Phils Acquire Buchholz from Red Sox

2017 Chachi New Additions #6

2016 Choice Lakewood BlueClaws #25

In a somewhat surprising move, the Phillies yesterday acquired veteran right-handed pitcher Clay Buchholz from the Red Sox for infield prospect Josh Tobias.  Buchholz is a two-time A.L. All-Star and has played 10 seasons in Boston.  In 2016, he appeared in 37 games (21 starts) putting together an 8-10 record and a 4.78 ERA.  Buchholz's salary is $13.5 million for this coming year, and he'll become a free agent following the season.

For the Red Sox, the dealing of Buchholz gives them some payroll flexibility and opens up a back of the rotation spot for a younger arm.  For the Phillies, this would seem to give the team a logjam of starting pitching with Buchholz expected to fall in somewhere between Jeremy Hellickson, Aaron Nola or Jared Eickhoff.  Vince Velasquez would seem to have the best shot at the final rotation spot, with Jake Thompson, Zach Eflin, Alec Asher and Adam Morgan all expected to be in the mix as well. If the wheels come off the Phillies' season early, Buchholz could find himself dealt to a contender in July.

Buchholz appeared in the Topps flagship and Topps Heritage sets last year.  To make room for the new pitcher on the roster, Richie Shaffer, with the organization for less than a week, was designated for assignment.

I'd sad to see Tobias go.  We saw him play this summer at Lakewood, and he was one of the few players who took the time to sign a number of autographs for the younger fans - my two sons included.  I have two Tobias cards in my collection, both from minor league team sets.

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2017 Chachi Departures #9

2017 Chachi Departures #10

In other news, it was reported yesterday that both David Buchanan and Phil Klein will be playing in Japan next season.  Buchanan signed with the Yakult Swallows while Klein signed with the Yokohama BayStars.

David Buchanan Chachi Checklist
2014 Chachi #44
2015 Chachi #16
2016 Chachi Almost #15
2017 Chachi Departures #9

Phil Klein Chachi Checklist
2016 Chachi #52
2016 Chachi Fan Appreciation Day #8
2017 Chachi Departures #10

Moving On - 2016-2017 Offseason

• Cedric Hunter - of (10/3/16) - Elected free agency.
• James Russell - lhp (10/3/16) - Elected free agency.
• Emmanuel Burriss - inf (10/7/16) - Outrighted off 40-man roster, elected free agency and signed as a minor league free agent with the Washington Nationals, 12/13/16.
• Frank Herrmann - rhp (10/7/16) - Outrighted off 40-man roster and elected free agency.
• Jimmy Paredes - of (10/7/16) - Outrighted off 40-man roster and elected free agency.
• Patrick Schuster - lhp (10/7/16) - Outrighted off 40-man roster, elected free agency and signed as a minor league free agent with the Los Angeles Dodgers, 11/5/16.
• Ryan Howard - 1b (11/3/16) - Team option declined and elected free agency.
• Charlie Morton - rhp (11/3/16) - Team option declined, elected free agency and signed with the Houston Astros, 11/16/16.
• Peter Bourjos - of (11/3/16) - Elected free agency.
• A.J. Ellis - c (11/3/16) - Elected free agency and signed with the Miami Marlins, 12/12/16.
• David Hernandez - rhp (11/3/16) - Elected free agency.
• Darin Ruf - 1b-of and Darnell Sweeney - inf-of (11/11/16) - Traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Howie Kendrick.
• Elvis Araujo - rhp (11/18/16) - Claimed off waivers by the Miami Marlins.
• David Buchanan - rhp (11/23/16) - Released and signed with the Yakult Swallows (Japan), 12/20/16.
• Cody Asche - of (12/2/16) - Designated for assignment and non-tendered.
• Phil Klein - rhp (12/14/16) - Released and signed with the Yokohama BayStars (Japan), 12/20/16.

Coming Back

• Jeremy Hellickson - rhp (11/3/16) - Elected free agency, accepted team's qualifying offer, 11/14/16.
• Andres Blanco - inf (12/14/16) - Resigned by the Phillies to a one-year contract.

New Additions - 2016-2017 Offseason

• Pat Neshek - rhp (11/4/16) - Acquired from the Houston Astros for a player to be named later or cash considerations.
• Howie Kendrick - lf (11/11/16) - Acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers for Darin Ruf and Darnell Sweeney.
• Joaquin Benoit - rhp (12/6/16) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Toronto Blue Jays.
• Clay Buchholz - rhp (12/20/16) - Acquired from the Boston Red Sox for Josh Tobias.

Already Gone - 2016-2017 Offseason

• David Rollins - lhp (12/2/16) - Claimed off waivers from the Texas Rangers.  Designated for assignment, 12/14/16.
• Richie Shaffer - 3b (12/14/16) - Claimed off waivers from the Seattle Mariners.  Designated for assignment, 12/20/16.

4th Annual Lakewood @BlueClaws Outing

2016 Chachi BlueClaws Signing Autographs #1

2016 Chachi Special Edition #8

Chachi BlueClaws Signing Autographs #2

For the fourth summer in a row, we travelled to Lakewood to see the Phillies low Class-A team, the BlueClaws.  As an added bonus, thanks to the rain out on Friday night, we were there for a double header!  As an super added bonus (not really), it was #Caturday at the ballpark and the BlueClaws players and coaches had the unfortunate task of wearing jerseys adorned with hundreds of pictures of cats.  There were cat puns throughout both games, cat-inspired between innings shenanigans and actual cats on the field pre-game.

In game action, the BlueClaws won the first game, 4-0, helped by a Carlos Duran home run and a fine pitching performance from Edgar Garcia who pitched five shutout innings.  The second game ended up going 12 innings and the BlueClaws won, 2-1, on a walk-off wild pitch.  The team's #1 draft pick from last year, Cornelius Randolph, went 0 for 2 in the first game as he's trying to battle back from an early season injury.  We also got to see visiting player Ke'Bryan Hayes, who played third base for the West Virginia Power (a Pirates affiliate) in the first game.

Chachi BlueClaws Signing Autographs #3

2016 Bowman Family Tree #FT-H

Chachi BlueClaws Signing Autographs #4

Chachi BlueClaws Signing Autographs #5

The 2016 BlueClaws team sets weren't available for sale yet, but our boys purchased team baseballs and were able to get five signatures on each of their baseballs.  The gracious signers were Jose Taveras, Edgar Garcia (right before he took the mound in game one), Sutter McLoughlin, Zach Morris and South Atlantic League All-Star Josh Tobias.  Sitting behind first base, my wife Jenna was quick to recover an overthrown baseball that bounced into the stands and the ball immediately became part of our youngest son Ben's collection.  (Doug was kind enough to let Ben have the ball.)

We had another #Clawsome time at the game, and we'll be back next year for our milestone fifth annual visit.

Memory Lane
2013 BlueClaws Game
2014 BlueClaws Game
2015 BlueClaws Game

Meanwhile, in Denver . . .

Rockies 8, Phillies 3
Game 89 - Late Saturday Night, July 9th in Denver
Record - 41-48, 4th place, 12 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  Jared Eickhoff's train went off the tracks in this game, and the Phillies couldn't get a hit with runners in scoring position as the Rockies won easily, 8-3.

What It Means/What Happened:  Eickhoff had pitched extremely well of late and it's a shame he has to go into the All-Star break after such a shoddy outing.  He allowed eight runs on eight hits in just 5 1/3 innings.  Tommy Joseph had a four-hit night, including his 11th home run.

Be sure to check out the 2016 Season Summary page with game results and links to game summary posts.