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.
Victorino was traded to the Dodgers, not the Giants. Interesting piece. Looking forward to watching these young guys develop. Biddle, too.— TVGuy22- Rube thinks he invented a new way of playing g.m. - sign zero quality players (only elite player ever signed as free agent was Lee --after discarding him earlier), and trade away all your prospects in July to fill the holes you failed to fill in off-season --see how well that all worked out - left team with just aging mediocre players and nothing left in the farm system to get anybody...
amazing how many still defend the most clueless g.m. in sports becuase 4 years ago he once lucked into a good deal with Cleveland -- and then followed that up with 4 dozen of the worst errors of commission and omission that led to no post-season success and a completely wrecked franchise with no present or future..— warbiscuit - compare the Rube's "buy high sell low" idiocy to a smart gm like the one in Washington who makes smart acquisions for Gonzalez, Span, Haren, Soriano, etc --and then trades his excess talent like Morse to assure a continued stream of young talent ...Phils will be looking up to the smartly run teams like Nats and Braves (and soon the Mets) for many years -- at least until they replace their inept g.m. and get someone minimally competent— warbiscuit
- Hey El Dopo Haren was in the Bleacher Report most overrated trade article. So I guess you'll bash RAJ sourcing that report but praise Washington’s pick-up. Once again proving you're a moronic tool with the baseball knowledge of a turd — DogBiscuitthedope
- every organization has someone who theoretically could do "something".. Mike Martinez could miraculously become a .350, 48 hr MVP and B.J.Rosenberg could suddenly become a 57 save closer...however objective sources like Baseball America ranks the Phils minors as among the worst in baseball with none of these mediocre prospects highly rated, unlike the numerous top ranked prospects Rube gave away to rent Oswalt and Pence and for Halladay and Revere --
"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 valued at $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 wil go on to have much more succssful careers in the aggegreagte than what Rube has acquired and retained— warbiscuit - 4 years of RAJ as GM = 1st,1st,1st, and 3rd.
The Gnats had the luxury of having the #1 overall pick two years in a row because they were so bad. So they get Strass and Harper.— cdedrick05 - The Nats have ascended because of a combination of "hits" in the Draft, as well as gutsy FA signings and trades in conjunction to the timing of young players being ready, which has been a number of guys. you're assertion of RAJ being responsible for players' that were drafted/acquired by previous GMs is quite silly. — bearsfriend
- Can somebody call warbiscuit nd talk to him...... maybe he wouldnt post as much— trimski1
- 12 posts, 7 by the same guy. What a moronic loser. Hey tooly bleacher report is nothing but a fans opinion, kind of like you having (LOL) your own blog. Yeah that's it, your own blog; we'll call it "ToolTime"— DogBiscuitthedope
- Can't wait to see more of Ethan Martin in a spring training start after watching him in that 11 strike out performance in the EL playoffs. Kyle Simon looked like an effective ground ball pitcher out of the pen who can fill key role. Need to see more of the so far over-hyped Joseph.— Dull
- Joseph is a nice prospect, but I'm also interested in Cameron Rupp's improvement the last seson and a half. No high end talent, but with Valle (and Kratz,of course), the depth is there where a few may pan out. — bearsfriend
Newsflash ! The biscuit will not go away. His venom toward Ruben Amaro is never-ending and there will be plenty of it, every day, from now until the end of time. Arguing with him doesn't reduce his posts. It actually accomplishes the opposite. Kinda like trying to shoot "Mongo" ... it will only make him mad. :)— zubzub- The trade for Tommy Joseph may turn out to be a very sharp deal for RAJ. Looking forward to see his progress this season as he may be a very key player in this team moving forward into the future!— DelawareRiverRat
- baseball-related posts: Special Agent Fox (aka dogbiscuitthedope --uses "Specail Agent" name when he wants to discuss baseball instead of mere stalking); tvguy; cdedricks
non-baseball related posts --exclusively bashing other posters with zero baseball-related information or articulated opinion: 1980, dull, zubzub, trmiski, dogbiscuitthesope (changed tactics and switched back to stalker-mode)..— warbiscuit - I agree with you that the Nationals and Braves will be better than the Phillies this year. They've made much stronger moves than the Phils, the Phils are relying on old talent that they HOPE can play up to past success but I really have my doubts.
BUT, your constant Amaro bashing is getting tiresome.
