Stoppage time

prospects of advancement

With less than three hours til opening day in Japan, a couple interesting Cutters notes ...

I shoulda spotted this a couple weeks ago, but a right interesting column from Bill Conlin of the Philly Daily News on Phils prospects and former Crosscutters Freddy Galvis and Dominic Brown.

Galvis, who was williamsport's 17-year-old shortstop until re-separating his non-throwing shoulder midway through last season, is still living up to the hype, at least defensively.

from the story ...

"Pat Gillick asked a few of the minor league people last year what the plan would be in a worst-case scenario where Jimmy Rollins went down for an extended period with defense as the main concern," (Phillies farm director Steve) Noworyta was saying. "Who would we recommend bringing up from the Double or Triple A clubs?"

The GM was taken aback by the answer. "We were pretty unanimous on it," Noworyta said. "We said if defense was the No. 1 consideration, Freddy Galvis was who we would recommend, no doubt, despite his lack of experience."

...

I know what coaches told me on the record last year, and I know what they told me off the record. I don't have a ton of experience with how coaches build up prospects, but it was far above and beyond what they said of anyone else last season. The only thing is, with Rollins currently the man at short, and Galvis still a few years from being able to bat well enough for the Majors (he hovered just above .200 in the NY-PL), is he a future phillies short stop or is he the future keystone of another team willing to unload a major free agent for prospects?

As for Dominic Brown, I'm no expert, but I thought he grew a lot last season. His natural athletic ability is simply incredible, and he's a hard worker. Not the best quote, but I'll forgive him.

For their sake, I hope I don't see either of them at any point this season.

•Elsewhere, the Cutters' new logo lost in the second round of that cnbc.com contest, while the IronPigs of the new triple-A Lehigh Valley outfit is in the sweet 16. Some of you know I'm not so hot on the new logo (and even less so on the Cutters new furry mascot thingy), but the IronPigs one is worse, even if the team name is pretty clever.

•Not surprisingly, former Cutters pitcher Drew Naylor has written all of one blog entry since arriving in Florida in March after a winter season in Australia. Drew's loaded with potential, but he never was the most talkative one.

•Some interesting photos from spring training. Includes former cutters i know from last year's phillies-affiliated team, former cutters i dont know from the old pirates regime, and a shot of cutters vice prez. doug estes where he looks a whole hell of a lot like winfield native and giants situational reliever steve kline.