40 Man Roster

The Phillies made some moves Friday to finalize their 40-man roster in anticipation of December's Rule 5 draft. Righthander Phillippe Aumont, catcher Sebastian Valle, lefthander Jake Diekman, and outfielder Tyson Gillies were all added to the 40-man roster. The Phillies are at 39 with those additions. Aumont and Valle were no-brainers. Some evaluators in the team's front office believe Aumont has closer potential after being converted back to relief in 2011. Aumont, 22, finished the season in triple A and has an outside shot at a roster spot this spring.

This spring, the Phillies will get a close look at several minor leaguers who have played their way onto the organizational radar. Top relief prospect Justin DeFratus, first baseman Matthew Rizzotti and second baseman Harold Garcia were three of five players named to the 40-man roster yesterday. DeFratus, a hard-throwing 23-year-old who went 3-0 with 21 saves and a 1.94 ERA at Class A Clearwater and Double A Reading in 2010, has the best chance at playing his way into consideration for the Opening Day roster.

TYSON BRUMMETT'S brief Phillies career is over. Brummett, 28, who made his major league debut in the last game of the season, was claimed off waivers Thursday by the Toronto Blue Jays. Before joining the Phillies for the last three games, Brummett went 5-6 with a 3.20 ERA in 44 games between Double A Reading and Triple A Lehigh Valley in 2012. A seventh-round pick in the 2007 draft, Brummett went 26-47 with a 4.52 ERA in six minor league seasons in the Phillies organization. The Phillies' 40-man roster stands at 37 after Brummett, catcher Steven Lerud and infielder Pete Orr were removed Thursday.

The Phillies will introduce a variable pricing model that will keep both season and individual ticket prices at the same level for 2013. Prices for 10 games will increase by variable amounts depending on the seat and will decrease for 10 other games. Seven of the 10 cheaper games come during April and September when school is in session. In total, ticket prices remain at the same level as 2012. "It's something a lot of teams have done," said John Weber, vice president of ticket sales and operations.

Yesterday's signings of Bobby Estalella, Carlton Loewer and Wendell Magee Jr. left every member of the Phillies' 40-man roster under contract for the 1999 season. The on-paper payroll for the 40-man roster is $32.75 million, although the St. Louis Cardinals are paying $3 million of Ron Gant's $6 million salary and $1 million of Jeff Brantley's $2.8 million salary. Those adjustments leave the payroll at $28.75 million. These are preliminary figures. Several minor-leaguers on the 40-man roster are on split contracts, which pay them less if they are not in the majors.

The Phillies have claimed infielder Carlos Rivero from the Cleveland Indians to bring their 40-man roster total to 34 players. Rivero, a righthanded hitter from Venezuela who turns 23 on May 20, played shortstop in the Indians' system. He hit .232 with a .278 on-base percentage and .325 slugging percentage with six home runs in 496 at-bats last season for Double A Akron. He is a career .255/.315/.361 hitter in the minors. - David Murphy

The Phillies added four prospects - three of them pitchers - to the 40-man roster on Tuesday before the deadline to protect them from selection in the Rule 5 draft. Righthanders Trevor May, Jonathan Pettibone, and Ethan Martin and outfielder Zach Collier are the additions. They push the Phillies 40-man roster to 38 players. May, Pettibone, and Martin were locks for inclusion. May, 23, entered 2012 rated as the organization's top prospect by many but stumbled to a 4.87 ERA at double-A Reading.

Former Phillies backup catcher Chris Coste has signed a 1-year contract with the New York Mets, according to published reports. The Forum, Coste's hometown newspaper in Fargo, N.D., reported that he had signed a contract that guarantees him a spot on the 40-man roster, but not the Opening Day 25-man roster. Comcast SportNet quoted him as saying, "It was the Mets. It's the last team I ever saw myself playing for. " Coste, who rose to fame as a 33-year-old rookie with the Phillies in 2006, was waived last July, and was picked up for the remainder of the season by the Astros.

The Phillies released John Bowker on Tuesday to allow him to pursue an opportunity with a professional team in Japan. In a combined 31 games with the Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates last season, Bowker batted .133 with two RBIs. The 28-year-old outfielder spent most of the season at triple-A Indianapolis in the Pirates' system, hitting .306 with 15 home runs and 76 RBIs in 106 games. For his major-league career, Bowker has hit .232 with 17 homers and 73 RBIs in 240 games with the San Francisco Giants, Pirates, and Phillies.

The Phillies added four prospects - three of them pitchers - to the 40-man roster on Tuesday before the deadline to protect them from selection in the Rule 5 draft. Righthanders Trevor May, Jonathan Pettibone, and Ethan Martin and outfielder Zach Collier are the additions. They push the Phillies 40-man roster to 38 players. May, Pettibone, and Martin were locks for inclusion. May, 23, entered 2012 rated as the organization's top prospect by many but stumbled to a 4.87 ERA at double-A Reading.

The Phillies made the official announcement Tuesday on their one-year contract worth $850,000 with infielder Kevin Frandsen. The deal was initially reported last week. Frandsen, 30, hit .338 with 10 doubles, two home runs and 14 RBIs in 55 games after being called up from triple-A Lehigh Valley in late July. He made 49 starts at third base, second on the team to Placido Polanco. The one-year deal includes incentives and performance bonuses and allows the Phillies to avoid salary arbitration with Frandsen.

Scratch David Herndon from the list of relievers who will be competing for a job in the Phillies' bullpen next season in spring training. Herndon was removed from that competition after being claimed off waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday. The 27-year-old righthander pitched in only five games in 2012 before being shut down at the end of April because of an elbow injury. His season was officially ended by ligament transplant surgery on his elbow in June. He probably will not be able to pitch until at the least the middle of next season.

The Phillies will introduce a variable pricing model that will keep both season and individual ticket prices at the same level for 2013. Prices for 10 games will increase by variable amounts depending on the seat and will decrease for 10 other games. Seven of the 10 cheaper games come during April and September when school is in session. In total, ticket prices remain at the same level as 2012. "It's something a lot of teams have done," said John Weber, vice president of ticket sales and operations.

TYSON BRUMMETT'S brief Phillies career is over. Brummett, 28, who made his major league debut in the last game of the season, was claimed off waivers Thursday by the Toronto Blue Jays. Before joining the Phillies for the last three games, Brummett went 5-6 with a 3.20 ERA in 44 games between Double A Reading and Triple A Lehigh Valley in 2012. A seventh-round pick in the 2007 draft, Brummett went 26-47 with a 4.52 ERA in six minor league seasons in the Phillies organization. The Phillies' 40-man roster stands at 37 after Brummett, catcher Steven Lerud and infielder Pete Orr were removed Thursday.

PITCHERS RHP Phillippe Aumont 2013 Age: 24 Contract Status: Pre-arbitration. Seven relievers were summoned from triple A before Aumont, which qualified as a massive disappointment. Then he was setup man for a week and showed the promise of his right arm. LHP Antonio Bastardo 2013 Age: 27 Contract Status: First-time arbitration-eligible. He's the most confounding player on this roster. His 14.02 strikeouts per nine innings was the 14th highest rate (minimum 50 innings)

READING - Talk to scouts who have watched Darin Ruf play and the response is usually a shrug. Sure, they say, he can hit a little, probably enough to warrant an opportunity against big-league pitching. Then comes the "but" . . .  Where will he play? Ruf hopes to solve that conundrum by proving that he can play an adequate leftfield, the position where he has spent most of the last 3 weeks after a lifetime of playing the infield. At this point, it is more of an experiment than a blueprint.

READING, Pa. - A concussion after a violent outfield collision with a teammate sidelined him for 6 1/2 weeks. A leg injury shortly after his return triggered an emotional outburst directed at the team bus driver that led to a team-imposed suspension that cost him two more weeks. Welcome to the best season of Tyson Gillies' Phillies career. No, really, it's true. Yes, the above statement is mostly a reflection of how poorly things went for the centerfielder in his first two seasons with the organization, but this has also been a year of renewed hope and expectations for Gillies.

YOU ASK Erik Kratz if he ever thought of giving it up. The 32-year-old catcher chuckles. "How many times?" he asks. The most recent time, you say. He thinks for a moment, then settles on 2009. He had spent the previous 8 years touring the North America that few people know, towns so anonymous that you struggle to match them to a state (or province). Towns like Medicine Hat (Alberta), Auburn (New York) and Charleston (W.Va.). He had played in New Hampshire, and in Syracuse, and, most recently, Indianapolis, all without a sniff of the major leagues.

ALLENTOWN - Try digging into Cody Overbeck's innermost thoughts and you are likely to get stuck on the top layer. The 25-year-old first baseman from Tennessee tries to keep everything as simple as the swing that serves as his most compelling baseball tool. Overbeck, a ninth-round pick out of the University of Mississippi in 2008, was not protected on the Phillies' 40-man roster over the winter despite the fact he has hit double-digit home runs in every season since joining the organization.