Four prospects added to 40-man roster
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Four prospects added to 40-man roster
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
The Phillies added four prospects -- three of them pitchers -- to the 40-man roster Tuesday before the deadline to protect them from selection in the Rule 5 draft.
Righthanders Trevor May, Jonathan Pettibone, Ethan Martin and outfielder Zach Collier are the additions. They push the Phillies' 40-man roster to 38 players.
May, Pettibone and Martin were locks for inclusion. May, 23, entered 2012 rated as the organization's top prospect by many but stumbled to a 4.87 ERA at double-A Reading. Pettibone, 22, finished the season at triple-A Lehigh Valley to rave reviews. Martin, 23, was acquired in the Shane Victorino trade and posted a 3.18 ERA in seven starts with Reading.
All three of those young starters could be in the Lehigh Valley rotation come April.
Collier's addition was not as certain until his spectacular stint in the Arizona Fall League. The former first-round pick hit .371 with seven extra-base hits over 19 games in the showcase league. Collier, 22, missed the first 50 games of the season because of a suspension for adderal and has overcome numerous injuries.
The four players are automatically invited to big-league spring training with their addition to the 40-man roster.
The most notable unprotected player is righthander Julio Rodriguez, who represented the Phillies last July in the annual Futures Game. Rodriguez, 22, dominated the Florida State League in 2011 without overpowering stuff but did not handle the jump to double-A Reading with success.
Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.
Pettibone is the steady,mature one, managing his pitches with the look of a Major Leaguer..Martin's curveball is electric, with a plus fastball that says future late inning reliever...Always fighting his control in the Dodgers' system, this high chool "Mr. Georgia" is the guy Larry Bowa beamed about when the Victorino trade went down..He was great in Reading, and could be looked at as a fast riser...May's 2012 was a nightmare, as he overthought everything on the mound, often taking his bullpen sessions out on the mound in an effort to command his changeup...His stuff is too good to give up on after a poor season, and he did regain some swagger at the end...Seems like Collier may be pushing Gillies in the eyes of the brass. Competition is good.— bearsfriend- @Bears - hola.
Not sure how we got from your post, to the one 17 minutes later, below, that takes us all off topic.
It still seems, despite the positive comments on the parts above, that the Phils cupboard is lean in the low-leagues. Pitching remains a strength - position players not so much.
Is the logical conclusion that the Phils need or will deal some of these kids to fill the dearth of position players? Or at least that the depth of pitching in the minors at all levels is sufficient to suggest that they might deal a Worley, a L33, to get a higher performing, starting position player?
The plan I keep wondering about is how the Phils leverage what they have to get beyond the 81-81 season of 2012 and back to excellence.— 24sDad - back in journalism school, before any of you reading this were born, we were taught that the media was the bastion of truth, the prime mode of exposure of political and business systems that have gone corrupt. then i left college and ventured out into the real world where i soon discovered...i'd been lied to again! went into sportswriting coz it seemed the one area of communications that was free and open and you could report what was really happening. oops. called on the carpet so many times i left shiny trails to the editors' office. so i went into magazine journalism, writing long, thoroughly researched articles about the inner workings of sports, and found i was considered an outcast by the print and radio/tv fellas coz i could write, and get published, what they knew to be truth but weren't allowed to say, and that made me a non-team player. following a few years of this, i left sportswriting comletely and to my amazement learned there was more to life than writing about the jocks. i still love sports and i still love philly, and mostly, i still love the phillies, so i grit my remaining teeth and read the rubbish reported here most every day. rarely, if ever, do i read the real reasons behind the phillies failures the past few seasons. instead, we get dutifully reported quotes (a/k/a lies) of our esteemed gm and dummy mgr. now and then, i send in a post critical of the beat reporters. mostly, these never see light of day. i wonder: do j-schools still preach truth and integrity as the twin beacons of their product? or do young people, certainly more hip than i was 55 years ago, understand the nature of the beast and just slot into the game and do whatcha gotta do to make a buck?— bubba church & granny hamner
- Interesting post.
But your first clue ought to be the dregs of j-school, the TV weathermen and women, like Bolaris, who are in it for vanity, couldn't write to save their lives, and survive in the seams of sports and weatherdom. They failed Writing 101 yet survived j-school through primping, priming, and pancake applying.
The second clue? The Thomas Boswell's and Red Smith's are few and far between. As are editors who appreciate those kind of efforts.
Now back to baseball.— 24sDad - bubba, you don't seem to be much of a writer, considering your lousy punctuation and lack of capitalization. Reporters write what they are told, Some can dig deeper, but most write the truth as they know it. Sportswriting isn't the Watergate investigation. I've been doing it for over 30 years. It's writing for entertainment, not politics or law.— mike l
- gee bubba, arent there enough real things wrong with the world that are worth moaning and growning around to such a degree- its baseball, its supposed to be fun. just lighten up a little bit.— jim715
- That you, Bill Conlin?— sal_acid
- First of all, Bubba, writing should be interesting. Your post was dull and self-serving. Second, your writing--i.e., your sentences--are, uh, unimpressive.— Bartleby
- The Phils should explore a trade with the Padres for Jedd Gyoko who could be a fit this year at 3B and he could be moved to 2b to replace Utley in the future if Asche turns into the real thing. Gyoko is an upcoming rookie who is major league ready this year. The guy can rake. Using either Pettibone or May as part of a trade with one of our young relievers may be enough to land Gyoko.— fafink
- Like your suggestion above, and below.
Good posts.
Finally, some real Hot Stove postings.— 24sDad - Correct spelling is Gyorko— fafink
- Matt, double check on Julio. I don't think he's eligible for the draft. He only has 3 years of minor league service. He was signed when he was 17 years old and only played 7 games. Yo need to have 5 years of service if signed before your 18th birthday. I believe, the first year you have to play/be active at least in 45 games. Right?— EL Zorro
- The Phils should explore a trade with the Twins for Aaron Hicks (CF) a minor leaguer who can hit, run, and throw. He was just added to the Twins roster. He is the Twins #3 prospect that won't push the Phils over the fiscal cliff like either Upton, Bourne, or Hamilton will.— fafink
