iootp 14 Phillies rebuild

[phillyboy19]

Blog #1
Hello let me introduce myself, I'm David Forst. I am a former assistant G.M. of the Oakland Athletics. I will be bringing an Oakland style rebuild by stocking up on young talent. It will be a few years until we contend but I'm positive we will succeed.

[phillyboy19]

Blog #2
On 4/15/14 we made our first trade. We gave the Red Sox 2b Freddy Galvis Cf Ben Revere and minor league Cf Carlos E, Duran. In return we got SS Deven Marrero 2b Mookie Betts and 2b Wendell Rijo. I believe it will help us out a lot, I absolutely love Freddy's glove but his bat is extremely weak so we felt he was expendable. Same thing with Revere except he is better at hitting and he has a weak arm. Duran was just a one star minor leaguer who we had no future plans for. Marrero isn't going to be a feared hitter he does everything solid but not great except for power which he dosn't have much of. He is going to be an incredible fielder and is a great base runner. Betts is a better hitting prospect with plus potential everywhere except power which isn't great but he should have 7-13 homeruns per year in my opinion. Betts is also an even better base runner. Finally he is a great fielder although he isn't as good as Marrero. Finally Rijo projects to be a weak hitter with just solid contact potential and plus gap potential. He is like the other two an exceptional base runner. He is also a solid infielder but not as good as the others. Rijo is also the most raw and is a few seasons away. All in all all though we aren't getting much power we are getting 3 prospects that are great with the glove and can hit for solid contact and run like a mad man.

[phillyboy19]

Blog #3
Monthly update April 2014
Hi David here, we had a surprisingly good month with a 17-11 record only 3 games out of the NL East While we're first in the wild card race. Sadly I don't believe it will hold up. Our whole starting rotation was exceptional this month. Cf/2b Cesar Hernandez, 3b Cody Asche, and 1b Ryan Howard were our best hitters this month. Carlos Ruiz was great but he got hurt early on and is out for four months so we'll be missing him until mid-late August. Although I told you our trade in my second post to Our team website and myphilly.com from now on I will tell you our transactions in the monthly update, with the exception of the draft and trade deadline having special posts for themselves. We did have to minor moves though signing 1b Casey Kotchman and Rf Jason Bay to minor league deals. We also promoted Kotchman to the majors to back up Howard. That is it for this month and until the may update see you later.

[phillyboy19]

Blog #4
May Update
I wrote a long update on this month but I actually deleted it by accident so I'll do a quick run through. Tell me if you like this way better. Our Starting rotation imploded with only Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez and AJ Burnett pitching well. We are now 25-30 and are 8 games back on the Nats. Jimmy Rollins got injured and is out for the year with a Town Labrum. We brought up Marrero to replace him and he struggled so I may replace him with Betts because he's more MLB ready and can kinda play Shortstop. We extended Kyle kendrick for 3 years 2 million per. Finally we brought up Maikel Franco who did great and is solidifying himself as the top 3b prospect in the game. That's it and onto the draft.

[phillyboy19]

Blog #5
The Draft
It is June
It is June 2nd the day after the draft and I would like to say I think we made out decently I will now break down our picks.
Round 1 10th pick
Our 1st round pick was a 21 year old first baseman Lyle Hart. We picked him because we need a replacement for Howard. He will have okay contact never hitting above .260-.270 but he has nice gap power probably getting 20-30 doubles a year because of his limited speed.He has hall of fame power though and in our ballpark could hit possibly 45-50 homeruns a few times like Howard in his prime. Unlike Howard he has great vision of the plate for how young he is and it should get better as he progresses he will be a high obp player with probably in the .330-.360 range. He will strike out a bit but not tremendously. He will be a solid fielder nothing special though. He also as I said has limited speed.
Round 2 pick 10
Our 2nd rounder was Starting Pitcher Ronald McDonald no joke, well it's spelled MacDonald but use you imagination. Anyway he projects to be a 4 or 5 starter on most teams and a 2 or 3 on bad ones. He doesn't possess great pitches none of them over powering and he only throws 87-89 that's the bad part. Good news is he already has exceptional movement and it's only going to get better. His control isn't there yet but it projects to be great. He is a ground ball pitcher, is great at holding runners on their bases and is a workhorse.
Our next 3 picks aren't going to male an impact but all have solid contact potential and are good fielders.

[darkcloud4579]

No way you can pass up drafting a Ronald McDonald when one is available.

Might be handy if you post the team record every time you do an update that way it's easier to see how the team is making progress, etc.

[phillyboy19]

Ok thx

[phillyboy19]

Blog #6
June Update
36-46 13.5 GB of the Nats 4th place in the NL East
I wish I could give you a month without a major injury... we had a few. First of all in the beginning of the month Chase Utley who is having a disapointing year got hurt for 4-5 weeks, but should be back soon. Then a few days later Domonic Brown gets hurt for 4 weeks as well, so both should be back soon. There was one more injury which was Jonathan Papelbon who was having a great season. I was extremely disappointed by this because I was going to deal him to some contenders now he's gone for the season since he'll be out for 3 months. We were extremely streaky this months starting off by losing a bunch then won like 7 straight and lost the rest of the month. Finally we made three trades the last being an exciting one. The Giants offered us a future career minor leaguer (Juan C. Perez) and a solid 3rd base prospect (Ryder Jones) for Aj Burnett I negotiated a bit and got another nice catching prospect (andrew susac) I had to throw in a semi decent 3rd baseman (Lucas Rojo) but he wont really be anything. Our 2nd trade was in my opinion a steal by us. I gave them Ken Giles he has some nice tools but doesn't have a future here, and Jan Hernandez a nice shortstop prospect but I have a few of those so he was expendable. In return I acquired a young reliever named Maikel Cleto who is my closer since Papelbon got hurt and would have been if we traded him His stuff is overpowering and flat out awesome he has a fastball that sits around 98-100, a great slider I'd go on a limb and say almost Brad Lidge in his prime good and a nice change-up but isn't special like his other two pitches. He has great movement on his pitches and his control is good. Finally our 3rd trade was good potentially the biggest ripoff of all time and the Mariners offered it to me. We gave up Zach Green a third baseman prospect with really good power potential but can't do anything else and Yoel Mecias a bad reliever who will have bad control issues and doesn't have the stuff or movement to hide it. In return we got top pitching prospect James Paxton he has struggled this year although except for his first start here he has been really good. His potential is to good to pass up on though His stuff is great he throws a fastball typically sitting around 94-96 a cutter which is almost to its potential a deadly curveball and a change-up which isn't there yet and I've advised him to stray away from it until it develops but when it does it will be Cole Hamels good and hint hint i'm going to try and deal him during the deadline. Back to Paxton the thing I love most about him is he's a ground ball pitcher. That's it for July and although we had a busy month I'd call it successful.

[phillyboy19]

Blog #7
Trade Deadline Firesale
Hello Phillies fans a few days ago I sold our entire team for prospects. I know this may be ugly and our team will suck for a few years I believe we can build a great team here. Anyway here are the moves I made


Trade #1
Dodgers- SP Cliff lee, RF Marlon Byrd
Phillies- Joc Pederson
We gave up a top pitcher in Lee although he struggled a bit for us he was starting to get back on track. Byrd was a solid backup who struggled when he filled in for Brown's injury
We then receive a top 10 prospect in Pederson. He can be a solid contact hitter .270-.280 range. He projects to have good gap power could be a doubles king one day. He has great homerun power I could see him hit about 30 or more. He will also draw a lot of walks so he'll have a high obp, the bad news is he'll strike out a lot also. He is a great base runner and has a great glove possible gold glover and steals champion.


Trade #2
Rays- 3B Cody Asche, and SP Sevorino Gonzalez
Phillies- SP Jake Odorizzi
Cody Asche which was the main guy they got is a nice 3rd baseman prospect, I really liked him I think he'll be a good player, but would be buried in our depth charts because of lack of other positions and Franco. Gonzalez was just a throw in he's a minor league pitcher I didn't think to highly of.
We received Jake Odorizzi who I believe will be a nice 2 or 3 maybe an Ace. He has 4 plus pitches a fastball that reaches 92-94 mph a curveball, a slider, and a changeup. He has really good movement on his pitches and has good control.


Trade #3
Mets- SP Cole Hamels, SS Roman Quinn
Phillies- SP Noah Syndergaard, SS Amed Rosario
I hate trading to rivals but they were the only team that could take him on and had something I liked. It may seem that I ripped them off but the Mets are in 2nd in the division and in the wild card hunt and needed an established pitcher. They received Cole Hamels who is a great pitcher. He's a lefty has great stuff great control best change up in the game he is a flat out stud, but he's A. 30 and B. EXSPENSIVE He costs to much and is to old for us at the moment. They receive Roman Quinn who is a great base runner is a great fielder who has nice batting potential. I could see him as a Andrelton Simmons type of guy great defense good base runner and an ok hitter.
We receive SS Amed Rosario who I wanted and they didn't make me add anymore pieces he is practically Roman Quinn just not as fast and slightly worse at fielding although can be a gold glover. Again He's like Simmons also. The prized piece of the trade was Noah Syndergaard who is the best pitching prospect in the league. Future Ace and will be dominate. He has a fastball that is about 94-96 mph a great curveball a great slider and an amazing changeup. Hi pitches have good movement on them enough to make hitters look like T-Ballers. Lastly his control is extremely good and will be a great pitcher.
Those were my deadline deals and I believe this is my first major step into making this my team and nor Ruben's good bye.

[darkcloud4579]

Big trades there. But at least you got a few pieces back. Especially Syndergaard and Pederson.

[phillyboy19]

Blog #8
July Update
43-66 18.5 gb on the Nats Last place NL East
July has come and gone as do trades as you saw in my last update we made a few. There were no injury's this month.
Nothing else really happened so I'll take a little time to ask for some feedback. As you can see I restructured how I'm typing this stuff out so it makes it easier to read.
What would you like to see me add
Team MVP's per month (did that earlier but we are to bad and dont have anyone who derserves it.)
Monthly depth charts
Top prospects I plan on doing that in the off season although I could do it now and revisit it then.
That's pretty much it thank you.

[phillyboy19]

Blog #9
August Update
54-82 24 gb on the Nats Last place NL East
Hi Phillies nation it's David August was a relatively injury free month with a few minor ones here and there but nothing big.
Earlier in the year I said Chooch would be out until mid to late August and we did get him back in the middle of the month. He continued to hit well.
Top prospects Nolan Syndergaard and Pederson who we acquired at the deadline did well. Syndergaard had a low 4 era which I am pleased with for now, although I fully expect him to be much better next year. On the contrary Joc Pederson who struggled mightily with the dodgers was insain this month. He was definitely our team MVP this month and hopefully it's a sign of things to come.
Since September has started that means September call ups. I only brought up 8 people around this time because I don't want to over expose prospects or block them from playing time.

Casey Kotchman
Roberto Hernandez
Tony Gwynn Jr.
Mookie Betts
Tommy Joseph
BJ Rosenburg
Cameron Rupp
Jesse Biddell
That's it and next post will be my last monthly update for the 2014 season thank you.

[phillyboy19]

Blog #10
September Update
64-98 30 gb on the Nats last place NL East

Hello Philles Nation it's David. Our season has sadly come and gone. We made some trades and placed the blocks down for a rebuild. I believe we can be competitive next year, but not a playoff team. Probably 2016 or 2017.

Our only injury was to Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez who will be out for 2-3 months but will be back by opening day. Our monthly mvp was Noah Syndergaard who was much better this month lowering his ERA as a Phillie by 30 points.

That is really it for this season we struggled mightily. I will be doing a season review next talking briefly about how my transactions played out, Impressive performances and disappointing one and selecting an overall team MVP.

[phillyboy19]

Blog Post #10
Season Recap

The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Tampa Bay Rays to win the World Series 4-2 in a dramatic World Series which resulted in Chris Archer and Peter Bourjos each getting suspended for 4 games because of a Brawl.

The AL MVP was none other than Mike Trout and the NL MVP was Carlos Gonzalez. The AL Cy Young award was Cj Wilson and the NL's was Stephen Strasburg. The AL Rookie was Ryan Goins and the NL's was Kolten Wong.

Enough about league news now let's talk Phillies. First I will reflect on our moves starting with our signings. Earlier in the year we signed each Casey Kotchman and Jason Bay to minor league deals both played in the majors this year and were horrible but I needed them for depth purposes and neither are coming back. Grade D+

Our first trade was with Boston
Boston- 2b/SS Freddy Galvis, CF Ben Revere, CF Carlos E. Duran
Phillies- SS Deven Marreo, 2b Mookie Betts, 2b Wendell Rijo
This trade may bight us in the butts with Marreo and Betts both struggeling mightily in the majors and even when I sent them down both recieved potential hits with Betts going from a 4 star to a 1 and Marreo going from a 4.5 star to a 3.. Rijo looks decent and has remained a 2.5 star prospect.
Galvis struggled but Revere was great this year for Boston. Grade D-

Our 3rd trade was with the Giants
Giants- SP AJ Burnett, 3b Lucas Rojo
Phillies- C Andrew Susac, CF Juan C. Perez, 3b Ryder Jones
The Giants got Burnett who perfromed well for them, and Rojo who will never amount to anything.
We on the other hand got our future catcher who will probably be up sometime between late April and May. We recieved a 4th outfeilder in Perez not a career minor leaguer as i expected.We recieved a nice 3rd baseman who will be a nice trade chip maybe this off season. B+

4th trade
White Sox- SS Jan Hernandez, SP Kenny Giles
Phillies- Cl/MR Maikel Cleto
The white sox got a nice group of prospects with hernandez being the good one and Giles as a spot starter and middle reliever.
We got our future Closer though and he did very well for us and expect him to be in that role next year(even if Pap is here.) A+

5th trade
Mariners-3b Zach Green, MR Yoel Mecias
Phillies- SP James Paxton
The Mariners got a nice prospect in Green, and a horrible reliever in Mecias.
We got a top prospect in Paxton who struggled mightily this year but performed well down the stretch. C+

6th trade
Dodgers- SP Cliff Lee, RF Marlon Byrd
Phillies- OF Joc Pederson
The dodgers got another ace and a nice fourth outfeilder
we on the other hand got a future stud who was great once he got here. A+

7th Trade
Rays-3b Cody Asche, SP Severino Gonzalez
Phillies- SP Jake Odorizzi
The Rays acquired to nice prospects with one Cody Asche going to make a solid impact on their team.
We got our future 2 or 3 in Odorizzi and he was decent for us. B-

8th and final (thank god) trade
Mets- SP Cole Hamels, SS Roman Quinn
Phillies- SP Noah Syndergaard, SS Ahmed Rosario
The mets got a future gold glover and an Ace. We got basically the same thing except Syndergaard is younger cheaper and unproven. A

The good
Joc Pederson
The BUllpen
Syndergaard
The Bad
everything else

Team MVP
No body maybe Pederson

[phillyboy19]

I made a few moves this off season next post most likely tomorrow afternoon

[phillyboy19]

Blog Post #11
Off Season Update

Hello Phillies Nation we had a busy off season acquiring talent. We made 2 signings, and 3 trades. Anyway let's discuss and break down our moves.

First let's cover our signings. We signed Juan Pierre to be a veteran presence on our youngish team. He was a cheap 1 year deal worth $550,000, which is barely above the leagues minimum.
We then signed Luke Hochever to be one of our set up men. He was moved to the bullpen last year and had an ERA under 2. We only signed him to a 1 year deal worth $3,500,000. He was hurt but is healed now that concerns me a bit but our payroll is 100 million under our budget so if it's a miss i'm ok with that. He can also spot start.
Next we made two trades the first being a trade for an MLB ready prospect who has a bit of MLB experience and the third for a starting outfielder while dumping an expensive contract in the second(sorry for going out of order dont wanna re-type.
Trade #1
Rangers- SS Deven Marrero, C Tommy Joseph
Phillies- SP Martin Perez
Texas got a nice SS prospect in Marrero, who we acquired in my first trade ever in this organisation. He projects to be a great base-runner and defender while his batting potential has dropped and his value as a whole. He would be blocked by Jp Crawford who does the same things but hits well. Joseph is a ok prospect who doesn't do much other than hit for power which is nice but I'd rather have defense.
We got an MLB ready starting pitcher who will be in our starting rotation to start the year. He has plus ratings every where and we hope to have a one two punch for years to come (him and Syndergaard).
Trade #2
Boston- Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez
Phillies- Luis Alexander Basabe
Boston needed pitching help and was willing to overpay for it. He costed us way to much to be moved to the pen, 4,000,000, which isn't bad but he is a sub par pitcher.
We got the #58 prospect in Basabe he projects to be good in every area of the game hitting, fielding, and running. He has plus power to.
Trade #3
Mariners- Shane Watson
Phillies- Michael Saunders.
They got a sub par pitching prospect.
We got a solid outfielder who is young and cheap. Solid tools across the board with exceptional defense.
Those were our off season moves and i like them a lot I will post our starting rotation and depth chart next.

[phillyboy19]

Blog Post #12
Opening Day Depth Chart

Starting Rotation
#1 Noah Syndergaard
#2 Martin Perez
#3 Jake Odorizzi
#4 James Paxton
#5 Jesse Biddle
Bull Pen
Middle Relief
Bj Rosenburg
Jake Diekman
Mike Adams
Luke Hochever
Set Up Men
Left handed set up man Antonio Bastardo
Right haded set up man Justin De Fratus
Closer
Maikel Cleto
Position Players
Catcher- S Andrew Susac Bu Cameron Rupp
1st Base- S Ryan Howard Bu Darin Ruf
2nd Base- S Chase Utley Bu Mookie Betts
3rd Base- S Maikel Franco Bu Cesar Hernandez
Short Stop- S Jp Crawford Bu Jimmy Rollins
Left Field- S Michael Saunders Bu Darin Ruf
Center Field- S Joc Pederson Bu Cesar Hernandez
Right Field- S Tyler Austin Bu Darin Ruf
Lineup
#1 Joc Pederson Cf
#2 Andrew Susac C
#3 Chase Utley 2b
#4 Ryan Howard 1b
#5 Maikel Franco 3b
#6 Michael Saunders Lf
#7 Tyler Austin Rf
#8 JP Crawford SS
I believe we will be competitive I could see us winning around 75 games and I would be pleased with that.

[phillyboy19]

Blog Post #13
April Update
It's a new season for the new look Phillies after a whopping 11 trades since I took over we are a very different team since opening day last year.
One similar thing that carried over from last year is our hot start. We are 14-8 on the season, and also in first place in the NL East. I believe we can hold onto the start longer than last year and maybe contend but i aim for next year to be a legitimate contender though. All in all I'm pleased with the start.
Starting now for every monthly update I will select our 5 best players so far for the season on a hot or not list.
Hot-No particular order
Joc Pederson- ..322/.392/.586 5 HR's and 11 RBI's
Michael Saunders- .250/.345/.597 7 HR's 17 RBI's
Tyler Austin- .288/.361/.507 4 HR's 9 RBI's
Martin Perez- 5-0 1.47 ERA .98 WHIP
Jesse Biddle- 2-1 2.25 ERA 1.00 WHIP
James Paxton 1-1 2.96 ERA 1.02 WHIP
I know I said only 5 but Paxton and Biddle where so close I added them both (although Biddle was slightly better.)
Not
Jake Odorizzi- 0-3 5.14 ERA 1.52 WHIP
Andrew Susac- .207/.278/.354 2 HR's 4 RBI's
Ryan Howard- .165/.242/.318 3 HR's 10 RBI's
Maikel Franco- .247/.289/.329 1 HR 7 RBI's
Jp Crawford- .189/.241/.243 0 HR's 5 RBI's
Our starting rotation and Bull pen has been great except for Justin De Fretus who lost his set up job to off season acquisition Luke Hochever and Odorizzi. Our infield has struggled except for Utley which my only complaint is he hasn't hit for one bit of Power. All of our starting Out Fielders made the hot list so that is a good sign there.

[phillyboy19]

Blog Post #14
May Update 25-25 7 gb on the Braves 2nd Place NL East
As you can see we struggled a bit, which is true to some reason. We were solid until the last weak or so and we've struggled since. We signed Chase Utley to an extension for 1 year about 1.3 million. I was going to let him walk but that is a good price for a veteran infielder who may or may not start. We sent down BJ Rosenberg and called up Kyle Kendrick. Our starting pitching slipped this month but all of them are solid at this point. Now let's go to our Hot's and Not's.
Hot
Joc Pederson-.300/.372/.522 11 HR's 26 RBI's
Tyler Austin-.278/.325/.489 9 HR's 28 RBI's
Michael Saunders-.265/.325/.476 9 HR's 28 RBI's
Jesse Biddle-3-3 3.21 ERA 1.2 WHIP
Maikel Cleto- 0-0 1.8 ERA .76 WHIP 16 Saves
Not
Chase Utley-.229/.319/.314 2 HR's 19 RBI's
Andrew Susac-.229/.299/.331 2 HR's 10 RBI's
Ryan Howard-.207/.292/.399 10 HR;s 25 RBI's
JP Crawford-.214/.265/.321 1 HR 11 RBI's
BJ Rosenberg-1-0 6.23 ERA 1.38 WHIP
As you can see it's been our offense that's dragging us down. I may make a move to ensure it in July if We're still in the race. On to the draft expect a draft update shortly.

[RubeBaker]

Originally Posted by phillyboy19

Blog #5
The Draft
It is June
It is June 2nd the day after the draft and I would like to say I think we made out decently I will now break down our picks.
Round 1 10th pick
Our 1st round pick was a 21 year old first baseman Lyle Hart. We picked him because we need a replacement for Howard. He will have okay contact never hitting above .260-.270 but he has nice gap power probably getting 20-30 doubles a year because of his limited speed.He has hall of fame power though and in our ballpark could hit possibly 45-50 homeruns a few times like Howard in his prime. Unlike Howard he has great vision of the plate for how young he is and it should get better as he progresses he will be a high obp player with probably in the .330-.360 range. He will strike out a bit but not tremendously. He will be a solid fielder nothing special though. He also as I said has limited speed.
Round 2 pick 10
Our 2nd rounder was Starting Pitcher Ronald McDonald no joke, well it's spelled MacDonald but use you imagination. Anyway he projects to be a 4 or 5 starter on most teams and a 2 or 3 on bad ones. He doesn't possess great pitches none of them over powering and he only throws 87-89 that's the bad part. Good news is he already has exceptional movement and it's only going to get better. His control isn't there yet but it projects to be great. He is a ground ball pitcher, is great at holding runners on their bases and is a workhorse.
Our next 3 picks aren't going to male an impact but all have solid contact potential and are good fielders.

If Ronald MacDonald gets a ridiculous question from a reporter, will he refer to it as a "clown question"?