Some new info in today.. let’s recap who is still in the running or likely to end up in the Lehigh Valley to start the season.
Outfield
Rich Thompson
John Mayberry Jr.
Chris Duffy
DeWayne Wise
Brad Wilkerson
Freddy Guzman
Thompson and Mayberry look locked in. The last four will battle for a spot either in the LV or a more remote chance of making the Phillies. My money would be on Wilkerson and Wise or Guzman being the 4th.
Infield
Andy Tracy
Tagg Bozied
Eric Campbell
Melvin Dorta
Troy Hanzawa
Gabriel Martinez
Luis Maza
Brandon Pinckney
Patrick Sellers
Brian Stavisky
Other than Tracy, the infield is up for grabs.
Catchers
Paul Hoover
Brian Schneider (Not likely unless Hoover wins the Phil’s backup job)
Tuffy Gosewisch
John Suomi
I’m thinking Hoover and Suomi to start with Gosewisch taking time later in the season. Barring any injuries above or below the Pig’s will get most of their backstop time from Hoover.
Pitcher
Joe Savery
Drew Carpenter
Nate Bump
Ryan Vogelsong
Brandon Duckworth
Kyle Kendrick
Jason Anderson
Joe Bisenius
Alex Concepcion
John Ennis
Brian Mazone
Pat Overholt
Jake Woods
Vance Worley
The pitching situation will be effected by who the Phillies dump back into the minors. If Jamie Moyer is healthy enough to take the #5 starting role, expect Kendrick to return to Coca Cola Park. We should see a lot of up and down reliever moves as the season gets rolling.
noisenation.mlblogs.com 
Cody Ransom has to be a candidate for third base.
There are a few other names that escape me at the moment. Wilson Valdez? Brian Bocock? Quintin Berry? Mathieson & Zagursky? And Oscar Villarreal is coming back from an injury but he has a career big league record of 24-15 3.86 with Arizona, Atlanta and Houston. He could be the 2010 Rodrigo Lopez. I don’t know what Jason Standridge has done this spring but anyone who was a former first round draft pick by Tampa Bay has to be considered a possibility. Tampa doesn’t miss too often on their 1st round picks. I’m still trying to find a list of non roster players who are still in big league camp.
http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/team/roster_nri.jsp?c_id=phi
just subtract off the ones who got reasigned yesterday.
Outfield comments first:
I guess we have to start with who makes the big club: The Phils starters–and we assume they’re healthy–Ibanez, Victorino, and Werth. Francisco’s the fourth. Gload will be the fifth, and backup 1B as well.
I agree with Thompson as a lock: he’s got no chance to make Philly and has proven himself in AAA.
I thought Mayberry perhaps had a shot to start on the bench in Philly, but will probably have to wait for an injury or inter-league. Really, my opinion is that he needs the ABs. He’s hitting .333 in s/t games, but I thought he looked worse at CCP at the end of the season after sitting the bench in Philly. Perhaps it was mental–whatever. You’re right: he’s locked in.
So the ‘Pigs will have four? Does Brown have a chance to start in Allentown? He’s hitting .368 this spring, but probably feasting on weak pitching. He needs some more time in Reading, but I’ll be watching… and we’ll add Berry and Gillies and Spidale to Reading as well? Maybe Gillies in A for a bit, but that’s not a bad group for AA.
Duffy’s not getting any reps with Philly and hasn’t been reassigned? What does that mean? Has Wilkerson retired yet this year? There’s a logjam here, and I’ll harken back to a previous NN post which surmised that some of these guys won’t be around come opening day. It’s pure speculation, but I’m going with Guzman and Duffy right now with Wise and Wilkerson leaving for elsewhere. Susdorf, Milner and Mahar in the mix for Reading.
I feel the same for Wise and Wilkerson. All good points overall but I agree, those two players are looking for a big league role. Wilkerson lasted 3 at bats at AAA before ‘retiring’ last year.
Infield and C comments:
Phillies Starters:
L to R: Polanco, Rollins, Utley, Howard
Phillies Bench:
Castro*, Dobbs, Gload
* This year’s Cairo?–but he’s hitting better.
IronPigs:
Ransom 3B, Bocock SS/2B, W Valdez SS/2B, Tracy 1B.
Bench: Bozied? Chavez?
Yeah, it’s a guess. Liking Ransom, Bocock and Tracy right now, though, based on ML S/T.
Catchers, because it’s easy:
Hoover and Suomi.
Hoover can play 1B as well if Tracy is a DH. Bozied or the fourth OF could DH as well.
replying to my own post:
Gosewisch and Nelson to AA. Galvis = SS in Reading. Sellers and Stavisky start in Reading again as well.
OK, so let’s take a look at the pitchers, and see what we come up with:
Right now, I’ve got Kendrick in the 5th spot in Philadelphia. I think he’s earned it and he’s pitching well. Assuming Moyer sticks around, he’ll spot start and work out of the BP, along with Bastardo–I think they like him there. Then you’ve got Durbin, Romero, Madsen, Lidge, Contreras. I don’t know if I’m up to or over 25 for Philly yet, but I’ll stop there and move to the IronPigs:
1. Carpenter. He’s not gonna like it, but I think he’s more of a starter and he should keep pitching. I’ve got him #1 in Allentown.
2. Savery. He ended with the ‘Pigs, so I’ll start him here.
3. Mazone. My opinion is that the Dodgers screwed him up by putting him in the pen and then not giving him any innings. He’s not that bad, and he’ll have to earn this spot–but I’ve got him penciled in here for now.
Vogelsong? Duckworth? Mathieson? Villarreal?
It gets sketchy. My head hurts. This is why I want to see those MiL boxes starting this week. I want to see who gets the starts and how they do. Let me just say for the record, that I don’t like Escalona at all. Anywhere. Not with a fox, not in a box, not in a house, not with a mouse…
To round out the roster, let’s pencil in Anderson and Woods, maybe Rosenberg and Wasserman. Perhaps Ennis, Overholt, Concepcion. I’ll send Aumont, Ramirez, White, Standridge to Reading. Thoughts?
Baseball America calls Rosenberg as the best shot for closer for the Pigs although Mathieson will probably push him to Reading with him being put on the “needs more innings in the minors” list last week.
Yeah, I wasn’t exactly clear on ‘closer’ status as I typed, and just gave up. The ‘Pigs could sure use a real “closer,” though, huh? I thought it would be Koplove last year–and he did OK before he bailed. Not to mention, the Phillies should start grooming, for fear of “Brad-Lidge Over Troubled Water.”
Escalona gave up 4 hits and 3 runs in 1 inning today. Im not a fan either.
Escalona is the new (overrated) Carrasco
Well, I don’t know if Escalona is considered a ‘top prospect’ a la Carrasco–the guy spent more time in the limo riding between Allentown, Reading, and Philly last year than he did pitching.
Carrasco was a talent, but a head case as well. He couldn’t handle the pressure of being a prospect, whined about not getting the shot when injuries happend, and couldn’t pitch with runners on base. He’d look like a cy young for a few innings then one guy gets on and it would all go to heck. Meanwhile, we got to see Savery a little–the guy is always loading the bases, then getting a strikeout and a DP to escape unscathed. It’s all fine as long as I’ve had my heart medication.
Rosenberg is someone to watch
Gosewisch needs to play everyday and, in particular, get regular at-bats.
Tuffy is everyday in AA
Jeff Schuler’s latest blog about Scott Mathieson possibly being the LV closer also mentions that Quintin Berry is expected to be the Ironpigs’ starting center fielder in 2010.
The Hog Blog also states that Cody Ransom is in the running for a spot in the Pig’s bullpen.
A fairly accurate description of Savery’s season last year, in my opinion.
Everyone was in awe of his won-loss record.
However, Savery did win alot of ‘7-5’ games for R-Phils and benefited from good run support nearly every time out…
…we’ll see if Savery is as fortunate with offense this season.
3/17: Brown, Rosenberg, Carpenter, Vogelsong sent down yesterday, right?
I saw confirmation of Brown and Carpenter but nothing showing Vogelsong and Rosenberg. Most likely they were sent down too but not as noteworthy as the other two.