sr. He is a right-handed hitter with power, which the Phillies could use more of in case Pat Burrell departs via free agency.
The 25-year-old hit .264 with 20 home runs and 71 RBI last season at Double A Frisco and Triple A Oklahoma. A Stanford graduate, he was assigned to Triple A Lehigh Valley.
The bigger news might be the departure of Golson, whom the team drafted 21st over all in 2004. Once considered one of the organizations better prospects, he hit .282 wth 13 home runs, 60 RBI and 23 stolen bases for Double-A Reading this season. But he didn't appear to be major league ready. While he stole a base after being called up in September, he went hitless in six at-bats.
Golson was Dolly Parton. Mayberry could be Opie.— mick314- michael bourn II is gone - good riddance...mayberry may never pan out; however, golson was never going to contribute more than pinch-running duties on this team...mayberry is a monster, like his dad, and may eventually show off his blood line...to those typical phils phans who just can't be positive no matter what, please sit down, take your meds. from nurse ratchett and enjoy the show...(i bet a nickel")...pk— PhillyTheKid
- The move makes sense...All signs point to a long-term commitment to Victorino and Werth...You can't have three similar players in the outfield. On this team, you need power out of the left field position and Golson wasn't going to give you that.— Discostu
- Hey robreagan - now is not the time to hate on the draft...last i checked they've done a pretty good job with their drafts. For anybody to say that Golson will NEVER be a hitter after watching 6 ab's is ridiculous.— Discostu
- Any chance that Amaro is loading up to go after Matt Holiday?— BJV
- Who?— mick
- I don't care baout the move. I'm still giving them the benefit of the doubt. You get that when you actually are able to seal the deal. HEAR THAT IGGLES?!— davekrieg
Comment removed.- I really like the Mayberry trade and it is not that I tried to watch Golson hit AA pitching last year. IMO Burrell will not be back. Mayberry makes perfect sense as a platoon in left with Jenkins or Dobbs. This guy hit .350 with 8 home runs against lefthanded pitching in a little over 100 AAA plate appearances in 08. Howard had 265 plate appearances against lefties last year. Mayberry seems the likely candidate in 09 to get most of those hacks against lefties in left. Ruben has said relief pitching is his priority. That means to me if a big free agent contract is given out by him requiring a loss of a first round draft pick it will be to Juan Cruz not an expensive bat in left.— Dull
- I saw Golson in Spring Training, Reading before that, and again during his call up to the show this season and my consistent perception was that he cannot hit the curve ball. At this point in his maturation process, that is not a good sign. There are a ton of guys with speed and great arms in the bushes, but if they can't hit a major league hook, that is where they will stay. I've never seen Mayberry play, but as a popwer guy, his numbers aren't bad and he has a great pedigree. Worth a shot, I say...— topwonk
- Mayberry may yet evolve into a ML hitter, Golson NEVER will. We have to stop drafting speedy (read: tools) kids, thinking we can teach them to hit ML pitching...it didn't work with Roberson, Moran, Bourn, nor Golson and it probably won't work with this past years' #1 either....we're just throwing picks away when we do that...thank God we keep finding teams to pawn these lifetime AAA'ers off to.....now let's get the roster set (LF and BP) and play ball!— Mark1npt
- Basically Amaro traded a center field prospect with speed, who only stole 23 bases last year at AA to go with 100 Ks, for a corner outfield prospect with power that is hitting 20 hrs in the minors. I'll take that trade anytime. Golson is being blocked by Vitorino in CF, while Mayberry could be our leftfielder of the future.— EL Zorro
- Mayberry has the potential to be Pat Burrell a .250 hitter with 30 HR and 100 RBI. Golson is impossible to predict, probably a Michael Bourne who strikes out like Rob Deer (terrible combo). The scariest thing about Golson is that his SO numbers never improved at any level and neither did his OBP. I like the deal.— fiveforone
