Liberty Ball

MiLB.com previewed the Phillies minor league system today.  There’s profiles of players at each level of the system as well as a 2006 draft recap.  They then close with the players they think will be the best in the organization (Mike Costanzo and Carlos Carrasco).  There’s a ton of stuff in here and it’s a great read if you want to get familiar with the Phillies minor league system in a hurry.

Jason Weitzel previewed the Phillies today at the Hardball Times and he does it in a five question format.  He has an emphasis on Pat Burrell and then he also talks about who might be closing at the end of the year.  He also talks about the Freddy Garcia trade and then goes into the Phillies from a fantasy perspective.  No final prediction.

Chase Utley put the Phillies on his back today and rode them to a win.  He went three for four with two homeruns, four RBIs and two runs.  Karim Garcia also went yard while Jason Jaramillo went two for four with two RBIs and two runs.

On the pitching side, Cole Hamels was very solid.  He gave up two runs on five hits with six strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings.  Both runs were on solo homeruns.  Tom Gordon pitched a scoreless ninth to close things out.

The Phillies also got some good news.  Both Freddy Garcia and Carlos Ruiz were diagnosed with mild tendinitis.  The bad news is, now Jon Lieber looks to be hurt and he has a right oblique strain.  Garcia is expected to be ready for opening day, which is definitely a good thing.

Steven Goldman at Baseball Prospectus recently reviewed the Phillies.    He talks about Ryan Howard had one of the best seasons a Phillie has ever had as well as how Pat Burrell is probably a bit underrated.  He also touches on how the Phillies may be the team to beat in the NL East but that a break or two could mean the difference between a division title and a playoff miss.

The Phillies had the day off today, so instead we get a great column on Shane Victorino and how he found his way to the Phillies.  Solid read.

Joe Sheehan at Baseball Prospecuts takes a look at the Phillies surplus of starters and what the team could potentially this into.  One of the more interesting deals would be with the Rangers for one of last year’s biggest disappointments, Brad Wilkerson.  Regardless, the Phillies have to decide pretty quickly what to do with their extra starter (i.e. Jon Lieber) and fast or he’ll be wallowing away in the bullpen.

The Phillies dropped to 4-4 on the spring season with a tight loss to the Indians.  Ryan Howard went yard with his second homerun of the spring and Abraham Nunez hit a two run shot.  Chase Utley continued to hit well this spring when he went two for three with a double and an RBI.

There’s not much good to say about the pitching.  Mazzone was touched for three runs in his start and it came on five hits.  Cole Hamels throws for the Phillies tomorrow in their day game against the Red Sox.

The Phillies signed Ryan Howard to a one year, $900k deal.  This makes Howard the highest paid player ever with less then two years of service time.  Unfortunately, the two sides couldn’t come to a longer term agreement like that signed by Chase Utley and Bret Myers.

Some poor pitching and three errors cost the Phillies in their spring opener against the Tigers.  Jamie Moyer was bounced around for four runs in two innings and that just got things going.  Fabio Castro looked sharp though.  He held the Tiger scoreless through three innings of work.

Karim Garcia drove in two runs and Greg Dobbs had three hits including a homerun and he drove in two and scored two.

Tomorrow the Phillies take on the Indians and this will be the home opener so we should get to see more of the Phillies prospects.

Jamie Moyer gets the start today for the Phillies in their spring opener.  If you want to keep tabs on the game, stop by Tigerblog because Brian will be blogging the game as it happens.  I’ll provide some highlights tonight but I can’t stream at work so I won’t be able to listen to the game.