Checking in with a Few Ex-Phillies

2017 Chachi Departures #11

2017 Chachi Departures #13

2017 Chachi Departures #14

We're inching closer to actual game action in 2017, and I wanted to check in on the comings and goings since the last Phillies game was played in October.  A number of former Phillies signed minor league contracts throughout January and early February, and they've joined the highly collectible Chachi Departures insert set.  Here's a look at the master checklists for the latest ex-Phillies.

Jimmy Paredes Chachi Checklist
2016 Chachi Archives #5
2016 Chachi #44
2016 Chachi Photo Day #13
2017 Chachi Departures #11

Severino Gonzalez Chachi Checklist
2015 Chachi #36
2016 Chachi #47
2017 Chachi Departures #13

Peter Bourjos Chachi Checklist
2016 Chachi New Additions #5
2016 Chachi #7
2016 Chachi Photo Day #28
2017 Chachi Departures #14

2017 Chachi Departures #15

2017 Chachi Departures #16

James Russell Chachi Checklist
2016 Chachi #21
2017 Chachi Departures #15

David Hernandez Chachi Checklist
2016 Chachi New Additions #6
2016 Chachi #24
2016 Chachi Archives #10
2016 Chachi Photo Day #16
2017 Chachi Departures #16

If my tracking is correct, the only members of the 2016 Phillies squad still seeking employment are Ryan Howard, Cedric Hunter and Frank Herrmann.  Hunter, last year's opening day right fielder, received a 50-game suspension in November for testing positive for amphetamine.

Moving On - 2016-2017 Offseason

• Cedric Hunter - of (10/3/16) - Elected free agency.
• 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 and elected free agency.
• 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 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 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.

Coming Back

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

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.
• Michael Saunders - of (1/19/17) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Toronto Blue Jays.

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.

Fun at the @Phillies Photo Day! (Part Two)

2016 Chachi Photo Day #19

Mets 5, Phillies 0
Game 93 - Sunday Afternoon, July 17th in Philadelphia
Record - 43-50, 4th place, 13 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  Jacob deGrom completely dominated the Phillies line-up in this 5-0 Mets win.

What It Means:  The Phillies dropped the series with the Mets and they'll open up a four game series against the Marlins on Monday night.  It would be nice to take at least three of four from the Fish in order to creep up a little closer in the Wild Card standings.

What Happened:  The only hit allowed by deGrom was a single to Phillies pitcher Zach Eflin.  Eflin allowed three runs on five hits in his six innings of work.

Featured Cards:  There's certainly no reason to commemorate this game from a Phillies fan's perspective, so I'm presenting the next round of Photo Day cards taken on Saturday afternoon.

Be sure to check out the 2016 Season Summary page with game results and links to game summary posts.

2016 Chachi Photo Day #11

2016 Chachi Photo Day #12

2016 Chachi Photo Day #13

2016 Chachi Photo Day #14

2016 Chachi Photo Day #15

2016 Chachi Photo Day #16

2016 Chachi Photo Day #17

2016 Chachi Photo Day #18

2016 Chachi Photo Day #20

2016 Chachi Photo Day #22

Far Out! 2016 Chachi Archives Cards Have Arrived! Phils Win!

Phillies 6, Brewers 3
Game 55 - Friday Night, June 3rd in Philadelphia
Record - 27-28, 4th place, 6 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  Andres Blanco's three-run home run and strong relief pitching led to a 6-3 win over the Brewers, snapping the team's seven-game losing streak.

What It Means:  The Phillies won and they looked super groovy doing it!

What Happened:  Blanco's home run gave the Phillies a 6-0 lead in the fourth inning, and their first genuinely comfortable lead of the season.  Cameron Rupp also homered and Tommy Joseph had a two-hit night.

Once again, Vince Velasquez couldn't escape the fifth inning, allowing two runs on four his while laboring through 94 pitches.  Andrew Bailey, Hector Neris and Jeanmar Gomez (18th save) all contributed scoreless innings in relief.

Featured Cards:  It was 1970s Retro Night at the ballpark and both the Brewers and Phillies wore uniforms from 1976.  It was an odd and interesting sight to see, as these two teams played in opposing leagues in 1976 and wouldn't have ever played each other.  As an added bonus, the Phillies went with the pillbox caps they wore occasionally during the Bicentennial season.  I absolutely love these old uniforms, and I was inspired to create a small insert set of 2016 Chachi Archives cards to highlight some of my favorite photos from the game.

Please click on each of the cards above to enlarge.  These were fun custom cards to create, and I was thankful I still had the templates I had created back in the day for the 2007 Chachi set.

Recently added to The Phillies Room - 2016 Season Summary page with game results and links to game summary posts.

2016 Chachi #24 David Hernandez

#30
David Jose Hernandez
Right Field

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  215
Born:  May 13, 1985, Sacramento, CA
Home:  Elk Grove, CA
Drafted:  Selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 16th round of the June 2005 draft
Teams:  Baltimore Orioles 2009-2010; Arizona Diamondbacks 2011-2013, 2015; Phillies 2016
Acquired:  Signed as a free agent formerly with the Arizona Diamondbacks, December 9, 2015

2009 Topps Update #UH4

2016 Phillies Team Issue #30

1 Hernandez Baseball Card in My Collection per Zistle
First Card:  2016 Phillies Team Issue #30
First Phillies Card:  2016 Phillies Team Issue #30
First Phillies Team Issued Card:  2016 Phillies Team Issue #30
Latest Card:  2016 Phillies Team Issue #30

First Topps Flagship Base Card:  2009 Topps Update #UH4

Complete Chachi Checklist
2016 Chachi New Additions #6
2016 Chachi #24

Card statistics through 5/14/16.

2016 Phillies Team Issue #30 David Hernandez

Phillies 2, Indians 1
Game 25 - Sunday Afternoon, May 1st in Philadelphia
Record - 15-10, 3rd place, 2 1/2 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  Vince Velasquez, David Hernandez and Hector Neris made it look easy, limiting the Indians to just four hits in this 2-1 win.

What It Means:  The Phillies are now riding a six game winning streak, and they'll head to St. Louis for a four game series with the Cardinals.  Per this Todd Zolecki Tweet, this is the first time the Phillies have swept consecutive series since September 7th through 12th when they swept the Rockies and Marlins.

What Happened:  Both runs came in the second inning, courtesy of a Freddy Galvis single and a balk with Peter Bourjos on third.

Velasquez won his fourth game of the season, even though he didn't have his best stuff.  Pitching in a steady mist, Velasquez lasted six innings giving up two hits and four walks while striking out six. Hernandez pitched two scoreless innings and Neris recorded his first career save.  (Jeanmar Gomez needed a breather.)

Featured Card:  If you remove Hernandez's first appearance on opening day, in which he allowed three runs without retiring a batter, his 2016 season stats look like this:  11 games, 13 1/3 innings pitched, 22 strikeouts, 3 walks, 1.35 ERA.  He's been an extremely effective set-up man, and he's a big reason for the team's early success this season.  This is his sole Phillies card to date.

Recently added to The Phillies Room - 2016 Season Summary page with game results and links to game summary posts.

Earlier Than Ever, Here are the New Uniform Numbers

2015 Topps #628

2015 Topps Heritage #516

2013 Topps #281

2014 Topps Heritage #80

In an unusual move, and a move that I suspect was designed by the Phillies solely to personally delight me, new players were assigned uniform numbers upon their arrivals beginning in mid-November.  There was another update to roster numbers in early December and then one-off updates as additional non-roster invitees were added.  In years past, the roster page on the Phillies website had the dreaded "--" in place of any uniform number for new arrivals until mid to late January.

As of this writing, there are still some corrections needed.  The Phillies currently have assigned #78 to non-roster infielders Angelys Nina and Brock Stassi.  Similarly, #61 is currently assigned to both pitcher Greg Burke and assistant coach Jorge Velandia.  I'm sure these duplicate assignments will be fixed before pitchers and catchers officially report on February 18th.  Finally, non-roster invitee Cedric Hunter doesn't even appear on the Phillies website yet and he'll need a number once spring training starts.

As I've done in the past, here's a look at the new uniform numbers for the 2016 edition of the Phillies. (Buckle up, because this is quite the long list.)

New Players - Under 60 Division
#2 Tyler Goeddel - Both Ben Revere and Chase d'Arnaud wore this number last season.  It's a good sign for Goeddel's chances of sticking with the Phillies that they assigned him such a low uniform number.

#15 Emmanuel Burriss - Burriss is going with the number last worn by Jordan Danks, since the #16 he wore last season with the Nationals is currently occupied by Cesar Hernandez.
#17 Peter Bourjos - Neither of Bourjos' prior numbers (#25 and #8) were available, so he takes over the number last worn by Brian Bogusevic.
#19 J.P. Arencibia - The last Phillies player to wear #19 was Tony Gwynn, Jr. in 2014.
#21 Ryan Jackson - Adam Loewen wore this number last season.
#28 Vincent Velasquez - Both Kevin Correia and Erik Kratz wore #28 in 2015.  Velasquez had worn #67 with the Astros last season.

#30 David Hernandez - Reliever Justin De Fratus had worn this number for the past two seasons.  Hernandez has worn this number with the Diamondbacks since 2011.
#31 Michael Mariot - Jerome Williams wore #31 for the past two seasons.  Mariot had previously worn #48 with the Royals.
#34 Brett Oberholtzer - Oberholtzer's more familiar #39 was unavailable, so he takes over the number last worn by Aaron Harang.  The pitcher first wore #65 in 2013 when he made his debut with the Astros.
#38 Andrew Bailey - Bailey had worn #38 last season for the Yankees.

2012 Topps Update #US138

2013 Topps #96

2015 Topps #296

2014 Topps Heritage #328

#40 James Russell - Non-roster invitee Russell takes over the number he's worn during six seasons with the Cubs, which means the old #40, Aaron Altherr, needs a new number.  (See below.)
#41 Ernesto Frieri - Originally assigned #44, Frieri assumes Wall of Fame member Charlie Manuel's number.  No player or coach had been assigned Manuel's number since the former manager's firing in August 2013.  The last Phillies player to wear this number was Gavin Floyd in 2004.  Frieri's switch to #41 was made after the Phillies had signed Edward Mujica.
#44 Edward Mujica - The often injured Jonathan Pettibone was the last player to wear this number.  Mujica last wore #44 as a member of the Cardinals in 2012 and 2013.
#47 Charlie Morton - Sean O'Sullivan's old number went to Morton, whose more familiar #50 is currently occupied by Hector Neris.  Let's watch to see if a deal is struck for Neris' #50 given Morton's veteran status.

#53 Daniel Stumpf - Ken Giles won't be needing #53 with the Phillies anymore, so his old number went to Stumpf.
#56 Frank Herrmann - Nefi Ogando and Cesar Jimenez both wore this number last season for the Phillies.
#58 Jeremy Hellickson - The franchise's all-time saves leader won't be needing #58 this season, so Hellickson takes over the number.  Hellickson had previously worn this number with the Rays and Diamondbacks.

New Numbers
#23 Aaron Altherr - Altherr takes over the number last worn by departed manager Ryne Sandberg.  His old #40 went to non-roster invitee Russell.

New Coaches

1997 SP #139

#9 John McLaren - McLaren takes over the number that had been assigned to Domonic Brown since 2010.
#12 Mickey Morandini - In the least surprising number-related news, the new first base coach will wear the number he wore during his playing days with the Phillies.  The departed assistant hitting coach John Mizerock wore the number last season.
#33 Rick Kranitz - The new bullpen coach will wear the number last worn by Cliff Lee.

Phillies in Number Only
#30 A.J. Achter - Achter was property of the Phillies for less than a month this offseason before his roster spot was needed by Morton.  The roster page had assigned #30 to Achter before it ultimately went to David Hernandez.
#38 Dan Otero - Otero briefly assumed the number worn by Chad Billingsley in 2015.  The Giles trade required a roster opening and Otero was traded to the Indians for cash.

Highest number - Not counting Dalier Hinojosa and his #94, catcher Logan Moore wins the award this year with his #84 assignment.

Numbers available - The only real number under 60 currently available is the #3 worn by Jeff Francoeur last season.  As has been the case for the Phillies in recent years, they'll do everything to avoid assigning numbers of greats who have recently departed.  For that reason #11 (Jimmy Rollins), #26 (Chase Utley) and #35 (Cole Hamels) have yet to be reassigned and they most likely won't be in 2016.

If I had to guess, I'd say Hunter ends up with #3, Velandia switches to #62, and Nina and Stassi flip a coin to see who ends up with #76.

Memory Lane

2012 New Numbers

2013 New Numbers
2014 New Numbers - Part One and Part Two
2015 New Numbers

Phillies Continue to Shuffle Roster

2016 Chachi New Additions #6

2016 Chachi Departures #5

The Phillies Magical Mystery Rebuilding Tour continued yesterday and based on reports flying around last night, more changes are in the works.  The annual Rule 5 draft gets underway this morning at 10 a.m., with Rays outfielder Tyler Goeddel rumored to be heading to the Phillies.

As of press-time for this post*, closer Ken Giles was most likely on his way to the Astros for four players, including three pitching prospects.

The one definite addition as of last night is relief pitcher David Hernandez.  Hernandez, who returned from Tommy John surgery in 2015, has appeared in parts of six seasons with the Orioles and Diamondbacks.  He went 1-5 with a 4.28 ERA in Arizona last season over 33 2/3 innings.  Hernandez began appearing in Bowman products in 2008 and he's been baseball card-less since his 2013 appearance in the Topps set.

* * *

In other former Phillies news, outfielder Brian Bogusevic has signed with the Orix Buffaloes of the Japanese Pacific League.  Bogusevic appeared in 22 games in September for the Phillies and he appeared in both Lehigh Valley IronPigs team sets.  I haven't made an official count yet, but the 2015 Phillies team is bound to have a ton of players with no actual Phillies baseball cards.

Moving On - 2015-2016 Offseason

• Chase d'Arnaud - inf (10/9/15) - Outrighted off 40-man roster, elected free agency and signed as a minor league free agent the Atlanta Braves, 11/24/15.
• Justin De Fratus - rhp (10/9/15) - Outrighted off 40-man roster, elected free agency and signed with the Seattle Mariners, 12/2/15.
• Erik Kratz - c (10/9/15) - Outrighted off 40-man roster and elected free agency.
• Sean O'Sullivan - rhp (10/9/15) - Elected free agency.
• Kevin Correia - rhp (10/10/15) - Elected free agency.
• Adam Loewen - lhp (10/10/15) - Outrighted off 40-man roster, elected free agency and signed as a minor league free agent with the Arizona Diamondbacks, 11/7/15.
• Dustin McGowan - rhp (10/10/15) - Elected free agency.
• Seth Rosin - rhp (10/10/15) - Elected free agency.
• Brian Bogusevic (10/26/15) - Outrighted off 40-man roster, elected free agency and signed with the Orix Buffaloes of the Japanese Pacific League, 12/9/15.
• Domonic Brown (10/26/15) - Outrighted off 40-man roster and elected free agency.
• Chad Billingsley - rhp (11/2/15) - Elected free agency.
• Jeff Francoeur - of (11/2/15) - Elected free agency.
• Aaron Harang - rhp (11/2/15) - Elected free agency.
• Jerome Williams - rhp (11/2/15) - Elected free agency.
• Cliff Lee - lhp (11/2/15) - Team option declined and elected free agency.
• Jordan Danks - of (11/6/15) - Outrighted off 40-man roster and elected free agency.
• Ethan Martin - rhp (11/6/15) - Elected free agency.
• Jonathan Pettibone - rhp (11/6/15) - Elected free agency.
• Nefi Ogando - rhp (12/2/15) - Claimed off waivers by the Miami Marlins.

New Additions - 2015-2016 Offseason

• Dan Otero - rhp (11/3/15) - Claimed off waivers from the Oakland Athletics.
• Jeremy Hellickson - rhp (11/14/15) - Acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks for Sam McWilliams.
• A.J. Achter - rhp (11/20/15) - Claimed off waivers from the Minnesota Twins.
• Michael Mariot - rhp (11/30/15) - Claimed off waivers from the Kansas City Royals.
• Peter Bourjos - of (12/2/15) - Claimed off waivers from the St. Louis Cardinals.
• David Hernandez - rhp (12/9/15) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

*Press time for The Phillies Room is around 10 p.m. (or earlier) during the offseason.  Depends on whether or not there's a good Christmas movie on.