2015 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs Update #22 Jayson Nix

Rangers 5, Phillies 1
Game 36 - Tuesday Night, May 16th in Arlington
Record - 14-22, 4th place, 10 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  Yu Darvish baffled the Phillies hitters as the Rangers won, 5-1.

What It Means:  Maybe this isn't the year the Phillies start to put it all together?

What Happened:  Jerad Eickhoff faced off against his original team, allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits over six innings of work. Nomar Mazara and Mike Napoli both homered for the Rangers.  Darvish allowed a run on four hits while striking out nine over seven innings.

Featured Card:  The last time the Phillies played the Rangers in Arlington was on April 2, 2014, as part of their opening series.  Jayson Nix was the Phillies shortstop on that day and this is his sole Phillies-related baseball card in my collection.

Nix began the 2014 season with the Phillies but was designated for assignment on May 12th.  Over the next 12 months, he'd bounce from the Rays to the Pirates to the Royals to the Orioles and then back to the Phillies, signing a minor league deal with the club on May 16, 2015.  Nix appeared in 29 games for the IronPigs, hitting .157 before being released on June 23rd.

Matt Gelb Tweeted out the entire starting line-up which contains a few Phillies Room favorites.

Updating the Comings and Goings of the 2014 Phillies

2013 Topps Update #US262

I have this sinking feeling that this will be one of those seasons where there's a rotating cast of fringe minor leaguers and journeymen relievers who spend a short amount of time in Phillies pinstripes and then ride off into the sunset.  To date, we've already greeted and said goodbye to both Shawn Camp and Jayson Nix.

I last posted the list below back on February 17th, and the off-day and pending rain-out tonight gave be a good excuse to update the list just to keep track of all the comings and goings of the 2014 Phillies.

Moving On

Steven Lerud (10/1/13) - Elected free agency.  (Signed as a minor league free agent with the Atlanta Braves, 11/23/13.)

Raul Valdes (10/2/13) - Claimed off waivers by the Houston Astros.

Tyler Cloyd (10/2/13) - Claimed off waivers by the Cleveland Indians.

Michael Martinez (10/7/13) - Outrighted off the 40-man roster and elected free agency.  (Signed as a minor league free agent with the Pittsburgh Pirates, 12/18/13.)

Zach Miner (10/7/13) - Outrighted off the 40-man roster and elected free agency.  (Signed as a minor league free agent with the Seattle Mariners, 2/11/14.)

Pete Orr (10/7/13) - Outrighted off the 40-man roster and elected free agency.  (Signed as a minor league free agent with the Milwaukee Brewers, 1/27/14.)

Roger Bernadina (10/17/13) - Outrighted off the 40-man roster and elected free agency.  (Signed as a minor league free agent with the Cincinnati Reds, 1/31/14.)

J.C. Ramirez (10/17/13) - Outrighted off the 40-man roster and elected free agency.  (Signed as a minor league free agent with the Cleveland Indians, 11/1/13.)

Casper Wells (10/17/13) - Outrighted off the 40-man roster and elected free agency.  (Signed as a minor league free agent with the Chicago Cubs, 11/23/13.)

John Lannan (10/17/13) - Outrighted off the 40-man roster and elected free agency.  (Signed as a minor league free agent with the New York Mets, 1/18/14.)

Roy Halladay (10/31/13) - Elected free agency.  (Signed by the Toronto Blue Jays and announced his retirement, 12/9/13.)

Mauricio Robles (11/5/13) - Outrighted off the 40-man roster and became a minor league free agent.  (Signed as a minor league free agent with the Chicago White Sox, 11/24/13.)

Erik Kratz (12/3/13) - Traded with Rob Rasmussen to the Toronto Blue Jays for Brad Lincoln.

Joe Savery (2/16/14) - Designated for assignment and claimed off waivers by the Oakland Athletics.

Kevin Frandsen (3/23/14) - Outrighted off the 40-man roster and signed with the Washington Nationals as a free agent, 3/26/14.

Coming Back

Cesar Jimenez (11/15/13) - Signed to a minor league contract and invited to spring training.

Carlos Ruiz (11/21/13) - Resigned by the Phillies to a three-year contract with a club option for a fourth year.

New Additions

2012 Topps Update #US238

Shawn Camp (11/11/13) - Signed as a minor league free agent formerly with the Chicago Cubs.

Marlon Byrd (11/12/13) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Reid Brignac (11/17/13) - Signed as a minor league free agent formerly with the New York Yankees.

Jeff Manship (12/2/13) - Signed as a minor league free agent formerly with the Colorado Rockies.

Brad Lincoln (12/3/13) - Acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays for Erik Kratz and Rob Rasmussen.

Wil Nieves (12/5/13) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Roberto Hernandez (12/18/13) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Tony Gwynn, Jr. (12/22/23) - Signed as a minor league free agent formerly with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

A.J. Burnett (2/16/14) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Jayson Nix (3/28/14) - Acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays for cash.

Departed During the Season

Shawn Camp (5/8/14) - Outrighted off the 40-man roster and elected free agency.

Jayson Nix (5/12/14) - Outrighted off the 40-man roster and elected free agency.

2010 Upper Deck #384 J.A. Happ

Blue Jays 3, Phillies 0
Game 30 - Monday Night, May 5th in Philadelphia
Record - 15-15

One Sentence Summary:  The lethargic Phillies shuffled through another loss, this time falling 3-0 to J.A. Happ and the Blue Jays.

What It Means:  The Phillies haven't scored since the first inning of Sunday afternoon's game.

What Happened:  Jose Reyes hit a lead-off home run to start the game and that was all the Blue Jays would need for the win.  They tacked on a few more runs against Kyle Kendrick as the Phillies pitcher eventually dropped to 0-3 on the season.

Starting shortstop Freddy Galvis snapped an 0 for 24 skid with a third inning single.  He'd finish the game going 1 for 5 to raise his average to .056.

Featured Card:  Happ made his first start of the season for the Blue Jays, pitching five shutout innings and allowing just three hits.  I wrote about his trade to the Astros (for Roy Oswalt) back in a July 2010 post, which can be found here.

Field Report:  My wife Jenna and I went to this game, and as expected we were not happy with the outcome.  Other than finding a concession stand that was actually grilling dollar dogs, the night was pretty much a bust.  At one point, echoing the feelings of Phillies fans everywhere when they realized that Galvis, John Mayberry, Jr. and Jayson Nix were all in the same line-up, Jenna turned to me and said, "This is awful."

There were a lot of empty blue seats at this game, which means there were fewer people to appreciate (?) the custom Nix card featured in the starting line-up hanging outside of Ashburn Alley.  The Phillies are now 1-1 in games I've attended this season.

2014 Chachi #16 Jayson Nix

#7

Jayson Truitt Edward Nix

Infield

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'11"  Weight:  195

Born:  August 26, 1982, Dallas, TX

Drafted:  Selected by the Colorado Rockies in the 1st round of the June 2001 draft

Teams:  Colorado Rockies 2008, Chicago White Sox 2009-2010, Cleveland Indians 2010, Toronto Blue Jays 2011, New York Yankees 2002-2013, Phillies 2014

Acquired:  Purchased from the Tampa Bay Rays, March 28, 2014

Phillies Cards in My Collection:  

Nix has not yet appeared on an official Phillies card.  Although I have six cards of his brother Laynce in my Phillies collection.

First Chachi Card:  2014 Chachi #16

Ready or Not, the 25-Man Roster is Set

2014 Chachi Transactions #21

Pirates 3, Phillies 0
Spring Training Game 30 - Friday Night, March 28th in Philadelphia
Record - 9-18-3

One Sentence Summary:  The exhibition season mercifully drew to a close as the Phillies were shut-out by the Pirates, 3-0, in front of a sparse crowd in Philadelphia.

What Happened:  Chase Utley has three hits for the Phillies, accounting for all the team's offense.  Kyle Kendrick pitched five shutout innings in his final tune-up of the spring.

Featured Card/Camp Head Count:  Stay with me here . . . 35 - 11 + 1 = 25.  We'll get there in a little bit.

Some sort of vicious and evil stomach bug along with a current work schedule that could only be described as pure bananas have both conspired to keep me away from any Phillies happenings since Thursday night.  When I could raise my head again and check to see if the roster had been finalized yet for opening day, I was baffled to say the least.  After I've sorted it all out, I updated the sidebar on the left to list the 25 players who will head to Arlington for this year's opener against the Rangers.

Jayson Nix, not to be confused with his brother and former Phillie Laynce Nix, was this year's Ezequiel Carrera, acquired out of nowhere for cash considerations or a player to be named later to fill the last bench spot.  He's the +1 in the equation above.

2012 Grandstand Reading Phillies #10

As for the rest of the departures, 6 players will start the season on the disabled list - Darin Ruf, Freddy Galvis, Mike Adams, Cole Hamels, Miguel Gonzalez and Ethan Martin.  Struggling reliever Phillippe Aumont was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley to work on his control.  Finally, non-roster invitees Reid Brignac, Shawn Camp, Koyie Hill and David Buchanan were all reassigned to the minors.

So there you have it, the 25-man roster is ready and so are the first 25 cards of this year's Chachi set, which should debut soon.  Surprise roster addition Mario Hollands will be making his virtual Phillies card debut, as will Jeff Manship.

Finally, we had tickets to the Friday night On-Deck series game with the Pirates, but the aforementioned vicious and evil stomach bug kept me from going.  I'll have to check my favorite blog sources to see if (a) the team went with giant sized cards using something other than the 2011 Topps design for the line-up posted in Ashburn Alley and (b) if the team issued postcard set is available yet.

Play ball!