Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Five HomeSiders released

The Phillies released 11 players yesterday, including 5 former BlueClaws. Joe Bisenius, Freddy Ballestas, Ryan Bergh, Jeremy Hamilton, and Gus Milner were all let go.

I have to hand it to MLBN..I saw Carlos Monasterios pitch for the Dodgers, Carlos Carrasco pitch for the Indians, Zack Segovia pitch for the Yankees, and Gavin Floyd pitch for the White Sox in the last week. I also caught one of Matt Maloney's games earlier in the month.

If Kyle Kendrick wins the final spot in the rotation, the Phillies will have 3 former BlueClaws in the rotation for the first time to start a season. Cole Hamels and J.A. Happ are already there.

It also looks as if Antonio Bastardo will be on the opening day roster.

Michael Bourn returned to the Houston line up Saturday, after missing over a week with mild right oblique strain. Bourn hit .285 in 157 games for the Astros last year and was the NL stolen base champion with 61.

As of now, there is no reason not to think Jason Jaramillo will return to the Pirates for another major league season behind Ryan Doumit.

It appears Adrian Cardenas and Michael Taylor will be teammates for the Sacramento River Cats in the PCL, and Greg Golson and Zack Segovia will likely be together at Scranton. Jason Donald will open the season in Columbus. If I had to guess, I would say Kyle Drabek opens the season in AAA-Las Vegas, and Travis d'Arnuad will start at AA-New Hampshire.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

A quick note about my lack of coverage of spring training...I have been unable to get down to Clearwater this month which has taken me out of the loop as far as the cuts and who is playing for which squad at this time, but when the rosters are finalized, both in the Phillies system and for our boys around baseball, I will locate everyone and let you know where they are playing at the start of the 2010 season.

The BlueClaws are opening with 8 games on the road, but I will be in Reading for 2 games April 10 and 11.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Bastardo wins job; Durant to go under knife

With Mike Zagurski getting reassigned to minor league camp, it appears that Antonio Bastardo has made the team. The Phillies now have 12 healthy pitchers in camp and, barring any trades, it seems the staff for opening day has been set.

In an unrelated note, Mike Durant will have back surgery and will be out indefinitely. We wish him all the best for a quick recovery.