News of Phormer Phillies 2016

allentown 2016-02-09 20:50:49 UTC #41

Philsmania:

Philsmania:

Just for the sake of it, I checked in with the ranks of the unsigned. A number of ex-Phils on the list.

Antonio Bastardo
Chad Billingsley
Joe Blanton
Domonic Brown
Marlon Byrd
Jeff Francoeur
Cesar Jimenez
Cliff Lee
Jimmy Rollins
Alfredo Simon
Grady Sizemore
Shane Victorino
Jerome Williams
Randy Wolf
Delmon Young

I exclude A.J. Burnett since the presumption is that he is going to retire. I wonder if any of these guys end anywhere. I figure Bastardo, Blanton (who put up decent numbers after reinventing himself as a reliever), Byrd and Victorino land somewhere. I wonder what happens with Rollins. The others may get minor league deals with someone. Rollins is probably somewhere between "ends up somewhere" and "has to take a minor league deal". Wolf needs to give up the ghost of being a starter and needs to consider trying to reinvent himself as a LOOGY.

During the little less than four weeks after I posted this list, only Bastardo and Blanton signed anywhere. I wonder where any of the other guys will go over the next nine days. We have to be getting into scary time for unsigned free agents. I am a little surprised that Byrd, Rollins and Victorino are still out there and that Brown hasn't gotten a minor league deal from some team needing AAA filler and a possible lottery ticket.

Most of the guys on that list are pretty clearly 90% certain to be at the effective end of their careers. My guess is that they've been offered minor league deals with an invite to ST, but are holding out in the hope that someone will eventually offer them an MLB contract. There's gambling, and then there's signing Lee to an MLB deal for any kind of significant $. Not quite as extreme with a lot of the other guys on this list, but darned close. I wouldn't be surprised if many of these guys didn't wait until well through ST in the hopes that an injury opens a spot in some team's lineup/rotation/bullpen.

LoneStarPhan 2016-02-09 21:49:17 UTC #42

Philsmania:

LoneStarPhan:

allentown:

Philsmania:

Delmon Young arrested on a battery charge.

mlbtraderumors.com/2016/02/delmon-young-arrested-battery-miami.html

For an organization which professed to care so much about character, Delmon was a mind-bendingly awful FA signing by the Phillies. Amaro even servilely promised the starting RF job to Delmon, despite all of baseball knowing he was an awful RF. This signing was the flashing red light that the Phillies had totally lost their way.
Yes but maybe it contributed to the awakening. The straw that broke the camAmaro's back, so to speak.

I don't know. Young was here in 2013. After 2013 proved that 2012 was no fluke, it was clear to pretty much everyone but Amaro (and maybe Montgomery who had his back) that the Phillies needed to rebuild. Instead, Amaro--either for reasons of stubbornness, defiance and/or obtuseness--doubled down on the older, more expensive route by keeping the team largely intact and signing Byrd and Burnett to pricey contracts for 2014 and easy vesting options for the following seasons. Who knows, maybe Middleton shook his head and quietly took note of it.

I think the change of thinking took time. A restructuring of ownership has taken place over a period of a couple years as ownership shares were inherited or sold to other owners. It was probably only after and because of the consolidation control of the ownership by Middleton and the young Bucks that the new team is now in place to run baseball operations. One bad signing didn't cause the changes but the sum of moves made or not made when the team was on top did contribute to the rapid decline. Still, the big change was when significant ownership was controlled by owners who no longer were looking for a steady return on investment from a community entertainment service. The new controlling ownership wanted to win. Amaro may well have done a good job doing what he was directed to do by his boss at the time, but clearly the point was finally reached where the expectations were changed.

allentown 2016-02-09 21:57:43 UTC #43

I agree that RAJ did reasonably with the instructions from Monty, just as Wade did reasonably with the orders/limitations he was given. The change we see in the Phillies is a direct result of the change in ownership. I'm not saying RAJ would have been retained, but with Monty still running things RAJ would have been replaced with a RAJ/Wade clone and it would still be wholesome, nostalgic business as usual. The Phillies now seem to have a functional ownership/management team. The Eagles are now the most dysfunctional organization in town.

Philsmania 2016-02-09 22:02:12 UTC #44

allentown:

Philsmania:

Philsmania:

Just for the sake of it, I checked in with the ranks of the unsigned. A number of ex-Phils on the list.

Antonio Bastardo
Chad Billingsley
Joe Blanton
Domonic Brown
Marlon Byrd
Jeff Francoeur
Cesar Jimenez
Cliff Lee
Jimmy Rollins
Alfredo Simon
Grady Sizemore
Shane Victorino
Jerome Williams
Randy Wolf
Delmon Young

I exclude A.J. Burnett since the presumption is that he is going to retire. I wonder if any of these guys end anywhere. I figure Bastardo, Blanton (who put up decent numbers after reinventing himself as a reliever), Byrd and Victorino land somewhere. I wonder what happens with Rollins. The others may get minor league deals with someone. Rollins is probably somewhere between "ends up somewhere" and "has to take a minor league deal". Wolf needs to give up the ghost of being a starter and needs to consider trying to reinvent himself as a LOOGY.

During the little less than four weeks after I posted this list, only Bastardo and Blanton signed anywhere. I wonder where any of the other guys will go over the next nine days. We have to be getting into scary time for unsigned free agents. I am a little surprised that Byrd, Rollins and Victorino are still out there and that Brown hasn't gotten a minor league deal from some team needing AAA filler and a possible lottery ticket.

Most of the guys on that list are pretty clearly 90% certain to be at the effective end of their careers. My guess is that they've been offered minor league deals with an invite to ST, but are holding out in the hope that someone will eventually offer them an MLB contract. There's gambling, and then there's signing Lee to an MLB deal for any kind of significant $. Not quite as extreme with a lot of the other guys on this list, but darned close. I wouldn't be surprised if many of these guys didn't wait until well through ST in the hopes that an injury opens a spot in some team's lineup/rotation/bullpen.

I also suspect that the three guys I mentioned--Rollins, Byrd and Victorino--may be holding out for starting jobs (or the possibility thereof) and not yet willing to accept part-time roles as utility middle infielders (in the case of Rollins) and fourth or fifth outfielders (in the case of Byrd and Victorino).

As for Brown, if Boras is holding him out for a ML starting job, he's losing his mind.

Philsmania 2016-02-09 22:12:43 UTC #45

I suspect Montgomery would have jettisoned Amaro just to placate the fanbase but, yes, his replacement would have been in house or someone from elsewhere whom Gillick strongly recommended. And, eventually, Amaro would return in some capacity or another after a 7-10 year exile, a la Bowa and Wade.

scorcher 2016-02-13 22:55:27 UTC #46

The Angels signed catcher Lou Marson and RHP Josh Zeid to minor-league deals.

allentown 2016-02-13 23:53:30 UTC #47

Marson's going to be 30, time flies. He must have been hurt -- he's played a little each of the past 3 seasons but has only 68 AB total. I remember him from way back in 2008 at Reading. About an 850 OPS that year, then a lot less good at AAA, then traded in 2009. He did get two sips of coffee in Philly and more than that with Cleveland.

harrisburghusker 2016-02-17 20:04:34 UTC #48

pretty crazy that Lou Marson has a home and Domonic Brown does not

scorcher 2016-02-17 21:00:47 UTC #49

Jmho, I believe Dom Brown is holding out for a major league deal. I don't think he'll get it. Bad year for FA position players getting major league contracts.

allentown 2016-02-17 21:03:34 UTC #50

Likely true, there's really no rush to sign a minor league deal and limit himself to a chance to possibly be promoted by just one team.

Philsmania 2016-02-17 22:09:51 UTC #51

Indeed, it is. Ian Desmond still being out there is probably keeping Rollins and others in limbo and Dexter Fowler still being out there is keeping Victorino and Byrd and others in limbo.

scorcher 2016-02-18 22:25:10 UTC #52

Nick Punto retires.

phillychuck 2016-02-19 01:04:57 UTC #53

Are they going to retire his number?

gmwannabe 2016-02-19 01:25:02 UTC #54

not a bad career for a 20 something round pick out of a community college, if i remember correctly. congratulations to him.
gm

California_Dreamin 2016-02-19 01:41:44 UTC #55

Niuck Punto had a decent career but I will always remember him for what didn't transpire with him involved. He and Carlos Silva were the two players the Phillies offered to the D'backs back in the winter of 2003 when Schilling badly wanted to come back to Philadelphia and the D'backs reportedly told Schilling they would never trade him back to the Phils. Schilling ended up being wooed by Epstein and the Red Sox over a Thanksgiving dinner and Punto/Silva were moved to Minnesota for lefty Eric Milton in a deal that wasn't bad but could have been oh so much better.

scorcher 2016-02-20 16:54:23 UTC #56

I was amazed to see what Punto earned in his 14 year career, $23,272,500. Pretty good for a utility infielder.

phillychuck 2016-02-20 17:52:11 UTC #57

Always liked Punto. Was an OBP machine in the minors.

schillingfan 2016-02-21 19:16:58 UTC #58

No CD, Jerry Colangelo told Curt that the Phillies would never trade for Curt because they didn't want him back, so he needed to consier other teams.

Three_up_Three_down 2016-02-21 23:01:21 UTC #59

Didn't see this, and it happened in November... but Michael Martinez signed a minors deal with the Indians. Amazing this guy is still around.

DurhamBull 2016-02-22 03:22:17 UTC #60

Welcome to the board, Three up Three down!

Agreed about Martinez. Apparently he had his career year with the Indians in 2015 thanks to a small sample size (30 ABs):
baseball-reference.com/playe ... mi02.shtml

Amazingly enough, he appeared in 2 games as DH!