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By Jeff Todd | at
Email a copy of 'Offseason In Review: Philadelphia Phillies' to a friend
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BoldyMinnesota
Great offseason. With the reliever market being so pricey, they made a great trade with Houston when giving up Giles. Also it’s smart to pick up hellickson and Morton to eat innings for relatively nothing. Don’t spend on the free agent yet and it allows the kids to develop in the minors
Brixton
What more can you ask for from a rebuilding team?
Cheap vets like Morton, Hellickson and David Hernandez to eat some innings while the kids like Nola, Eickhoff, Velasquez and Morgan develop.
Added a stopgag in Peter Bourjous.
They added quality depth in Featherston, Lough, Hunter and a bunch of pitching.
They’ll have a top 5 payroll with a top 10 farm system mixed with quality MLBers like Franco, Herrera, Eickhoff, Nola and Velasquez.
After 2016, they’ll only owe money to Matt Harrison (whose contract is insured).
theo2016
Well quality depth is irrelevant and the names you mentioned arent quality. They have no more mlb depth so i agree not much more they could have done but lets call the non prospects what they are, junk.
Dock_Elvis
Franco is solid.
kingfelix34
Trade Howard to the sox so he can become a hall of famer, he will fit right in with Pablo and Hanley
dempsey77
Not a Phil’s fan, but heres my take:
The Hellickson and Morton pickups were both savvy moves and both should turn out to be sound investments. Morton’s ground ball rate should certainly play well in Citizen’s. And Hellickson should eat his fair share of innings also if he can maintain his delivery and not struggle with his control, but he has always had plus stuff. The younger pitching options will be fun to watch also. I would personally keep an eye on Brett Oberholtzer…I think he is more than just a long man out of the bullpen, his ceiling might only be a number 4 (MAYBE a #3) starter, but I think that ceiling is reachable. Jeanmar Gomez can also spot start and work as the long man in the pen if the Phillies management does the right thing by giving Oberholtzer every chance in the world to be in the rotation. The infield is young (except Howard) and there is some upside with guys like Galvis and Hernandez, but that outfield is a freaking train wreck. When 2 rule 5 picks and Peter Bourjos are the 3 best options that you have in your outfield, you are in deep deep trouble! However, organizationally speaking, I think catcher is one of there strongest positions. Hopefully they can dump Ruiz at some point to a team in desperate need of catching help to give more at bats to the younger catchers on the depth chart.
All in all, this is a very bad team, however, there are positives.
You have an entire season to evaluate EXACTLY what you have in the upper minors moving forward into 2017. Are the Phil’s top farmhands major league level contributors or are the going to wind up as career AAAA type players? Well come October, those questions will have been answered. And with the Phillies obviously playing in one of the best markets in all of baseball, coughing up money in free agency next year will not be an issue.
I predict that the Phil’s will actually be competitive in 2017 and a possible contender in 2018 because of the way that the new management has went about doing this rebuild…
I’m pulling for you guys this year Phil’s fans! As a Pirates fan, I’m trying to keep the love in the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania!
Philliesfan4life
watch out for the phillies in 2017 and 2018, their payroll will be really low and will be looking to spend money to hopefully become a contender.
fkemble
Amaro sold off the pieces he needed to, to change the direction of the organization; adding good prospects like Alfaro and Williams to go along with Franco and Crawford in their future core offense. He added promising young arms in Lively, Thompson, and Efflin, while adding Nola and some other nice additions over the last two drafts.
While I was a huge Kenny Giles fan, the new front office cashed in at the right time and overhauled their pitching depth, not only for this season but possibly added several good years through some intriguing arms. I actually like most of the moves made this offseason. I probably would have shipped Howard off too if there were a taker and maybe even Galvin and given the job to Crawford out of camp, but service time plays a big part there. The outfield has some promise but a year due to wrist surgery will hurt. So we may see Nick Williams sooner than expected I think. All and all, I believe we will be competitive by 2018 as the new core takes shape and the Phillies identify areas where they can add payroll and boost productivity. By then a high priced outfielder, a closer, and maybe a right side infielder could make sense in free agentcy. They also have to consider the payroll by looking a few years down the road when Franco, Crawford, Nola, etc are due for big extensions and how that will make up their new budget as the core settles into hopefully a championship level ball club again. Best players with the best numbers should be Franco and Nola this season. Best sleeper season goes to Herrera and maybe a guy like Velequez, with JP Crawford getting a midseason call up and making a run at rookie of the year.
metsoptimist
B?! This is about the sixth voting result in a row that has left me shocked, or at least surprised.
Z-A 2
Surprised Biddle was placed on waivers and not just released, otherwise I could have seen a reunion. Phils could be position in 2018 to go after a few marquee free agents since the salary cap might Tampa Bay Rays level then with only Harrison under a non-arb contract. Hopefully at least 3 or 4 of the kids stick out as real players. For now, stockpiling top 5 picks for the next few seasons is the goal.
sportbiz
Very good assessment of the Phils. They made all the right moves that a rebuilding team needs to make. They have some real good blue chippers in franco, crawford, Williams along with Quinn and the depth with young catchers on the position side and some really good young arms. The depth is the young starting pitching is excellent and will allow them to build their pen with guys like valasqez and others. Only thing that could’ve gone better is getting someone to take Howard and ruiz off their hands.
The Phillies have shown that when they feel they are legit contenders, they will spend and spend big. They will be in great position for the big 2018 free agent class. By then the kids should be ready for prime time.