Making Moves

The Phils made a bunch of personnel moves before the roster has to be set at 30 at noon on Thursday. Future ace Spencer Howard was sent down, as was a catcher with one of the best names in the organization—Logan O'Hoppe (pictured above in a Philadelphia Inquirer photo). He made his last night in big-league camp memorable, hitting an inside-the-park homer off Nick Pivetta. 

Howard will probably only be in minor league camp for a week before being summoned back to the big club. Doing this will give the Phils an extra year of control over Howard.

Another move that was a little surprising was the release of utility guy Josh Harrison, who asked for his release. Given his versatility, I thought he had a good chance to make the team. But Neil Walker was told earlier in the week he made the team, and local guy Phil Gosselin has had a really good summer camp. So right now, it looks like the bench will be whoever isn't playing center field (Adam Haseley or Roman Quinn), Walker, Gosselin, Andrew Knapp, and Jay Bruce, who is expected to get most of the at-bats in the first year of full-time DH in the National League.

Opening Day is Friday. It looks like it's actually going to happen.