2024-25 Offseason - Pre-Thanksgiving Notes

2024 Choice Reading Fightin Phils (3rd Edition) #37

2024 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs #15

2022 Choice Delmarva Shorebirds #18

2024 Choice Jersey Shore BlueClaws #7

Here's a look at a few recent Phillies-related news items as we head towards one of the best holidays of the year - Thanksgiving.

Lowy Joins Coaching Staff:  It looks as if the only turnover on manager Rob Thomson's coaching staff will be the assistant pitching coach.  Brian Kaplan recently left that role, taking the primary pitching coach position with the Diamondbacks.  He appeared on a few hard to find Phillies team-issued photo cards in 2022 and 2023, and I don't believe there are too many of those in the wild.

Replacing Kaplan is Mark Lowy.  Lowy joined the Phillies' organization in 2021 and has served as a backroom pitching analyst since then.  He played college baseball at Gettysburg College and has no baseball cards (yet) to his name.

Painter Wins Award:  On the road to recovery following Tommy John surgery, Andrew Painter (rhp) was named as the Arizona Fall League's Pitcher of the Year.  He was 2-0 with a 2.30 ERA in six starts, striking out 18 and walking four over 15 2/3 innings.  I would expect to see Painter hopefully pitching in Philly at some point in 2025.

40-Man Roster Moves:  On Tuesday, the Phillies added pitching prospects Mick Abel (rhp), Jean Cabrera (rhp) and Moises Chace (rhp) to their 40-man roster, protecting them from the upcoming rule 5 draft.  John McMillon, claimed off waivers from the Marlins on November 4th, cleared waivers and was outrighted to the IronPigs.  The Phillies currently have 39 spaces filled on their 40-man roster.

2024-25 Offseason Begins - More November Notes

2024 Choice Lehigh Valley
IronPigs #3

Last week, I kicked off my offseason posting with a few early roster moves made by the Phillies in the days following their unceremonious departure from the postseason.  I neglected to comment on the departure of several minor league free agents, who left the organization on November 4th.  Baseball America posted a list of 21 Phillies minor leaguers whose contracts expired after six seasons.  This list included former Phillies Yunior Marte (rhp), Luis F. Ortiz (rhp), Kolby Allard (lhp) and Rodolfo Castro (inf), as covered in my post from Wednesday.

Also included on the list were Darick Hall (1b) and David Dahl (of).  Dahl appeared in 19 games for the Phillies, batting .207 with three home runs and eight RBIs.  16 of those 19 games were starts in June in left field (12), DH (3) and right field (1).  He's in the IronPigs team set this year, but has yet to appear on a Phillies baseball card.

Hall was a long-time IronPig, one of the franchise's all-time fan favorites, and among the leaders in several all-time franchise offensive categories.  In 410 games in Lehigh Valley, Hall batted .253 with 76 home runs and 277 RBIs.  In 59 games with the Phillies in 2022 and 2023, Hall batted .226 with 10 home runs and 19 RBIs.  He was the club's opening day first baseman in 2023, following the devastating knee injury to Rhys Hoskins in spring training.  Hall got off to a slow start in 2023, but then suffered a thumb injury, and upon his return in July he could never quite get his bat going.  There are rumors Hall could find himself signing a lucrative contract to play in Asia.

I have 27 Hall cards in my Phillies collection, with this IronPigs card being the most recently added.

2024-25 Offseason Begins - Early November Notes (Part 2)

2024 Topps Heritage #242

2024 Topps #571

2024 Choice Rocket City Trash Pandas #13

Once I started summarizing the player moves over the first week of the offseason, I realized I needed to break everything into two posts given the flurry of activity on Monday, November 4th.  (Part 1 of these Early November Notes can be found here.)

Devin Sweet (rhp) was acquired from the Detroit Tigers for cash considerations and added to the 40-man roster.  Sweet has pitched in seven big-league games, all in 2023, with the Mariners and Athletics.

John McMillon (rhp) was claimed off waivers from the Miami Marlins.  He's appeared in 14 games with the Royals and Marlins over the past two seasons, and was the winning pitcher in the Marlins game against the Phillies on September 7th.

Alan Rangel (rhp) who appeared in 10 games for the IronPigs in 2024, and who had pitched in seven seasons in the Braves' minor league system, was added to the 40-man roster.

Clearing space on the 40-man roster, the Phillies outrighted Yunior Marte (rhp), Luis F. Ortiz (rhp), Freddy Tarnok (rhp), Kolby Allard (lhp) and Rodolfo Castro (inf), with all clearing waivers and becoming free agents.  Marte relieved in 63 games for the Phillies over the past two seasons, and was 1-1 with a 5.79 ERA in 65 1/3 innings pitched.  Ortiz appeared in 15 games for the Phillies, with just one game this past season, and had a 4.12 ERA in 19 2/3 innings pitched.  He spent the bulk of 2024 on the injured list.

Tarnok never pitched for the Phillies.  Allard was a somewhat reliable emergency fifth starter for the club, going 2-0 with a 5.00 ERA, finding his most success in two starts in August.  Added to the NLDS roster, he didn't appear in any of the four games.  Like Ortiz, Castro was injured for a lot of 2024, and never got the call back to the majors.  In 14 games with the Phillies in 2023, he batted .100 (3 for 30).  Marte, Ortiz and Castro have their only Phillies cardboard appearances in the somewhat rare 2024 team-issued photo cards, shown below.

2024-25 Offseason Begins - Early November Notes (Part 1)

2024 Topps Heritage #79

2024 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs #7

2024 Topps Update #US232

2024 Topps Update #US239

The offseason officially began on Halloween eve, after the Dodgers stunned the Yankees in a 7-6 comeback victory, taking the World Series, four games to one.  As has been the case in recent years, I expect this blog will go mostly dormant over the winter months, as I continue to focus on my set-building efforts with my 1969 Topps blog, and as I near the end of my blog recounting how my Dad and I collected the 1956 Topps set over a 20-year period.

I'll check back in here every now and then with roster and transaction-related news, and I'd like to maybe work on updating my very out-of-date want lists over the winter months.  To kick off the three and half months of semi-hibernation, here's a look at the team's early offseason moves.

Minor League Free Agents:  Somewhat under the radar, three Phillies relievers became free agents on October 10th.  Dylan Covey (rhp), Nick Nelson (rhp) and Andrew Bellatti (rhp) all left the organization, with Covey quickly signing with the Mets.  Covey appeared in 28 games for the Phillies in 2023 and was 1-3 with a 3.69 ERA in 39 innings pitched.  He has nary a Phillies baseball card appearance.

Nelson and Bellatti were both key cogs in the team's 2022 bullpen, and then seemingly fell out of the Phillies' pitching plans the past two seasons.  Nelson was 4-2 with a 4.65 ERA in 52 games with the Phillies, and he pitched a scoreless, mop-up inning in Game 3 of the 2022 World Series, won by the Astros, 7-0.  Bellatti appeared in 86 games, going 5-4 with a 3.87 ERA in 2022 and 2023.  He didn't allow a run in five postseason appearances and 4 1/3 innings pitched in 2022.  Both had cards in the team-issued photo card sets from 2022 and 2023.  Bellatti showed up in the 2023 and 2024 Topps Heritage sets, with both cards using the same photo.

On October 15th, Aramis Garcia (c) joined the ranks of minor league free agents.  Garcia appeared in three September games with the Phillies and was 0 for 7.  He appears in both editions of the 2024 Lehigh Valley IronPigs team sets.

Major League Free Agents:  Carlos Estevez (rhp), Jeff Hoffman (rhp) and Spencer Turnbull (rhp) all became free agents on Halloween.  I'd like to see Hoffman, and maybe even Turnbull, come back to the team.  Hoffman was an All-Star this year, and both he and Estevez struggled mightily in the NLDS.  Turnbull last pitched on June 26th, before injuries derailed his season.

Kingery Era Ends:  On November 1st, Scott Kingery (inf) was traded to the Los Angeles Angels for cash considerations.  He last suited up for the Phillies for one game in 2022, and over his decade in the organization, he batted .229 with 30 home runs and 96 RBIs at the big league level before settling into a regular role with the IronPigs.  Kingery was the club's everyday shortstop in 2018, and the club had signed him to a $24 million contract covering the 2018 to 2023 seasons.  I have 93 (!) Kingery cards in my Phillies collection.

40-Man Roster / Transaction Flurry:  I'll break this into two posts, with a look at the flurry of moves made on Monday next.