Phillies once dealt top prospect pitcher Kyle Drabek to help land Roy Halladay

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Kyle Drabek was the key piece in package to bring Roy Halladay to the Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies completed a big trade this afternoon, landing all-star catcher J.T. Realmuto from the Miami Marlins. As part of the package sent to Miami, the Phillies gave up their top prospect, pitcher Sixto Sanchez.

As with most deals in which a team parts with its number one prospect for a veteran, there was a segment of the Phillies fan base who vocally lamented the inclusion of Sanchez in this trade.

What those fans need to remember is that prospects are one thing and one thing only – an asset for a Major League Baseball organization. That asset could one day come up to the big club and help the team win directly. They could also be utilized as a chip in a deal to help improve the big club. Both are legitimate uses of prospect talent.

A decade ago, the Phillies dealt away another top pitching prospect in a big trade for an all-star. That pitching prospect was named Kyle Drabek, and he was used as a piece to acquire a veteran pitcher named Roy Halladay.

One comment that I read today opined that the talent levels of Drabek and Sanchez were completely different. I also saw someone make the argument that Drabek was dealt for a “Hall of Famer”, while the Phillies “only” got a modest catcher upgrade for Sanchez. I think those arguments are specious and ignore the actual facts and talent levels of the players involved at the time of the respective deals.

Let’s travel back nearly a decade in time. When Baseball America released their 2010 Prospect Handbook, one of the most respected prospect reports in the game, Drabek was rated as the Phillies #2 prospect behind outfielder Domonic Brown.

While some Phillies fans might scoff at that, the fact remains that back then, Brown was considered one of the very top prospects in the entire sport. In fact, Brown would reach a point where he was ranked as the #1 prospect in all of baseball. Three different evaluators from Baseball America released their individual Top 50 Prospects lists in that publication.

Jim Callis ranked Drabek as the #18 overall prospect in the game and the fifth-highest ranked pitcher. John Manuel had Drabek at #16 overall, and the sixth-best overall pitching prospect. Will Lingo placed Drabek at #30 overall and the game’s ninth-rated pitching prospect.

In his scouting report, the son of 1990 NL Cy Young Award winner Doug Drabek was said to possess “the organization’s best curveball, a power downer that he can bury or throw for strikes.” There were scouts that gave the pitch a 70-grade. He also threw a fastball that usually ran in the low-90’s with “solid-average life.”

Drabek’s athleticism, coordination, and competitiveness were all considered at the top of the charts. In short, the right-hander selected at 18th overall in the first round of the 2006 MLB Amateur Draft by the Phillies was considered as close to a can’t-miss prospect as you can get.

Braves send hot R.A. Dickey to mound in D.C. series opener

Veteran knuckleballer Dickey has been red-hot for Braves

A year ago, the Atlanta Braves finished in last place in the 2016 National League East Division race. The Washington Nationals captured the division crown, finishing 26.5 games ahead of Atlanta.

This season was not expected to go much differently. The Nationals were considered the favorites to win the division once again. Most prognosticators felt that the Braves would do well to again avoid the basement.

As recently as three weeks ago, the Braves sat 11.5 games behind the Nats and in fourth place. But a glance at the NL East standings on July 7 shows that Atlanta has slowly crept to within two games of the .500 mark. They are now just eight games behind Washington.

By winning 12 of their last 18 games, the Braves have moved up the standings and into second place. The improved stretch of play sets up at least a bit of drama as they head to the nation’s capital to open a three-game weekend series at Nationals Park.

Braves Sign R.A. Dickey

The Atlanta Braves made a move today to add a veteran starting pitcher to what is a mostly young rotation, signing knuckleballer R.A. Dickey to a one-year deal.

Dickey was the 2012 National League Cy Young Award winner while with the New York Mets. That year he went 20-6 with a 2.73 ERA and 1.053 WHIP. He led the NL in strikeouts, innings pitched, starts, complete games, and shutouts that year. He was also an NL All-Star for the only time.

It was an outlier season for Dickey, who has mostly been a .500-type innings eater over the rest of his 14-year big league career.

He had a streak of five consecutive years with at least 208.2 innings end this past season when he tossed 169.2 with the Toronto Blue Jays in his fourth season north of the border.

Hamels Frustrating Season Continues

We all know that good pitching stops good hitting most of the time, and that games start to get tighter and more tense as pennant races begin to heat up in mid-August and on into September. But three teams battling in a pennant race (well, at least two really are) all playing a 1-0 game on the same night?

Here in Philly we all witnessed the Fightin's latest frustrations at the hands of a knuckleballer. This time it was Mets righty R.A. Dickey tossing a 1-hitter, of all things. And the one hit was a simple flare that dropped in off the bat of pitcher Cole Hamels. Meanwhile the Braves and Mets were both winning 1-0 games on the same night, the Atlanta win opening up a 3-game lead for them in the division race.

The Phils are playing a bit shorthanded still with both Ryan Howard and Chase Utley out of the lineup. But no hits from anyone in the lineup against a guy who throws most of his pitches at maybe 75mph? You can't smartly adjust your approach for one game in a known situation like that, especially when it's already happened to you multiple times in 2010?

A couple of months ago my wife and I had the misfortune of watching the Phils get similarly shut down by the Red Sox extremely hittable veteran knuckleballer Tim Wakefield in person at Citizens Bank Park. I remember clearly turning to her around the 3rd inning after she said "They better start hitting soon" and telling her something to the effect of "They'll have 7-8 runs at least before this game is over." The joke was on me.