Minors: Phils add new coaches to development staff

Eric Valent, Dusty Wathan, Razor Shines and Dave Lundquist are among the new additions. The club also announced that Clearwater skipper Dave Huppert will become Lehigh Valley's new manager.

From a news release - Valent, pictured, has been assigned as a coach for short-season, single-A Williamsport. A supplemental selection by the Phillies in the 1998 draft out of UCLA, Valent played parts of five seasons in the major leagues for the Phillies (2001-02), Reds (2003) and Mets (2004-05). He batted .234 with 13 home runs and 37 RBI in 205 major league games. The 2008 season marks his first in the coaching ranks.

Wathan, 34, will be Williamsport’s manager. The former catcher has spent the last two seasons in the Phillies' minor league system, playing at the triple-A and double-A levels.

Shines, 51, will manage single-A Clearwater. He appeared in 68 major league games over four seasons (1983-85, 1987) with Montreal and spent the last eight years in the White Sox organization, spending this past season as the club's major league third base coach.

Lundquist will begin his fourth season as a minor league coach and his first with the Phillies at single-A Lakewood. The 34-year-old pitched in 37 major league games for the White Sox (1999) and Padres (2001-02) after being selected by Chicago in the fifth round of the 1993 draft.

2008 field staff, listing manager, coach and pitching coach:
Lehigh Valley (AAA): Dave Huppert, Greg Gross, Rod Nichols
Reading (AA): P.J. Forbes, Frank Cacciatore, Tom Filer
Clearwater (Hi-A): Razor Shines, Kevin Jordan, Steve Shrenk
Lakewood (Lo-A): Steve Roadcap, Greg Legg, Dave Lundquist
Williamsport (Short-A): Dusty Wathan, Eric Valent, Bill Bliss
Gulf Coast (R): Roly deArmas, Luis Melendez, Carlos Arroyo

*New instructors bolded

Comments

[roger goodell]

i couldn't care less about this.

[clout]

Valent was the pick the Phils got after failing to sign Drew. Another triumph for the scouting department!

[SWB-Brad]

Valent!!! I thought he had a good year playing in Japan last year?

[stjoehawk]

"Valent was the pick the Phils got after failing to sign Drew. Another triumph for the scouting department!"

Wow, the 1998 draft was bad for the Phillies. 44 players picked and only 6 have spent at least some time in the majors. Of those 6, one isn't playing anymore (Valent). The remaining 5 are Pat Burrell (no-brainer as the number 1 overall pick), Jason Micheals, Ryan Madson, Geoff Geary & Nick Punto.

Of course, after I wrote that, I looked at some other teams & 6 players out of 44 making the majors isn't that bad (for the first 6 or 7 teams I saw).

[diggitydave]

Wow, we must be really desperate for a new thread with this one, huh??

[RSB]

My most prominent memory of Valent was when the I lived in Boston - the Phillies came to play at Fenway and they used Valent as the DH! Snickers were heard all over the concourses when his .091 batting average graced the auxiliary scoreboards.

[kdon]

Yep clout, I always said that the Phils decision on Drew would be best judged by who they got with the supplemental pick.

Another embarrassing moment from those awful 90s teams.

Considering he was a mediocre player who didn't seem to have much natural talent, I'm sure he'll make a great coach.

Also, people may have already posted on this, but after the Tejeda trade, the O's now have a lot of surplus LH corner OF bats (Scott, Huff, Gibbons) plus Mora, plus some redundant retread veteran relief arms, plus our old budy Costanzo!

There has to be an O's-Phils trade soon, right?

[J. Weitzel]

Rotoworld: The Dallas Morning News reports that the Rangers "are on the verge of landing" Kazuo Fukumori. The 31-year-old reliever is expected to sign a two-year deal after posting a 4.76 ERA while battling elbow problems in Japan last season. He figures to work as a setup man in Texas.

[kdon]

Hawk:

Michaels, Burrell, Punto, Geary and Madson is a pretty damn good draft!

[rickyj21]

8.5 hours til non-tender deadline...

[rickyj21]

Wonder what the O's would want for Scott Moore.

[stjoehawk]

"My most prominent memory of Valent was when the I lived in Boston - the Phillies came to play at Fenway and they used Valent as the DH! Snickers were heard all over the concourses when his .091 batting average graced the auxiliary scoreboards."

Interesting, but I think that may be false...

Valent played in Fenway three times, and he was the DH in the first two of those games (in the third game, he played LF & Burrell was the DH).

Those three games were also the first three of his career, and he went 1-4 in the first, 1-2 in the second. He also went 1-4 in the third game, so it seems like he couldn't have hit .091 in Fenway (as a DH or otherwise).

[stjoehawk]

kdon - Agreed. I got caught up in the thinking that having only 6 players out of 44 isn't good.

[bay_area_phan]

The Padres & Pirates are apparently talking a trade that would involve Jason Bay. But he wouldn't help the Phillies, would he?

With each passing day of the off-season, I find myself getting angrier and angrier. The Phillies have been lucky enough to find a core nucleus of star players, & they absolutely refuse to spend the additional money needed to build a serious playoff contender. In fact, despite having record attendance, raising ticket prices, seeing their merchandise sales sky-rocket, & receiving a $30M windfall from the success of MLB.com, the Phillies actually seem to be getting MORE penurious with each passing year. This has actually been their least active off-season since they moved into CB Park.

Impact players are being dealt left & right, while the small market Phillies refuse to even spend the modest sums of money required to add helfpul complementary players like Geoff Jenkins, LaTroy Hawkins, or the bevy of Japanese relief pitchers who are floating around out there.

How is it that the Cubs & Tigers & Padres & Brewers have so much money to throw around this off-season, while the team which plays in the largest one-team market in the country can't even shell out $4M per year to sign David Riske or Troy Percival? Mark my words. When USA Today posts its opening day 2008 payrolls of all 30 major league teams, the Phillies will no longer be in the top half.

[rob]

Wade has continued the Phils gm tradition of "5 for 1" Where have you gone Von Hayes?

[rob]

Rotoworld is quoting CHI paper he's signed for 5 yrs w/ Giants..

[rob]

in the Tribune

[rob]

Hello Geoff Huff or maybe Aubrey Jenkins

[RSB]

hawk - ah...maybe it was that initial .000 average that I'm recalling, then. It was pretty embarrassing, in any case.

[RSB]

I guess the Eric Valent ruminatings can wait...the Rowand signing (albeit per 'source') is up at ESPN. com. I think it's a good move for SF.

[stjoehawk]

"ah...maybe it was that initial .000 average that I'm recalling, then. It was pretty embarrassing, in any case."

Perhaps, but that's the fault of the scoreboard operator. His batting average before his first game shouldn't have any value, not .000 (although it may just be a default).

Interesting side note: Only 4 players have made their major league debut while playing for a NL team, as a DH. Valent is one, and the other three are Ryan Shealy, Chris Clapinski, and Prince Fielder.

[diggitydave]

kdon -
about baltimore, bear in mind Gibbons has already been linked to several steroids rumors - he may be facing extended suspension time or worse, i would assume, depending on the results of the Mitchell Investigation.
Still, I agree with you in that either Aubrey Huff or Luke Scott (although he probably won't be traded) could definitely help us as a potential platoon-type to stick in RF. Also, I don't know if people have posted this already, but Huff plays third base as well, and his versatility couldn't hurt us, right??

[clout]

ricky: You asked at the end of the last thread who Patton would replace in the O's rotation. I guess it would be Benson, who's a free agent. I'm also guessing Albers starts out in the 'pen.

[stjoehawk]

"the Rowand signing (albeit per 'source') is up at ESPN. com. I think it's a good move for SF."

Do we know the dollar amount yet?

[DPatrone]

Rowand signed with the Giants for 5 years. Just got the call.

[clout]

Looks like 5 years and $60M for Rowand in SF.

[rob]

What would the O's need for Huff? How about Cardenas? Huff's listed as an OF but he looks like a 1B-DH in the O's depth chart..Can he still play OF?

[ae]

I don't know how it's a good move for the Giants...they play in a pretty big ballpark that'll hurt Rowand's power and make his weak arm painfully obvious. plus, they're just not a good team. they're not going to compete for at least several years and by then Rowand will presumably be well into the decline phase of his career.

[clout]

diggity: Gibbons has already been suspended for 15 games to start next season after admitting to use of HGH. With the trade for Scott, I'm not sure what role Gibbons will have on the team when he returns. I guess he could platoon if they deal Jay Payton, but I can't imagine there's any demand at all for Payton. Or for Gibbons.

[ae]

Cardenas for Huff? I try not to overvalue our prospects, but no way would I make that deal.

[RichieofAshburn]

The Giants are fools. A-Row is a nice player, had a career year at the right time, helped us get to the playoffs, but come on now. 5 YEARS?!?!? 60 Million?!?!? That's insanity.

[clout]

ae: Looks like a baffling move to me too for a rebuilding team. Only thing I can figure is that it's an attitude replacement for the clubhouse, post-Bonds. They'll go all kids and hope AR's attitude is infectious.

rob: Huff is a below-average fielder at all 4 corner positions. Ideally, he's a platoon DH. I don't think the O's would part with him cheaply and I don't think he's good enough for the Phils to spend much.

[RubenAmarosSweater]

I see the Phils brought back Rod Nichols again. This is an example of cronyism at its finest. Just take a look at his track record. Look at all the pitchers that succeed in AA and fail in AAA.

[giantsboy]

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