2020-2021 Winter League Discussion

Squire 2020-10-30 13:48:25 UTC #21

Yeah....I mean I'm sure it will be a player by player basis but each team is going to have to decide whether this year "counted" as a year of player development or did not. I'm inclined to act like it did count and push people to where they would have been if a full 2020 season had occurred.

andyb 2020-10-30 14:15:41 UTC #22

And that means a Stott goes to AA. And some SS/2B probably loses playing time. We probably have Luis Garcia at Lakewood again. Guzman goes to Clearwater. And Stott to Reading (with Daniel Brito hoping for 2B playing time). The Dalton Guthries of the world are the odd man out.

Squire 2020-10-30 15:04:24 UTC #23

Yeah. I think the argument is stronger for someone like Stott, who was at the alternative training site, to go where you would have expected them to be in 2021 (acting like the 2020 season occurred).

andyb 2020-10-31 20:39:38 UTC #24

Jhailyn Ortiz will play in the Dominican League also. Current start date is 11/15.

https://twitter.com/EscogidoBBClub/status/1322176541594439682/photo/1

andyb 2020-11-03 00:43:45 UTC #25

Ben Brown makes his first rehab appearance in Instructional League (TJ surgery). Billy Sullivan seems to have a little Ken Giles potential from the report. Braden Zarbnisky seems to be pitching well. Interesting prospect from West Virginia. Injured all of 2019 and played more offense than pitching.

andyb 2020-11-09 17:15:37 UTC #26

Looks like at least 15 Phillies will play in Australia this winter.

Adelaide: Kyle Glogoski, Jonathan Hennigan, Tyler Burch, Austin Ross, Taylor Lehman, Colby Fitch, Mitchell Edwards, Rixon Wingrove, Luke Williams, Kendall Simmons, Cornelius Randolph
Melbourne: Josh Tols, Luke Leftwich, Chris Burke
Sydney: Josh Gessner

Also, De Los Santos will pitch in the Dominican league. Imagine we will see a larger list (beyond him and Ortiz and Christopher Sanchez) shortly as they start this coming weekend.

Really happy to see Simmons on the list. Williams and Randolph should theoretically be dominant players at this level.

andyb 2020-11-09 20:47:48 UTC #27

And a Mexican post with 2 relevant updates: First, the whole league is shutting down for 11 days because of COVID cases. Second, ex-Phillie Chris Roberson looks like he is retiring from Mexican baseball at age 41.

https://www.mister-baseball.com/baseball-mexico-monda-november-9-2020/

andyb 2020-11-13 20:34:10 UTC #28

Dominican League starts Sunday. Rosters are still not up though it looks like Adonis Medina is in the rotation mix for Licey.

There is apparently a streaming package for the hardcore fans:
https://www.drsports.tv/drsports

Venezuela has MLB restrictions again (so no Herrera there). Puerto Rico and Australia will be shortened seasons starting in mid to late December. Not sure about Colombia and Panama. Nicaragua starts today apparently.

andyb 2020-11-16 17:01:25 UTC #29

Rosters are up on the MLB site for the Dominican league which started yesterday. While there are many players on the reserve lists, it looks like 6 Phillies are on active rosters at the start:

Toros: Christopher Sanchez
Tigres: Adonis Medina, Enyel De Los Santos
Aguilas: Ramon Rosso
Estrellas: Rodolfo Duran
Leones: Jonathan Guzman

No non-Latino players and I think most or all of the above are Dominican. Looks like the Phillies used Australia more for their American players who wanted to play winter ball.

andyb 2020-11-17 14:23:23 UTC #30

Rosso with 2 shutout innings last night in relief. 0 hits, 1 BB, 2 K.
https://twitter.com/aguilascibaenas/status/1328556282362687488

Toros threw a combined no-hitter in their opener with Domingo German (coming back from an 81-game domestic abuse suspension like Herrera) being pretty dominant with 7Ks in 4 IP. Yankees have not said they are bringing him back yet.

zambonir 2020-11-17 17:08:54 UTC #31

Doubt they will have to DFA him though.

andyb 2020-11-18 14:50:33 UTC #32

De Los Santos with 1 BB and 3 Ks in a clean inning last night. Why the Phillies have not made him a reliever so he can throw 96-98 for 1 inning has always been a mystery to me. Christopher Sanchez got one out but walked a hitter who came around to score (thanks Anthony Gose!).

Have not seen Jhailyn Ortiz on the early active rosters. He probably is going to play later in the season since he was in Clearwater for instructional league too. Maybe the Phillies want him to play after the rule 5 draft? I think he is safe from being taken if unprotected, but he probably would have been protected if he had a good season last year (which of course did not happen).

Edit - H/T to Matt Winkelman for linking video on our prospects:
https://twitter.com/TigresdelLicey/status/1328860565343793152

zambonir 2020-11-18 18:47:35 UTC #33

They just seemed kind of done with EDLS. Think he'll get added back to the 40? Pretty easy to imagine him being taken in Rule V and becoming another John Curtiss for someone.

I'm honestly surprised so many guys are playing, even with the need for action. I guess the virus isn't a big deal if you assume everyone is young and healthy and they are nowhere near Clearwater, and many of them just don't have anywhere else to go in the off-season (i.e. it's not like the Phillies pay for their housing and food). And travel itself probably isn't riskier than everyday life. I guess the quarantine/report-back process will have to apply to everyone in January anyway, whether they are coming from the DR or living right there in the Florida.

andyb 2020-11-18 19:11:37 UTC #34

Even in a perfect world I could see the minors being delayed a month next season because the Phillies might not want to start minor league camp until all the major leaguers go North. Major league camp might have a greater than average number of minor league invites so they have bodies, but they also probably want to delay the 200 extra potential COVID infections from entering camp.

Unless of course the vaccine is available. I am guessing MLB will be near the front of the line after front line workers. Not that they should be, but sports seem to be able to get all the testing resources they needed this Summer while the rest of the country often waited.

allentown 2020-11-18 21:12:52 UTC #35

A month delay is fine. April is just too cold for pitchers in Allentown, Reading, and Lakewood, not to mention the points north of other cities our players may have to play in EL and IL. Not good for young arms as they emerge from FL ST. And for $ purposes, mostly night games are played. I've attended some absolutely brutal games over the years.

andyb 2020-11-18 21:56:08 UTC #36

Maybe with the lack of September roster expansion they will have the regular minor league season a couple of weeks later as a matter of course. Weather-wise they should really play through late September, and that would keep the upper minors busy in case the major league team needed a callup or a rehab appearance.

I know crowds drop off after Labor Day, but they are also not wonderful in early April.

andyb 2020-11-22 17:13:34 UTC #37

Rosso's 2nd start even better than the first. 3 perfect innings with 3 Ks. Not sure I believe the box score that says 15 pitches total and 15 strikes, but I guess that is technically possible to get 6 1-pitch outs and then 9 pitches for the Ks.

That is it for the rest of the week (since Tuesday) because a majority of the games have been rained out. Hurricane Iota is forming this weekend but dumped a bunch of rain on the Dominican the last few days while a lowly tropical depression.

andyb 2020-11-23 22:11:35 UTC #38

Darick Hall showed up in Mexico this weekend. 0-2, 2 Ks, with a HBP so far.

Erubiel Armenta is pitching pretty well with a 1.54 ERA and 5 saves over 8 games and 11.2 IP. Low K rate (5). One other pitcher, Fernando Lozano, is also pitching. 2-0, 1.86 ERA, 9.2 IP, 5 H, 4 BB, 3 K. Pitched OK at GCL in 2019.

andyb 2020-11-26 18:23:57 UTC #39

Rosso another great start in the Dominican. 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K. I think that is 9 IP total with 1 H and 0 R so far.

Jonathan Guzman got in a few games this week also. 0-8 so far and he appears to be getting pinch hit for in later innings. While I think his defense is fine, he is probably going to get the short end of playing time in the system as Stott and Garcia will get most of the starts at whatever level he is at.

andyb 2020-11-30 17:56:14 UTC #40

Still a month away from Australia, but the Adelaide website is filling in some details on their roster (no real news). Looks like Jamari Baylor might get lots of SS playing time from the initial roster:

https://adelaidegiants.com.au/news/player-tracker/

In other updates, it looks like MLB has allowed Venezuelan players to play in the Venezuelan league this offseason. Daniel Brito and Grenny Cumana both 4-12 in the first 3 games for Zulia.

https://www.lvbp.com/

Back in the Dominican, Odubel Herrera is supposed to make his debut today. Also, Johan Quezada (the new guy we got on waivers) was added to the Toros roster.
https://twitter.com/Gigantes_Cibao/status/1329451222311563267