Short of some unexpected signing or trade that would shake the core of the Philadelphia Phillies current payroll, the 2016 brand of ballplayers hitting the field this year in South Philadelphia will be what we see today.
As you see with the prospect countdowns, and if you follow Twitter enough, you’d see that most of us are looking ahead. Way ahead. 2017, sure. But more like 2018 and 2019.
This is a long plan.
So I wanted to try an exercise and get the readers involved. The following is a list of players both on the current Phillies and in the farm system.
Tell me on a scale of 1-10 (10 being most confident), how confident you are in each of the following players being with the Phillies, in the majors, in 2019. Factor in potential trades, signings, etc.
And yes, this is a long list. If you don’t think you can put a rating next to a player, then don’t. Do what you can.
Cameron Rupp (C)
Andrew Knapp (C/1B)
Jorge Alfaro (C/OF)
Deivi Grullon (C)
Darin Ruf (1B/OF)
Brock Stassi (1B)
Rhys Hoskins (1B)
Cesar Hernandez (2B)
Darnell Sweeney (2B/OF)
Scott Kingery (2B)
Jesmuel Valentin (2B)
Freddy Galvis (SS/2B)
J.P. Crawford (SS)
Malquin Canelo (SS)
Maikel Franco (3B/1B)
Cody Asche (3B/OF)
Odubel Herrera (OF/IF)
Peter Bourjos (OF)
Aaron Altherr (OF)
Tyler Goeddel (OF)
Nick Williams (OF)
Roman Quinn (OF)
Dylan Cozens (OF)
Cameron Perkins (OF)
Carlos Tocci (OF)
Aaron Brown (OF)
Cornelius Randolph (OF)
Juan Luis (OF)
Aaron Nola (SP)
Jeremy Hellickson (SP)
Jerad Eickhoff (SP)
Brett Oberholtzer (SP)
Adam Morgan (SP)
Alec Asher (SP)
Severino Gonzalez (SP)
Vincent Velasquez
I left a couple uber-young players out of this list, but this represents the future of the Phillies, at least over a three-year period. There are 54 players listed here, some being veterans with extension potential (Bourjos, Hernandez, Ruf because I’m charitable) and some current rostered players, but mostly, prospects bubbling under the majors. And I don’t have much belief that Ryan Howard or Carlos Ruiz will still be in Philly in 2019.
And by the way, this list looks great.
So copy and paste the list and add your numbers, 10 for highest confidence, 1 for lowest confidence, that the player will be playing at Citizens Bank Park for the Phillies in 2019.
Yes, you can also email the list to me, if you’d like.
Thanks!