Baseball America has named the Phillies as their 2009 Organization of the Year. You can read the full article through their website here. But I wanted to share what I felt was the interesting part of Jim Salisbury’s story:

But it is widely believed, by everyone from Amaro to Manuel to Gillick, that the trade that ultimately put the team on a path to success was the one that sent Bobby Abreu, one of the most offensively gifted players in franchise history, to the Yankees in July 2006. The trade was part salary dump (the Phils saved $20 million), part investment in the Rollins-Utley-Howard core.

The Abreu trade opened a spot for Victorino in right field and gave the team some of the athleticism Manuel had wanted. It also opened an outfield spot that Gillick filled the following offseason with one of his best moves, the signing of free agent Jayson Werth. It was a classic take-a-shot Gillick move, as Werth had missed the 2006 season with a career-threatening wrist injury. In 2009, the Phils’ three starting outfielders, Victorino, Werth and Raul Ibanez, Amaro’s first free agent signing, all were all-stars.

This is really a great point, and not something you would immediately think of as a turning point, especially when the Phillies have not gotten any big league games from the players they brought back.

December is a busy birthday month for former BlueClaws, with several keyp layers in team history getting to have a little party around the holidays…

• December 8th: Kyle Drabek (2007)…Phillies top pitching prospect turned 22 yesterday
• December 9th: D’Arby Myers (2008-09)…Starting LF on 2009 BlueClaws SAL Championship team turns 21 today
• December 19th: Michael Taylor (2008)…Power hitting outfielder turns 24 this month. Taylor is likely headed to Lehigh Valley to open 2010 after two dynamite years which saw him hit Lakewood, Clearwater, Reading, and LHV
• December 27th: Cole Hamels (2003)…Phillies pitcher turns 26 this month. He had a 0.84 ERA with the 2003 BlueClaws
• December 27th: Michael Bourn (2004)…Bourn, who won a Gold Glove Award with Houston this year, turns 27. He stole 55 bases with the BlueClaws in 2004 and was traded to the Astros as part of the deal that brought Brad Lidge to Philadelphia

22nd-22nd-20th…those were the rankings of the Phillies farm system before 2010. And entering the next decade, Baseball America has ranked the Phillies as having the 4th best farm system in all of baseball. Quite the accomplishment, especially considering they traded away four of their top prospects in the Cliff Lee deal last July (Jason Knapp, Jason Donald, Lou Marson, Carlos Carrasco).

Here is what Baseball America’s John Manuel had to say about the Phillies minor league operation:

4. Phillies: Philadelphia had the depth to trade for Cliff Lee and still have a top-flight farm system. Outfielder Michael Taylor has hit .333 over the last two seasons, rocketing to Triple-A, and fellow outfielder Dominic Brown has better tools, though he’s still a bit raw. Righty Kyle Drabek, son of the former Cy Young Award winner Doug Drabek, has three above-average pitches to go with excellent athletic ability. Beyond their Big Three — all of whom have performed at Double-A or above — the Phillies are bursting with young power arms, toolsy Latin American infielders and athletic outfielders, such as Anthony Gose.

Phillies Assistant GM (Player Development and Scouting) Chuck LaMar:

“We have prospects in our system, and that’s why you sign and develop players. Some of those players are going to play for you. Some of those players are going to help you bring players that help you at the Major League level. That’s the concept behind it. Not all the players you sign and develop are going to play for you, but the key is continually signing and developing those players.”

BlueClaws Blog Says: The ability to “sign and develop” players is critical to any organization for a couple of reasons.

1. Affordability: When a player makes his big league debut, he is under the team’s control for six years. If you can produce quality players through your own system, you can save a ton of money compared to having to get those players on the open market or through trades.
2. Access to players: Every year organization’s will add around 65 or 75 players between the draft and international free agents. That gives you ample opportunity to find big league contributors. The pool available annually in free agency or through trades is a lot smaller, in part because of:
3. Revenue Sharing: More and more we are seeing teams be able to buy up arbitration years of players (as the Twins did a few years ago with Johan Santana). The best players in baseball do not always hit the market (they often do, like CC Sabathia last year), but teams are given a better chance to hold onto their own guys. It makes a big difference.
4. Economics: The first thing they teach you in economics is supply and demand. If supply goes down, price will go up. If demand goes up, price will go up. We are seeing both. The fewer quality players that hit the market each year cause their price to skyrocket. That there are fewer quality players on the market each year can cause each to be in more demand than normal. All this means, higher prices for free agents and..

Having that big time farm system is a HUGE asset.

We alluded in a previous post about our Countdown 2010. We’ll be unveiling top ten lists beginning in January of some BlueClaws related item or items. Today, we’ll start collecting.

Below are the three categories that we want to start with today. We’ve posted some suggestions or examples, but please put anything you want in a category for consideration. Answer in the comments section below. Thanks!

• Giveaway items: Anything from a Buster bobblehead doll, to a Ryan Howard statue, lightswitch cover, luggage tag, cereal bowl, replica championship pennant, or beach towel.
• Moments: How about either of the two BlueClaws championships, Ryan Howard’s rehab appearance in 2007, the 4-millionth fan/Brett Myers daily double, having the World Series trophy on Opening Day 2009, a crowd of 13,003 in August of 2002.
• Celebrity appearances: We’ve hosted wrestlers like Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Seargent Slaughter, and Jerry the King Lawler, Hall of Famers like Steve Carlton, Jim Rice, and Bob Feller, to American Idol stars like Antonella Barba. Click here for a full list.

Thanks for playing, and again, you are not limited to those listed above. Those were just suggestions. Answer in the comments section. We’ll have more next week.

Last week we asked our Twitter family for some BlueClaws bowling team names. We got some good ones, but our favorites were Alley Claws and Pinchy’s Pin Busters. Ben Hill of MiLB.com threw in a few generic bowling team names, like:

The Hook-y Leagues
The Liberal Strike Zones
Hall of Framers
Bowl Durham
Slow Rollers
The Split-chell Report

You have any you want to add? Leave them in the comments section. More on the bowling league, to be held beginning next month at The Lanes at Sea Girt below the fold.

(more…)

It looks like the 2010 Phillies Winter Tour stop in Lakewood will be on January 11th, a Monday night (no, not the same night as the Alabama/Texas football game).

That, however, is all we have right now. We’ll certainly keep you posted. If you want more information, utilize the comments section below.

Click here to see photos from the 2009 Winter Tour.

This just came over to blog headquarters…The BlueClaws will host a free lacrosse clinic on 2010 Lacrosse Night (May 20th). T3 Lacrosse, which provides instruction and programs for boys and girls throughout New Jersey, will put on the clinic.

Basically, from 5 – 6 pm, we’ll have the clinic out in front of FirstEnergy Park. There will be three different levels (Minilaxers, Beginners, and Intermediate), and the clinic will emphasize catching, throwing, ground balls, stick skills, defense, and more.

To sign up, call Ryan at 732-901-7000 ext 162 or email him at rstrzalka@blueclaws.com. You must have a ticket to the game to participate in the clinic.

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Random lacrosse facts…

• Youth participation in the sport has grown 500% since 1999
• A relative of the modern game used to be played between sides of around 1,000 on fields as long as 15 miles as a preparation for war
• Best lacrosse player of all time? Jim Brown. Here’s a great article from the AP.

• “Lacrosse was his best sport,” said 92-year-old Ed Walsh, Brown’s football coach in high school. “He had all the skills, and his skills were better than all the opponents.

  “I had a college lacrosse coach who came to watch him play when he was a junior in the big game against Garden City,” Walsh said. “I took this coach to the sidelines and stayed with him so he could do anything he wanted to. All he did was write notes, and when the game was over, I said, ‘Any way you could sum up what you wrote and tell me?’

  “He said, ‘Jim Brown is better than anybody on our college team and better than anybody we coached against.”’

Some early thoughts as the Winter Meetings are underway in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana.

• Here is a great blog post from the Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham, who remembers a past Winter Meetings when Brian Cashman left some fake notes on the table and watched with glee as the writers tried to read them while not being conspicuous about it.
• One thing caught us a little bit off-guard with David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News last week…If (Cliff Lee) is going to get a contract that pays him what his market value is, I don’t think the Phillies will be the team that gives it to him…While the Phillies are normally conservative when handing out contracts to pitchers, he was too good to let walk, plus there were obviously issues with Cole Hamels during the post-season.
• One more from Murphy…Michael Taylor, I never get the sense they view him as a 30-100 guy, and there’s not an overwhelming anticipation of him getting to the big leagues…then you wonder if they would move him to fill some other need (maybe late-inning reliever-plus). At some point you’re going to have to make a decision on Taylor, who just turned 24. He’s very valuable heading into his prime and under control until he is 30.
• For better or worse, the formation of the Players Union dramatically changed the game of baseball, leading to free agency, ultimately arbitration, and the high player salaries we see today. Yet, Marvin Miller, According to this in the Boston Globe Extra Bases blog, was not elected to the Hall of Fame today by the executive committee. Why? I’m told that Miller received the votes of both players and all three writers. So only two of the seven executives voted for him…There’s a stunner. Who got hurt most by Miller? The executives.
• Andy Pettite is negotiating with the Yankees about coming back for one more year. It’s hard to see the Yankees not bringing him back. And if they don’t it’s probably off to the cattle ranch in Texas for the lefty.
• Here’s a blast from the past…According to Joel Sherman in the NY Post, the Mets could end up with Pat Burrell, getting him from the Cubs for Luis Castillo if the Cubs trade Milton Bradley to Tampa Bay for Burrell. The Mets would then sign Orlando Hudson to play second base.

In our last post, we gave a quick preview of the off-field aspect of the Winter Meetings. But the part of the whole week that gets the most attention annually is without question the wheeling and dealing that is done on the big league side of things. Some notes to keep an eye on over the next few days.

• Andy Martino in the Inquirer notes here that since the Phillies have been pretty insistent that payroll will not increase significantly, they are not certain to go after a big-ticket reliever they need (like Brandon Lyon). But what about Roy Halladay? No chance right? What if the Yankees and Red Sox, widely regarded as the top two suitors for Halladay, both determine that they do not want to give much away for a guy who will become a free agent in fewer than 12 months? There is strong precedent to suggest that will happen, because it happened two years ago with Johan Santana. Both AL East behemoths dropped out of the bidding for the then-Minnesota ace, allowing the Mets to acquire Santana for a bunch of second-tier youngsters.
• The best position player on the market is Cardinals OF Matt Holliday. Where will he end up? Well, Boston needs a bat in the middle of their lineup, whether it be replacing Jason Bay with Holliday or just bringing back Bay.
• The best pitcher is John Lackey. As Jayson Stark notes here, while he might not be a CC Sabathia, he is so much the best free agent pitcher that it’s going to be very tough to hold him back financially. Jason Marquis? “I don’t see any starting pitcher in this market who’s going to pull Lackey down,” said one exec. “There’s no comparable pitcher to Lackey that would cause him to sign for, like, three years times $10 million. Somebody is going to give him close to what the established market is for upper-echelon starters.” So who is that somebody? Don’t bet against the Yankees.
• Here is a good rundown from the NY Post
• Bill Madden in the NY Daily News writes: Phillies: Credit Ruben Amaro, the second-year Phillies GM, for not resting on his ’09 NL pennant laurels, and moving quickly to upgrade at third base from Pedro Feliz to Placido Polanco. Next up: The pitching. Amaro is in on Halladay but probably doesn’t have the pieces to get him, and is aggressively working to fortify his bullpen. He’s zeroing in on Fernando Rodney as another closer option, and John Smoltz and J.J. Putz as set-up possibilities who could be had for incentives-laden deals.

On the last point, Madden on the Phillies, we disagree that the Phillies don’t have the pieces to make the deal. They have the pieces. They just don’t want to trade those pieces. They had the pieces in July to make the deal, they just didn’t want to give up nearly as many as Toronto did.

Should be a fun week as usual.

Indianapolis, Indiana is ranked the 25th largest media market in the country. It’s airport is ranked the 46th busiest in the country. But today, representatives from 120+ Minor League Baseball teams descent on The Circle City for the annual convention which runs through Thursday. It’s Winter Meetings week.

“We’re trying to make a great business and a great industry even better,” said BlueClaws Assistant GM Rich Mozingo in this ClawCast preview.

“We have the opportunity to go talk to people who might do group sales, or promotions, or marketing better than us, and get a little bit bigger and stronger when we come home.”

The trade show is usually the centerpiece of the event, and features hundreds of contacts and business with everything from tarp covers to giveaway items. Here is a list, from MiLB.com, of all the vendors. It’s a neat read.

While this is the first Winter Meetings hosted in Indianapolis, they’ve been trying to get the meetings for a few years. What was one of their big pushes? How about air tunnels to bridge hotels and the convention center, so people don’t have to go outside in the cold. Good thing. The high temperature in Indy this week is 42 degrees.

Next year: Orlando, where the high temperature this week is 81.

Before you head out to the malls on December 19th, the last pre-Christmas shopping Saturday, stop by FirstEnergy Park with an unwrapped toy or non-perishable food.

It’s our annual Breakfast With Buster Holiday Food and Toy Drive. Buster and Santa will be there collecting items for the Salvation Army of Ocean County.

We’ll provide free bagels and coffee plus the chance for the kids to meet Buster and Santa, plus take some pictures too. 9 am – 11 am.

Photos from last year’s event here

A few weeks after declining the team-option on third baseman Pedro Feliz, the Phillies will reportedly sign Placido Polanco to a three-year, $18 million contract to replace Feliz at third.

Polanco, a right-handed hitter like Feliz, figures to slot in between Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley in the two-hole in the lineup, freeing Shane Victorino to move down and a) bring a lot of speed to the bottom (seven hole?) in the lineup and b) put him in more of a run producing role.

Defensively, Polanco should be fine. He’s won three straight Gold Gloves at second, though he has only played nine games at third since the end of the 2004 season.

Caution Flags…Polanco’s last three years have seen declines in batting average (.341-.307-.285), on-base percentage (.388-.350-.331), slugging percentage (.458-.417-.396), and thus OPS (.846-.767-.727)…He will be 36 at the end of the contract.

That said…The Phillies, who had Polanco from 2002-2005 before trading him for Uggy Urbina and Ramon Martinez, know what they’re getting. He’s a professional hitter and a great defender (so was Feliz) moving to a bandbox from one of the better pitcher’s parks in the league. Plus he gets to slot in between three of the best hitters in the game. He’ll be fine. Like the move.

Next week, the baseball world converges on Indianapolis, Indiana for the annual Winter Meetings baseball convention. In addition to the hot stove cranking up on the Major League side of things it’s basically a series of annual seminars on the Minor League side of things.

Teams share ideas regarding promotions, tickets, and more, plus it’s home to the annual Trade Show, featuring various equipment and merchandise vendors. It’s quite the show.

We sat down for a podcast preview with BlueClaws Assistant GM Rich Mozingo (on his way to his 17th Winter Meetings), talking about, among other things:

• The best part about the Meetings
• Seeing those he’s come into contact with from around the game
• The size and scope of the event
• What they hope to learn each year
• How this year’s meetings will be different from last year’s in Las Vegas

Click here to listen. Enjoy.

We’ve taken the pleasure of putting together a holiday gift shopping guide for BlueClaws fans. These are the real gifts that keep on giving, BlueClaws Baseball (in one form or another). Our suggestions, broken down by age:

• For the kids…Perhaps something from our stuffed item collection, whether it be one of the eyeballs, a stuffed Buster doll, Pinchy, or Go Go Gorilla. A perfect stocking stuffer. (Stay tuned for info on Kids Club…coming very soon)
• For the young adult…We might suggest membership in the Thirsty Thursday Club…Members get 10 undated GA tickets to Thirsty Thursday games (use one ten times or all ten at once) plus a free t-shirt (or you can keep that for yourself).
• For the die-hard BlueClaws fan…How about a BlueClaws championship hat or shirt. There are a variety of hats, t-shirts, and sweatshirts available in the ClawsCove here.
• For the senior…The perfect holiday gift for any senior citizen BlueClaws fan is membership in the Silver Sluggers Club…Just $9.95, they’ll get tickets to two Tuesday home games (Seniors Eat Free), a Silver Sluggers hat, membership card, and more. Save money on the tickets and get a free hat. Perfect.
• The gift that lasts all summer…a Bushel of BlueClaws ticket package…Seven great BlueClaws games, choice of Phillies tickets or AMC movie passes, plus a FREE $25 gift card to a Jack Baker’s restaurant.
• For anyone…A BlueClaws gift card, which is good everywhere from the ticket windows to the concession stands to the ClawsCove gift shop.

Happy shopping!