Phillies Nation

Living in Northern California, I have seen Lowry pitch quite a few times, and if this guy can get back to where he was, he would be a steal for the Phillies.

I hope Michael Taylor does well. Saw him in Lehigh Valley a few times last year, including when he hit for the cycle with two homers (including a walk off) against a not good Reds affiliate. He looked like a man amongst boys. Admittedly, a small sample size, but he looks like the real deal, and I hated to see him go (still think it was the right move though). He’s a good line drive hitter, so I don’t think OAK will hurt his BA, should still aheva decent slug%.
Lowry should be interesting, high ceiling, little risk.
A healthy Wang would be an asset (I can hear Beavis and Butthead laughing over that one, no good way to say it), but when was the last time he pitched over 25 games – 2006? He’d be a great fit with our park and defense, but I don’t see him getting out there regularly. Someone else will probably overpay for the risk (see Sheets).

If Wang isn’t signed yet.. I can’t imagine that he’ll command all that much money …. 1 year deals with options are the popular thing right now

So I would expect the same for Wang. I had heard the Cardinals, and that would make sense for him to go there, work with Dave Duncan and try to regain his form

Pat, I saw the same interview with Taylor…and came away with the same impression.

I hope he does well,, though

Kevin from MR – I agree with your sentiments, but I can’t help but think that Taylor’s probability of being a bust is quite small and that he’ll probably be a perennial all-star some day.

After some retrospect, I would have been okay today with RAJ’s decision to mortgage a significant chunk of the Phillie’s farm system talent to bring in Halladay if:

1. Management had been consistent in their risk/reward strategy and chosen to go for it all by keeping Lee.
2. The Phils weren’t struggling for a way to keep Werth after this year.

Part of the problem with Taylor is that he is seemingly ready to play in the majors right now … but he’s not better than Ibanez, Victorino, or Werth

so they moved him because he had some value… it would’ve been nice to have both he and Brown as options still in the farm system

But I would rather have the proven-best pitcher in baseball .. its the cost of doing business and I think a wise decision was made

Amaro says, “Wang still hurting.”

Right but by next season, if you didn’t trade Taylor

you have a rotation of
1. Hamels, 2. Blanton, 3. Happ, 4. Kendrick, ???

But Taylor in RF
…. you needed to move him to get Roy Halladay.. it will be worth it

Actually, wasn’t Toronto interested in Anthony Gose?

Maybe we could have switched him with Michael Taylor or something?

I’m down for every single arm that they can bring in ….

I like Ben Francisco…I’m just not sure that he’s an everyday player.

Well Gillies looks like he could be a pretty great player soon (I’m not sure he’s really all that far behind Taylor who no one knows what he is going to do at the major league level since he doesn’t even have one at bat yet) and we’re not in great need of a power hitter in the OF in the future if Brown is all he’s cracked up to be.

It was the cost of getting Halladay and better than giving up another pitcher.

Gillies is not the same type of player as Taylor. He’s one of the fastest players in pro ball, but he has no power. What is promising, and what makes Ben Badler at least think he could be an everyday CF, is that he has good plate discipline and a high OBP, which allows speedy guys to take advantage of their athleticism. His best season so far in the minors was in an incredibly offense-friendly league in Arizona, so it remains to be seen how much of that was for real. He could be interesting.

Not every player on your team needs to have power… speed can be just as dangerous

Look at Chone Figgins, Jacoby Ellsbury, etc.. vs. Carlos Pena.. or any other “power” hitter

I would trade a “maybe future All-Star” for a Cy Young pitcher every single time..
I wish all the best for Taylor, hopefully he does have a nice career, and it will be props to the Phillies scouts and development teams . .

I saw Taylor play in Trenton once and he crushed the ball all 4 times he was up. I thought he could be something special.

But…after the season, he was interviewed on WIP (Macnow, I think). Macnow was announcing his stats and apparently was incorrect on the number of stolen bases. Taylor kept trying to interrupt Macnow to correct him as he continued to go through his stats. He did that a few times during the interview and i felt that he was a me-first guy.

Regardless, if he was the cost to get us Halladay, it is a steal.

Remember…”offense-friendly” in Arizona refers mostly to power hitters..

Not sure if playing in Reading will make much of a difference …being the type of player that he is.

Chuck, anything from singles to doubles to triples to walks can and are influenced by league and park factors.

Also I really don’t think correcting some radio host about your stats makes you a “me-first” guy. Nor do I really care if that guy is Michael Taylor.

He was a tough one to lose but it was definitely worth it, especially with Dom still in the system.

How can you say Gillies isnt far behind Taylor. Taylor is major league ready, gillies is a low level player right now a ball, big jump from a to the majors.

All I know is it’s going to eb interesting to follow the MLB careers of TAylor, Brown, Saunders and Gillies as well as Drabek, Aumont and Ramirez

So Pat….now you have Lowry, Contreras, Kendrick, and Moyer. Is Lowry going to take a minor league deal beacuse if he doesn’t and he stinks then we have to keep him in the pen or eat his money. Is Kendrick out of options? For arguments sake, lets say Kendrick wins the job. That means we have to find room for Contreras, Moyer, and Lowry in the pen. There are only so many jobs. If Kendrick wins the job, which he very well might, you’re might have to eat a contract as result. Not good for a capped team.

The Dipsy

More Wang talk ….anyone know what the scouts are saying. I like sinkerballers…. I am still perplexed though… why is the FO even shopping for anything when they are supposedly in the red…After all, they, according to a Daily News article, declared during the winter meetings that “the Phillies mean business on their budget”. Not that a team loaded with all this talent, in a huge town of rabid sports fans, would impose a cap on themselves….

Chuck, I have no idea. I think it would be kinda silly if Ruben was given a hard number and then, when presented with an good opportunity that may cost a couple of extra million bucks, told “no” by ownership. I also think we would all be mad if a guy like Howry signed for 2m and then stinks and then we have to release him. That would be a total waste of money. I have a question: If Lee actually could have been had for 3y60m, same as Halladay, if you were Ruben would you have signed him? Personally, as much as I like Cliff, I don’t think he’s a 20m pitcher yet. Maybe he’ll never be. But I sure would like the thought of having him for only three years instead of 5. To me 3/60 is a lot better than 5/87.5 or something. And then I could have cared less about the prospects.

The Dipsy

actually that Halladay number isn’t right…it’s 4 years but less than 80…becasue the Phillies are only paying 9.75 this year.