Phillies Baseball

The Phillies added some depth to their infield on Tuesday by signing former Atlanta Brave and San Diego Padre second baseman Marcus Giles to a Minor League contract.

With Chase Utley and Pedro Feliz recovering from off-season surgery, the Phillies needed a veteran infielder to fill the void left at second base and third base in case home grown prospects Jason Donald and Brad Harman cannot hit Major League pitching.

Giles played for the Braves from 2001-2006 before playing for the Padres in 2007. He signed a Minor League contract with the Colorado Rockies prior to the 2008 season but was cut by the team before the regular season began.

He is a career .277 hitter with 76 homeruns, 333 RBIs, and 70 stolen bases. If he is not on the 25-man roster with the Phillies by July 1st he can be released by the team at his request.

Anthony Hewitt was drafted by the Phillies in the first round of the 2008 MLB First Year Player Draft with the 24th overall pick.

Hewitt was drafted out of Salisbury School in Connecticut and had committed to play collegiate baseball at Vanderbilt University.

Knowing the track record of Vanderbilt in recent years (David Price of the Rays and Pedro Alvarez of the Pirates), Hewitt is a top prospect in the Phillies organization.

Hewitt played shortstop in high school but will see time at third base throughout his Minor League career because current third baseman, Pedro Feliz, is only under contract through the 2009 season. Feliz does have a club option for 2010.

Hewitt, in his first professional season, hit .197 with one homerun, 9 RBIs, and 23 hits in 33 games played with the Gulf Coast League Phillies. He stole two bases in two attempts.

With a little more experience and more games played in 2009, more than likely at low Class-A Williamsport, Hewitt will be able to develop his power and glove before climbing the ladder.

Former Phillies closer Mitch ‘Wild Thing’ Williams has joined the Major League Baseball Network, which launches on January 1st, 2009.

Williams pitched for the Phillies from 1991-1993 and helped get the Phillies to the 1993 World Series.

He had 43 saves in 1993, a career high, for the National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies.

Williams also pitched for the Texas Rangers (1986-88), the Chicago Cubs (1989-90), the Houston Astros (1994), the California Angels (1995) and the Kansas City Royals (1997).

Williams was a post game live analyst for Philadelphia’s Comcast Sports Net for the past couple of seasons and hosted his own baseball talk show on the Phillies’ flagship radio station, 1210 AM The Big Talker, during the season.

The show was called “The Wild Pitch.” He was also a regular guest on Angelo Cataldi’s morning show on 610 WIP Sports Talk Radio in Philadelphia.

He had 192 career saves with a 3.65 ERA.

It has been rumored for the last week that free agent right handed pitcher Derek Lowe has been having discussions with the New York Mets.

It was rumored earlier in the free agency period that Lowe and the Phillies were having preliminary talks but that seemed to have cooled down once the Phillies resigned Jamie Moyer to a two year deal.

The Mets and Lowe are said to be in light talks, or preliminary talks, and things don’t appear to be too imminent for Lowe to sign with the hated Mets.

Lowe spent the previous four seasons (2005-08) with the Los Angeles Dodgers after pitching for the Boston Red Sox for parts of eight seasons.

He made his Major League debut with the Seattle Mariners in 1997 and was traded to the Red Sox for reliever Heathcliff Slocumb. It was the same deal that sent catcher Jason Varitek to the Red Sox.

Lowe has pitched as a starter for the majority of his career but was also a closer for a couple of years in Boston.

Even though nothing seems imminent for Lowe and the Mets or Lowe and the Phillies, as we learned with Mark Teixeira’s signing with the Yankees last week, anything can happen out of the blue.

Ever since signing outfielder Raul Ibanez to a three year contract a week and a half ago, it has been all quiet on the world champion front for the Philadelphia Phillies.

The 2008 World Series Champion Phillies did announced ten non-roster invitees to Major League camp and have expressed interest in free agent reliever Chan Ho Park.

Park announced two weeks ago that he has come to an agreement to join the Phillies in 2009 but it has not been officially announced by the team as of yet.

Park still has to pass a physical.

The Phillies front office has been working the phones the last couple of weeks for potential trades and free agent signings but nothing out of the ordinary has happened yet.

The team did add Gary Majewski to the bullpen mix on Tuesday with a Minor League contract and an invitation to Spring Training.

Other than that handful of moves, and trading catching prospect Jason Jaramillo to the Pirates straight up for Ronny Paulino, the Phillies haven’t been overly active this off-season.

There is still time left though and plenty of free agents on the market.