Joseph, Martin and Simon improved Phillies farm system
As they do every year around this time, the Phillies brought in a pack of minor-league prospects for a four-day orientation program that they hope will serve them well if and when they make the climb to the big leagues.
Joseph, Martin and Simon improved Phillies farm system
Bob Brookover, Inquirer Baseball Columnist
A couple hours after the Eagles introduce Chip Kelly as their 21st head coach Thursday, the Phillies will hold a media event of their own at Citizens Bank Park.
As they do every year around this time, the Phillies brought in a pack of minor-league prospects for a four-day orientation program that they hope will serve them well if and when they make the climb to the big leagues.
The final day of the program includes media interviews and there is something really interesting about this year's cast. Three of the seven players in town were not even with the organization a year ago at this time.
That trio consists of catcher Tommy Joseph and pitchers Ethan Martin and Kyle Simon. The other four players taking part in the program are projected third baseman of the future Cody Asche, outfielder Zach Collier, left-handed pitcher Adam Morgan and catcher Cameron Rupp.
Joseph, Martin and Simon came to the Phillies in three separate trades and performed well enough that the Phillies feel as if they significantly improved their farm system with the additions.
Here are some short bios on the three newcomers to the organization:
Tommy Joseph: He was acquired along with outfielder Nate Schierholtz and minor-league pitcher Seth Rosin in the July 31 trade that sent right fielder Hunter Pence to San Francisco. With Schierholtz released in December and Rosin considered more of a fringe prospect, Joseph will be the player that determines the outcome of the Pence trade.
That deal, of course, has already worked out well for Pence, who will have a World Series ring from the Giants to show his friends for the rest of his life. It could work out for the Phillies, too, if Joseph follows Carlos Ruiz as the team's next catcher.
Joseph, 21, batted a combined .257 with 24 doubles, 11 home runs and 48 RBIs last season at double-A Richmond and double-A Reading, the two Eastern League affiliates for the Giants and Phillies. His defensive tools and leadership qualities have pushed him ahead of Sebastian Valle as the team's top catching prospect. With Joseph, Valle and Rupp all targeted for double-A and above in 2013, it should be interesting to see how the Phillies handle the minor-league assignments at the end of spring training.
Ethan Martin: He was acquired along with pitcher Josh Lindblom and infielder Stefan Jarrin in the July 31 trade that sent Shane Victorino to the San Francisco Giants. Like Joseph in the Pence deal, Martin will likely determine the success or failure of the Victorino deal.
Martin, 23, was the 15th overall pick in the 2008 draft by the Dodgers, but his development with the team had been slow. He appeared to make strides forward last season, going a combined 13-6 with a 3.48 ERA in 27 double-A starts, including seven with the Phillies' Reading affiliate. He figures to be a part of manager Dave Brundage's starting rotation at triple-A Lehigh Valley this season.
Kyle Simon: When the Phillies traded Jim Thome to the Chicago White Sox after the 2005 season, they did well to get Aaron Rowand and Gio Gonzalez in the deal. Rowand only spent two seasons here, but was a very productive player and Gonzalez was later dealt back to the White Sox for Freddy Garcia in a trade former general manager Pat Gillick would rather forget.
It seemed much less likely that the Phillies would get a quality player for Thome when they traded him to Baltimore last summer, but Simon was outstanding in the combined 20 relief appearances he made at single-A Clearwater and double-A Reading after joining the organization.
The 22-year-old righthander was 3-0 with one save and a 1.26 ERA at Clearwater. He struck out 14 batters and walked only one in 14 1/3 innings.
In 13 ppearances at Reading, he was 1-0 with two saves and 1.42 ERA. He allowed just 12 hits, struck out 21 and walked five batters in 25 1/3 innings.
The Phillies sent Simon to the Arizona Fall League, but he did not fare as well in five starts with the Peoria Javelinas, posting a 2-2 record and 9.00 ERA.
Gabriel Lino, a 19-year-old catcher from Venezuela, was also part of the Thome trade and he played in 37 games at Lakewood last season, hitting .227 with three home runs and 14 RBIs. The Phillies also liked what they saw from Lino.
- Posters whom everybody wishes would stop posting: warbiscuit
Posters who wish warbiscuit would stop posting: everybody else— 1980 - Enough. Fox Mulder is the ONLY name I post under- which I have done long before you soured these boards. My name is my name, period. Further proving your limited sense of reality- that all those with contrary opinions to yours could only be one person. Working at the bureau, I have seen that profile before. Perhaps you have posted as Fred Wilpon? It fits the profile.
— Special Agent Fox Mulder - Dag Biscuit. No need to lump me in with people who genuinely dislike you. I was trying to compliment your consistency and resilience. Harsh dude. :)
— zubzub - correction: "dull" post was 100% baseball-relevant and didn't even reference other posts— warbiscuit
- Come on Warbiscuit, you gave stats for one guy. The rest was your opinion or worse, someone else's opinion. Look up Singleton's stats, Gose's, etc...and form your own opinion. Are you suggesting that Happ has been a big loss for the Phillies? It's fine if you want to dislike Amaro, but use some informed logic to form your opinion.— dirttracker
- @coetta --you're right: I write too much, but for that you can blame "Dirtracker" and "fox agent" for calling my bluff and practically begging for substantiation ... in that respect zubzub is correct that just throwing out assertions that I'm "wrong" or hound me to quiet my criticisms has not proven effective...
i've got no issues with posts like tvguy or dull and hope that the Phils prospects surprise to the upside as well— warbiscuit - warbisuit....Rube is a career 15 WAR GM...do you agree?— Romus
- "The final day of the program includes media interviews and there is something really interesting about this year's cast. Three of the seven players in town were not even with the organization a year ago at this time.
That trio consists of catcher Tommy Joseph and pitchers Ethan Martin and Kyle Simon...."
This part of the piece should not be overlooked. The Phils are not trotting out their best 7 prospects for the media. They're saying, either "hey meet the new guys" or, more likely, "look we got something of value as we traded off Victorino, Pence and Thome" as well as Blanton. Do I detect a little tone of defensiveness on the part of the Phils motivating this media exercise in the way it's being carried out? It will be interesting to see if anyone in the media covering the event gets the sense the Phils front office feels under a little pressure regarding its performance as well as the direction the team has gone in over the last 6 months -- leave aside any longer period.— Claudio Vernight - No, it's more that they do it once for a prospect and they do it every year. Last year's names included Jiwan James, Aumont, Diekman, Hernandez, Colvin, May, Valle and Julio Rodriguez. This new group is just getting their shot. Since the three they note are new they never had a chance to participate before. And it makes sense for the Phillies to get them in front of the media as part of this year's group. — s
- Great point...development goes season to season, as certain guys figure out nuances like command,pitching grips,playing at night, on the road, conditioning and work ethic, knowledge of the strike zone, and of course...different instruction as they move along in the system. the light goes on yearly, and despite the lack of bigtime prospects, the Phillies have had more position players emerge, as well as retaining strength in numbers with decent arms in the organization. — bearsfriend
- dirtracker --again, as I said above, "prospects" are a form of currency with a widely-accepted value by other g.m.'s ...if you pay in prospects generally valued at $20 million and receive in return what is widely valued at that time $3 million then you suffered a diminution in value to your team of $17 million regardless of how those players turn out by the end of their careers -- and it is about 100% certainty that the 20 prospects squandered by Rube will go on to have much more successful careers in the aggegregate than what Rube has acquired and retained --
it's like paying in Google stock currently trading at $600 share for 2 shares of other stock then trading at $470/share....even if in 3 years from now, the Google stock is only worth $470, you should have received $600 at the time you sold it— warbiscuit - That may possibility be the most moronic analogy in sports history. But I'm sure you'll top it before the day is out. — DogBiscuitthedope
- It's worse than that. It's the most tragically horrific anlalysis in the last 15 years. I double-checked with bleacherreport and they agree. — 1980
- I didn't ask for an economics lesson, and I did not practically beg you for substantiation. All I asked was for you to list all the players in question along with their minor or major league stats. I realize minor league stats are not always an indication of MLB success or failure. But, on face value, just list all those players you are making comments on. I care nothing of what Baseball America or any other source says.— dirttracker
- I suggest using the "Paginate Diatribes" option at the bottom to avoid getting too much at once.— s
