A spring competition ended Saturday when the Phillies re-assigned Maikel Franco, who was unlikely to win the third base job from Cody Asche, to the minor leagues. Franco hit .184 this spring, 7-for-38 with seven singles. Ryne Sandberg told reporters including CSNPhilly.com's Jim Salisbury that he'll need to work on shortening his swing. The Phils' next decision is Double-A or Triple-A for Franco. In 2013 he tore up the Eastern League in 69 games after a promotion from Clearwater. For... Continue reading

On Thursday, Darin Ruf strained an oblique taking batting practice and will likely be off the Phillies' Opening Day roster because of it. On Friday, another bench candidate, Freddy Galvis, was hospitalized with a staph infection in his right leg. This re-shapes the Phillies' bench, at least for April. Ruf wasn't a lock to make the team by any stretch because of the presence of John Mayberry, Jr. and Bobby Abreu, but now it's likely Ruf opens the season on... Continue reading

It became a big story Wednesday night that Jimmy Rollins would be benched for a third straight game Thursday, and this morning he was frank with reporters about the situation with manager Ryne Sandberg. "Obviously he’s upset about something,” Rollins told reporters, including CSNPhilly.com's Jim Salisbury. “When he’s ready, he’ll let me know. “I don’t know. You have to go ask the manager. I don’t write the lineups. It is unusual, yes, but I’m not going to try to second-guess... Continue reading

Cole Hamels' scheduled throwing session Thursday was canceled because of arm fatigue. Hamels was scheduled to throw batting practice, but instead needs to "step back and start over," according to CSNPhilly.com. Hamels wasn't going to be ready for Opening Day, but now it looks doubtful that he'll pitch in April. "April is the last thing I want to think about right now," Hamels told reporters. "I would say, right now, we’re just taking it day by day. Ultimately I just... Continue reading

Roberto Hernandez's spring got off to a rocky start in the opener against the Blue Jays, when he allowed two runs on four hits over two innings, gave up a mammoth homer to Jose Bautista and was nearly taken deep twice more. But he rebounded for the Phillies Monday against his former team. Hernandez struck out three Tampa Bay Rays and allowed just one hit over three scoreless innings. Jeff Manship followed with two spotless frames of his own, and... Continue reading

Sunday was a pretty quiet day up and down the Phillies' roster. A.J. Burnett made his debut and allowed one run on one hit over two innings in a 4-1 Phillies loss to the Pirates. The Phils have been outscored 8-1 the last two days, and on Sunday they had only one extra-base hit, a double by Tony Gwynn, Jr. The Phils are 1-4 and hitting .192 so far in Grapefruit League play. Jesse Biddle pitched two innings in relief... Continue reading

We didn't learn a whole lot about Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez in the Phillies' 4-0 loss to the Yankees on Saturday afternoon. The Cuban right-hander finally debuted, but his performance was uneven and his velocity wasn't all the way there. Gonzalez struck out the first two Yankees he faced, but was wild after that, walking four batter over 1.2 innings and needing 51 pitches to record five outs. Gonzalez showed a fastball, curveball and a splitter. His fastball reached as high... Continue reading

Darin Ruf is back in the Phillies' lineup a day after homering off the Blue Jays' Esmil Rogers. Ruf will bat ninth and DH against Tigers left-hander Jose Alvarez in the Phils' third spring training game, which will be televised live on TCN at 1:05 p.m. Bobby Abreu sits against the lefty. Abreu had gone 0-for-3 with four walks in the home-and-home series against Toronto. The 2-7 spots in the Phillies' lineup appears to be the batting order Ryne Sandberg... Continue reading

Darin Ruf had himself a day in his first spring training start. He walked to load the bases in his first plate appearance, homered off Esmil Rogers in the third inning, and narrowly missed another homer on the first pitch of his third PA. The Phillies lost, 7-5, to the Blue Jays in Dunedin. It looked like Ruf had at least extra bases in the fifth, but his booming fly ball was caught by CF Kenny Wilson, the Blue Jays'... Continue reading

With Cole Hamels expected to miss at least a few starts in April, it would appear a handful of fifth-starter candidates would spend the spring competing for the opportunity to fill in. But it might better serve the Phillies to go with a four-man staff until Hamels returns. If Hamels misses just two starts, the off-days work in the Phillies' favor. They have a day off after their season-opening three-game series in Texas, which would allow opening day starter Cliff... Continue reading

The two most appealing parts of A.J. Burnett's game are his abilities to induce swings-and-misses and groundballs. He's second in the majors with a 57.6% groundball rate since 2012. But will that matter as much with the Phillies as it did with the Pirates? When the Phils first signed Burnett, ESPN's Keith Law opined that it was a waste of a move for a team that likely couldn't contend anyway. I don't agree with that assessment, but I do lend... Continue reading

Ryne Sandberg and Larry Bowa have been very impressed by Maikel Franco early in camp, and the Phillies' manager maintains that Franco will compete with Cody Asche for the Phils' third base job. Sandberg is impressed with Franco's ability to drive the ball to all fields, reports Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com. Bowa is taken by his defensive skills at first and third base. "It seems the harder the ball is hit at him the softer he gets,” Sandberg said. “I’m... Continue reading

Two Phillies pitchers are on the mend, but there is cause for concern with another. Cole Hamels will throw a bullpen session Tuesday, and Mike Adams will throw from a mound on Feb. 27, reports Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com. Adams thinks he can be back my mid to late April. It will be interesting to see how much different he looks when he eventually makes his season debut. Last year, Adams struggled to control the ball and fell off the... Continue reading

As over a foot of snow fell on Philadelphia, Phillies pitchers reported Thursday morning to their first day of big-league camp. And already, we have a cut. Veteran right-hander Chad Gaudin, signed to a minor-league deal, was released Thursday after failing a physical, according to CSNPhilly.com's Jim Salisbury. Gaudin, 30, was expected to play a multitude of roles for the Phillies: spot starter, long-relief man, middle relief. GM Ruben Amaro Jr. expressed some disappointment over the way this played out,... Continue reading

Spring training must be right around the corner, because we already have our first Phillies injury to report. Cole Hamels (left shoulder) revealed Wednesday that he won't be ready for Opening Day. To fortify the rotation, the Phils agreed to a one-year deal with A.J. Burnett, according to Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com. Hamels told reporters including CSNPhilly.com's Jim Salisbury that he has dealt with shoulder discomfort since November, which resulted in his offseason throwing program being delayed. Hamels has yet... Continue reading

The Phillies are "very much still in the running" for A.J. Burnett, MLB.com's Todd Zolecki reported Monday night. This comes three days after GM Ruben Amaro Jr. told CSNPhilly.com's Jim Salisbury that he didn't suspect the Phils had any more major moves in store. Amaro said last Friday that it appeared the Phils would head into spring training with the rotation they had, but Burnett is an obvious upgrade to an extremely thin unit. He led the NL in K/9... Continue reading

With 434 plate appearances in 2014, Jimmy Rollins' 2015 option vests and the Phillies will owe him $11 million. It's an underrated storyline heading into a season full of what-ifs. Only once in his career has Rollins amassed fewer than 434 plate appearances -- in 2010, when he played in just 88 games. Since his cup of coffee in 2000, he's averaged 681 PAs per year. Rollins' production dipped significantly in 2013 and, while we can't be sure he's completely... Continue reading

On Tuesday, Keith Law called the Phillies' 2013 draft one of the best in all of baseball and ranked their farm system 14th overall. On Wednesday, he included three Phillies prospects in his annual preseason top-100. J.P. Crawford, the Phils' 2013 meal ticket, checked in at No. 46. "The Phillies may have just nabbed an impact player in the middle of the diamond," Law wrote. "The Phils aren't afraid of slow-development guys, which Crawford appeared to be as a physically... Continue reading

The Phillies have reportedly expressed interest in free-agent right-hander A.J. Burnett, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. It was previously believed that Burnett would consider only the Pirates or retirement. I've been pining for Burnett since last summer. He's 37, but would fit the Phillies well on a one- or two-year deal. Burnett's been really, really good since returning to the NL after six years in the AL East. In 2012 and 2013 with the Pirates, he went 26-21 with a... Continue reading

The Phillies have signed veteran shortstop Ronny Cedeno to a minor-league deal with an invite to spring training, according to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports. Cedeno is the 17th player the Phillies have invited to spring training. The 30-year-old has played nine seasons for six different teams. Cedeno, a defensive whiz, is a .246/.289/.354 career hitter. He was the Pirates' full-time shortstop in 2010 and '11, hitting .253 with a .657 OPS in 956 plate appearances. He saved 10.0 runs... Continue reading

First Andrew Knapp needed Tommy John surgery. Then Roman Quinn ruptured his Achilles. Now, two Phillies pitchers with huge upside need shoulder surgery. Adam Morgan had shoulder surgery this month, reports Todd Zolecki of MLB.com, and Shane Watson will also have shoulder surgery in January, according to Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com. Morgan, a 23-year-old lefty, has a 3.25 ERA, 8.3 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 56 career minor-league games (55 starts). He experienced shoulder soreness midway through last season and... Continue reading

Looks like you can cross Brad Lidge off your Phillies announcer wishlist. The former closer told Ryan Lawrence of the Daily News that "the timing right now is tough." Lidge was mentioned as a candidate to replace color commentators Chris Wheeler and Gary Matthews, but from the sounds of it talks never went too far. "My family and I are finally getting settled in Colorado and it’d be tough right now to change that,” Lidge told Lawrence. “Even as cool... Continue reading

This is always the dead period of the MLB offseason -- the 3-4 weeks between the end of December and end of January. A year ago, the Joel Hanrahan-Mark Melancon trade occurred the day after Christmas, but over the next two weeks the only signing of note was Edwin Jackson to the Cubs. The Phillies have been inactive since signing Roberto Hernandez and sending out a bunch of spring training invites on Dec. 18. There was Jim Salisbury's report about... Continue reading

In conversation, in comments sections and in the industry itself, it's hard to find anyone who genuinely likes the offseason the Phillies are having. Which leads us to this hypothetical: Would signing Masahiro Tanaka change your whole offseason outlook? Let's be clear: The Phils are probably not a player for Tanaka, who was finally posted by the Rakuten Golden Eagles on Christmas morning after weeks of defiance from the team over MLB's new posting fee limit of $20 million. The... Continue reading

The White Sox on Thursday agreed to a one-year, $3.75 million deal with left-handed reliever Scott Downs. It's a very low-risk move for one of the game's top relievers over the last six seasons, and it's a bit puzzling that the Phillies didn't make a push. Downs has a 2.33 ERA since 2007, and though he struggled down the stretch with Atlanta in 2013 after being traded to the Braves from the Angels, he still finished the season with a... Continue reading