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Phillies Not Actively Looking For Outfielders

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GM Matt Klentak says that despite Aaron Altherr’s wrist injury and Cody Asche’s oblique troubles, the Phillies are not actively looking for additional outfielders, MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki writes. The Phillies do, however, remain open to the possibility of acquiring a player should the right opportunity arise. “I wouldn’t characterize it as active,” says Klentak. “This is the time of the year where most teams are starting to connect with each other to talk about different scenarios that are going to play out at the end of camp — who is going to make the team, who may not. So those conversations have begun — generally, anyway.” With Altherr on the shelf until midseason and Asche possibly missing the start of the season, the Phillies plan to go with Odubel Herrera, Peter Bourjos and Rule 5 selection Tyler Goeddel in their outfield to start the season.

  • The Pirates entered the offseason projecting to pay about 10% of their payroll to Mark Melancon. Paying such a steep price for their closer might not have seemed ideal in theory, but GM Neal Huntington says keeping Melancon was the best move in practice, Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes. Melancon ended up with a $9.65MM deal for the year when the Bucs avoided arbitration with him. “We went into the offseason thinking Mark would be a part of the bullpen until somebody compelled us to think differently,” says Huntington. “No one did.” The Pirates instead made other cost-cutting moves, including parting ways with Pedro Alvarez and trading Charlie Morton to the Phillies. Melancon and Tony Watson were nearly unstoppable in the late innings last season, and the Bucs are hoping that they can be again in 2016, likely Melancon’s last year with the club.

Phillies Seeking Corner Outfielder In Wake Of Altherr Injury

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The Phillies are “definitely” looking for some help in right field after learning that projected starter Aaron Altherr will be out for four to six months due to a left wrist injury that required surgery, ESPN’s Jayson Stark reported on Buster Olney’s daily podcast (audio link, with Phillies talk starting up around the 9:00 mark). Stark follows up with a series of tweets, explaining that the Phillies are most open to adding a one-year rental — possibly one that can be acquired primarily by taking on salary — that can perhaps be flipped this coming July (links to Stark on Twitter). Marlon Byrd, he adds, is “not a fit for where they are right now.”

There’s no shortage of names that could fit that bill, but some highly speculative options that are slated to hit the open market following the 2016 season include Michael Saunders (who was already nearly traded once), Nick Swisher, Michael Bourn, Angel Pagan, Carlos Beltran, Jon Jay, Coco Crisp and Sam Fuld. The Mets’ Alejandro De Aza, too, could be a fit, if New York does indeed explore fits for him late in Spring Training, as has been rumored. (De Aza, of course, would need to approve the trade after having only signed with the Mets this winter.) Jay Bruce, in some ways, fits that bill, though he has a club option for 2017, and the Reds, presumably, would want more than pure salary relief in exchange for their former star. Among the notable free agent names left on the market are David DeJesus and Alex Rios.

Of course, plenty of other veteran names could become available late in camp as players are outrighted or opt out of their minor league deals, but Stark added on the podcast that the Phillies, seemingly, are eyeing someone who can bring a bit more to the table than a late-spring release or outright candidate.

As it stands, the Phillies have Odubel Herrera lined up in center field with Peter Bourjos, Cody Asche and Rule 5 pick Tyler Goeddel as candidates for the corner spots. Asche, though, has been slowed by an oblique injury this spring and could be delayed in making his season debut. Veteran outfielder David Lough is also in camp on a minor league contract, and injuries to Altherr and Asche could enhance his chances of making the club as well, if no outfield acquisition comes to fruition.

Phillies Notes: Amaro, Asche, Altherr

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Former Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr., now the Red Sox’ first base coach, discussed the perception that his regime in Philadelphia was well behind the curve in terms of analytics in an interview with David Laurila of Fangraphs. Amaro makes the claim that while his club may not have been as progressive as some of the most aggressive adopters of statistical analysis, the Phillies may also have been more up to speed than they let on. “You can’t ever deny the numbers,” said Amaro.“That’s true for every GM and every baseball person, regardless of whether you’re ‘old school’ or ‘new school.’ … I’ve always believed in analytics. I just didn’t make it all public (in Philadelphia). I thought it was more of a competitive advantage for me to keep our thought-process about analytics closer to the vest. … I didn’t think it was anybody’s business but our own as to how we evaluated.” That is, of course, a fairly bold claim to make, especially in the face of years of stories to the contrary, which highlighted the Phillies’ adherence to more traditional means of evaluation. Amaro goes on to discuss the balance between data and scouting as well as new data from Statcast and evaluating players at different age levels. Regardless of whether one believes his initial claims (and I’d expect that most will not), the issue the comments raise is interesting, as there certainly could be some value to keeping operational methodology close to the vest for a big league organization. The interview is well worth taking a few minutes to read.

  • Cody Asche is in danger of opening the season on the Phillies’ disabled list, writes Ryan Lawrence of PhillyVoice.com. The former third base prospect, who converted to the outfield last year to accommodate Maikel Franco, was originally shut down two weeks ago due to an oblique issue, and an MRI conducted on Wednesday showed little progress. Asche is battling a Grade 1 strain in his right oblique, and manager Pete Mackanin says that the 25-year-old is still not cleared to hit. Aaron Altherr’s unfortunate injury — he’ll miss up to six months following wrist surgery — seemed to have created a window for Asche to get some more playing time, but his own health problems could now stand in the way of that. As a result, Lawrence notes, Rule 5 pick Tyler Goeddel’s chances of sticking with the club become even stronger.
  • Phillies GM Matt Klentak implied to MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki that it’s unlikely he’ll look outside the organization to replace Altherr. “We owe it to the guys in camp to give them that chance to fill that spot,” said Klentak. “We’ll survey the market. If there’s something out there, we’ll explore it, but we feel pretty good about the guys we have here.” As Zolecki notes, the Phillies do have top priority on the waiver wire, so they could add an outfielder late in camp if one becomes available in that manner. In addition to Goeddel, the Phillies have Odubel Herrera, Peter Bourjos Darnell Sweeney and Darin Ruf as 40-man options, with veteran David Lough in camp as a non-roster invitee.

David Hernandez Dealing With Elbow "Issues"?

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  • Presumed Phillies closer David Hernandez is dealing with some “issues” with his right elbow, manager Pete Mackanin told reporters including Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The skipper himself didn’t seem entirely sure of what difficulties Hernandez was having. Meanwhile, the righty says he isn’t injured and is simply trying not to overburden himself having missed a lot of camp time in recent springs, as MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki tweets.

Aaron Altherr Out Four To Six Months Due To Wrist Surgery

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The rebuilding Phillies suffered a significant loss today, announcing that oufielder Aaron Altherr requires wrist surgery and will be sidelined for four to six months. Altherr’s surgery will repair a torn extensor carpi ulnaris retinaculum in his left wrist and will be performed tomorrow by Dr. Randall Culp. Altherr reportedly suffered the injury making a diving play back on March 4, though his initial belief was that this injury wasn’t as serious as a previous wrist injury that required surgery in 2013.

The 25-year-old Altherr figured to receive everyday at-bats (or close to it) in Philadelphia on the heels of a solid rookie campaign in which he batted .241/.338/.489 in 161 trips to the plate. Altherr racked up 11 doubles, four triples and five homers in addition to six steals in his brief time with the Phils, flashing the extra-base power and speed that made him one of the organization’s more intriguing prospects. Between that success and the .293/.367/.487 batting line authored by Altherr between Double-A and Triple-A last year, the German-born outfielder had little to prove in the minor leagues.

With Altherr now spending the bulk, if not the entirety of the season on the disabled list, the door is open for Rule 5 pick Tyler Goeddel to make the club and carve out a role with the team. The Phillies also have sophomore Odubel Herrera (a Rule 5 pick himself a year ago) in the mix after his own strong rookie season. Veteran Peter Bourjos and former top prospect Cody Asche are both options for manager Pete Mackanin, too, though each will need to rebuild his stock after a poor showing in 2015.

Morton Discusses Success In Small Stadiums

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  • Charlie Morton is hopeful that his groundball-inducing ways will translate to hitter-friendly Citzens Bank Park, PhillyVoice’s Ryan Lawrence writes. Morton produced a 4.81 ERA, 6.7 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 pitching with the Pirates, although with an excellent 57.3% ground ball rate. “I had a theory about smaller parks, and the ground that outfielders have to cover, it’s minimized when you have a smaller park,” Morton says. “So if you can pitch to contact and pitch to weak contact, especially ground balls, I think you’ll do really well. Knock on wood, but I’ve had some success at Great American Ball Park, Great American Small Park. I think some of the reason why that is is because if I’m inducing weak contact or ground balls.” Morton has, indeed, posted a career 3.83 ERA in 54 innings at “Great American Small Park,” better than his career 4.54 ERA. That could merely be a sample-size issue, however. In any case, if Morton succeeds in the tight confines of Citizens Bank Park, he could perhaps, as Lawrence points out, fetch a prospect or two for the Phillies this summer.

Jeremy Hellickson On Offseason Trade

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As a part of the Diamondbacks’ efforts to remold themselves into a contender, they sent one of their starters off to a rebuilding club.  In November, the D-backs shipped Jeremy Hellickson to the Phillies in exchange for 20-year-old righty Sam McWilliams.  Hellickson, unlike McWilliams, comes with a lengthy track record at the big league level — something that could theoretically have appealed to the win-now Diamondbacks — but he’s struggled in recent seasons, logging a 4.73 ERA over the past three seasons after an outstanding start to his career.  The Diamondbacks decided to use his relatively sizable projected salary elsewhere.

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Leading up to the deal, Hellickson says that he didn’t get a phone call from anyone in the organization indicating that a move might be coming down.  However, he sensed that he could be traded at any moment.  “I didn’t have any indication [that a deal could happen], you just kind of get a feeling with the direction that they’re going in,” Hellickson said in Clearwater, Fla. late last week. “I didn’t know that they were going to sign guys for that much money after trading me, but I just got the feeling that was going to happen.”

After Hellickson’s departure, the Diamondbacks spent $206.5MM on Zack Greinke; paid a hefty premium in terms of player personnel to acquire Shelby Miller (Ender Inciarte, Dansby Swanson and Aaron Blair); signed Tyler Clippard to a two-year, $12.25MM deal; and acquired Jean Segura and righty Tyler Wagner from the Brewers for Chase Anderson, Isan Diaz and Aaron Hill.  Now, after winning 79 games in 2015, the D-backs could very well contend for the NL West crown.  Even though the Phillies seem more likely to wind up in the cellar of the NL East than at the top, Hellickson says that he isn’t bothering to concern himself with his former club’s dealings.

At the age of 28, Hellickson is one of the team’s “veteran” starters, along with 32-year-old Charlie Morton (a fellow offseason trade acquisition).  Hellickson admits that it’s an odd role to play for someone who is on the right side of 30.

“It is a little bit weird being one of the veteran guys on this rotation,” said Hellickson.  “It was kind of the same situation alst year [in Arizona] but the game is getting younger.  There are guys getting called up at 21 or 22 years old.  I don’t feel old at 28, but 28 is kind of old in this game right now.”

Hellickson and the Phillies avoided arbitration back in January with the right-hander getting $7MM instead of his projected $6.6MM salary.  After this season, the Scott Boras client is headed towards free agency.  Hellickson may or may not rack up wins this season, but the former American League Rookie of the Year could position himself for a nice payday with a rebound campaign in 2016.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NL Notes: Cole, Braves, Altherr, Klentak

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Last weekend, it was discovered that Pirates ace Gerrit Cole was displeased to have his contract renewed for the same pay as he earned last season. While Cole may be peeved by the lack of raise, it doesn’t mean he and the club don’t have common ground for an extension, writes Travis Sawchik of Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Former Phillies ace Cole Hamels made similar public comments back in 2008 before inking a three-year, $20MM deal for his arbitration seasons. Sawchik also relates a number of details about Cole’s specific situation as well as the players’ share of revenue league wide – it’s well worth a read.

  • The Braves rotation is a shadow of the unit that dominated the National League for over a decade, writes the associated press for the New York Times. The entire unit has issues. “Ace” Julio Teheran is coming off his worst major league season, and he’s the only lock for a job. As manager Fredi Gonzalez joked, there’s a wave of high profile arms, but they’re “out by the Marshall Islands.” Pitching prospects are notoriously fickle. Before the high ceiling talents get a chance to work in the majors, Atlanta fans will have to hope players like Matt Wisler, Mike Foltynewicz, and Bud Norris can show some sign of life.
  • Phillies outfielder Aaron Altherr suffered a left-wrist injury on a diving play yesterday, writes Matt Breen of Philly.com. Altherr had the wrist in a splint today and has not received X-Rays yet. The former prospect is familiar with wrist injuries which sapped his development in late 2013 and early 2014. He doesn’t believe this round is anywhere as serious as his previous injury which required surgery. Altherr is widely expected to start for the Phillies after a breakout 2015 season. In my view, the club could option him if they preferred for him to ease into action in the minors.
  • For those curious about Phillies GM Matt Klentak’s playing background, Mike Sielski of Philly.com has the details. Klentak, 35, attended Dartmouth College where he played shortstop for head coach Bob Whalen – himself a friend of now-Mets GM Sandy Alderson. From there, it’s not a far jump to Moneyball. Klentak also offered a couple interesting quotes, including “Players will reach their ceilings when they’re playing confidently, when they’re in an environment that’s loose and that allows them to be the player that they want to be.“

Aaron Nola Says He Hopes To Top 200 Innings

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  • Aaron Nola impressed in his first 77 2/3 innings last year for the Phillies, and he tells MLBTR’s Zach Links (via Twitter) that he’s not interested in easing his way into things this year. “I want to go 200+ innings. I want to throw as many innings as I can,” Nola said recently. Actually, that seems like rather an attainable goal, as he ran up 109 1/3 innings in the minors last year.

Phillies’ Jake Thompson On Being Traded Twice

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It can be tough for a player adjust to a new organization, and Phillies prospect Jake Thompson has already had to make that change twice in his young career thanks to his inclusion in a pair of significant trades.  The first time around, Thompson was shipped from the Tigers to the Rangers as a part of the Joakim Soria deal.  One year later, he went from Texas to Philly in the Cole Hamels deal.  After his Spring Training start on Thursday, Thompson explained that going through deal No. 1 helped him transition better after deal No. 2.

Jake Thompson (vertical)

“I tried to overdo everything [after the first trade].  I tried to throw every fastball max velocity, and I wasn’t really utilizing all the strengths of my game like the movement on my fastball,” Thompson told reporters in Clearwater, Fla. after allowing three hits over two innings with one walk and one strikeout.  “I was trying to do things that I wasn’t capable of.  So, this time around I decided to be myself and see how that turns out.  I’ve tried to get a whole lot more contact since I’ve been with the Phillies and the last part of [Double-A] Reading that really panned out for me and as my command gets better here I’m going to try to keep doing that.  I’m going to keep trying to get more ground balls.”

As he adjusts to the Phillies organization, Thompson says that he is leaning on veteran leadership for advice and support.  Of course, there aren’t many veterans left in the Phillies clubhouse with 28-year-old Jeremy Hellickson qualifying as a grizzled veteran in the team’s babyfaced rotation.  Thompson, 22, cited Charlie Morton and Carlos Ruiz as two of his mentors here in Clearwater.

Thompson was also more at ease after the Hamels deal because he came to his new club with fellow pitching prospects Alec Asher and Jerad Eickhoff, catching prospect Jorge Alfaro, and outfield prospect Nick Williams.

“That’s one thing that is a little bit different from the first time I was traded.  I came here with a few teammates and I actually played with all of them except for Matt Harrison, so that made things a lot easier.  I had some familiar faces with me,” Thompson explained.

The trade talk buzzed around Hamels in Philadelphia for years and reached a fever pitch leading up to July 2015.  Even though the Rangers were often mentioned as a likely landing spot for the ace, Thompson says that he ignored the trade talk.  When the trade did go down, Thompson admitted that he was flattered to be a key piece of a deal for one of the league’s biggest names.

“There’s a huge honor in that.  Cole Hamels is Cole Hamels, he’s undeniably good.  For me, I just try not to get super wrapped up in it. Every day I’m trying to become a Major League pitcher, and I just try to keep getting better.”

Thompson may not have to wait too long to realize that goal.  Though he just turned 22 in January, he reached Double-A at the age of 20 and spent the entire 2015 season, his age-21 campaign, at that level.  Thompson recorded a 3.73 ERA with 7.6 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 in 132 2/3 innings last year despite being nearly four years younger than the league average.  That performance and his raw stuff prompted Baseball America to rank him third among Phillies farmhands and 75th in all of baseball.  Similarly, MLB.com listed him second among Phillies prospects and 55th in baseball, while ESPN’s Keith Law rated Thompson second in the organization and 63rd in all of baseball.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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