Jake Thompson to debut Saturday

[Guy Incognito]

Top pitching prospect Jake Thompson to debut on Saturday

Thompson fills the void left by Aaron Nola, who went on the disabled list on Wednesday with a right elbow strain. Thompson was scheduled to start Friday night for the IronPigs but will instead pitch a day later for the Phillies. The team's other starters will each be pushed back a day.

Thompson will be the 2,000th player to ever play for the Phillies. He is the third player acquired in the Hamels trade to reach the majors, joining Alec Asher and Jerad Eickhoff. Outfielder Nick Williams could join the Phillies sometime in the final two months, and catcher Jorge Alfaro could arrive next season.

 

[jvett77]

Thompson, 22, is a big right hander at 6'4" and 247 lb. Kinda like Eickhoff. If two or three of the young hurlers on the staff can be very successful, the Phils will be in good shape. Which is why I'm glad Velasquez is still here. With Hellickson gone next year, it will be interesting to see who makes it.

Velasquez, 24, 8-3, 3.32, 114 Ks, 39 BB
Eickhoff, 26, 6-12, 3.68, 112 Ks, 31 BB
Eflin, 22, 3-4, 4.23, 27 Ks, 29 BB 12 BB (9 games)
Nola, 23, 6-9, 4.78, 121 Ks, 29 BB
Thompson, 22, AAA, 2016 11-5, 2.50, 87 Ks, 37 BB; last 10 games, 7-0, 1.32, 39 K, 16 BB
Hellickson, 29, 8-7, 3.70, 109 Ks, 29 BB

 

[Omar 382]

Fuck yes!

 

[WestCoastPhan]

Thompson, 22, is a big right hander at 6'4" and 247 lb. Kinda like Eickhoff. If two or three of the young hurlers on the staff can be very successful, the Phils will be in good shape. Which is why I'm glad Velasquez is still here. With Hellickson gone next year, it will be interesting to see who makes it.

Velasquez, 24, 8-3, 3.32, 114 Ks, 39 BB
Eickhoff, 26, 6-12, 3.68, 112 Ks, 31 BB
Eflin, 22, 3-4, 4.23, 27 Ks, 29 BB 12 BB (9 games)
Nola, 23, 6-9, 4.78, 121 Ks, 29 BB
Thompson, 22, AAA, 2016 11-5, 2.50, 87 Ks, 37 BB; last 10 games, 7-0, 1.32, 39 K, 16 BB
Hellickson, 29, 8-7, 3.70, 109 Ks, 29 BB

Velasquez needs to figure out soon how to put batters away in 3-4 pitches. Otherwise, sell high and get a couple of top prospects for him.

 

[Sparhawk]

Velasquez needs to figure out soon how to put batters away in 3-4 pitches. Otherwise, sell high and get a couple of top prospects for him.

If you can get the prospects, yes.
Otherwise, he could be the ideal closer.

 

[jvett77]

Velasquez needs to figure out soon how to put batters away in 3-4 pitches. Otherwise, sell high and get a couple of top prospects for him.

Why the rush. This guy has only started 26 MLB games. All the young pitchers on the Phillies staff will be figuring it out for some time. If he doesn't figure it out by tomorrow, sell high, now? Dumb. The guy might really be very good.

 

[_phiLLies_]

jvett, like 90+ percent of fans, you do not understand the business side of sports. therefore, it becomes a moot point to engage in serious organizational talk the majority of the time. you thought the hamels deal was terrible at first.. i believe you hated the giles deal.. and i'd be shocked if you did not absolutely love the howard deal back in the day.

you've already labeled velasquez a "future superstar." what's this based on, his electric fastball? how many pitchers survive on that alone? his control is inconsistent and a huge mark. when you struggle to keep putting away batters, it's a bad sign for the future. it's because he doesn't have good enough stuff behind his fastball, nor can he locate these pitchers properly, to finish hitters off quickly. he's always able to limit the damage so far because that fastball does the job. but as soon as it becomes just a little bit hittable, he's in trouble. you look at his 3 something era and see the strikeouts.. and

much like you felt he did a good job going 5 innings and giving up 2 runs. what?! that's what you hope for from a spot starter, long man, or someone like that. it's doesn't even register as a quality start. and he left the bullpen to cover 4 innings (wound up being 5 since it went 10.) he's not going to wake up one day with his control magically improved. he's going to need to add another pitch or work extremely hard on his complete arsenal in hopes of finding a way to finish off hitters. the odds are highly against that.

then of course, he already had the tommy john and injury concerns. all these things make him a GREAT sell high player if you can get the right package. 2 other sell high players right now? herrera and rupp. the whole point of selling high is to get equal or better value for what they are doing now because you expect them to decline in the not too distant future, thus making your trade a steal.

 

[jvett77]

jvett, like 90+ percent of fans, you do not understand the business side of sports. therefore, it becomes a moot point to engage in serious organizational talk the majority of the time. you thought the hamels deal was terrible at first.. i believe you hated the giles deal.. and i'd be shocked if you did not absolutely love the howard deal back in the day.

you've already labeled velasquez a "future superstar." what's this based on, his electric fastball? how many pitchers survive on that alone? his control is inconsistent and a huge mark. when you struggle to keep putting away batters, it's a bad sign for the future. it's because he doesn't have good enough stuff behind his fastball, nor can he locate these pitchers properly, to finish hitters off quickly. he's always able to limit the damage so far because that fastball does the job. but as soon as it becomes just a little bit hittable, he's in trouble. you look at his 3 something era and see the strikeouts.. and

much like you felt he did a good job going 5 innings and giving up 2 runs. what?! that's what you hope for from a spot starter, long man, or someone like that. it's doesn't even register as a quality start. and he left the bullpen to cover 4 innings (wound up being 5 since it went 10.) he's not going to wake up one day with his control magically improved. he's going to need to add another pitch or work extremely hard on his complete arsenal in hopes of finding a way to finish off hitters. the odds are highly against that.

then of course, he already had the tommy john and injury concerns. all these things make him a GREAT sell high player if you can get the right package. 2 other sell high players right now? herrera and rupp. the whole point of selling high is to get equal or better value for what they are doing now because you expect them to decline in the not too distant future, thus making your trade a steal.

He's a young pitcher in progress and he'll be a good one. Yeah, keep jerking off.

 

[_phiLLies_]

He's a young pitcher in progress and he'll be a good one. Yeah, keep jerking off.

and hellickson had a 3.47 era his first year, 2.95 his second and 3.10 in his third. how'd that work out for him when he posted 5.17, 4.52, 4.62 over the following three seasons? in his case, his low strikeout totals mixed with numbers in which he was playing over his head (average against, etc.) were a solid indicator for the rays to sell high.

if you can't look past the basic numbers to envision what you really have, well then..

 

[jvett77]

lol. Stop wacking off. Business wasn't so good, heh. Vinny's still here. It's also a sport. Teams planned to pick him up for nothing. One of Philly's best young pitchers. What the fuck is this. Guys must be perfect very early in their career or they're out the door w/o a fair shot? You would have wanted to trade Joseph when he hit a slight decline a while back. Let's trade Rupp. Sell high. Fuck baseball I guess.

 

[_phiLLies_]

you do understand the odds of rupp being around an .830 ops/18 HR hitter for the rest of his career are extremely, extremely low.. right? and also that we have our catcher of the future in alfaro waiting? and that we have another starting quality one in knapp?

there are teams who desperately need catching. rupp is still young/under control and having a season well over his head. going by your joseph comment, you're just not comprehending the "sell high" approach.

 

[jvett77]

You can also sell high too soon. Can't Rupp, even at 28 (Sep), be an .830 OPS/18 HR hitter for another year at least while Ruiz is on the way out, and AAA Knapp / AA Alfaro are given the opportunity to advance? Next year it will be Rupp and Knapp while Alfaro moves to AAA. What if Knapp doesn't work out? Then we have Rupp - Alfaro. It's good to be deep at catcher.

If Rupp is playing over his head, other teams know that and will not give the Phillies anyone worthwhile in return. I think Rupp has steadily improved his entire game and the Phillies should go with that for now. If he stalls, we have great options. I prefer the winning hand for now.

Rupp, 28 (sept) 2016 PHL, .278/.329/.502/.831, 13 HR, K 26%
Knapp, 24(nov), 2016 AAA, .269/.334/.397/.731, 7 HR, K 26%
Alfaro, 23, 2016 AA, .288/.330/.461/.791, 12 HR, K 24%;

 

[Retroram52]

Spot on as usual jvett. And some of the posts by the supposed self proclaimed "genius" on here are laughable.

 

[Cedrique]

I think bringing up Thompson is a sign that the Phillies are optimistic about being closer to contending than they were the for the last year. In the past the Phillies have always been gun-shy about bringing up top prospects to cover injuries for fear of bringing them up before they are ready. They usually bring up guys with lower expectations (i.e. Adam Morgan, Tommy Joseph, etc.) and hope for the best. Good luck Jake!

 

[_phiLLies_]

You can also sell high too soon. Can't Rupp, even at 28 (Sep), be an .830 OPS/18 HR hitter for another year at least while Ruiz is on the way out, and AAA Knapp / AA Alfaro are given the opportunity to advance? Next year it will be Rupp and Knapp while Alfaro moves to AAA. What if Knapp doesn't work out? Then we have Rupp - Alfaro. It's good to be deep at catcher.

If Rupp is playing over his head, other teams know that and will not give the Phillies anyone worthwhile in return. I think Rupp has steadily improved his entire game and the Phillies should go with that for now. If he stalls, we have great options. I prefer the winning hand for now.

Rupp, 28 (sept) 2016 PHL, .278/.329/.502/.831, 13 HR, K 26%
Knapp, 24(nov), 2016 AAA, .269/.334/.397/.731, 7 HR, K 26%
Alfaro, 23, 2016 AA, .288/.330/.461/.791, 12 HR, K 24%;

sure he can. he can do it next year and 2, 3 years after that. but again, the odds are extremely low. rupp has generally shown himself to be a guy who will ceiling around 10-15 homers with a low .700 ops.

the whole point of selling high is to bait a desperate GM to think and take a chance on rupp that he can currently maintain that 20 homer/.830 ops pace. once again, the odds are extremely low. but the return you receive is based on that .830 ops. so even if he keeps doing it (yetttt again, odds.. extremely low) you most likely have no worse than an even trade. if he regresses to his 10 homer/.710 ops type mark.. then you stole from a team and significantly improved your own.

if, and most likely when, rupp comes out next year and has something like a .301 obp/.698 ops.. no one is going to want him. hoping he can duplicate what he's doing now just so you can win a few more games as a 4th place team.. would be an insanely horrible move.

same thing with velasquez. he has a 1.30 whip and .249 average against. he struggles to make it to the 6th inning and has already had a couple dinky injuries. he's reliant on one pitch, a fastball. no way in hell that will amount to his current 3.33 era next year. he had a lower whip/average with the astros last year and it came with a 4.37 era. the phils most likely asked the rangers for mazara (extremely smart) and the rangers immediately said no (also extremely smart.) and that was probably the end of that conversation.

it's disappointing to see a dink like retro, at his age, have the simple caveman mentality of "guy do good, we keep him. guy do bad, management stink." don't be a fool and follow that path. sports is business. it's all about trading high, buying low, ripping people off, making the right connections and being open to all ideas.

cliff lee had a 2.87 era and a whopping 7.1 WAR in 2013. i wanted him traded at the deadline for a little known (outside of LA) 21 year old at AA as the main piece, joc pederson. of course.. you can't trade the great lee. and who the fuck is this pederson? lee pitched 81 hurt innings the next season and his career was OVER. pederson hit 26 homers/.763 ops at age 23 with the dodgers last year. he's 16/.810 so far this year. sell high.

at the same time, the tigers desperately needed a closer. the phils could not, or would not part with papelbon and make some kind of package to acquire another player i really wanted, nick castellanos. not even going to bother posting his numbers. sell high.

point being.. and this is funny.. clowns like retro absolutely trash GM's like amaro. but the reality is.. they both think, want and talk the same bullshit. retro simply can't stand to hear the thought of a player who is producing being traded. but the ones that aren't? well, it's because management/ownership are the biggest idiots in the world for having them on the team. no insight, no knowledge whatsoever. all amaro did was try to land proven vets, keep them and hope they could carry the team to the postseason.

to that i say; what have fans like retro done to oppose this? JACK FUCKING SHIT. they don't know jack about other team's farm systems, international players, college players, etc. they just know the absolute basics. when someone is doing good, you can't talk bad about them or express interest in trading them. when they are doing bad, management and ownership are stupid and need to fix it. great. great fuckin' insight!

my advice to anyone who loves to attempt to talk serious baseball.. learn the business. don't be an amaro (retro.)

 

[Retroram52]

Well, it would make logical sense then Cedrique, that since we have not had a winning season in how long, that perhaps a change in seasoning strategy might be in order.

 

[_phiLLies_]

I think bringing up Thompson is a sign that the Phillies are optimistic about being closer to contending than they were the for the last year. In the past the Phillies have always been gun-shy about bringing up top prospects to cover injuries for fear of bringing them up before they are ready. They usually bring up guys with lower expectations (i.e. Adam Morgan, Tommy Joseph, etc.) and hope for the best. Good luck Jake!

i agree with that, except for this case. thompson has been so dominating that there is nothing left to do. since coming to the phils, between AA/postseason/AAA.. he's 18-6 with a 2.17 era. regardless of what he does with the phils.. there is no going back to the minors.

with that said, i can't wait to see how he does. scouts seem to be mixed on whether he's back of the rotation worthy, or top. he must have great movement on his pitches to produce the results he does.

 

[Omar 382]

Laughable

 

[Omar 382]

I am excited, but worried about Thompson's low K/9 and BABIP numbers. Hopefully he'll do well, but his FIP is high this year.

 

[jvett77]

sure he can. he can do it next year and 2, 3 years after that. but again, the odds are extremely low. rupp has generally shown himself to be a guy who will ceiling around 10-15 homers with a low .700 ops.

the whole point of selling high is to bait a desperate GM to think and take a chance on rupp that he can currently maintain that 20 homer/.830 ops pace. once again, the odds are extremely low. but the return you receive is based on that .830 ops. so even if he keeps doing it (yetttt again, odds.. extremely low) you most likely have no worse than an even trade. if he regresses to his 10 homer/.710 ops type mark.. then you stole from a team and significantly improved your own.

if, and most likely when, rupp comes out next year and has something like a .301 obp/.698 ops.. no one is going to want him. hoping he can duplicate what he's doing now just so you can win a few more games as a 4th place team.. would be an insanely horrible move.

same thing with velasquez. he has a 1.30 whip and .249 average against. he struggles to make it to the 6th inning and has already had a couple dinky injuries. he's reliant on one pitch, a fastball. no way in hell that will amount to his current 3.33 era next year. he had a lower whip/average with the astros last year and it came with a 4.37 era. the phils most likely asked the rangers for mazara (extremely smart) and the rangers immediately said no (also extremely smart.) and that was probably the end of that conversation.

it's disappointing to see a dink like retro, at his age, have the simple caveman mentality of "guy do good, we keep him. guy do bad, management stink." don't be a fool and follow that path. sports is business. it's all about trading high, buying low, ripping people off, making the right connections and being open to all ideas.

cliff lee had a 2.87 era and a whopping 7.1 WAR in 2013. i wanted him traded at the deadline for a little known (outside of LA) 21 year old at AA as the main piece, joc pederson. of course.. you can't trade the great lee. and who the fuck is this pederson? lee pitched 81 hurt innings the next season and his career was OVER. pederson hit 26 homers/.763 ops at age 23 with the dodgers last year. he's 16/.810 so far this year. sell high.

at the same time, the tigers desperately needed a closer. the phils could not, or would not part with papelbon and make some kind of package to acquire another player i really wanted, nick castellanos. not even going to bother posting his numbers. sell high.

point being.. and this is funny.. clowns like retro absolutely trash GM's like amaro. but the reality is.. they both think, want and talk the same bullshit. retro simply can't stand to hear the thought of a player who is producing being traded. but the ones that aren't? well, it's because management/ownership are the biggest idiots in the world for having them on the team. no insight, no knowledge whatsoever. all amaro did was try to land proven vets, keep them and hope they could carry the team to the postseason.

to that i say; what have fans like retro done to oppose this? JACK FUCKING SHIT. they don't know jack about other team's farm systems, international players, college players, etc. they just know the absolute basics. when someone is doing good, you can't talk bad about them or express interest in trading them. when they are doing bad, management and ownership are stupid and need to fix it. great. great fuckin' insight!

my advice to anyone who loves to attempt to talk serious baseball.. learn the business. don't be an amaro (retro.)

Are you trying to go blind?

Sure baseball is a business. And you like those risky gambles. I'm glad the guys on the other side of the table weren't offering jack shit. You don't know what you're going to lose and what you're getting in return for young players who are still developing. OK, I'll take Rupp's .830 OPS for a couple of years unless Afaro or Knapp can unseat him.

You probably loved Chiparoos's 2015 Eagles house cleaning where in a few insane swoops, the team lost Foles and McCoy, then later DeMarco Murray, all proven class acts, and all for Chip's cockamania sports business judgement. Now we're stuck with Pederson's Eagles who might struggle to get 5 wins. While it's a different situation, I'm just glad that Klentak is not a brash egomaniac out to unload talent by spinning the wheel.