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It's the 26th episode of the PhoulBallz Minor League Podcast. On this edition of the show, Tug and Jay talk about baseball coming second for many minor league teams, Lakewood's upcoming South Atlantic League All-Star events, the Phillies' bullpen and Tug's annoyance level related to happenings with TheFightins.com. Jay also serves up an exclusive interview with prospect Zach Collier . Use the media player below to stream the full episode, or simply download it by clicking HERE . You can also check out previous episodes and subscribe on iTunes .

As a new season, that Philadelphia players and executives alike feel is "World Series or Bust", approaches, all Phillies pitchers and catchers reported to Clearwater, FL for their entry physical examinations on Sunday, prior to the start of workouts. The biggest story in all of Major League Baseball this off-season, the Phillies' pitching rotation, will jointly be on the field and answer questions from the media for the very first time on Monday. The return of Cliff Lee to Philadelphia completed what many say could be the greatest pitching rotation in modern baseball history, adding him to last year's group of starters, Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay, 2008 World Series MVP Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt and Joe Blanton. With the rotation filled to the brim, the Phillies' bullpen has some potential vacancies. Reports out of camp on Sunday had closer Brad Lidge actively campaigning for the return of his close friend, pitcher Chad Durbin, whose contract with the Phillie...

On Tuesday, I took part in a roundtable discussion with PhilliesNation.com. The subject at hand was "Of the currently available free agent relief pitchers, who should the Phillies attempt to sign?" While some folks feel that names like Scott Downs, Dan Meyer and others are suitable fits for the Phillies bullpen, I disagree. Read what I had to say below, and click HERE to check out what the other PhilliesNation contributors had to say about this matter. Which free agent relievers should the Phillies target? NONE OF THEM. Free agent relievers are too hit or miss, as the Phillies and their phans saw last season when Jose Contreras and his statistics were a pleasant surprise, while Danys Baez and his weak production proved to be money virtually wasted. With the Phillies’ current crop of solid pitching prospects, I don’t feel it is necessary to sign a potentially costly free agent. Sure, there seems to be a need for an additional lefty reliever, but is Scott Downs and the draft p...

Clutch doubles, an outfield assist, solid bullpen pitching, a big game from rookie phenom Buster Posey and questionable moves with the Phillies' pitching staff all added up to a win and a 3-1 series lead for the NL West champions when game 4 of the National League Championship Series was done. At San Francisco's AT&T Park on Wednesday evening, the Giants plugged away, scoring in 5 different innings. They got on the board in the 1st, when the 23-year-old Posey drove home Freddy Sanchez with a single to centerfield. Posey then slapped a double in the 3rd inning, to plate Aubrey Huff and put San Francisco up 2-0. The Phillies got some offense of their own rolling in the 5th inning when Ben Francisco and Carlos Ruiz got the team's first back-to-back hits of the series. Shane Victorino then stepped in and slapped a single to center that drove home Francisco, but Aaron Rowand gunned down Ruiz at home plate for an out. Chase Utley then singled. Placido Polanco stepped up and d...

"Jay" Happ will continue his minor league rehab work with the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs this coming Tuesday. The lefty hurler had his latest rehab outing for Double-A Reading on Wednesday night. Happ surrendered 3 runs over 5 innings and struck out 4 while walking no one. Velocity had been a concern, but Happ's arm strength appears to be building, the more he pitches, and velocity is returning. Happ, who has been sidelined since April with a forearm strain, is likely to be ready to return to the big leagues shortly after his next start, if things go well. Chad Durbin, who strained his hamstring fielding a ground ball in the 9th inning of Wednesday night's game, was placed on the disabled list today. Nelson Figueroa was called up from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to take his spot on the roster. Manager Charlie Manuel described Durbin's ailment as "pretty serious", but initial impressions are that Durbin may not require longer than 15-days to recover. Ryan...

For the second straight week, the Nationals & Phillies will meet up for a three game series, but this time it will be in Philadelphia. The Nationals arrive in town fresh off a series win over the Metropolitans in New York, having won 2 of 3 games there. The Phillies will be making their 2010 home debut. Read ahead for information on the pitching match ups and other key statistics. Monday, 3:05pm. Jason Marquis (1-0, 3.60 ERA) vs. Cole Hamels (0-1, 13.50 ERA). These two pitchers met last week in Washington, and the Phillies were victorious. Marquis has a 5-4 record with a 4.83 ERA in 20 career games against the Phils. Chase Utley is 10-for-21 (.476 avg) against Marquis in his career. Brian Schneider is just 1-for-21 (.048 avg) in his career against Marquis. Hamels is 8-3 with a 2.37 ERA in 16 career starts against the Nats. At home in his career, Hamels is 27-17 with a 3.43 ERA and a .232 batting avg. against. In 9 day starts last season, Hamels had a record of 0-6 with a 5.44 ERA....

Phillies pitcher Chad Durbin agreed to a one-year contract, avoiding salary arbitration. The deal will pay Durbin $2.125 million. In two seasons with the Phillies, Durbin has a 7-6 record with a 3.55 ERA in 130 games. Carlos Ruiz, Shane Victorino and Joe Blanton remain as Phillies who are arbitration eligible. ------------------- Jimmy Rollins and his girlfriend, Johari Smith, are planning to be married this coming weekend. It has been a good offseason for Phillies in this aspect, as Shane Victorino also got married . Jimmy was a member of the wedding party for Shane, so expect that Shane will be a member of Jimmy's wedding party. Other Phillies teammates, such as Ryan Howard, are expected to be in attendance for the Rollins nuptuals as well. The wedding is scheduled to be held in the Cayman Islands, where a 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck early Tuesday, off the coast. Reports on damage or aftershocks are not available as of this writing. Update- CBS 3 reported shortly after noon t...

Aside from the reported 3-team blockbuster involving the Yankees, D-Backs and Tigers that moved Curtis Granderson, Edwin Jackson and Max Scherzer, the biggest deal of the meetings thus far has been the impending move of reporter Peter Gammons from ESPN to MLB media and NESN. MLB.com's Mike Siano and other sources report the deal is done and the crossover will coincide with the new year. The Phillies added more reserve depth by signing OF/1B Ross Gload on Tuesday night. Such a move enhances what became a weak spot for the Phils in 2009, their bench. More on Gload's signing from PhoulBallz here . Regarding the Phillies interest in Brandon Lyon, it is not confirmed that the Phillies have made an offer, but GM Ruben Amaro confirmed the team has offered contracts to players, although he did not believe a deal was close with anyone, prior to the Gload announcement. That could mean any offer to Lyon was possibly a low-ball gesture and the team & player are likely not in the same ...

Charlie Manuel told the Phillies beat reporters last night that he would consider using "Jay" Happ in a key late inning role. Andy Martino , David Murphy and Scott Lauber all talked about it on their web pages. Some members of the media would prefer to see Pedro Martinez in that role over Happ, however. Using Pedro in a one inning relief role may be risky. His ERA from pitches 1-30 in his appearances with the Phillies is 4.05. Pedro's total ERA after his 30th pitch this season is 2.96. We've all seen him give up those first inning lead off homers a few times. The ERA evidence shows that Pedro struggles early and perhaps takes a little time to settle into a game. There is no room for that as a closer. Personally, I've been an advocate for a closer by committee movement. The Phillies should use preferable and situational match ups to their advantage. If Chad Durbin has a better history against a particular batter than Ryan Madson or Brad Lidge does, go with Durbin...

The first place Phillies (64-48) visit the Braves (60-54) this weekend for a three game series. The Braves' 17-9 record is best in the National League since the All star break, but they are still in third place, five games behind the Phillies. Read on for pitching match ups and other key notes from this series. Friday, 7:35pm. Joe Blanton (7-6, 4.02 ERA) vs. Jair Jurrjens (9-8, 3.01 ERA). In four starts since the all star break, Blanton is 1-2 in four starts with a 2.51 ERA in 28 2/3 innings. Blanton has a 2.46 ERA over his last 13 starts. Blanton has an 8.47 ERA in 3 starts against the Braves this season. Brian McCann vs. Joe Blanton is his career- 6-for-10, 2 homers, 6 RBI. Jurrjens is 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in two starts against Philadelphia this year. Raul Ibanez, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Carlos Ruiz and Jayson Werth are a combined 10-for-75 (.133 avg) against Jurrjens, with 1 homer and 5 RBI, in their careers. Saturday, 4:10pm. Cole Hamels (7-7, 4.77 ERA) vs. Kenshin Kawakami...

Everyone's least favorite Phillie is back at it again. This time the "I've got a sweet beard, so who cares about hitting?" ball player looks even worse after Marlins pitcher Josh Johnson hit his third homerun of the season on Tuesday. Johnson in 2009- 7-for-44, .159 avg, 3 HR, 9 RBI, .577 OPS Bruntlett in 2009- 11-for-83, .133 avg, 0 HR, 6 RBI, .407 OPS In fact, I counted at least a dozen starting ML pitchers who currently have a higher OPS than Eric Bruntlett, this year. The Phillies have to possess at least one minor leaguer who could back up the infield positions and hit for a batting average higher than .133. If nothing is done, it would be as if the team is not trying. --------------------- Congratulations go out to Anthony Gose who set the Lakewood BlueClaws single season stolen base record on Tuesday night by stealing his 59th and 60th bases of the season. The previous record was 59, set by Chris Roberson in 2003. Gose is 60-for-77 in stolen base attempts (78%)...

Lindsay G, the newest member of the PhoulBallz.com family, has done it again. This time she approached Phillies relief pitcher Chad Durbin to knowlingly pose for a photograph endorsing this wonderful Phillies blog. I know what you're thinking...How does she do it? Lindsay just has amazing people skills and even Millionaire Baseball Studs like Chad Durbin and Brad Lidge can't resist her persuasive and smooth techniques. Durbin inquired, "Hey, where can I get one of those hats?" Lindsay replied, "Just take the picture!"

Adam Eaton is still owed $9 million by the Phillies. Yeah, NINE MILLION DOLLARS. His salary for 2009 is $8.5 million, and there is a buy-out option for 2010 at $500,000. GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has made it clear that Eaton is not in the running for the 5th spot in the Phillies' pitching rotation. Eaton has accepted his own current status, as he's aware of the terribleness that is himself. Eaton, a former first round draft pick of the Phillies, is 14-18 with an ERA of 6.10 over the past two season for the Phillies. Just to provide a quick example of how significant $9 million is on the Phillies' payroll, Jayson Werth, Carlos Ruiz, Chris Coste, Eric Bruntlett, Matt Stairs, Scott Eyre and Chad Durbin combined will not make $9 million this season. When asked about the possibility of accepting another minor league assignment, Eaton had this to say, "If we get to that point, I'll be released. And I don't think that's the end of the world by any means. It would be ki...

The baseball world is buzzing this week with arbitration talk and World Baseball Classic roster announcements. Firstly, Tuesday was the day when players and teams exchange dollar numbers for arbitration. Reportedly, Ryan Howard is asking for $18 million, while the Phillies offered $14 million. So, if the two sides reach an arbitration hearing again this year, Howard would, at least, get a 40% raise. Wouldn't we all like to be guaranteed a 40% pay increase this year? While MVP-runner up Howard stayed headed toward arbitration, Ryan Madson , Joe Blanton and Shane Victorino have all come to terms with the Phillies on new contracts. Madson's deal is worth $12 million, with incentives, over 3 years. Shane's deal is for one year, and is for $3.125 million. Big Joe's contract is also a 1-year deal, worth $5.4 million. The remaining Phillies still up for arbitration, aside from Howard, are Jayson Werth and Chad Durbin . Werth is said to have requested $4 million, while...