The Phillies have claimed infielder Engelb Vielma off waivers from the Giants, per a team announcement. Philadelphia also designated righties Mark Appel and Alberto Tirado for assignment while outrighting lefty Elniery Garcia.
To round out a busy day of 40-man moves, the Phillies also added righties Seranthony Dominguez, Franklyn Kilome, and Jose Taveras, as well as lefty Ranger Suarez, to their MLB roster.
Vielma is seen as a gifted defender. But his switch-hitting bat has yet to develop. Still just 23, Vielma ended up with San Francisco through a late-season waiver claim from the Twins. He had earned his first promotion to Triple-A earlier in the year, but slashed just .206/.233/.260 in his 314 trips to the plate at the highest level of the minors..
Appel, 26, was the first overall draft pick in 2013. He landed in Philadelphia along with righty Vince Velasquez and others in the swap that sent reliever Ken Giles to the Astros. At the time of the swap, he was seen as something of a change-of-scenery candidate. But he never really found his footing with the Phils while dealing with arm problems. In 2017, he pitched to a 5.27 ERA with 6.6 K/9 and 5.8 BB/9 over 82 Triple-A frames.
The 22-year-old Tirado was also once considered a significant prospect, but hasn’t shown enough to hang onto a MLB roster spot. He pitched to a 3.69 ERA with 8.2 K/9 and 5.4 BB/9 in 63 1/3 High-A innings last year. Despite those marginal numbers, Tirado earned his first shot at Double-A, but coughed up 19 walks against just eight strikeouts in a dozen frames.
Bust
Seeing Garcia go is somewhat surprising
MLB Trade Rumors is the only one reporting that. Matt Gelb, Todd Zolecki, and Jim Salisbury aren’t. They didn’t add a player for that spot and there are 5-10 other players the Phillies are likely to get rid of instead of Garcia.
Could be a rumor as many posts on here aren’t confirmed with legitimate sources.
Zolecki tweeted it
Why? It might be a different front office, but this team still seems to love the Michael Martinez-clones.
Mark Appel might be the biggest #1 overall pick bust in baseball history. Especially since Kris Bryant was taken 2nd.
Brien Taylor?
He got injured though.
So did Appel, while w Philly.
although in 1991 there was no one worth a s**t until Manny at #13
Y’all remember Ryan Harvey
I had to look him up. Don’t remember him at all
Yes I recall Harvey so what. He was not rated anywhere near Bryant or Appel and he was also a high school kid. What your point?
Dimitri Young. 2x all-star and 12.2 career bWAR over an injury riddled career.
Not a great career but was worth something.
true
Wrong year. Bryant was the obvious #1 pick and Houston muffed it.
I would point out the Padres drafting Matt Bush, but guess after his jail stint he did actually make it to the MLB.
I gotta go with Steve Chilcott as the worst. Danny Goodwin might be the worst even though he made the big leagues just because he was #1 twice.
Amen
Matt Bush?
Complete bust Phillies wish they could take that one back. But good for Houston.
He was the 4th most meaningful piece in that deal, meh
Meh?, umm, duh?
At the time he was regarded as the 2nd most meaningful. To be 4th, he’d have to be more meaningful than Harold Arauz and the Phillies have used him in a way to say they didn’t consider him a prospect.
They wanted VV and Eshelman, and Oberholtzer was supposed to take an MLB roster spot, but VV had an amazing ST.
Oberholtzer was out of options and the Astros knew he wouldn’t make their roster. So they gave him to the Phillies. Where he performed as expected. Eschelman was always an intriguing prospect but he doesn’t throw hard. His low walk rate was impressive, but he was nowhere nearly as highly thought of as Appel.
At the time of the trade Pipeline and Baseball Prospectus had Appel as the 70th and 64th best prospect. Eschelman wasn’t on that list. Appel was ranked in the top 10 by Pipeline and Prospectus. Baseball America did their list before the trade.
Appel only still had prospect stature because he was a #1 pick. See where Moniak is ranked next year after a flop of a season
While your opinion of Appel may have been low at the time and clearly is now, the collective opinion around the league was that he was a top prospect. His failure in this deal is a significant setback.
You just contradicted yourself big time later in the post. You claimed he was the 4th most meaningful piece then proceeded to say they sent another prospect so they could get Appel over Fisher. How does that make any sense? It doesn’t.
I’d take a bucket of seeds to send Homer Giles back.
Meanwhile, Kris Bryant has won ROY and MVP
Imagine the Astros lineup now if they took Bryant #1 overall back in 2013
But then maybe they can’t get Giles!
they had a deal without Apell for Giles but it involved Derek Fisher
I don’t want to think about a life without Ken Giles in it
Giles is a bust
He was one of the dominant relievers in the regular season. He just couldn’t get people out in the post-season.
Ummm.. Why add an infielder, and a light hitting one at that ???
Defense
Pitching, defense, and sabermetrics win games!
He was available and they must like him. He could be the next one waived if they find someone they like better. Or they plan to trade a middle infielder or two.
Logjam in the middle for the Phillies already… But if Kinsler gets moved, maybe that opens up the trade floodgates ….
Minor league depth. Gotta figure there could be moving parts with the teams middle infielders. And Crawford will likely be in the majors, and aa ss Malquin Canelo didn’t have that good a year at the plate in Reading.
I’m sticking to my original prediction: Mark Appel never makes it to the Majors.
I believe you’ve already been proven wrong.
Appel hasn’t pitched in the majors yet.
Rumors had Derek Fisher included in the Giles trade before Appel’s name came up.
I’m assuming Houston took Fisher off the table, giving Philadelphia the option of Appel, and probably other players to choose from. He always seemed like a long shot to do anything for the Phillies.
VV had medical issues, so Philadelphia asked for Appel instead of Fisher.
How foolish then, if that’s the case. I think I remember reading that the Phillies preferred Appel but thought it must be mistaken reporting.
actually they had to send an extra Prospect to Houston in order to get a Appel over Fisher. awful decision
I would love for the Padres to pick up Appel
He’d be your #3 starter now….
Calling it now, Apple gets converted to a bullpen arm and ends up dominating.
maybe, but he struggles alot out of the stretch.
@bucketbrew
You are calling nothing. Everyone and their mother is thinking bullpen for Appel
Wouldn’t mind the Stros picking up Appel on the cheap. He’s just had a bunch of injuries since he was drafted. The stuff is still there. And since he is from Houston, would be a feel good story.
Why would Appel want to go to Houston. So he lives there so what. That is worse! You think he wants to go home and relive all the negativity and bust talk? No chance. If he is granted release he only goes home if no one else calls
Yeah. Why go back to the same pitching instructors that couldn’t get him to the majors in the first place.?
Gotta be Brien Taylor as of this moment, only ever reached AA and his injury was not baseball related. That yr in AA had 102 base on balls, Yanks FO asked em to attend their winter instructional camp to iron out some kinks…..he declined, preferred gettin head start on his fledgling middleweight bar fightin career…..Bullington’s 1-9 MLB record exceeds em, and Appel can still aspire to those modest goals….
Brien Taylor suffered a major injury. To say it was not “baseball related” means what? Explain your point. He got injured but it was not while playing so it does not count? Thats a joke
Thanks, Houston!
Sincerely, every Cubs fan ever.
@jdb33
Cubs missed on some picks too. Everyone does. No sense trying to rub it in. By the way I heard the Astros won the world series anyway
Pirates have 2 open 40 man spots. Why not give Searage a chance to fix Appel? If he performed at half his potential he could be a useful piece. That plus the satisfaction of Appel pitching for the team that originally drafted him and was spurned by him, and having full control for years.
It’d be worth a shot. Try him as the long relief guy out of the pen.
Apple is a bust