Tracking the Ex-Phillies

Each spring, I'll spend time reviewing every team's roster, list of non-roster invitees and their coaching staff.  There are always a few ex-Phillies that I'm surprised to see still around with Tyler Cloyd (Rays) and Cameron Perkins (Dodgers) catching my eye this year.

Here's a list of each team's Phillies alumni representation, and I've only included players, coaches and managers who actually suited up for the team.  Players who passed through the Phillies minor league system but never made the big club aren't represented here.

Special mention goes to Tommy Joseph, who signed with the LG Twins in Korea over the offseason, and Ty Kelly, who signed a minor league deal with the Angels but doesn't appear to be a non-roster invitee.

N.L. East
Atlanta Braves:  Andres Blanco - inf (NRI), Pedro Florimon - inf (NRI), Rick Kranitz - pitching coach, San Fasano - catching coach
Miami Marlins:  Jorge Alfaro - c, Brian Schneider - catching coach
New York Mets:  Wilson Ramos - c, Luis Avilan - lhp (NRI)
Washington Nationals:  Jeremy Hellickson - rhp, Howie Kendrick - of, Henderson Alvarez - rhp (NRI)

N.L. Central
Chicago Cubs:  Cole Hamels - lhp, Mike Zagurski - lhp (NRI)
Cincinnati Reds:  David Hernandez - rhp, David Bell - manager, Turner Ward - hitting coach
Milwaukee Brewers:  Erik Kratz - c
Pittsburgh Pirates:  Tom Prince - bench coach
St. Louis Cardinals:  Mike Maddux - pitching coach

N.L. West
Arizona Diamondbacks:  Torey Lovullo - manager, Humberto Quintero - bullpen catcher
Colorado Rockies:  Michael Saunders - of (NRI)
Los Angeles Dodgers:  Ezequiel Carrera - of (NRI), Cameron Perkins - of (NRI)
San Diego Padres:  Aaron Loup - lhp, Rod Barajas - bench coach
San Francisco Giants:  Rick Schu - assistant hitting coach


A.L. East
Baltimore Orioles:  Jose David Flores - third base coach
Boston Red Sox:  Ron Roenicke - bench coach
New York Yankees:  J.A. Happ - lhp, Drew Hutchison - rhp (NRI)
Tampa Bay Rays:  Charlie Morton - rhp, Tyler Cloyd - rhp (NRI), Hoby Milner - lhp (NRI), Ricardo Pinto - rhp (NRI)
Toronto Blue Jays:  Clay Buchholz - rhp, Ken Giles - rhp, Freddy Galvis - inf, Mark Leiter Jr. - rhp (NRI)

A.L. Central
Chicago White Sox:  None
Cleveland Indians:  Carlos Santana - inf, Terry Francona - manager, Brad Mills - bench coach
Detroit Tigers:  Daniel Stumpf - lhp, Cameron Rupp - c (NRI, and recently traded from the Giants)
Kansas City Royals:  Jake Diekman - lhp, Ben Lively - rhp, Dale Sveum - bench coach
Minnesota Twins:  None

A.L. West
Houston Astros:  A.J. Hinch - manager
Los Angeles Angels:  Luis Garcia - rhp, JC Ramirez - rhp, Justin Bour - inf, Peter Bourjos - of (NRI), Shawn Wooten - assistant hitting coach, Andrew Bailey - bullpen coach
Oakland Athletics:  None
Seattle Mariners:  J.P. Crawford - inf
Texas Rangers:  Asdrubal Cabrera - inf, Zac Curtis - lhp (NRI), Jeanmar Gomez - rhp (NRI), Chase d'Arnaud -inf (NRI), Hunter Pence - of (NRI), Ben Revere - of (NRI)

Joseph Departs; Updated Offseason Moves

2018 Chachi Departures #11

Before the regular season kicks off, I wanted to take a look back at the Phillies' offseason moves and commemorate the moving on of one Phillies Room Favorite and three blink-and-you-missed-them Phillies.

Tommy Joseph was designated for assignment in mid-March to make room on the team's 40-man roster for Jake Arrieta.  The slugging first baseman was then picked up on waivers by the Rangers.

Kevin Siegrist, Henderson Alvarez and Clay Buchholz all had very short stints with the Phillies.  Each recently found new homes, and I've already featured Siegrist's Chachi Departure card in a prior post.  He's a look at the complete Chachi checklist for each departed player and then a look at what could be close to the final list of offseason player moves.

Tommy Joseph Complete Chachi Checklist
2016 Chachi #42
2016 Chachi #67 Home Run Leaders (with Ryan Howard and Maikel Franco)
2016 Chachi Archives #4
2016 Chachi Photo Day #12
2017 Chachi Preview #1
2017 Chachi #6
2017 Chachi Phillies Phestival #22
2017 Chachi In Action #2
2017 Chachi Archives #1
2017 Chachi Photo Night #23
2018 Chachi Departures #11

Henderson Alvarez Complete Chachi Checklist
2017 Chachi #63
2018 Chachi Departures #10

Clay Buchholz Complete Chachi Checklist
2017 Chachi New Additions #6
2017 Chachi #17
2017 Chachi Photo Night #23 (with Cameron Rupp and Andrew Knapp)
2018 Chachi Departures #12

Kevin Siegrist Complete Chachi Checklist
2017 Chachi #59
2018 Chachi Departures #9

2018 Chachi Departures #10

2018 Chachi Departures #12

Moving On - 2017-2018 Offseason

• Henderson Alvarez - rhp (10/4/17) - Outrighted off 40-man roster, elected free agency and signed with Tigres de Quintana Roo of the Mexican League, 3/16/18.
• Ty Kelly - 2b-of (10/4/17) - Outrighted off 40-man roster, elected free agency and signed as a minor league free agent with the New York Mets, 1/22/18.
• Kevin Siegrist - lhp (10/4/17) - Outrighted off 40-man roster, elected free agency and signed as a minor league free agent with the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2/24/18.
• Andres Blanco - inf (11/2/17) - Elected free agency and signed as a minor league free agent with the San Francisco Giants, 1/30/18.
• Clay Buchholz - rhp (11/2/17) - Elected free agency and signed as a minor league free agent
  with the Kansas City Royals, 3/20/18.
• Hyun Soo Kim - of (11/2/17) - Elected free agency, signed with the LG Twins of the Korea Baseball Organization, 12/18/17.
• Daniel Nava - of (11/2/17) - Elected free agency, signed as a minor league free agent with the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2/6/18.
• Jesen Therrien - rhp (11/6/17) - Outrighted off 40-man roster and elected free agency, signed as a minor league free agent with the Los Angeles Dodgers, 11/29/17.
• Michael Mariot - rhp (11/6/17) - Elected free agency, signed as a minor league free agent with the San Diego Padres, 11/29/17.
• Colton Murray - rhp (11/6/17) - Elected free agency, signed as a minor league free agent with the Tampa Bay Rays, 12/14/17.
• Brock Stassi - 1b (11/6/17) - Elected free agency, signed as a minor league free agent with the Minnesota Twins, 12/7/17.
• Cameron Perkins - of (12/11/17) - Claimed off waivers by the Seattle Mariners.
• Freddy Galvis - ss (12/15/17) - Traded to the San Diego Padres for Enyel De Los Santos.
• Tommy Joseph - 1b (3/19/18) - Claimed off waivers by the Texas Rangers.

Coming Back - 2017-2018 Offseason

• Pedro Florimon - inf-of (11/13/17) - Signed to a minor league contract.
• Pedro Beato - rhp (12/22/17) - Signed to a minor league contract.

New Additions - 2017-2018 Offseason

• Engelb Vielma - inf (11/20/17) - Claimed off waivers from the San Francisco Giants.
• Pat Neshek - rhp (12/15/17) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Colorado Rockies.
• Tommy Hunter - rhp (12/15/17) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Tampa Bay Rays.
• Carlos Santana - 1b (12/20/17) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Cleveland Indians.
• Jake Arrieta - rhp (3/12/18) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Chicago Cubs.

Already Gone - 2017-2018 Offseason

• Engelb Vielma - inf (12/11/17) - Claimed off waivers by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Grapefruit Game 18 - 2017 Stadium Club #167 Tommy Joseph

Phillies 3, Braves 0
Spring Training Game 18 - Monday Night, March 12th in Lake Buena Vista
Record - 7-11

One Sentence Summary:  Zach Eflin was impressive and Mitch Walding hit a three-run eighth inning home run to give the Phillies a 3-0 win in Disney World.

What It Means:  The Phillies pitching staff hasn't surrendered a run since signing Jake Arrieta.

What Happened:  Eflin, who could be the odd man out of the rotation due to the Arrieta signing, allowed just one hit in his five innings of work.

Featured Card:  Let's go with another card of Tommy Joseph since the arrival of Arrieta resulted in the Phillies designating Joseph for assignment.  I really hope he catches on somewhere, and it would seem he'd make a fine American League first baseman/DH.  I'll have a special Chachi Departures card for Joseph once he's joined his new team.

If I ever get around to creating a Phillies Room Favorites set, featuring our all-time favorite Phillies players, Joseph will definitely be included within the set.

Camp Head Count:  49 + 1 - 1 = 49.  Arrieta's signing was made official yesterday with Joseph's removal from the 40-man roster.

Grapefruit Game 14 - 2018 Topps Heritage #34 Tommy Joseph

Phillies 7, Yankees 6
Spring Training Game 14 - Thursday Afternoon, March 8th in Tampa
Record - 6-8

One Sentence Summary:  Danny Ortiz and Pedro Florimon produced two clutch hits in the eighth inning to lead the Phils to a 7-6 win over the Yankees.

What It Means:  It's nice to see the Phillies showing some life in these games.  In the grand scheme of things, a spring training win doesn't mean much but maybe some of this positive momentum will carry over into the regular season.

What Happened:  Ben Lively allowed three runs in his four-inning start.  Adam Morgan got the win after pitching two scoreless innings.  Tommy Joseph added two more hits, raising his spring average to .474.  Ryan Flaherty and Mitch Walding both knocked in a pair of runs.

Featured Card:  I've got a bunch of 2018 Topps Heritage cards sitting in front of me ready to be sorted, and here's Joseph's card from the 1969 Topps-inspired set.

Camp Head Count:  60

Grapefruit Game 5 - 2017 Topps Now MLB Players Weekend #PW-103 Tommy Joseph

Tigers 11, Phillies 6
Spring Training Game 5 - Tuesday Afternoon, February 27th in Clearwater
Record - 1-4

One Sentence Summary:  Jerad Eickhoff and three Phillies relievers each gave up two earned runs a piece and a six-run fourth inning wasn't enough in this 11-6 loss to the Tigers.

What It Means:  It's still early.

What Happened:  Rhys Hoskins and Roman Quinn connected for their first home runs of the spring.  Tommy Joseph and Collin Cowgill each added a pair of hits.

Featured Card:  Joseph, competing for a bench job with Carlos Santana slated to be the team's starting first baseman, saw his first outfield action of his career.  Playing left field, he actually switched over to right for a batter before switching back to left.  His two hits raised his spring average to .667 (4 for 6).  This is his most recent card of his in my collection, from the Topps Now Players Weekend team set.

Camp Head Count:  63

2017 Topps Allen & Ginter #61 Tommy Joseph

Mets 7, Phillies 6
Game 113 - Friday Night, August 11th in Philadelphia
Record - 42-71, 5th place, 26 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  The Phils battled back to tie the game in the eighth, but Amed Rosario hit his first big league home run off Hector Neris in the ninth to lead the Mets to a 7-6 victory.

What It Means:  As Jim Salisbury Tweeted, the Phillies are 0-5 against the Mets at home this season and they've been out-homered 17-4 in those games.

What Happened:  Cesar Hernandez's solo home run (7) tied the game up temporarily.  Nick Pivetta pitched only 4 2/3 innings, allowing six runs (five earned) on seven hits, including two home runs.

Featured Card:  Tommy Joseph has been slumping lately, and the addition of Rhys Hoskins, a fellow first baseman, to the roster can't be great for his confidence.  But in this game he had a pair of hits, knocking in a pair of runs.

Transaction:  Prior to the game, Vince Velasquez landed on the 10-day disabled list and Ty Kelly was recalled from the IronPigs.

Photo Night Highlights! (Part Three)

2017 Chachi Photo Night #23

2017 Chachi Photo Night #29

2017 Chachi Photo Night #24

With all the trades happening recently, I had completely forgotten to post the final set of extremely limited edition Chachi insert cards from the team's recent Photo Night.  Here are the final nine cards and you can look back at Part One and Part Two of this series of posts for the other cards in the set.

We didn't recognize Clay Buchholz at first, but that's only because he hadn't pitched with the team since very early in the season.  Kudos to him for coming out for the event.

2017 Chachi Photo Night #25

2017 Chachi Photo Night #26

2017 Chachi Photo Night #28

2017 Chachi Photo Night #27

2017 Chachi Photo Night #30

2017 Chachi Photo Night #31

Righteous! 2017 Chachi Archives Cards . . . with a Twist!

Phillies 7, Padres 1
Game 87 - Sunday Afternoon, July 9th in Philadelphia
Record - 29-58, 5th place, 22 1/2 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies blasted six (!) home runs in this 7-1 win over the Padres as Jerad Eickhoff notched his first win of the season.

What It Means:  The first half of the 2017 season is thankfully in the books for the Phillies.

What Happened:  Eickhoff had it easy in this game, getting plenty of run support on the way to his first victory.  He struck out eight in his five innings.  Home runs came from Nick Williams (his first), Cameron Rupp (6), two from Freddy Galvis (9 and 10), Odubel Herrera (6) and Aaron Altherr (14). It was the first time the Phillies had six home runs in a game since August 11, 2004.  Homering that day were Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Jim Thome (2) and pitcher Randy Wolf (2).

Featured Card:  This is a first for my custom Chachi series of cards, and I'm not sure what took me so long.  Since my custom card sets' inception in 2005, every card I've created has featured a past Topps design.  I wanted to use a 1983 baseball card design for this weekend's retro uniform games, but I didn't like the way the 1983 Topps customs were looking.  The big picture was fine, but the small portrait picture looked silly with the modern "P" on the player's hats.  (And I had already produced a full "set" of Chachi cards back in 2011 using this design.)

So I went with another option from 1983, the design of the 1983 Donruss set.  Using the photos from Friday night and Sunday afternoon that I could find from the game, I created an 11-card limited edition Chachi Archives set.  Now that a non-Topps set has made its debut within the Chachi family of cards, perhaps I'll branch out to other years and brands with future creations.

Transaction:  Ben Lively was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley to make room for the activated Eickhoff.

Series Preview - Diamondbacks at Phillies: June 16th to June 18th

Friday 7:05, Saturday 4:05 and Sunday 1:35
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA

Diamondbacks 41-26, 2nd Place in the N.L. West, 1 game behind the Rockies
Phillies 22-43, 5th Place in the N.L. East, 17 1/2 games behind the Nationals

Diamondbacks Probables:  Patrick Corbin (5-6, 5.38), Zack Godley (2-1, 2.44), Robbie Ray (7-3, 2.62)
Phillies Probables:  Aaron Nola (3-4, 4.40), Jerad Eickhoff (0-7, 5.09), Ben Lively (1-1, 3.00)

At the Ballpark:  On Saturday night, all kids will receive a Phillies W.B. Mason collectible truck.  On Sunday afternoon, for Father's Appreciation Day, all men 15 and over will receive a Phillies Hawaiian shirt, modeled here by Tommy Joseph.

Diamondbacks Leaders
Average:  Paul Goldschmidt - .323
Runs:  Paul Goldschmidt - 58
Home Runs:  Jake Lamb - 16
RBIs:  Jake Lamb - 57
Stolen Bases:  Paul Goldschmidt - 13

Wins:  Zach Greinke - 8
ERA:  Robbie Ray - 2.62
Strikeouts:  Robbie Ray - 107
Saves:  Fernando Rodney - 18

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Aaron Altherr - .281
Runs:  Cesar Hernandez - 40
Home Runs:  Aaron Altherr - 11
RBIs:  Aaron Altherr - 36
Stolen Bases:  Howie Kendrick - 7

Wins:  Jeremy Hellickson - 5
ERA:  Jeremy Hellickson - 4.91
Strikeouts:  Jerad Eickhoff - 63
Saves:  Hector Neris - 6

Joseph Walks Off Again; Ben & Doug Celebrate!

2017 Chachi In Action #2

Phillies 4, Reds 3
Game 47 - Saturday Afternoon, May 27th in Philadelphia
Record - 17-30, Tied for 4th place, 12 1/2 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  Tommy Joseph enjoyed his second walk-off hit in three games as the Phils won against the Reds, 4-3.

What It Means:  This was an exciting, enjoyable game!  Imagine that!

What Happened:  Solo home runs from Cesar Hernandez (5), Michael Saunders (6) and Joseph (8) accounted for the first three Phillies runs.  With the score tied in the ninth, Aaron Altherr singled and went to second on a wild pitch.  Joseph singled him home to start the on-field celebration.

Featured Cards:  Joseph earns an In Action card and Tommy Greene (see below) joins the Fan Favorites set.

Field Report:  And we were there!  We enjoyed the game from Section 115, Row 8, which is prime pre-game autograph territory.  Here are the highlights from our day:

Jim Bunning Wall of Fame plaque

The patient autograph seeker

Ben celebrates the win

• Doug staked out a spot at the corner of the Phillies dugout and scored autographs from Mickey Morandini, Brock Stassi and Vince Velasquez.  
• Ben and Jenna walked around the ballpark prior to the game and got to talk to Greene (again) up on the rooftop deck.
• This seemed like a quickly paced game and it was generally a high-energy crowd.
• Following the game, we waited in line for about 20 minutes so that both our boys could run the bases.

2017 Chachi Fan Favorites #14

2017 Topps Bunt #162 Tommy Joseph

Phillies 2, Rockies 1 (11)
Game 45 - Thursday Afternoon, May 25th in Philadelphia
Record - 16-29, Tied for 4th place, 11 1/2 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  It was the Tommy Joseph show as the surging slugger tied the game in the seventh with a solo home run and won the game in the 11th with a walk-off single.

What It Means:  The Phillies managed to avoid the four-game sweep by the Rockies, and the Reds now come to town for a three-game weekend series.

What Happened:  Vince Velasquez and six Phillies relievers held the Rockies offense to a run on 10 scattered hits through 11 innings of work.  Pat Neshek made an incredible diving catch of a popped-up bunt and quickly threw to first for a double play to escape the seventh inning.  Tommy Joseph continues to swing a hot bat, and he's leading the team in average (.329), slugging percentage (.671) and OPS (1.071) in the month of May.

Featured Card:  Here's a look at the new "physical" Topps Bunt product, not to be confused with the existing "virtual" Topps Bunt product available via the Topps Bunt app.  In my opinion, the design of these cards is way better than the design Topps went with for the flagship set this year.  Get rid of the diagonally watermarked stripey-things running the length of the card, and this is a card design asking for a 792-card complete set.

Transaction:  Reliever Jeanmar Gomez was activated from the disabled list before the game and Adam Morgan was sent back down to Lehigh Valley.

2017 Phillies Want List

2017 Topps Heritage Blue Borders #38

Bowman
Chrome Prospect Autographs - CPA-MM Moniak

Bowman Chrome
Chrome Prospect Autographs - CPA-ATI Tirado, CPA-CS Stobbe, CPA-SS Sanchez
Chrome Rookie Autographs - BCAR-JT Thompson

Donruss
Back to the Future Materials - 14 Pence
Diamond Collection Relics - 2 Nola, 84 Schmidt
New Breed Autographs - 1 Eickhoff
Promising Pros Materials - Eickhoff, Kim
Promising Pros Materials Signatures - 21 Thompson
Signature Series - 17 Thompson, 20 Alfaro, 35 Quinn, 49 Schmidt

Topps Series One and Two
SSP Variations - 340 Nola
1987 Topps Baseball Autographs - 1987A-AN Nola
Independence Day - ID-25 Franco
Salute Autographs - TSA-RQ Quinn

Topps Archives
Fan Favorites Autographs - FFA-RO Oswalt

Topps Heritage & Topps Heritage High Numbers
Throwback Uniform Variations - 247 Herrera, 705 Velasquez
1968 Topps Game Rookies - 5 Alfaro
Real One Autographs - ROA-JA Alfaro, ROA-JT Thompson

Topps Heritage Minor League
Clubhouse Collection Relics - CCR-DC Cozens, CCR-JC Crawford
Fantastic Feats Autographs - FFA-DC Cozens
Real One Autographs - ROA-DC Cozens

Topps Opening Day
Opening Day Autographs - ODA-AN Nola
Stadium Signatures - SS-17 Franco

Topps Pro Debut
Autographs - 1 Moniak, 108 Cozens
Pennant Patches - PP-JC Crawford, PP-MM Moniak

2016 Phillies Want List / 2018 Phillies Want List

Highlights from the 2017 Phillies Phestival (Part 2) #StrikeOutALS

Here are the remaining 13 cards from the very limited edition Chachi set from Thursday's Phillies Phestival to benefit ALS reasearch.  Part 1 can be found here.

If you've never gone to this event before, try to make every effort to come out to it in 2018.

2017 Chachi Phillies Phestival #11

2017 Chachi Phillies Phestival #12

2017 Chachi Phillies Phestival #13

2017 Chachi Phillies Phestival #16

2017 Chachi Phillies Phestival #17

2017 Chachi Phillies Phestival #18

2017 Chachi Phillies Phestival #19

2017 Chachi Phillies Phestival #21

2017 Chachi Phillies Phestival #22

2017 Chachi Phillies Phestival #14

2017 Chachi Phillies Phestival #15

2017 Chachi Phillies Phestival #20

2017 Chachi Phillies Phestival #23