that should do it

Larry Greene and Michael Taylor have both retired. A testament to tools-based scouting and drafting.

I wonder if Hector Neris ruined his chances today.

LOL. LorecorE still feeling the sting!

His career split vs. RHP is .679. And he can't play defense!

Is Viciedo someone you build around? He can't hit RHP a lick, has a hideous K/BB ratio and is terrible on defense. His best position is platoon DH.

awh: Here ya go: http://www.rotoworld.com/teams/depth-charts/mlb.aspx?league=National

Tal: You were doing so well then here you come with spam again.

According to Rotoworld, Billingsley is the Phils 5th starter with KK gone. I hope that's correct because that would mean he's healthy. OIn the other hand he's had 2 elbow surgeries since he last started an MLB game so we don't know how things will go. Of course, they also have Buchanan as the #3 SP and I'm REALLY not sure how that will go.

Bring me a Cuban, dammit!

Bonehead: Frankly, I'd like to discuss whether Tuffy Goosewurst is going to be the everyday catcher for the Diamondbacks this year.

Tal: If I understand you correctly you think you are addressing your readers on this site. Wouldn't it be logical to address them on your own site? If they're actually your readers, that means they read your site, no? Thus no need to promote your site on this site. I assume I am dealing with a rational person. If you are delusional, then I apologize, I did not realize that.

Tal: Speaking for myself, I have no problem with you posting your views here as an individual. It's the pimping and linking of your blog site that is annoying. Leave that out of it and simply post your opinion and I'll be happy to engage you, especially since only 4 people post here now that the jump to new comments has been disabled.

For the love of God, please ban Tal Venada. He's spamming for his blog.

Because you can't replace someone with no one, you have to sign guys like Wandy & Harang. We all know that Williams, MAG and Buchanan suck. The Phillies do too.

Worth noting. The starting catcher for the 2015 Arizona Diamondbacks (barring a trade): Tuffy Goosewurst. You may recall the prospect the Phils got in return for this starting catcher. Oh, wait...

Byrd departure means Phillies more likely to Odubel their pleasure. Actually, they already have an Odubel Herrera on the roster. His name is Cesar Hernandez. Odubel career line: .294/.354/.377 Cesar career line: .294/.352/.388 Both made AA and had success at age 22. Both have excellent speed but need to develop more base stealing skill. Neither has a lick of power. Cesar is a mediocre fielder. Odubel is a terrible fielder. Cesar is a switch-hitter. Odubel is a LH hitter who hasn't hit LHP very well. Odubel is certainly worth keeping and getting as much work as possible at 2B to see if he can improve his glove from terrible to below average. His lack of power means he has no value in LF except as a bench guy. Best case scenario: Marlon Anderson with higher AVG and less power. Likely scenario: 4 or 5 year career as a bench guy bouncing between MLB and Trip A.

Lively is your basic off-the-shelf polished, 4-pitch, college pitcher with a good floor and not much ceiling. I'd start him in Triple A. He finished strong at AA last season and at his age, there's no reason to baby him. I can see him joining the Phillies mid-season assuming command on his secondary pitches holds up at LV. Not a bad return for a guy who has at most 1 or 2 good years left.

The problem with a Byrd-to-Reds deal is that the Reds farm system is slightly less than mediocre. Phils need position prospects and that’s the Reds’ weakest area. RHP Robert Stephenson, LHP Amir Garrett and RHP Nick Howard might their top 3 prospects, but none is remotely a sure thing. Stephenson has the best stuff but he also has serious command/control problems and the Phillies track record with guys like that isn’t great. There may not be a match here.

LorecorE is obviously joking about Zach Lee, who isn't remotely as good a prospect as Eflin. The holdup in the Rollins trade is the Kemp trade. Kemp must pass a physical, which is set for tomorrow.

Glad to see the appallingly bad scouting and drafting over the past 10 years called into account. And I don't buy the excuse that winning gave them bad draft position. The Braves won for more than a decade and continued to produce a steady stream of quality prospects.

Marlins lineup: Gordon 2B Yelich LF Stanton RF McGehee 3B Ozuna CF Jones 1B Saltalamacchia C Hechavarria SS If they upgrade from Jones at 1B, it's a pretty good lineup. SP: Latos, Alvarez, Haren, Cosart, Eovaldi/Fernandez. RP: Crow, Dunn, Ramos, Hand. CL: Cishek.

LorecorE: Marlins trade was also bad. Heaney far more valuable than Gordon, Haren & Rojas.

I could see Eflin having an Omar Daal kind of career: 11 years, career ERA+ of 95, a 16-win season.

I'm quite pleased with what they got for Rollins. Just because the Marlins GM is a bonehead doesn't mean there are other boneheads out there who'd give up a Heaney-quality prospect for J-Roll. Eflin is a pitch-to-contact guy who was young for the league and put up good numbers considering that Lake Elsinore is like the moon. Mini-Mart would post a .350, 30 HR line there. It's the place that convinced BL posters that Tyson Gillies would be a star. Anyway, Eflin projects as a #4 innings-eater type. OK fastball, great changeup. Windle strikes me as a classic college-pitcher with polish but just average stuff. Ceiling is probably as a middle reliever.