The Phillies Room

Thursday, December 12, 2013

New Non-Roster Invitees - Brignac, Blanco & Manship

2013 Topps Update #US206

On the same day the Phillies officially signed back-up catcher Wil Nieves, they also announced the signing of their seventh non-roster invitee to spring training. Jeff Manship will join the fray of pitchers in Clearwater trying to catch new pitching coach Bob McClure's eye. Manship appeared in 11 games last season with the Rockies, pitching to a 7.04 ERA over 30 2/3 innings. He spent the first four seasons of his career with the Twins.

Back on November 19th, the Phillies signed infielder Reid Brignac to a minor league contract. Brignac played in parts of five seasons with the Rays beginning in 2008. In 2013, he bounced from the Rays to the Rockies to the Yankees and back to the Rockies, where he hit a combined .114 over 17 games. Brignac has the honor of having the most recent mainstream baseball card among the first seven non-roster invitee, having appeared in the recently released Topps Update series.

Finally, the Phillies brought back Andres Blanco who spent the 2012 season with the Triple-A IronPigs, but found himself out of baseball last season. Blanco last appeared in the Majors in 2011 with the Rangers.

So here are your first seven Phillies non-roster invitees. There's got to be a diamond in the rough somewhere in there. Right?

Player (position) - 2013 Organization - Last Major Baseball Card Appearance

1. Shawn Camp (rhp) - Cubs/Diamondbacks - 2012 Topps Update #US238 (Cubs)

2. Leandro Castro (of) - Phillies - 2010 Topps Pro Debut #84 (Phillies)

3. Cesar Jimenez (lhp) - Phillies - 2009 Upper Deck #857 (Mariners)

4. Clete Thomas (of) - Twins - 2010 Topps #441 (Tigers)
5. Reid Brignac (inf) - Yankees/Rockies - 2013 Topps Update #US206
6. Andres Blanco (inf) - N/A - 2007 Topps #659 (Royals)
7. Jeff Manship (rhp) - Rockies - 2010 Finest #141 (Twins)

Memory Lane

2013 Non-Roster Invitees

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Happy Birthday Doug!

It's hard to believe Harry, but today is my oldest son's seventh birthday. I can't believe he's old enough to actually be upset at the news that Roy Halladay has retired. This is the first year Doug started to genuinely take an interest in baseball and the Phillies, and I'm looking forward to many, many years of father-son baseball games.

I'm so incredibly proud of everything he does and he constantly amazes me with his intelligence, his curiosity and his ability to just be an overall cool kid.

Although . . . I'm still coping with the fact that he made me root for the Braves (his tee ball team) throughout the summer. That was tough on the old man.

Happy birthday Doug!

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Thank You Doc

2014 Chachi Transactions #10

Roy Halladay unexpectedly announced his departure from baseball yesterday morning, signing a one-day contract with the Blue Jays and then ceremoniously retiring. I was caught completely off guard when I first started seeing various Tweets from the Orlando Winter Meetings indicating that one of the most dominant pitchers from the past decade was calling it a career.

During his emotional press conference, Halladay revealed he had literally been pitching the past two seasons with a broken back, which definitely explains his uncharacteristic 5.15 ERA in 2012 and 2013. He pitched through two pars fractures, an eroded disk in his vertebrae and pinched nerves.

Accolades started pouring in immediately from his former teammates, coaches and managers, with the common consensus being that he was one of the most hard-working, dedicated and competitive pitchers to have ever played the game. I'm definitely looking forward to Halladay's induction speech into Cooperstown in 2018 and I'll cherish the 196 different Halladay baseball cards currently in my collection.

Halladay came to the Phillies in December 2009, six months into the life of this here blog. If you browse the blog's archives, I've documented each of his 103 starts with the Phillies in the regular season and his five postseason starts. The list that follows contains links to some of the key posts from the last four seasons of Halladay's Hall of Fame career:

12/16/09 - Acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays for three prospects
4/21/10 - Shut-out the Braves, 2-0, on the day our second son Ben was born
5/29/10 - Threw the 20th perfect game in Major League history
10/6/10 - No-hit the Reds in Game 1 of the N.L.D.S.
11/16/10 - Named 2010 Cy Young Award winner
4/2/11 - Received his 2010 Cy Young Award in a pre-game ceremony
7/12/11 - Started the 2011 All-Star Game
10/7/11 - Outdueled by Chris Carpenter as the Phillies lost Game 5 of the N.L.D.S., the team's last postseason game to date
4/6/12 - Combined with Jonathan Papelbon for a 1-0 Opening Day win over the Pirates
4/14/13 - 200th career victory
9/23/13 - The final game

And here's the super short-printed Blue Jays variation of Doc's final Chachi card.

2014 Chachi Transactions #10b

Monday, December 9, 2013

Phillies Sign Catcher Nieves

2014 Chachi Transactions #9

In early October, I resigned myself to the fact that I probably wasn't going to get too excited about the moves the Phillies were going to make this offseason. However, I was at least hoping to be optimistic about the moves they were going to make. So far, that hasn't been the case.

Last Thursday, the Phillies officially signed catcher Wil Nieves to a one-year deal. The 36-year-old veteran will back up Carlos Ruiz following the trade of Erik Kratz to the Blue Jays earlier last week. The past two seasons have been the best of Nieves' 10-year career, as he hit .299 over 103 games with three home runs and 30 RBIs with the Rockies and Diamondbacks. In the eight seasons that proceeded 2012, he hit .221 over 282 games with the Padres, Yankees, Nationals and Brewers. The Phillies website has already assigned him uniform #21.

As a prospect with the Padres, Nieves appeared on his first mainstream baseball cards back in 2002. His cardboard appearances waned throughout the decade, and his last major baseball card can be found in the 2010 Upper Deck set, when he was a member of the Nationals.

Moving On

Steven Lerud (10/1/13) - Elected free agency. (Signed as a minor league free agent with the Atlanta Braves, 11/23/13)

Raul Valdes (10/2/13) - Claimed off waivers by the Houston Astros.

Tyler Cloyd (10/2/13) - Claimed off waivers by the Cleveland Indians.

Michael Martinez (10/7/13) - Outrighted off the 40-man roster and elected free agency.

Zach Miner (10/7/13) - Outrighted off the 40-man roster and elected free agency.

Pete Orr (10/7/13) - Outrighted off the 40-man roster and elected free agency.

Roger Bernadina (10/17/13) - Outrighted off the 40-man roster and elected free agency.

J.C. Ramirez (10/17/13) - Outrighted off the 40-man roster and elected free agency. (Signed as a minor league free agent with the Cleveland Indians, 11/1/13)

Casper Wells (10/17/13) - Outrighted off the 40-man roster and elected free agency. (Signed as a minor league free agent with the Chicago Cubs, 11/23/13)

John Lannan (10/17/13) - Outrighted off the 40-man roster and elected free agency.

Roy Halladay (10/31/13) - Elected free agency.

Mauricio Robles (11/5/13) - Outrighted off the 40-man roster and became a minor league free agent.

Erik Kratz (12/3/13) - Traded with Rob Rasmussen to the Toronto Blue Jays for Brad Lincoln.

Coming Back

Cesar Jimenez (11/15/13) - Signed to a minor league contract and invited to spring training.

Carlos Ruiz (11/21/13) - Resigned by the Phillies to a three-year contract with a club option for a fourth year.

New Additions

Marlon Byrd (11/12/13) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Brad Lincoln (12/3/13) - Acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays for Erik Kratz and Rob Rasmussen.
Wil Nieves (12/5/13) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Saturday, December 7, 2013

The Day We Didn't Meet @ShaneVictorino

2009 Upper Deck First Edition #230

A few weeks ago, I bit the bullet and purchased a Shane Victorino autograph ticket for his appearance at the Philadelphia Sportscard and Memorabilia Show (The Philly Show) today. Victorino has long been my son Doug's favorite baseball player and getting to meet the Flyin' Hawaiian was going to part of Doug's Christmas present from his mom and me. I even splurged for the additional $25 inscription fee in order to have this picture personalized for Doug. The price I paid was ridiculous, but I justified it in my mind with the happiness it would bring my son.

Last night, we planned for the event and Doug laid out his Victorino t-shirt to wear today for when he met one of his heroes. We woke up early, prepared to make the hour long drive to the show location in order to get a prime spot in Victorino's line.

And then checking Twitter after breakfast, I saw this:

Wanted to let my fans know that I won't be able to make into town for my card signing...unfortunately I told the folks who run the show
— Shane Victorino (@ShaneVictorino) December 7, 2013

And then this:

but after a few more calls tonight I guess they haven't passed that info along to the public! Little disappointed my fans weren't informed
— Shane Victorino (@ShaneVictorino) December 7, 2013

I had the unenviable task of telling Doug that we wouldn't be meeting Victorino today, and I explained to him that these things happen. There were some tears involved, but I promised him that we'll try again to meet Victorino in the future.

I hold no ill-will towards Victorino. Like I said, these things happen and I'm sure he has a good reason why he couldn't be in town for his scheduled signing. However . . . what does irk me a little is the fact that the folks who run the Philly Show apparently knew in advance that Victorino wouldn't be able to appear, and they failed to communicate that news to those of us planning to attend. As of this writing, they're still selling Victorino autograph tickets on their website.

I've e-mailed their customer service in the hopes of quickly having my $111.28 refunded. Hopefully they'll come through with a quick refund and only then will I sing that "every little thing's gonna be all right."

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Lincoln Acquired from Jays for Kratz, Rasmussen

2014 Chachi Transactions #8

On Tuesday night, the Phillies pulled off their first trade of the 2013-2014 offseason. Popular back-up catcher Erik Kratz and pitching prospect Rob Rasmussen were traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for right-handed pitcher Brad Lincoln. The bullpen struggled mightily last season, and one of the major to-do's of the off-season was to bolster the young bullpen with some more dependable arms. Hopefully part of that need has been filled with Lincoln.

Lincoln appeared in 22 games last season for the Blue Jays and he spent the bulk of the summer pitching for Triple-A Buffalo as a result of command issues at the big league level. In 31 2/3 innings with the Blue Jays, Lincoln walked 22 and struck out 25 while putting together a 1-2 record and a 3.98 ERA. For his career, which began in Pittsburgh in 2010, Lincoln is 9-11 with a 4.66 ERA in 97 games. Lincoln wore #49 for the Blue Jays, which is currently occupied by Phillies pitcher Ethan Martin.

2014 Chachi Transactions #7

The righty didn't appear on any mainstream baseball cards in 2013, and his last major baseball card appearance came within the 2012 Topps Update set.

Kratz spent parts of three seasons with the Phillies, filling in as the team's starting catcher at the outset of 2013 due to the suspension of Carlos Ruiz. In 120 games with the Phils, Kratz hit .220 with 18 home runs and 53 RBIs. He appeared in the team's postcard sets in 2012 and 2013, and he earned a Phillies card in series two of the 2013 Topps set. Kratz's departure seemed imminent once it was reported on Tuesday afternoon that the Phillies had reached a deal with back-up catcher Wil Nieves. (That deal isn't official yet.)

Rasmussen joined the organization in August in the Michael Young trade with the Dodgers. He leaves the organization with no cardboard proof of his time as Phillies property.