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.
With last year's mid-season trades, don't you get the impression that Rube realizes that he needs to significantly re-tool the team? After trading 2/3 of your outfield, I'm sure he's keeping his options open this year. If the team is so-so, he'll dump Halladay, Utley, Papelbon, Ruiz, etc. to playoff contenders in exchange for prospects.— Steve Jeltz- If there was an event for "Grasping at Straws" Ruben Amoron would win a Gold Medal.What a load of garbage trying to spin this mediocre group as the future of the Phillies. Amoron is usually overmatched against other GM's and the subjects of this article prove it!— gentian
- wow. today's posts are mind-blowing. wish all you fellas were around doing this thing when i was popping psychedelics 45 years ago. still, as entertainment value on a late afternoon of a gorgeous summer's day (i'm 6 hours behind you down here in the antipodes), cannot be beat. @bearsfriend: your assessment of w-b early on is priceless. good on yer (as we say down unda). now...goodnight, gracie.— bubba church & granny hamner
- @bearfriend --reviewed your comments -- thx for the support :) --ok, I'll work on the manners :)
@zubzub --didn't mean personal attack -- was just taking stock of the prior posts after reading a rant by another "moderate" voice chased away by the likes of phillyboyinnyc and 1980 and I decided to start accounting for who is here to make points and who is just here to attack posters --although I often disagree with you (and often agree) i realize you're basically legit :)— warbiscuit - Good ! You explained your agenda to me a long time ago. So, while I still don't get it ... I get it ! :) I might throw a small pebble your way once in a while. But it's meant in fun.
Just tryin to bring balance to the universe.
Carry on you crusading racehorse you.
— zubzub - Doggiebone, you ignorant troll, as borne out by YOUR own words, your relentless "attacks".
Revisionist history now you fraud?
While you were ignored by me for an entire season last year, in the "dog wars" of you and your matter/antimatter doppelganger, I was on here after every game making SUBSTANTIVE posts without being a lunatic, with the likes of ghost of callison and advantasux. I was part of team anti-Chollie, and his blunders, and the lesser of the vocal threesome on Rube, as I knew he was as much a "front" for ownership ( they pay him genius ), as a middling GM. I begged for Gillick to come out of retirement.
But logic, nor truth aren't good enough for you. You foam at the mouth like the rabid doggie you are, call all you perceive ( I love it, given my field, that you make yourself both judge and jury )as not sharing your POV, an "imbecile".
Sorry, but I had seen enough four days ago when you jumped on some poster and relentlessly pounded them , post after manic post, all within minutes of each other. I know a thing or two about people, and doggiebrain, that is not "normal". Your hate speech, your rewriting of history, your perception, everything is "off".
Keep it up dog. Like "dogbiscuitthedope", who had you pegged a year earlier than I took notice, you have my attention now too.— PhillyboyinNYC - Since when is Baseball America the gospel? They have been wrong countless amount of times. The truth is that NO ONE knows how these prospects will turn out for a few years. When you examin the moves the Phils made over the last four years when trading all those supposed prospects, the Majority have turned out to be nothing in the minors and majors. It is beyond stupid to say that these prospects in the article are worth a lot or nothing. The truth is: We don't know.— matty177
- I got your back for the most part, Warbiscuit, but I think what Ruben did this winter wasn't too bad given the hole he dug himself. Revere has upside potential and will get the opportunity to realize it. He's already a plus cf with with speed and hits for a nice average without k's, all of which we've lacked. You can build with him and cheaply while you see if he grows. They have the potential of a very good nucleus and if a few of these guys develop like they could, when doc,lee,rollins, and utley go off the payroll at around the same time we could buy a superstar or two and make another nice run. We all need to allow the next two years run their course, hope that between galvis(notice the strong winter he had?, hernandez, franco, asche, collier(check HIS winter too!), the catching prospects, biddle and the other pitching prospects...that a few pan out and that ruf actually becomes what he seems to be... 2015 could be the start of another special team...this is good stuff, want a hit?— joe goldberg
- Wow, forgot how many trolls philly has... That said, not a huge Rube fan myself, thought Gillick's genius was not in the frontline stars (Utley, Howard, Lee, Halladay, ect) but in the details of a team, marginal players like Dobbs, Matt Stairs, Durbin and JC Romero out of the bullpen. Jason Werth. Jaime Moyer and Joe Blanton. That said, Rube has accumulated a serious glut of frontline talent (injured and aged though it be), and everyone in the Delaware valley knows if Howard, Utley and Halladay had not been injured last season, the team would have played in October.
That said, none of these prospects are that exciting.
— aaronjwarren 
What a bunch of boozed up friggin' idiots. Warbiscuit, you have been on track from the beginning. To those wannabees that post, trying to call you out -- YOU'RE OUTMATCHED by the real biscuit! Get over it. He's right on the mark concerning Amaro. Don't like it? Who cares. The REAL truth tellers are not going away. Blast away, losers.- warbiscuit still has absolutley NO understanding of how MLB trades go down...the most valuable established payers are the one like Mike Trout, young, cheap and under team control for many seasons. Next come the players that are borderline All-Stars and are under team control for 1 to seasons until they become free agents. There are the players that are ALREADY making millions a year (Pence) and then there are those that are more affordable. The players like Pence (in 2011) and Lee(in 2009) have more potential to bring in A prospects and then there are players like Pence (in 2012) and Lee (in 2010) that bring significantly lesser prospects because of impending free agency and a potential higher salary through arbitration.
After that you have the players like Soriano and Vernon Wells that their teams are willing to pay other teams to take. Yet at the same time, depending on how much a team takes on will depend on the type of prospect the other team receives. If the Phillies decide to let the Angels pay the mjority of Vernon Wells remaining contract then the Angels will expect a player or prospect that has the potential to succeed at the ML level versus if the Phillies agree to pay a majority of the remaining contract amount then the prospect can be a fringe prospect, barely anything more than a filler.— michael2_19030
