Is Aumont the best of the bunch?

Cliff Lee was traded three times within the span of a year and brought in 11 different players for the Indians, Phillies and Mariners, but not a single one has yet panned out into a solid major leaguer.

The Phillies on Tuesday designated J.C. Ramirez for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Chad Durbin. Ramirez on Friday cleared waivers and will report to Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

Ramirez doesn't appear to have a big-league future, meaning the 2009 trade of Lee to the M's will likely leave the Phillies with just Phillippe Aumont and Tyson Gillies to show for it — clearly not a lot for a former Cy Young winner.

Think the Phils got robbed? Take a look at what the other teams brought in for one of the best left-handed starting pitchers in the game:

Cleveland: The Indians picked up four prospects from the Phillies in July 2009 for a year and a half of Lee, but three seasons later the group has collectively shown little promise.

Carlos Carrasco has a 9-11 record and 4.93 ERA in 33 career starts, but he missed all of last year following Tommy John surgery. Jason Donald and Lou Marson have both served as backups their entire tenures. Donald, a 27-year-old utility man, batted .202/.246/.282 in 2012, while Marson is a career .220/.309/.301 hitter. Jason Knapp, a former second-round pick, is out of baseball.

Seattle: The Mariners thought they hit the jackpot when they brought in first baseman Justin Smoak from Texas as one of four prospects acquired for just half a year of Lee. But Smoak, starting 132 games in 2012, batted just .217/.290/.364 with 19 homers, 51 RBIs and 111 K’s. He’s a career .223 hitter.

The other guys? Blake Beavan posted an 11-11 record with a 4.43 ERA last year but struck out just 67 batters in 152.1 innings. Josh Leuke was traded to Tampa Bay prior to 2012 and owns a career 7.25 ERA. Matt Lawson has spent the entirety of his last three seasons in Double-A.

While it’s still too early to completely give up on Smoak, or even Beavan, the results thus far have not been encouraging. Which brings us back to Aumont.

The 6-foot-7 right-handed fireballer made 18 appearances for the Phils in 2012, posting two saves and a 3.68 ERA. In 14.2 innings, he struck out 14 batters but also struggled with control, walking nine.

Gillies, the other man left from the Cliff Lee deal, has had many a problem with injuries and suspensions but had a promising showing — batting .304/.369/.453 in 68 games — at Reading last year. But he’s 24 and still a work in progress, clearly not ready for the majors just yet.

Aumont, 24 in 2013, has proven since his move back to the ’pen in 2011 that he could be a valuable asset. He fanned 137 batters in 98 innings (12.6 K/9) between Reading and Lehigh Valley the last two years while walking 59 men. He also successfully closed out 22 games.

CSNPhilly.com’s Jim Salisbury said on Phillies Hot Stove earlier this week he believes Aumont will make the bullpen out of spring training despite the newly acquired arms of Mike Adams and Chad Durbin. If Aumont does, he’ll get his first crack at a full season in the bigs.

So is Aumont the gem of the 11-player group? As of this point, yes, and that's not saying much since he's a reliever with 18 games of major-league experience. If the Phillies got less than Lee's worth, all it means is that they're one of three teams to have done so.

Comments

[Bonehead]

Millwood's no-hitter was one of those "I remember where I was when it happened" moments.

[NEPP]

Kennedy Assassination
9/11 attacks
Millwood No-Hitter

Pretty much sums it up for such events, Bonehead.

[Bonehead]

Oh, sorry. I thought this was a Phillies baseball blog.

Don't be a dick.

[NEPP]

Just teasing you man...sorry if it came off like that.

[Will Schweitzer]

Any thoughts on Russ Canzler? I think whoever picks him up will be glad that they did.

[Bubba]

The timing of the break in the posts encompasses the Super Bowl pregame, game, power outage, game some more, and awards ceremony.Football is over .

Time for some baseball.

[Pblunts]

Less than a week until pitchers and catchers and Michael Bourn still isn't signed. I think we are well past the point where Boras will be able to land him a hefty contract in a place where he even has marginal interest in being,

Screw it, sign him.

[Dragon]

Great Superbowl. Lousy Superbowl commercials. Time for baseball.

[R.Billingsly]

Watching a "great" Super Bowl (which I thought it was) makes me realize how every other sport pales in comparison to baseball. I'll take a three games series between Royals and Pirates in August over the Super Bowl every time.

Pitchers and Catchers can't come soon enough.

[rolo]

"I'll take a three games series between Royals and Pirates in August over the Super Bowl every time."

Ditto.

[Lake Fred]

My house is powered by the same electric utility company that services the Superdome. I told my wife that it is like having your house wired for expected use, then you throw a big party and 100 people come over and plug all their energy hogging devises into your outlets and someone decides to use a hair dryer an poof! You are left in the dark. Sometimes, no check that, a lot of the time, I think Rube and Cholly are in the dark, too! Must be a power outage!

[Shane]

On Football: This could be the last great true "Football" Super Bowl. As the medical evidence mounts the game will likely be forced into changing. Players are saying it, commentators, even the PotUS chimed in the other week. All the hits and shocks to the body add up. Between parents not letting their kids play in HS, increased insurance costs for schools and players, and potential legislative action I just do not see a path which allows Football to remain the same.

[Bedrosian's Beard]

Yeah, but it's going to be a slow process of change. Don't write the football obit yet.

[NEPP]

They've already changed the rules significantly when it comes to hitting defenseless receivers, etc. Now if defenders could actually learn to tackle correctly instead of lead with their head, there'd probably be a lot less issues. That'll take time though as you have an entire generation of players who learned to tackle by leading with their helmet.

Hockey has just as many concussion issues as football and you dont hear anyone saying the NHL is finished. They'll figure somethign out.

[clout]

Schweitzer: "Any thoughts on Russ Canzler? I think whoever picks him up will be glad that they did."

Really? Why do you think that?

[rolo]

clout and WS, Canzler was claimed by the Yankees.

[rolo]

NEPP, the easy thing to do in football is to go back to soft (or softer) helmets so they cannot use the helmet as a weapon.

Being an ex-college player, I can tell you that the helmet is used as such by players, sometimes despite how they are coached.

The interesting thing is that IIRC the data tell us that since they went to hard helmets, spinal and neck injuries have increased and head injuries have not decreased. (That probably has something to do with the size, strength and speed of players increasing with the resultant greater impacts.) It's been bad all around.

If I were a parent today I would not let my kid play football.

I played for 11 years and still feel it every day.

[clout]

Canzler was a 30th round pick who can't run or field, but had a Darrin Ruf-lite season in Triple A in 2011 and won MVP. He was also 2 years older than everyone else and is now heading into his age 27 season and his third straight year of Trip A.

He did not make tools-loving BA's Top 30 Indians prospect list last season, coming off his big year, nor did he make sabermetric-loving Sickels' Top 20 despite a slash line of .314/.401/.530

Last season, his numbers went backwards, so he has no prayer of making anyone's list this year. He may get a cup of coffee some day on a team with lots of injuries, but his ceiling is as a Triple A depth guy.

[Shane]

On Prospects: I read a study of draft picks between 1987 and 2001 and their eventual careers. Of all the players in all the drafts in those years, 42% never even get a cup of coffee in The Show. Only 24% become a regular starter for at least a few years. Of first round draft picks, 61% never earn a starting job. (bench or platoon at best)

With that in mind, I'd expect maybe 3 of those 11 prospects in the Lee trades to make it as regulars on the Major League level for at least a few years.

[Wes Chamberlain]

Canzler was signed by the Yanks on 1/4/13. He was released by the Yanks on 2/4/13 after they signed Travis Hafner.

Despite the fact that Canzler is a somewhat local guy (Berwick), this is probably te extent of discussion Russ Canzler deserves on BL.

Good luck Russ, I'm sure some team can use a first baseman for their AAA affiliate.

[Jack]

Keith Law ranks the Phillies' system 27th among all teams.

/obligatory "Keith Law hates the Phillies" garbage/

He says: "Their highest-ranked prospect on my top 100 (no team was shut out entirely) is the lowest of any team's highest-ranked prospect. They do, however, have a number of intriguing, high-risk guys from low-A on down, especially on the pitching side."

[Jack]

If there's a positive, it's that the Braves and Nats are only a few spots ahead, at 20 and 21, respectively.

Of course, that's largely a function of those teams having a bunch of young talent at the major-league level, but whatever. Take whatever positive you can at this point.

[NEPP]

Sounds pretty accurate for a rating to be honest.

[clout]

Sickels rated the Phils system 20th.

I suppose it depends on how much you like their young pitching. No one likes their position players.

[NEPP]

I'd imagine that almost all the ranking systems will put us in that 20-27 range...and its probably pretty accurate.

[Will Schweitzer]

"Despite the fact that Canzler is a somewhat local guy (Berwick), this is probably te extent of discussion Russ Canzler deserves on BL."

That's the main reason I asked. He went to Hazleton Area High, so he's a bit of a minor celeb around here. Every signing/release is on the front page of the Times Leader and Standard Speaker.

[Kendrick Appreciation Society]

You'd be hard pressed to find anyone that would rank the Phils farm system higher than 20th. That seems *really* optimistic to me.

I think 27th may be a bit low, but it does come down to how much you like the arms.

[Jack]

I can't really pass judgment on whether the Phils should be ranked 20th or 27th or somewhere in between because I just don't know the farm systems of other teams the way I do the Phillies' system.

I know that the Phillies' system isn't particularly good.

[NEPP]

Its not even that we have a weak farm system, its that we have aging lineup AND a week farm system...and a ton of money locked up in those aging players. That's a pretty crappy combination to have.

[bullit]

downright depressing. but it won't kill my ravens buzz, and the mvp success of fellow blue hen, joe flacco.

[Kendrick Appreciation Society]

Keith Law made it a point to say how disappointing ML farm systems as a whole are right now.