Mini-Mart reportedly inks minor-league deal*

Who could ever forget that game at CitiField in July of 2011 when he hit that three-run home run off Mike Pelfrey to lead the Phillies to a victory over the Mets?

Or what about that time the next week in 2011 when he pounded one off Chad Qualls to tie a game up against the Padres?

Of course there were all those countless times he was strategically brought in to pinch run and then remained in the game to play an infield position or center field. So much versatilty!

And better yet, at age 31 he's coming into his peak athletic years. To get him (reportedly) for a minor-league deal is a major coup for the Phillies. After all, he was a rookie on the team that won a club-record 102 games as the team won its fifth straight NL East title.

Yes folks, Michael Martinez is back!

According to several reports, none from anyone who actually covers the team, the Phillies will bring back Martinez on a minor-league deal. That will give him a chance to show up in spring training to compete for a roster spot or allow the Phillies to hide Martinez at Triple-A and then call him up to spring him on the opposition when they least expect it.

That is, if the reports are true.

If true, it's a bold move and the Phillies were lucky to snap up Martinez before some other team could get him. Teams need to fill out rosters, and depth is especially important at the minor-league level. To have a player with such varied skills as Martinez really puts the Phillies in a great spot...

Of course, only if the reports are accurate.

Martinez was outrighted from the 40-man roster a couple of weeks ago for the second straight season. The Phillies actually announced this one -- it happened. Luckily, the Phillies apparently were able to get Martinez's signature on a minor-deal before the free-agency period opened. Selected in the Rule 5 draft from Washington in December of 2010, Martinez joins other illustrious names in team lore that were stealthly snagged from the Rule 5 draft. There's Shane Victorino and David Herndon. They also got Todd Pratt, Dave Hollins and Mike Mimbs in the Rule 5, too.

Martinez batted .175 with zero homers and three RBIs in 29 games during the 2013 season and is a career .187 hitter with five homers and 34 RBIs in 162 games. Clearly Martinez shows that stats are meaningless because why else would he get another deal?

Meanwhile, lefty starting pitcher John Lannan was outrighted from the 40-man roster and cleared waivers. This story is actually true. The Phillies confirmed it. In fact, the Phillies announced it. Rather than re-joining the club on a minor-league deal, Lannan elected to become a free agent ... hey, lightning never strikes the same place twice. 

Or in this case, once.

* not really

Comments

[Andrew]

There was no sarcasm whatsoever in that post.

[Edmundo]

Edmundo - Nice word. However, "Pendantic" is spelled "pedantic" (I did not know what it meant, so I had to look it up).

Posted by: cut_fastball | Friday, October 18, 2013 at 08:33 AM

Hoisted on my own petard!

[Edmundo]

Isn't this a firing offense?

[LorecorE]

with constantly improving science and technology, I believe Amaro signing Martinez has now jumped above 'Death' as the 2nd most guaranteed thing in life, right behind Taxes.

[Richie T]

False report. Martinez wasn't signed.

[LorecorE]

repost:

jr: do you mean that you think Perkins has the best chance of being a mlb OF aside from Dugan?

I'd probably rank:

Tocci
Altherr
Cozens

all above Perkins.

god our OF prospects suck.

[r hess]

Another Bold move by Mr. Amaro, can't wait for the rest of the off-season to begin.

[The Truth Injection]

Kevin Cooney is now saying the Martinez signing was a false report.

[LorecorE]

Just save this post for when it really happens.

[bay_area_phan]

I actually hope it's true. Mini-Mart's like the colonoscopy that your doctor says you need to schedule in the coming weeks. You know it's happening. You can't get around it. So you just schedule it as early as possible to get it over with.

[Phillibuster]

awh: In response to your post from last thread:

I'd believe that, except they just DFA'd him to make room for the older, worse, LH corner outfielder that the Mets DFA'd.

It's a move that makes no sense to me unless they think Castellanos isn't going to be worth anything anywhere. Otherwise, why not trade him for something useful (or just not pick up Baxter)?

[bay_area_phan]

There would also be a certain symbolism in making Mini-Mart the first "acquisition" of the off-season after losing 89 games the preceding season.

[Phillibuster]

Also, according to BBA, this draft is probably a good one to get a high pick (
"After a below-average 2013 draft, the 2014 class has potential to be the best class since 2011’s banner crop.").

So yay for us?

[Salt]

This guys the ultimate bad penny.

[awh™]

"So yay for us?"

Naahhh. Anthony Hewitt/Greg Golson Redux is on the way...

[awh™]

"It's a move that makes no sense to me unless they think Castellanos isn't going to be worth anything anywhere."

Or, and understand this is rank speculation, it's possible that Castellanos has decided to retire or he'd going to be suspended for some reason.

Or, they tried to trade him and found zero interest.

[Phillibuster]

awh: The first two possibilities, I could see. It's rare, but I could see it (although I can't imagine Castellanos telling the team about the suspension, and essentially assuring he won't get paid much in 2014).

The last one though... Why bother with Baxter if you have Castellanos? He's inferior in almost every way, except he's a lefty with terrible splits. They already have that in Ethier, who's essentially not moveable at this point.

I just don't see the sense in the move. But maybe this is crazy-like-a-fox somehow, and I just can't comprehend why yet.

[bay_area_phan]

Only on Beerleaguer could this much ink be spilled debating why a team other than the Phillies chose to DFA a 27-year old "prospect" with a .171/.186/.390 major league slash line.

[jr]

Admit to SSS but yes. The times I've seen Perkins,he'd be at the top of my list.Predicting what most low minor league players will do is just a crap shoot. Or should I say at least it is for the Phillies organization.

[Phillibuster]

BAP: Yeah, those combined 43 PAs across 2 years really are representative. Good thing we're not considering the 846 in AAA those same years where he posted a .909 OPS at age 25/26.

While playing a position of need for the Phillies and batting from the right side.

[bay_area_phan]

Allow me to offer my wild speculation about why the Dodgers prefer Baxter over Castellanos for the all-important 40th spot on their 40-man roster. Both players have put up good numbers in the offense-friendly PCL. Both have pretty much stunk something in the majors, but Castellanos has stunk much worse & Baxter has substantially more major league experience. He also managed to put up strong numbers over 211 PAs in 2012. Hence, my wild speculation is that the Dodgers believe Baxter is the better player.

[LorecorE]

My prediction is that they were going to outright AC anyway, and that he would likely decline milb assignment and go elsewhere - so they placed him with baxter who will accept.

In terms of if the Phillies should pick him up, I would say no. All he would do is compete for PA with Ruf.

[bay_area_phan]

Philli: I tend to distrust PCL stats but, if the Phillies wanted to take a flier on Castellanos -- or Baxter, for that matter -- I would have no objection. I do have an affinity for oldish prospects with good AAA numbers.

I wasn't really drawing any conclusions about Castellanos. I was just making a commentary on the obscurity of this discussion. Believe me, I am all in favor of obscure baseball discussions (including this one). I, myself, have devoted hours of my life to debating who should be the "25th man" on the Phillies' roster. But you guys have now spent 2 threads passionately debating the 40th man on the roster of a team other than the Phillies. It's one of the more obscure debates in the history of Beerleaguer. It may even set a new high.

Nonetheless, carry on. I was not criticizing; just making an observation.

[LorecorE]

jr: perkins is such a low upside guy, makes it hard for me to get too excited. Even if he continues to progress, we're looking at a good contact hitter with average corner OF defense.

Just can't see the value in that. At least a guy like Altherr has a best case scenario where you can imagine some value - CF with speed and pop - even if that best case is less likely to develop.

[Willard Preacher]

BAP, I agree that the discussion is one that is probably casting a bit too much of a spotlight on a player who probably has yet to deserve it, however, when your current 40-man OF roster is this, I see no harm in kicking the tires on virtually every other teams' OF DFA candidates:

Domonic Brown
Zach Collier
Tyson Gillies
John Mayberry
Ben Revere
Darin Ruf

As for the rationale of the Dodgers, they likely thought he didn't pan out in the years they anticipated he would, he's extremely blocked by a very good, highly paid and long term signed OF currently, and they are unlikely to find any real trades suitors at this time of year with FA just over the horizon.

Long story short, yeah, we're debating what would be nothing more than a roll of the dice on what would be just a marginal upgrade, but it's that kind of discussion that make BL so good (aside from the "Dodgers Dollars" posts...).

Anyway, as to why it's even being discussed/debated, you can probably blame the current state of the Phillies OF just as much as you can blame the posters partaking in the discussion.

[awh™]

"BAP: Yeah, those combined 43 PAs across 2 years really are representative. Good thing we're not considering the 846 in AAA those same years where he posted a .909 OPS at age 25/26."

Also, it's a good thing bap isn't a GM. ;)

[bay_area_phan]

WP: It's not unusual for Beerleaguer to debate whether we should pick up some guy who just got DFA'd. But this particular conversation morphed from a debate about whether to pick this guy up to a prolonged discussion about why the Dodgers DFA'd him & whether he's better than Baxter. So we're debating why another team chose one veteran AAA retread over another veteran AAA retread for its 40-man roster. That strikes me as a pretty obscure topic, even by Beerleaguer standards.

But in no way should my comments be construed as an attempt to stifle the discussion.

[Phillibuster]

BAP: Ahh, gotcha. And I'll agree, PCL power numbers are definitely suspect. Unfortunately, they're all we have to go on, except for the power he showed in lower levels (that .253 ISO in 2011 AA is a nice ceiling, if real).

He's not even really that old for his level, since he hit AAA by 25 - he just hasn't caught on in the majors yet.

I don't think the Dodgers legitimately think that his 24 games across 2 years indicate where he's likely to end up. If they weren't in contention this year, I expect they'd have gotten him more playing time... But they were, so it was hard to justify.

[Willard Preacher]

I guess after Adams, D Young, et al, it's only natural for us to begin to get suspicious about virtually every potential possibility that could make their way onto RAJ's radar.

That, or maybe we are starting to feel pretty inferior to those "Dodger Dollars..." (btw, if you missed it, it doesn't sound like they're going to stop doing "anything in its power to win" - http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/dodgers/la-sp-1018-dodgers-cardinals-20131018,0,6907536.story#axzz2hy0kOW3Y - don't tell You-Know-Who)

[Phillibuster]

As to him blocking Ruf... I just don't see the problem here.

Castellanos is an actual corner outfielder. If you're feeling tentative at the start of the season, sit Howard against lefties, slot Ruf at 1st, and put Castellanos in LF (Brown in RF, I guess, though I wish we had someone better in the field for there so he could stay in left). Against righties, you don't want to load up on RHB anyway, so sit either him or Ruf depending on who you think will do better.

Once you get a better feel for what they can give you, you can decide if one is definitely worth keeping over the other. Then you can either option the other guy (Ruf still has one, don't know about Castellanos), trade one, or move somebody else to make room.

[Phillibuster]

A young 4th outfielder with a RH power bat that strikes out too much... If Ruf is the type of guy we're looking for, he looks an awful lot like Ruf Part Deux (he's exactly a week younger).

[Phillibuster]

That said... Everybody saying "wow, this is a lot of noise to be made about a middling, low-cost option" is right.

So I'll shut up 'bout it now.

[Tony Bell]

A multi year deal worth dozens of pennies