2011 Bowman Chrome Bowman's Best Prospects #BBP54 Jonathan Singleton

Mets 11, Phillies 2
Game 55 - Monday Night, June 2nd in Philadelphia
Record - 24-31, 5th Place, 6 1/2 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies lost badly to the Mets, 11-2.

What It Means:  I'm not going to lie to you here, folks.  It's not a fun time to be a Phillies fan.  The floundering team went 4-7 on this 11-game homestand and they're a league worst 9-17 since May 4th.

What Happened:  This game was already pretty much out of reach when Phillippe Aumont entered the game in the eighth, walked the first batter he saw and then allowed a grand slam.  Aumont's ERA is now 21.60 after his first two games of the season.

The offense went 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position.

2011 Bowman Chrome Prospect
Autographs #BCP87

Featured Cards:  In a seemingly strange move, the Astros yesterday locked up prospect Jon Singleton with a five year, $10 million guaranteed contract despite the fact that Singleton had yet to play a single Major League game.  The contract has three option years, meaning the deal could reach eight years in total.  He was promoted to the Astros following announcement of the contract.

Singleton was hitting .267 with 14 home runs for Triple-A Oklahoma City at the time of his big signing and it will be interesting to see if other teams follow suit in an attempt to lock up more minor league prospects.

It will be interesting to watch Singleton's development alongside former Phillies prospect and current teammate Jared Cosart.  Singleton, Cosart, pitcher Josh Zeid and outfielder Domingo Santana were shipped to the Astros in July 2011 in the deal that brought Hunter Pence to Philadelphia.  Zeid and Santana are both in Triple-A right now, and it's not too far fetched to envision a scenario in which all four of the players are helping the Astros win ballgames in the not too distant future.

At least the Phillies hauled in a nice selection of prospects in July 2012 when they flipped Pence to the Giants.  Oh bugger it all.

2011 Topps Opening Day #22

The Newest Houston Astros

2011 Bowman Prospects #BP87, 2011 Topps Pro Debut #27 and 2011 Multi-Ad Reading Phillies #24

Former Phillie GM and current GM of the Astros Ed Wade may be on his way out in Houston, but that didn't stop him from continuing to stock-pile players from the Phillies system.  Three of the Phillies top prospects are now scattering to join their new minor league teams in the Astros organization as Hunter Pence figures out what number he'll wear with the Phils.  (Domonic Brown wears #9, the number Pence had worn with the Astros.)

Pitcher Jarred Cosart, selected in the 38th round by the Phillies in the 2008 draft, returns to his native Texas.  So far with High-A Clearwater this year, Cosart was 9-8 with a 3.92 ERA.  He had 43 walks to 79 strikeouts in 108 innings pitched.

First baseman Jonathan Singleton was selected in the 9th round of the 2009 draft.  Also with Clearwater, Singleton is hitting .282 with 9 home runs and 47 RBIs in 92 games so far this year.

Pitcher Josh Zeid was selected right after Singleton in the 10th round of the 2009 draft.  He's been with Double-A Reading this season, where he's 2-3 with a 5.65 ERA.

The Astros will chose a player to be named later from a list of Low-A players.

I'm not going to attempt to profile these guys in depth, especially since the fine folks over at Phuture Phillies have done such an excellent job of profiling all three players and completely analyzing the deal.

My gut reaction?  I like it.  We needed a right-handed bat and the Phils want to win now.  They have Pence under team control through at least 2013, and Domonic Brown can head back to Triple-A to get the additional seasoning and at-bats that everyone seems to think he still needs.  It is indeed an exciting time to be a Phillies fan, and I can't wait to see Pence make his Phillies debut.