2017/2018 Phillies Off-Season Thread

[ice grillin you]

all i know is its impressive even when they stink but from 2008 to 2012 the phillies (weekend) tailgate scene rivaled that of most football teams and it was largely made up of people from the dirty jerz...their force is crazy strong

[ice grillin you]

if you take out cameron rupp the other 49 players the phillies drafted in the 2010 class have a total of 248 IP and zero AB in the majors

[MDS]

kingery knocked roman quinn off the team

also their rotation outside of nola and arrieta is horrible

[Rome]

yea um south jersey people love the flyers more than anything

Wrong.  Eagles first, then Phils and then Flyers.  I watch every Birds game, most Phils games (or at least highlights of them) and then maybe half the Flyers games. 

[ice grillin you]

Joe Jordan, the Phillies' farm director, stood in the back. "My favorite Scott Kingery story," Jordan said, "is not about baseball."

Kingery, a second-round pick, began his professional career at Low-A Lakewood. He hit .250/.314/.337. He came to Florida for the instructional league and the Phillies began to implement some ideas. There's something to this guy, Jordan decided then. But the diminutive Kingery was tired.

He went to High-A Clearwater to start 2016. He was a Florida State League all-star. He moved to Double-A Reading and he was gassed by August. So the Phillies challenged him with an assignment to the prestigious Arizona Fall League.

"He had rested for a couple of weeks," Jordan said. "He had a good start. Then, he was toast. We had seen a pattern."

Jordan met Kingery there before a fall-league game. They sat on a tarp and talked.

"Why did we send you here?" Jordan asked Kingery.

The competition, Kingery said. It was a good test.

"OK," Jordan said. "That's part of it. But why did we send you here?"

Now Kingery was confused. He did not have an answer.

"Because," Jordan said, "I wanted you to feel exactly how you feel right now. Exhausted. I want you to feel how you're going to feel when you are playing all the way through September. And, when we're getting ready to win a world championship, what you're going to feel like in October. That's why you're here."

This is a conversation Jordan has held with so many prospects. It was no illuminating moment. Until Jordan saw Kingery a few months later, in February 2017.

"He shows up buffed," Jordan said. "Strong. I mean, he physically changed his body. He didn't lose any arm strength. He didn't lose any foot speed. He did it the right way. Well, that's Scott Kingery. That's why you can trust him. He just went and did it. That's why you trust him. That's my favorite Scott Kingery story."