Joseph Departs; Updated Offseason Moves

2018 Chachi Departures #11

Before the regular season kicks off, I wanted to take a look back at the Phillies' offseason moves and commemorate the moving on of one Phillies Room Favorite and three blink-and-you-missed-them Phillies.

Tommy Joseph was designated for assignment in mid-March to make room on the team's 40-man roster for Jake Arrieta.  The slugging first baseman was then picked up on waivers by the Rangers.

Kevin Siegrist, Henderson Alvarez and Clay Buchholz all had very short stints with the Phillies.  Each recently found new homes, and I've already featured Siegrist's Chachi Departure card in a prior post.  He's a look at the complete Chachi checklist for each departed player and then a look at what could be close to the final list of offseason player moves.

Tommy Joseph Complete Chachi Checklist
2016 Chachi #42
2016 Chachi #67 Home Run Leaders (with Ryan Howard and Maikel Franco)
2016 Chachi Archives #4
2016 Chachi Photo Day #12
2017 Chachi Preview #1
2017 Chachi #6
2017 Chachi Phillies Phestival #22
2017 Chachi In Action #2
2017 Chachi Archives #1
2017 Chachi Photo Night #23
2018 Chachi Departures #11

Henderson Alvarez Complete Chachi Checklist
2017 Chachi #63
2018 Chachi Departures #10

Clay Buchholz Complete Chachi Checklist
2017 Chachi New Additions #6
2017 Chachi #17
2017 Chachi Photo Night #23 (with Cameron Rupp and Andrew Knapp)
2018 Chachi Departures #12

Kevin Siegrist Complete Chachi Checklist
2017 Chachi #59
2018 Chachi Departures #9

2018 Chachi Departures #10

2018 Chachi Departures #12

Moving On - 2017-2018 Offseason

• Henderson Alvarez - rhp (10/4/17) - Outrighted off 40-man roster, elected free agency and signed with Tigres de Quintana Roo of the Mexican League, 3/16/18.
• Ty Kelly - 2b-of (10/4/17) - Outrighted off 40-man roster, elected free agency and signed as a minor league free agent with the New York Mets, 1/22/18.
• Kevin Siegrist - lhp (10/4/17) - Outrighted off 40-man roster, elected free agency and signed as a minor league free agent with the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2/24/18.
• Andres Blanco - inf (11/2/17) - Elected free agency and signed as a minor league free agent with the San Francisco Giants, 1/30/18.
• Clay Buchholz - rhp (11/2/17) - Elected free agency and signed as a minor league free agent
  with the Kansas City Royals, 3/20/18.
• Hyun Soo Kim - of (11/2/17) - Elected free agency, signed with the LG Twins of the Korea Baseball Organization, 12/18/17.
• Daniel Nava - of (11/2/17) - Elected free agency, signed as a minor league free agent with the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2/6/18.
• Jesen Therrien - rhp (11/6/17) - Outrighted off 40-man roster and elected free agency, signed as a minor league free agent with the Los Angeles Dodgers, 11/29/17.
• Michael Mariot - rhp (11/6/17) - Elected free agency, signed as a minor league free agent with the San Diego Padres, 11/29/17.
• Colton Murray - rhp (11/6/17) - Elected free agency, signed as a minor league free agent with the Tampa Bay Rays, 12/14/17.
• Brock Stassi - 1b (11/6/17) - Elected free agency, signed as a minor league free agent with the Minnesota Twins, 12/7/17.
• Cameron Perkins - of (12/11/17) - Claimed off waivers by the Seattle Mariners.
• Freddy Galvis - ss (12/15/17) - Traded to the San Diego Padres for Enyel De Los Santos.
• Tommy Joseph - 1b (3/19/18) - Claimed off waivers by the Texas Rangers.

Coming Back - 2017-2018 Offseason

• Pedro Florimon - inf-of (11/13/17) - Signed to a minor league contract.
• Pedro Beato - rhp (12/22/17) - Signed to a minor league contract.

New Additions - 2017-2018 Offseason

• Engelb Vielma - inf (11/20/17) - Claimed off waivers from the San Francisco Giants.
• Pat Neshek - rhp (12/15/17) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Colorado Rockies.
• Tommy Hunter - rhp (12/15/17) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Tampa Bay Rays.
• Carlos Santana - 1b (12/20/17) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Cleveland Indians.
• Jake Arrieta - rhp (3/12/18) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Chicago Cubs.

Already Gone - 2017-2018 Offseason

• Engelb Vielma - inf (12/11/17) - Claimed off waivers by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Photo Night Highlights! (Part Three)

2017 Chachi Photo Night #23

2017 Chachi Photo Night #29

2017 Chachi Photo Night #24

With all the trades happening recently, I had completely forgotten to post the final set of extremely limited edition Chachi insert cards from the team's recent Photo Night.  Here are the final nine cards and you can look back at Part One and Part Two of this series of posts for the other cards in the set.

We didn't recognize Clay Buchholz at first, but that's only because he hadn't pitched with the team since very early in the season.  Kudos to him for coming out for the event.

2017 Chachi Photo Night #25

2017 Chachi Photo Night #26

2017 Chachi Photo Night #28

2017 Chachi Photo Night #27

2017 Chachi Photo Night #30

2017 Chachi Photo Night #31

2017 Chachi #17 Clay Buchholz

#21
Clay Daniel Buchholz
Starting Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'3"  Weight:  190
Born:  August 14, 1984, Nederland, TX
Home:  Austin, TX
Drafted:  Selected by the Boston Red Sox as a supplemental pick in the 1st round of the June 2005 draft
Teams:  Boston Red Sox 2007-2016; Phillies 2017
Acquired:  Acquired from the Boston Red Sox for Josh Tobias, December 20, 2016

2008 Topps #232

2017 Topps #267

2017 Topps Heritage #148

5 Buccholz Baseball Cards in My Collection per The Phillies Room Checklist
First Card:  2017 Topps #267
First Phillies Card:  2017 Topps Heritage #148
First Phillies Team Issued Card:  2017 Phillies Team Issue #21
Latest Card:  2017 Topps Now Road to Opening Day #OD-281

First Topps Flagship Base Card:  2008 Topps #232

Click to enlarge

Complete Chachi Checklist
2017 Chachi New Additions #6
2017 Chachi #17

Card statistics through 5/22/17.

2017 Topps Phillies #PHI-8 Clay Buchholz

Mets 14, Phillies 4
Game 8 - Tuesday Night, April 11th in Philadelphia
Record - 3-5, 4th place, 2 games behind the Mets and Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  Yoenis Cespedes hit three home runs and Clay Buchholz left the game with a right forearm strain as the Mets clobbered the Phillies, 14-4.

What It Means:  For the first time this season, the Phillies delivered "an embarassing loss" according to manager Pete Mackanin.

What Happened:  Buchholz left in the third inning having allowed six runs on eight hits.  It's unclear when he'll pitch again as a trip to the disabled list seems likely.  The four pitchers sacrificed to the Mets in this game have some pretty awful ERAs - Buchholz (12.27), Adam Morgan (10.50), Joely Rodriguez (11.81) and Jeanmar Gomez (12.46).

Featured Card:  Buchholz has three Phillies cards already to his name - this card from the Phillies Topps retail team set, a card in the Topps Heritage set and his photo card from the team-issued set. Only the team-issued photo card shows him wearing an actual Phillies uniform and not a photoshopped version.

Transactions:  Before the game, Zach Eflin was activated from the disabled list and optioned to Lehigh Valley.  His stay there could be short.  Following the game, Morgan, who gave up two of the three Cespedes home runs, was optioned to Lehigh Valley.

Phils Acquire Buchholz from Red Sox

2017 Chachi New Additions #6

2016 Choice Lakewood BlueClaws #25

In a somewhat surprising move, the Phillies yesterday acquired veteran right-handed pitcher Clay Buchholz from the Red Sox for infield prospect Josh Tobias.  Buchholz is a two-time A.L. All-Star and has played 10 seasons in Boston.  In 2016, he appeared in 37 games (21 starts) putting together an 8-10 record and a 4.78 ERA.  Buchholz's salary is $13.5 million for this coming year, and he'll become a free agent following the season.

For the Red Sox, the dealing of Buchholz gives them some payroll flexibility and opens up a back of the rotation spot for a younger arm.  For the Phillies, this would seem to give the team a logjam of starting pitching with Buchholz expected to fall in somewhere between Jeremy Hellickson, Aaron Nola or Jared Eickhoff.  Vince Velasquez would seem to have the best shot at the final rotation spot, with Jake Thompson, Zach Eflin, Alec Asher and Adam Morgan all expected to be in the mix as well. If the wheels come off the Phillies' season early, Buchholz could find himself dealt to a contender in July.

Buchholz appeared in the Topps flagship and Topps Heritage sets last year.  To make room for the new pitcher on the roster, Richie Shaffer, with the organization for less than a week, was designated for assignment.

I'd sad to see Tobias go.  We saw him play this summer at Lakewood, and he was one of the few players who took the time to sign a number of autographs for the younger fans - my two sons included.  I have two Tobias cards in my collection, both from minor league team sets.

* * *

2017 Chachi Departures #9

2017 Chachi Departures #10

In other news, it was reported yesterday that both David Buchanan and Phil Klein will be playing in Japan next season.  Buchanan signed with the Yakult Swallows while Klein signed with the Yokohama BayStars.

David Buchanan Chachi Checklist
2014 Chachi #44
2015 Chachi #16
2016 Chachi Almost #15
2017 Chachi Departures #9

Phil Klein Chachi Checklist
2016 Chachi #52
2016 Chachi Fan Appreciation Day #8
2017 Chachi Departures #10

Moving On - 2016-2017 Offseason

• Cedric Hunter - of (10/3/16) - Elected free agency.
• James Russell - lhp (10/3/16) - Elected free agency.
• Emmanuel Burriss - inf (10/7/16) - Outrighted off 40-man roster, elected free agency and signed as a minor league free agent with the Washington Nationals, 12/13/16.
• Frank Herrmann - rhp (10/7/16) - Outrighted off 40-man roster and elected free agency.
• Jimmy Paredes - of (10/7/16) - Outrighted off 40-man roster and elected free agency.
• Patrick Schuster - lhp (10/7/16) - Outrighted off 40-man roster, elected free agency and signed as a minor league free agent with the Los Angeles Dodgers, 11/5/16.
• Ryan Howard - 1b (11/3/16) - Team option declined and elected free agency.
• Charlie Morton - rhp (11/3/16) - Team option declined, elected free agency and signed with the Houston Astros, 11/16/16.
• Peter Bourjos - of (11/3/16) - Elected free agency.
• A.J. Ellis - c (11/3/16) - Elected free agency and signed with the Miami Marlins, 12/12/16.
• David Hernandez - rhp (11/3/16) - Elected free agency.
• Darin Ruf - 1b-of and Darnell Sweeney - inf-of (11/11/16) - Traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Howie Kendrick.
• Elvis Araujo - rhp (11/18/16) - Claimed off waivers by the Miami Marlins.
• David Buchanan - rhp (11/23/16) - Released and signed with the Yakult Swallows (Japan), 12/20/16.
• Cody Asche - of (12/2/16) - Designated for assignment and non-tendered.
• Phil Klein - rhp (12/14/16) - Released and signed with the Yokohama BayStars (Japan), 12/20/16.

Coming Back

• Jeremy Hellickson - rhp (11/3/16) - Elected free agency, accepted team's qualifying offer, 11/14/16.
• Andres Blanco - inf (12/14/16) - Resigned by the Phillies to a one-year contract.

New Additions - 2016-2017 Offseason

• Pat Neshek - rhp (11/4/16) - Acquired from the Houston Astros for a player to be named later or cash considerations.
• Howie Kendrick - lf (11/11/16) - Acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers for Darin Ruf and Darnell Sweeney.
• Joaquin Benoit - rhp (12/6/16) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Toronto Blue Jays.
• Clay Buchholz - rhp (12/20/16) - Acquired from the Boston Red Sox for Josh Tobias.

Already Gone - 2016-2017 Offseason

• David Rollins - lhp (12/2/16) - Claimed off waivers from the Texas Rangers.  Designated for assignment, 12/14/16.
• Richie Shaffer - 3b (12/14/16) - Claimed off waivers from the Seattle Mariners.  Designated for assignment, 12/20/16.