I slept in on the first full day of my stay-cation so I’m just seeing all of these transactions now. Good ole Dean left us a comment, the Hog Blog and Bacon and Biscuits has already posted about it… I’m late with it… to quote Bill Murray’s character in the movie “What about Bob”, Don’t hassle me I’m on vacation. 🙂
Anyways, Brian Bocock was released/DFA’ed (I’m not certain on this yet) and signed almost immediately by Pittsburgh and assigned to Indianapolis. I will miss Bocock. He struggled early last year but worked hard and did well in the second half of 2010 and his defense in the IronPig infield last year was amazing. How many times did we see him come up with the bases loaded… seemed like every game for a while there. Not too many folks are aware of this, Brian’s wife Natalie was instrumental in the success of our Charity Cookbook. Natalie rallied the IronPig families over the off season and helped us get a bunch of great recipes. Thank you Brian and Natalie! You will be missed! Best of luck, God bless and hope our paths cross again one day.
Also, Tagg Bozied was placed on the DL. Haven’t heard the injury report yet but an injured Valendia (Pig Fan slang for a conveniant turf toe injury) is possible.
Filling the 2 newly opened roster spots are Freddy Galvis and Carlos Rivero.
Galvis, a shortstop, is hitting .273 for the R-Phils with 115 hits, 22 doubles, 4 triples, 8 home runs and 35 RBI. He has also stolen 19 bases.
Rivero, a 3rd baseman, is hitting .285, also for the R-Phils, sitting on 11 home runs and 53 RBI.
I guess we’re seeing these late moves that could improve or hurt the Pigs. Of note, Galvis has 16 errors at AA this season, Rivero has 20.
We will see.
OinK.
noisenation.mlblogs.com 
Dan… from what I’m being told from @PhuturePhilz, both Galvis and Rivero should see the bulk of playing time, cutting into some veterans playing time.
I don’t know how I feel about that. From what I’ve seen of AA players making that initial jump to AAA, there’s normally a breaking in period where they get settled in. Sadly, with a 1.5 game lead in the division late in the season, we need that Not to happen or hope it happens to other teams as well.
Yeah, I’m with you on that. I don’t want to see Orr and Frandsen sit for Galvis and Rivero. Then, it could be worse–Reading loses two good players and gets, what, Ozzie Chavez?
There’s probably only four of us who care about the AAA playoffs, but darn it, I care a lot. I’ve got $360 riding on this (kind of). 😉
That comes straight from The Hog Blog lol: “Look for both to get substantial playing time down the stretch, unfortunately most likely at the expense of Kevin Frandsen and Josh Barfield.”
Slacker!
Great for the Phillies, once again. Not so great for the ‘Pigs. I don’t mind letting a couple of new guys fill in here and there, but at the expense of team leaders (Frandsen and Orr come immediately to mind) sitting on the bench in the middle of a championship drive? This is the same Phillies-directed thinking that has our best pitchers sitting on the Phils’ bench getting virtually no work (except for Worley, of course, who I’m very happy for). Don’t they understand that if we lose this opportunity this year because of their constant interference, a lot of season ticket-holders are gonna take a walk in disgust? Not to mention other regular fans? Hey, we all want the Phillies to win. But they have the horses to do it and they don’t need to kill our hopes for the playoffs.
Having said that, I want to add to what Dan said and bid a fond farewell to Brian and his wife. I’ll miss the spectacular plays Brian regularly turned in at shortstop, and I’m not surprised Pittsburgh picked him up so quickly. I think he’d still be here if it weren’t for the fact that he made so many errors this year to go along with the spectacular plays — errors on simple plays that just weren’t like him. I sometimes wonder if he wasn’t concentrating so hard on improving his hitting that it didn’t affect his fielding focus. Be that as it may, I hope he succeeds in Indianapolis and we can watch him in a Pirates uniform soon!
Don’t forget that Bocock started the season on the DL with a broken hand which could have contributed to some of those early season errors when he returned.
Even during the bad 2010 season you could always count on a Brian Bocock highlight to make going to the games worth the price of admission.
Best damn shortstop in the brief history of the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs. The people who only look at statistics on paper will never understand just how valuable he is. He’ll always be one of my favorites.
Hopefully this transaction won’t come back to haunt the Ironpigs when they visit Indianapolis August 20-23.
P.S. Tag Bozied needs something. He just hasn’t been swinging the bat effectively lately. This time of year that generally means it’s time for a rest, so the turf toe theory is a good one. Let’s hope he comes back with a vengeance for the road to the playoffs!
Provence just posted on Twitter: Bocock traded to Pittsburgh (No compensation). Bozied placed on DL (left shin contusion).
I think I’m going to cry!!! Brian was a favorite of mine…he’s the kind of guy that is great with the fans, always nice, polite. He will definitely be missed!! I’m not sad to see Galvis and Rivero leave Reading, although I am upset about the Pigs getting them…still don’t see these guys doing well in AAA but we will see…
I agree too, bad timing to put in a couple of AA players at a time when you’re competing for a division title or a playoff berth. And what about Matt Rizzoti???? What did he get lost in the shuffle??
As far as Bocock goes, best of luck to him. His defense at SS will be missed and he did start to pick it up a bit with the bat. Had a chance to meet his wife Natalie on the day of the Socks and Underwear drive at CCP. What a nice person! It’s a shame but that’s life in the minors.
As nice as Bocock was as a person as a player he’s just not that good.
The Giants released him because he couldn’t hit and guess what; he still can’t hit. After six professional seasons he is still only a .227 hitter and at 26 I really doubt he’s got a shot at being a major league player at this point.
He’s destined to be another Andy Tracy type of career AAA player where clearly he’s alright but not nearly good enough to play in The Show.
This move also plays into the Phillies plans with Galvis to see what he can offer as a, long shot I know, replacement for Rollins next year and/or a possible bench player replacing Valdez who has been awful this year.