Trio of anonymous players get the start in Phillies 2019 spring opener

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Austin Listi won the 2018 Paul Owens Award

It happens every year at this time. Major League Baseball teams open spring training camps and there are a number of players on hand about whom many fans have never heard.

The Philadelphia Phillies are no exception. So when the club announced the starting lineup for Friday afternoon’s first game of the 2019 Grapefruit League schedule, it was really no surprise to find that it contained a trio of such names.

The players trotting out onto the field at Charlotte Sports Park for the 1:30pm opener against the host Tampa Bay Rays will include first baseman Austin Listi, second baseman Andrew Romine and right fielder Shane Robinson.

Listi was the 2018 Paul Owens Award winner as the Phillies top performing minor league position player. The 25-year-old Texas native was the club’s 17th round choice in the 2017 MLB Amateur Draft out of Dallas Baptist University.

Splitting last season almost evenly between High-A Clearwater and Double-A Reading, Listi slashed .312/.412/.502 with 18 home runs, 84 RBI and a .915 OPS. He appeared in 34 games at first base and 31 games as a corner outfielder combined at the two levels, and even saw three games at third base with Reading. Listi went on to play in the Arizona Fall League where he slashed just .250/.321/.303 with Scottsdale.

Romine is a 33-year-old who has managed to appear in parts of nine big-league seasons despite just a .235/.291/.301 career slash line across 1,323 plate appearances.

The brother of New York Yankees backup catcher Austin Romine, Andrew has built his career on defensive versatility. He has appeared at every position on the diamond in Major League Baseball, including one game behind the plate and seven appearances on the mound.

In January 1982 trade of light-hitting shortstops, the Phillies dealt away a future Hall of Famer

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Sandberg was a 22-year-old prospect in January 1982

This latest installment of the “Phillies Hot Stove History” series was inspired by today’s 66th birthday celebration for Ivan DeJesus. While we may celebrate his birthday, few Phillies fans have ever celebrated the 1982 swap of shortstops that brought him to the team.

In short order this would prove to be one of the worst trades in franchise history. For younger fans who may have heard of the deal but not know how such a thing could happen, let’s take a quick look back at this key “hot stove” moment from the Phillies past.

As always, a little perspective is required to set the stage. At the time of the deal the Phillies were coming off a 1981 season in which they had been dethroned as world champions.

The veteran-laden 1980 Phillies had won the first World Series crown in franchise history. The following season was interrupted by a mid-season work stoppage, and the Phillies would return to the playoffs in 1981 thanks in part to a split-season format adopted by Major League Baseball.

In baseball’s first-ever Divisional Series, the Phillies were eliminated by the Montreal Expos in five games. Following that 3-2 series defeat, Owens looked over his roster and felt that an aging team that had won four of five NL East titles between 1976-80 needed more adjustments.

One key member of that 1970’s core group and 1980 championship team had already been dealt away when left fielder Greg Luzinski was sold to the Chicago White Sox at the end of spring training just prior to the 1981 season.

Owens decided that it was now time to turn the pages on the 36-year-old shortstop Larry Bowa, with whom he was having difficulty reaching agreement on a new contract.

THE GREEN FACTOR

Another pivotal factor in the trade was the man sitting in the General Manager’s seat on the Cubs side of the deal. Dallas Green had skippered the Phillies to that 1980 World Series title. Following the 1981 playoff defeat, Green was hired to become the new GM in Chicago.

Remembering the Phillies first-ever big free agent signing of Pete Rose

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Rose became the first big free agent signing by the Phillies in December 1978

The Philadelphia Phillies frustratingly lost out on free agent starting pitcher Patrick Corbin. They supposedly remain among the most active bidders for  the big bats of Bryce Harper and Manny Machado as this off-season moves along.

It was forty years ago today that the Phillies made their first-ever free agent signing, and it was a big one. It turned out to have as positive an impact on the history of the organization as those who made the decision could have hoped.

There were a number of superstars who made up the core of the Cincinnati Reds legendary ‘Big Red Machine’ back-to-back World Series champions of 1975-76. But the man who provided the engine to that powerful train was Pete Rose.

Nicknamed ‘Charlie Hustle’ because of his highly competitive style of play, Rose was already 37-years-old when Phillies owner Ruly Carpenter gave his blessing to the four-year, $3.225 million contract negotiated by GM Paul Owens.

The Phillies had won three consecutive National East Division crowns from 1976-78. But each year they fell short in the League Championship Series. They were swept out by Rose and the Reds champions of 1976. In both 1977 and 1978, the Los Angeles Dodgers won an NLCS each year when the Phillies seemed poised to win for themselves.

Those Phillies teams were extremely talented. Led by future Hall of Famers Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton and filled with numerous Gold Glove Award winners and NL All-Stars, they had the talent to win. They just didn’t seem to quite know how to actually get the job done.

Rose knew how to win the big one. He was a key part, perhaps the most important part, of those Reds championship teams. Voted the Most Valuable Player of perhaps the greatest World Series in history, the Reds unforgettable seven-game 1975 victory.

Rose was the 1963 NL Rookie of the Year and a decade later was the 1973 National League Most Valuable Player. He had been runner-up for that NL MVP in 1968, and would finish among the top five in voting on three other occasions. Rose was a 12x NL All-Star, and won back-to-back NL Gold Glove Awards as an outfielder in 1969 and 1970.

This was the player whom the Phillies decided was, even at an advanced age for a baseball player, worth the largest contract in the history of the game. Carpenter and Owens brought Rose to Philadelphia for one reason alone, to put the team over the top. To finally win the first World Series title in franchise history.

During his first season with the Phillies, Rose helped drive the team back to the top of the division. They moved into first place on April 21 and would remain there for more than a month, building an early 3.5 game lead at one point. And then the wheels fell off.

The 1979 Phillies collapsed under a myriad of injuries, losing second baseman Manny Trillo, catcher Bob Boone, and starting pitchers Dick Ruthven and Larry Christenson for chunks of the season.

They would finish 84-78, a disappointing fourth place, 14 games behind the division-winning “We Are Family” Pittsburgh Pirates team that would go on to win the World Series that year.

Rose himself could hardly have been considered a disappointment, however. He had 208 hits, including 40 doubles. He stole 20 bases and his .418 on-base percentage led the National League. Rose was selected to his 13th NL All-Star team that year.

It would finally all come together the following year. Rose led the NL with 42 doubles and was again an NL All-Star. And finally, the Phillies were World Series champions.

Looking back at a key Phillies off-season trade on this date 37 years ago

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Bo Diaz slides home during Game Two of the 1983 World Series 

The Philadelphia Phillies are expected to be big players during this current ‘Hot Stove’ season in Major League Baseball.

Through both free agent signings and trades, if there aren’t a half-dozen interesting players swapped on and off the roster by spring training, fans of the team will be extremely disappointed.

With that in mind, today I’ll begin a regular ‘Phillies Hot Stove History’ series. In it, we’ll take a look back at some of the big free agent signings, trades, and other transactions made by the club on this date in history.

It was on November 20, 1981, 37-years-ago today, that the Phillies finally decided to turn the page at their catching position by swinging a three-team trade.

That deal involving the Cleveland Indians and Saint Louis Cardinals would ultimately have ramifications that reached up to Chicago and out to California as well.

Bob Boone, a future Phillies Wall of Famer, had turned 34 years old just a day earlier. Boone had been the club’s sixth round pick all the way back in the 1969 MLB Amateur Draft out of Stanford.

Boone made his big-league debut in 1972 and became the Phillies starting catcher the following year. For his outstanding play that first season, Boone finished third in the National League Rookie of the Year voting.

He would remain the starter right on through the 1980 World Series-winning campaign, capturing a pair of NL Gold Glove Awards and being named as a National League All-Star three times.

It was a combination of age, decreased production, and a younger player coming up through the system that finally began edging Boone out during the 1981 season.

That younger player was Keith Moreland, the Phillies seventh round pick in the 1975 MLB Amateur Draft out of the University of Texas. Moreland first broke into the big-leagues for a cup of coffee in 1978 and 1979.

In the 1980 World Series campaign, Moreland grew to become a key piece of manager Dallas Green‘s bench. He appeared in 62 games, 39 of those as Boone’s catching backup.

The Phillies captured their first-ever World Series championship against the Kansas City Royals that October. During that Fall Classic, Moreland started three of the six games behind the plate.

During the following strike-shortened 1981 season, the 33-year-old Boone caught in 75 games and a 27-year-old Moreland in 50. The writing was on the wall.

Boone would end up being sold to the California Angels on December 6, 1981. Two days later, Moreland was dealt away along with reliever Dickie Noles and pitching prospect Don Larsen to the Chicago Cubs. The Phillies received veteran righty starting pitcher Mike Krukow in return.

It was the trade two weeks earlier to bring in Diaz that allowed the Phillies to make those two moves. Baudilio Jose ‘Bo’ Diaz was born in Venezuela on March 23, 1953, apparently with a baseball in his hand.

At age 14, Diaz played with Venezuela’s Little League national championship team. The team was unable to travel to the United States for the finals due to a July earthquake which devastated the city of Caracas.

MLB Pipeline names David Parkinson and Adam Haseley top 2018 Phillies prospects

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(Parkinson was a Phillies 2017 draftee out of Ol' Miss)

The writers at MLB Pipeline serve as the primary online resource for minor league prospect information and evaluation as presented by Major League Baseball.

In voting by their staff, outfielder Adam Haseley has been chosen as the Phillies Hitting Prospect of the Year and southpaw David Parkinson as the organizational Pitcher of the Year.

The 22-year-old Haseley is a lefty bat who was the Phillies first round pick at eighth overall in the 2017 MLB Amateur Draft out of the University of Virginia.

Haseley slashed .305/.361/.433 with 11 homers, 55 RBI and 77 runs over 512 plate appearances split between High-A Clearwater and Double-A Reading this season.

Parkinson will turn 23-years-old in mid-December and was the Phillies 12th round pick in that same 2017 MLB Amateur Draft out of the University of Mississippi.

The left-hander went 11-1 with a 1.45 ERA and 1.013 WHIP in 22 appearances, 21 of them starts, during the 2018 season. He allowed just 91 hits over 124.1 innings with a 141/35 K:BB ratio. 17 of his outings came with Low-A Lakewood and another five at High-A Clearwater.

The key for Parkinson was learning to more effectively utilize his curve. Jim Salisbury in Baseball America quoted Lakewood pitching coach Brad Bergesen:

“He learned to use it in and out of the strike zone, backdoor to a righty, back foot to a righty. He started to understand how to sequence it better. He’d use an elevated fastball off his curveball, and vice versa…David is very analytic and intelligent. He is advanced in game-planning and sequencing. His preparation is excellent. He has deception in his delivery. He knows his strengths and how they play against a hitter’s weakness. He’s never complacent and is always dedicated to finding a way to get better. The sky is the limit.”

The Phillies had previously honored Parkinson as one of their Paul Owens Award winners, which go to the top hitting and pitching prospects in the organization each year. Austin Listi captured the honors among position players.

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Congrats to 2018 BlueClaw David Parkinson and 2017 BlueClaw Austin Listi, named winners of the Paul Owens Award for top performers in the Phillies Minor League system. https://atmilb.com/2NzBve0 

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2018 Paul Owens Award winners as top Phillies minor leaguers

Paul Owens (center) was with Phillies for half-century
(Photo: Matthew Veasey)

The Philadelphia Phillies established the annual Paul Owens Award back in 1986 to recognize the top performing player and pitcher in their minor league organization.

The award was named in honor of Owens, the 10th person selected to the franchise Wall of Fame back in 1988, the first non-player enshrined there by the team.

Owens spent nearly a half-century with the organization from 1955 through his death in 2003 as a minor league player and coach, scout, farm director, manager, general manager, and executive.

The GM and architect of the 1980 World Series championship team, Owens also managed the club during two stints which included guiding the 1983 club to the National League pennant.

The winners of the 2018 Paul Owens Award were announced today. The pitching honors went to David Parkinson, while the hitter honors were bestowed upon Austin Listi.

Parkinson is a 22-year-old left-hander who was the Phillies selection in the 12th round of the 2017 MLB Draft out of the University of Mississippi. A 6-2, 210lb native of Henrico, Virginia, Parkinson went 11-1 across 22 games, 21 of them starts, in a season spent with stints at both High-A Clearwater and Double-A Reading. He allowed just 91 hits over 124.1 innings with a 141/35 K:BB ratio.

Listi also split his season between Clearwater and Reading. The 6-0, 218lb 24-year-old was the club’s 17th round MLB Draft choice a year ago. A native of Huffman, Texas, Listi slashed .312/.412/.502 with 18 homers, 25 doubles, 84 RBI, and 63 runs scored this year. A first baseman and outfielder on defense, Listi actually appeared in more games as a DH than at any defensive position.

Parkinson is currently ranked at #19 on the MLB.com list of top Phillies prospects. He ranked 18th on our own Phillies Nation top 20 Phillies prospects list published on August 8.

The well-respected prospect evaluator John Sickels of Minor League Ball commented in his August 22 review of the Phillies farm system that “Parkinson has gone from a Grade C into the B range somewhere with a brilliant season in A-Ball (1.43, 130/32 K/BB).”

Previous Paul Owens Award recipients include Wall of Famers Mike Lieberthal (1992) and Pat Burrell (1999). Also honored previously were 2008 World Series heroes Jimmy Rollins (1997), Ryan Madson and Chase Utley (both 2002), Cole Hamels and Ryan Howard (both 2003), and Howard again in 2004.

Current Phillies players to take home the honors include Maikel Franco (2013), J.P. Crawford (2014), Andrew Knapp (2015), Dylan Cozens and Rhys Hoskins (both 2016), and Scott Kingery (2017).

Originally published at Phillies Nation as "Phillies name 2018 Paul Owens award recipients"

Phillies need to be bold at the trade deadline

NL All-Star reliever Neshek will be dealt by end of July

The Philadelphia Phillies are barreling down streak towards the July 31 MLB trade deadline with numerous rumors beginning to swirl around the team.

Most of the speculation revolves around the obvious players. Anyone 30+ years of age who is a pending free agent is likely to move.

The list includes starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson, relievers Pat Neshek and Joaquin Benoit, and outfielders Howie Kendrick and Daniel Nava.

Another possibility to move is catcher Cameron Rupp,  already losing playing time to Andrew Knapp behind the dish. If Rupp is dealt, the Phils could call up Logan Moorefrom AAA Lehigh Valley to serve as the backup while Jorge Alfaro continues to start with the IronPigs.

Can Phillies fans expect their team to receive anything of any substance in exchange for any of these players in any trade? The answer, unfortunately, is a resounding “no” to that question.

Phillies Legend Dallas Green Dies

On Wednesday, the Philadelphia Phillies announced the passing of an organizational legend. Dallas Green (82) had been a player, scout, manager, and front office executive with the team.

The Phillies released an official statement announcing the sad news

“We mourn the passing of Dallas Green. The Phillies have lost a great man and wonderful friend. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”

As a young pitcher, Green was 6’4″ and possessed a fastball nearly as big as his height. He was signed for the Phillies prior to the 1955 season out of the University of Delaware by legendary scout Jocko Collins.

Making his big league debut in 1960, Green would pitch in the big leagues for eight seasons. For the first five of those years, Green helped the Phillies go from doormats to near-pennant winners.

Green went 20-22 over 167 games in that stretch, making 44 starts. He compiled a 249/186 K:BB ratio in allowing 602 hits over 528 innings.

Green would appear in parts of three more seasons, one each with the Washington Senators and New York Mets. He then closed out his playing career with the Phillies in 1967.

Phillies Fall Classics VI: 1983 World Series Game One

The 1983 season was one of great change for a Philadelphia Phillies organization that had achieved tremendous success over the previous decade. 

The Phillies had won the 1980 World Series, four NL East division crowns, and earned a postseason berth in a 1981 campaign split by a work stoppage.

As longtime 1980 World Series-winning stars Mike Schmidt (33), Garry Maddox (32), Steve Carlton (38), Ron Reed (40), and Tug McGraw (38) aged, the team looked to both get younger and continue to contend against tough competition.

Among those already gone was slugger Greg Luzinski, sold to the Chicago White Sox in March of 1981. 

Long time shortstop Larry Bowa was traded to the Chicago Cubs in January of 1982 along with an infield prospect named Ryne Sandberg in exchange for shortstop Ivan DeJesus. 

A month later, Bake McBride was dealt away to the Cleveland Indians for reliever Sid Monge.

In December of 1982, popular 2nd baseman Manny Trillo was part of a five-player package sent to the Cleveland Indians for young outfielder Von Hayes. 

That same month, the club dealt a pair of good arms in Mike Krukow and Mark Davis as part of a package to the San Francisco Giants for veteran 2nd baseman Joe Morgan and reliever Al Holland.

Morgan was 39-years old, and was now reunited with his old Cincinnati buddy Pete Rose, now 42-years old and in his final season of a five-year contract with the Phillies. 

The ‘Big Red Machine’ Reunion would be completed when the Phillies signed Tony Perez as a free agent at the end of January 1983.

With the exception of the 24-year old Hayes, every Phillies positional starter was at least 30 years of age, as were three members of the season-opening starting pitching rotation, and the majority of the bullpen. 

The club was so long in the tooth that they were given the nickname the “Wheeze Kids”, a nod to the 1950 NL champs who had been so young that they had become the “Whiz Kids” in team lore.

Top 20 Philadelphia Phillies Influencers of All-Time

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Harry Wright was the club's first winning manager from 1884-93

The Philadelphia Phillies have a history stretching back to the 1883 season in the National League.

Many players, front office personnel, and others have contributed greatly to the team and its enjoyment by the fan base since that time.

I ran a series for Fansided's "That Ball's Outta Here" website during early January that highlighted those who I considered the "Top 20 Phillies of All-Time", those individuals who my research found had played the largest roles in team success and enjoyment.

Those twenty individuals are listed here. Just click on each name to view their individual story and contribution to the Philadelphia Phillies organization.

Ten of them are already on the Phillies Wall of Fame. At least four others, and possibly a few more, are sure to eventually end up honored there by the club itself.

As always with this type of list, it is purely subjective. It is my opinion and rank. I am quite sure others would list different players, or some of these in a different order. Would love to hear your own ranking as well.