Phillies Comings & Goings - Mid-Season Update

2017 Chachi Almost #8

2017 Chachi Almost #9

2017 Chachi Almost #10

2017 Chachi Almost #11

With the symbolic half-way point of the season approaching, I wanted to take the opportunity to refresh the Phillies comings and goings listing and clear out some of the custom cards from my draft folder.

The four Chachi Almost cards at the top of the post are for players who won't be suiting up for the Phillies in 2017.  Jesmuel Valentin had his season cut short with surgery to repair his separated shoulder.  Pitchers Dalier Hinojosa and Mario Hollands were released from their minor league contracts while Taylor Featherston was traded to the Rays.  I also wanted to pay a final Phillies Room tribute to Joely Rodriguez who was the first (of many?) casualties from the 2017 Phillies bullpen as the lefty was designated for assignment and ultimately traded to the Rangers.

2017 Phillies Team Issue #63

Dalier Hinojosa Complete Chachi Checklist
2015 Chachi #55
2016 Chachi Preview #4
2016 Chachi #25
2017 Chachi Almost #8

Mario Hollands Complete Chachi Checklist
2014 Chachi #19
2015 Chachi Almost #4
2016 Chachi Almost #18
2017 Chachi Almost #9

Taylor Featherston Complete Chachi Checklist
2016 Chachi New Additions #13
2016 Chachi #50
2017 Chachi Almost #11

Joely Rodriguez Complete Chachi Checklist
2015 Chachi New Additions #2
2016 Chachi #62
2017 Chachi #20
2017 Chachi Phillies Phestival #5 (with Zach Eflin)

2017 Chachi Departures #6

2017 Chachi Departures #20

Joining the Departures insert set are Frank Herrmann and Cedric Hunter.  Herrmann, who pitched briefly for the Phillies last season is now in Japan while Hunter signed with the Reds.  Hunter, last year's opening day left fielder, was suspended in November for testing positive for amphetamine.

Frank Herrmann Complete Chachi Checklist
2016 Chachi #57
2017 Chachi Departures #6

Cedric Hunter Complete Chachi Checklist
2016 Chachi #6
2017 Chachi Departures #20

Finally, I'll have an upcoming post dedicated to Ryan Howard who briefly signed with the Braves organization before being released in early May.

Moving On - 2016-2017 Offseason

• Cedric Hunter - of (10/3/16) - Elected free agency and signed as a minor league free agent with the Cincinnati Reds, 4/4/17.
• James Russell - lhp (10/3/16) - Elected free agency and signed as a minor league free agent with the Cleveland Indians, 2/13/17.
• 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, elected free agency and signed with the Rakuten Golden Eagles (Japan).
• Jimmy Paredes - of (10/7/16) - Outrighted off 40-man roster, elected free agency and signed with the Chiba Lotte Marines (Japan), 1/15/17.
• 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, elected free agency and signed as a minor league free agent with the Atlanta Braves, 4/6/17.
• 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 and signed as a minor league free agent with the Chicago White Sox, 1/27/17.
• 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 and signed as a minor league free agent with the San Francisco Giants, 2/14/17.
• 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, non-tendered and signed as a minor league free agent with the Chicago White Sox, 1/6/17.
• Phil Klein - rhp (12/14/16) - Released and signed with the Yokohama BayStars (Japan), 12/20/16.
• Severino Gonzalez - rhp (1/19/17) - Designated for assignment and traded to the Miami Marlins for a player to be named later or cash considerations, 1/24/17.
• Alec Asher - rhp (3/28/17) - Traded to the Baltimore Orioles for a player to be named later or cash considerations.

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.
• Daniel Nava - of (12/12/16) - Signed as a minor league free agent formerly with the Kansas City Royals.
• Clay Buchholz - rhp (12/20/16) - Acquired from the Boston Red Sox for Josh Tobias.
• Michael Saunders - of (1/19/17) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Departed During the 2017 Season

• Tyler Goeddel - of (4/5/17) - Claimed off waivers by the Cincinnati Reds.
• Dalier Hinojosa - rhp (5/16/17) - Released.
• Mario Hollands - lhp (5/23/17) - Released.
• Taylor Featherston - inf (6/9/17) - Traded to the Tampa Bay Rays for cash.
• Joely Rodriguez - lhp (6/13/17) - Traded to the Texas Rangers for a player to be named later or cash.
• Jeanmar Gomez - rhp (6/20/17) - Designated for assignment.
• Michael Saunders - of (6/20/17) - Designated for assignment.

Arrived During the 2017 Season

• Ty Kelly - inf (4/22/17) - Acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays for cash.
• Casey Fien - rhp (5/9/17) - Purchased from the Seattle Mariners.

2016 Chachi #6 Cedric Hunter

#21

Cedric Scott Hunter

Left Field

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  5'11"  Weight:  200

Born:  March 10, 1988, Decatur, GA

Home:  Decatur, GA

Drafted:  Selected by the San Diego Padres in the 3rd round of the June 2006 draft

Teams:  San Diego Padres 2011; Phillies 2016

Acquired:  Signed as a minor league free agent formerly with the Atlanta Braves organization, January 12, 2016

2011 Topps #554

0 Hunter Baseball Card in My Collection per Zistle

First Card:  N/A
First Phillies Card:  N/A
First Phillies Team Issued Card:  N/A
Latest Card:  N/A

First Topps Flagship Base Card:  2011 Topps #554

Complete Chachi Checklist
2016 Chachi #6

Card statistics through 4/19/16.

2016 Phillies Team Issue #13 Freddy Galvis

Padres 4, Phillies 3
Game 7 - Monday Afternoon, April 11th in Philadelphia
Record - 2-5, 4th place, 3 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  A bizarre interpretation of the infield fly rule by the umpiring crew contributed to this 4-3 loss to the Padres in the Phillies home opener.

What It Means:  In the bottom of the sixth, the Phillies loaded the bases with nobody out.  Darin Ruf lofted a pop fly to shallow left field, which fell between the Padres shortstop and the left fielder.  The umpires deemed the infield fly rule to be in effect, even though the ball landed no where near the infield.  Ruf was ruled out, Odubel Herrera was tagged out at third, and the official scorer called it a sacrifice fly double play.  Pete Mackanin argued to no avail.  The fans booed to no avail.

What Happened:  Aaron Nola was tagged with the loss, as he allowed four runs on six hits in his seven innings.  Maikel Franco had three hits, but the offense overall remains relatively quiet and non-productive.

Featured Card:  I gave my nine-year-old son Doug the sole vote for this post's featured card and without hesitation he chose Freddy Galvis.  Galvis went 0 for 4 at the plate, but he made several dazzling defensive plays at shortstop and without his defense, it wouldn't have been such a close game.

This is Galvis' card from the new team issued photo card set, and I'll dedicate a full post to this new set at some point soon.


Field Report:  And we were there!  It turned out to be a gorgeous day for baseball and although the team lost, Doug and I still had fun.  I was very happy to see that giant Topps cards were back in Ashburn Alley, with nine giant cards displaying the game's starting line-up.  The picture below shows cards that never were (or might not ever be) for Cameron Rupp, Cedric Hunter and Peter Bourjos.

2015 Choice Gwinnett Braves Cedric Hunter

Reds 10, Phillies 6
Game 3 - Thursday Afternoon, April 7th in Cincinnati
Record - 0-3, 5th Place, 2 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  Charlie Morton and Daniel Stumpf took their lumps against the Reds in a 10-6 defeat as the Phils were swept to start the 2016 campaign.

What It Means:  This was the first time the Phillies were swept in the opening series of the season since 2007.

What Happened:  In his Phillies debut, Morton didn't make it out of the fourth inning.  His final line shows six earned runs on five hits and two walks.  In his Major League debut, Stumpf didn't retire a batter.  He faced three batters, walking two and allowing a home run to Eugenio Suarez. Impressively, the Phillies bullpen has an ERA of 24.55 so far this season.

The offense showed signs of life, with home runs coming from Cedric Hunter, Ryan Howard and Carlos Ruiz.

Featured Card:  I typically don't feature cards I don't actually own in these game summary posts, but I'll make the exception for Hunter since I don't have any of his other (few) cards.  I believe this is his most recent baseball card, which can be found in the 2015 Gwinnett Braves team set.  I swiped the image from this eBay auction.  I'm assuming he's in the 2016 Phillies team issued set, which I hope to pick up at a game next week.

Hunter's solo home run in the fourth inning off Reds starter Robert Stephenson was his first hit in the Majors since April 5, 2011 when he was with the Padres.  The fact that he's back in the Majors for the first time in five years is a testament to his hard work and perseverance, and I can't help but root for him.

Camp Headcount Increases to 54

2011 Topps #554

There has been little to no Phillies news for the past few weeks, which is why I got excited yesterday morning when my Twitter feed started percolating with Tweets from the Phillies beat writers.  The news wasn't all that major, unless you happen to be a Cedric Hunter super collector.  Hunter, the sole outfielder among the now 14 Phillies non-roster invitees, will be joining the team in a little over six weeks in Clearwater.

Hunter spent all of last season with the Braves Triple-A club in Gwinnett, hitting .283 in 138 games with 12 home runs and 77 RBIs.  His sole big league experience in his 10 year professional career came in 2011 when he appeared in six games for the Padres.

With the addition of Hunter, the camp headcount now stands at 54.  Also of note is the fact that the Phillies, earlier than ever, have assigned new uniform numbers to the herd of new additions joining the roster so far this offseason.  Every player except Hunter has been assigned a uniform number per the Phillies website.  I'll have a post up soon looking at the uniform number assignments.

Player (position) - 2015 Organization - Last Major Baseball Card Appearance
1.  James Russell (lhp) - Cubs - 2015 Topps #255 (Braves)
2.  Emmanuel Buriss (inf) - Nationals - 2010 Topps Update #US-82 (Giants)
3.  Ryan Jackson (inf) - Royals/Angels - 2013 Panini Prizm #238 (Cardinals)
4.  Frank Herrmann (rhp) - Angels/Pirates - 2010 Topps Update #US-89 (Indians)
5.  Chris Leroux (rhp) - Brewers/Phillies - 2013 Panini Select #205 (Pirates)
6.  Reinier Roibal (rhp) - Phillies - N/A
7.  J.P. Arencibia (c) - Orioles/Rays - 2014 Topps #627 (Rangers)
8.  Greg Burke (rhp) - Blue Jays - 2009 Bowman Chrome #103 (Padres)
9.  Ernesto Frieri (rhp) - Rays - 2014 Topps #240 (Angels)
10.  Gregory Infante (rhp) - Blue Jays - 2011 Topps Allen & Ginter #84 (White Sox)
11.  Angelys Nina (inf) - Rockies - 2012 Bowman Prospects #BP45 (Rockies)
12.  Andrew Bailey (rhp) - Yankees - 2013 Topps Heritage #344 (Red Sox)
13.  Edward Mujica (rhp) - Red Sox/Athletics - 2015 Topps #131 (Red Sox)
14.  Cedric Hunter (of) - Braves - 2011 Topps #554 (Padres)